How Many Get Results with Low Weight?

Had an interesting conversation with this guy at my gym today. I noticed he was about 230 pounds , very good muscle definition. I also noticed on everything he did, he was at least 25% less weight than i was, but that he was doing reps that were very slow and very very controlled.

Talked to him for a bit and found out that’s all he does.

Now i know the stigma that bodybuilders typically are not strong and yadda yadda, and its more about controlling the weight and really breaking down the muscle, but i have never seen results like that before on that type of workout.

Anyone else have alot of luck with this. Im thinking about dropping the weights on all my lifts and adopting some of his techniques.

It all depends on what you mean by low weight, very slow, and very controlled.

Any further discussion is relatively meaningless without establishing some concrete numbers.

Well, for instance, incline bench, guy was doing 150 pounds. Bench, 180.Pec deck, 85 pounds! Just numbers that for a guy his size were a little astonishing. As far as slow reps, each one took him about a 3 count, maybe 3.5 seconds.

Has he been doing that since day one? Or is that stuff he does to maintain his current weight?

Thats what he has been doing since day one. He said he has changed his routine of course, and his rep ranges, but he has always stayed at relatively low weight and slow movement.

Now i didn’t get into his diet or supplementation or anything, but judging from his look he was on the ball with it.

[quote]Superman wrote:
Thats what he has been doing since day one. He said he has changed his routine of course, and his rep ranges, but he has always stayed at relatively low weight and slow movement.

Now i didn’t get into his diet or supplementation or anything, but judging from his look he was on the ball with it. [/quote]

Is this guy African American? partly joking, partly serious… waits for being called a racist

Haha no he was not, Caucasian, couldn’t even tell you what nationality, just looked like a regular white dude.

dude. most big people lift big and apply the principle of progressive overload. how big IS this dude? unless the dude is doing over 25 or so reps, I can’t imagine a 180 pound bench being stressful.

Dude’s a freak.

  1. This shouldn’t matter at all.
    I knew a guy who trained up to 3 hours a session and would put most on this website to shame as far as development. That doesn’t mean that everyone should lift for 3 hours.

  2. I am very reluctant to accept someone’s guess of how much a bodybuilder weighs unless that person has not only been that weight and heavier or they have been around bodybuilding long enough to tell subtle differences.
    Most people lose perspective about how much someone should weigh much over 200lbs. That also doesn’t count the many lifters out there with round muscle bellies that may weigh only 180lbs yet LOOK like they weigh 230+.

I posted a picture over a year ago of an NPC bodybuilder who competes at 6’2" and 180lbs but LOOKS like he may be over 230lbs.

Anomalies in nature are to be expected and this is why those who act like Casey Butt’s gang lack perspective that any biologist knows from the start.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

  1. This shouldn’t matter at all.
    I knew a guy who trained up to 3 hours a session and would put most on this website to shame as far as development. That doesn’t mean that everyone should lift for 3 hours.

  2. I am very reluctant to accept someone’s guess of how much a bodybuilder weighs unless that person has not only been that weight and heavier or they have been around bodybuilding long enough to tell subtle differences.
    Most people lose perspective about how much someone should weigh much over 200lbs. That also doesn’t count the many lifters out there with round muscle bellies that may weigh only 180lbs yet LOOK like they weigh 230+.

I posted a picture over a year ago of an NPC bodybuilder who competes at 6’2" and 180lbs but LOOKS like he may be over 230lbs.

Anomalies in nature are to be expected and this is why those who act like Casey Butt’s gang lack perspective that any biologist knows from the start.[/quote]

Agreed!

When I was at my heaviest, 245#, nearly everyone I spoke to about weight and what I weigh, would say, “You’re not 245#! You don’t look it.” or “You’re not 5’10”; you’re definitely shorter." Being that I used to work in healthcare and there was usually a scale nearby, I’d reply, “You wanna make a fuckin’ bet?” while stepping on a scale.

People also don’t take into account how much weight someone packs in their thighs, glutes, and back, nor does someone even pay attention to these muscles when someone’s in clothing.

[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Professor X wrote:

  1. This shouldn’t matter at all.
    I knew a guy who trained up to 3 hours a session and would put most on this website to shame as far as development. That doesn’t mean that everyone should lift for 3 hours.

  2. I am very reluctant to accept someone’s guess of how much a bodybuilder weighs unless that person has not only been that weight and heavier or they have been around bodybuilding long enough to tell subtle differences.
    Most people lose perspective about how much someone should weigh much over 200lbs. That also doesn’t count the many lifters out there with round muscle bellies that may weigh only 180lbs yet LOOK like they weigh 230+.

I posted a picture over a year ago of an NPC bodybuilder who competes at 6’2" and 180lbs but LOOKS like he may be over 230lbs.

Anomalies in nature are to be expected and this is why those who act like Casey Butt’s gang lack perspective that any biologist knows from the start.

Agreed!

When I was at my heaviest, 245#, nearly everyone I spoke to about weight and what I weigh, would say, “You’re not 245#! You don’t look it.” or “You’re not 5’10”; you’re definitely shorter." Being that I used to work in healthcare and there was usually a scale nearby, I’d reply, “You wanna make a fuckin’ bet?” while stepping on a scale.

