Lifting Heavy Won’t Make You Bulky… or Ruin Your Game!

While there are so many great resources out there these days to learn about fitness and training programs, there still seem to be a few myths that linger around. One I would really like to debunk is this theory that lifting heavy with lower reps will make you “big” or “bulky” while performing sets of exercises with low weight and high reps is ideal for “toning”.

Low weight and high volume/repetitions is ideal for hypertrophy which is increasing muscle size. It can tone your postural muscles however phasic muscles will get bigger, this is the groundwork for body building. Meanwhile, doing heavy sets with low repetitions (say 3-4 sets with only 3 reps of squats at a high intensity of weight) is designed to build strength.

If you do that along with doubling your caloric intake THEN you are going to increase in size. However, if you are not on a diet designed to bulk, you are not going to get big or bulky but rather strong and lean. I most commonly hear this myth from women that claim they “just want to tone” so I want to set the record straight that lifting HEAVY will do just that. Ladies you simply do not have enough testosterone to get big and bulky from heavy lifting without supplementation, calories, and a high volume of training as in the case of women body builders.

Bottom line for bowlers: using a low rep and high intensity rep scheme to build strength IS recommended!!!