People also don’t take into account how much weight someone packs in their thighs, glutes, and back, nor does someone even pay attention to these muscles when someone’s in clothing. [/quote]

I have noticed that very few people guess my current weight correctly unless they are near my same size. Most people haven’t seen too many people weighing over 285lbs without being obese at 5’10"…so they “guess” me to be whatever weight the biggest person they know is.

It is not uncommon for someone who doesn’t lift to guess me at about 250-260lbs…simply because they have no other comparison…which is at least 30lbs or more less than I really weigh.

[quote]Superman wrote:
Well, for instance, incline bench, guy was doing 150 pounds. Bench, 180.Pec deck, 85 pounds! Just numbers that for a guy his size were a little astonishing. As far as slow reps, each one took him about a 3 count, maybe 3.5 seconds.[/quote]

Maybe those weights were heavy to him. Do you mean a 3 count for the entire rep, if so that really isn’t that slow.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Bricknyce wrote:
Professor X wrote:

  1. This shouldn’t matter at all.
    I knew a guy who trained up to 3 hours a session and would put most on this website to shame as far as development. That doesn’t mean that everyone should lift for 3 hours.

  2. I am very reluctant to accept someone’s guess of how much a bodybuilder weighs unless that person has not only been that weight and heavier or they have been around bodybuilding long enough to tell subtle differences.
    Most people lose perspective about how much someone should weigh much over 200lbs. That also doesn’t count the many lifters out there with round muscle bellies that may weigh only 180lbs yet LOOK like they weigh 230+.

I posted a picture over a year ago of an NPC bodybuilder who competes at 6’2" and 180lbs but LOOKS like he may be over 230lbs.

Anomalies in nature are to be expected and this is why those who act like Casey Butt’s gang lack perspective that any biologist knows from the start.

Agreed!

When I was at my heaviest, 245#, nearly everyone I spoke to about weight and what I weigh, would say, “You’re not 245#! You don’t look it.” or “You’re not 5’10”; you’re definitely shorter." Being that I used to work in healthcare and there was usually a scale nearby, I’d reply, “You wanna make a fuckin’ bet?” while stepping on a scale.

People also don’t take into account how much weight someone packs in their thighs, glutes, and back, nor does someone even pay attention to these muscles when someone’s in clothing.

I have noticed that very few people guess my current weight correctly unless they are near my same size. Most people haven’t seen too many people weighing over 285lbs without being obese at 5’10"…so they “guess” me to be whatever weight the biggest person they know is.

It is not uncommon for someone who doesn’t lift to guess me at about 250-260lbs…simply because they have no other comparison…which is at least 30lbs or more less than I really weigh.[/quote]

I’m much smaller than you, but I get what you’re saying. People guess my weight at 160 to 180 when I’m sitting at 225(5’10)

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Superman wrote:
Thats what he has been doing since day one. He said he has changed his routine of course, and his rep ranges, but he has always stayed at relatively low weight and slow movement.

Now i didn’t get into his diet or supplementation or anything, but judging from his look he was on the ball with it.

Is this guy African American? partly joking, partly serious… waits for being called a racist[/quote]

Just because you say “waits for being called a racist” doesn’t mean you are any less racist.

In your mind:

If somebody lifts light weights and yet is inexplicably muscular, and he is white, it’s because he - as an individual - is just a freak.

But if that same person was black, it is now because he is black.

Even though in reality there are just as many freaks on both sides.

[quote]mr popular wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:
Superman wrote:
Thats what he has been doing since day one. He said he has changed his routine of course, and his rep ranges, but he has always stayed at relatively low weight and slow movement.

Now i didn’t get into his diet or supplementation or anything, but judging from his look he was on the ball with it.

Is this guy African American? partly joking, partly serious… waits for being called a racist

Just because you say “waits for being called a racist” doesn’t mean you are any less racist.

In your mind:

If somebody lifts light weights and yet is inexplicably muscular, and he is white, it’s because he - as an individual - is just a freak.

But if that same person was black, it is now because he is black.

Even though in reality there are just as many freaks on both sides.[/quote]

I get what you’re saying, but I thought being racist was attributing negative stereotypes to an entire group of people, not positive stereotypes.

All black guys have huge birds!

Am I still racist?

OP - work out like this guy for a few months and see how far you (don’t) get.

The guy who runs my gym trains like this. He does high reps (15 or so+) with lowish weight and he’s huge. About 5"6 I wouldn’t hazard a guess at his weight but he’s all around thick. I guess it works for some people and less for others.

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
I get what you’re saying, but I thought being racist was attributing negative stereotypes to an entire group of people, not positive stereotypes.

All black guys have huge birds!

Am I still racist?

OP - work out like this guy for a few months and see how far you (don’t) get. [/quote]

Its actually being racist whether or not its possative or negative. I think its kinda dumb and people have become way too sensitive about these things. For example, with your statement, if there happens to be a black guy with a small “bird” then he is going to feel bad because he doesn’t live up to the expectations.

Then at the same time, its being racist against anyone that is not black, because you are basically saying they have small “birds”. Really silly, but this is the world we live in.

As for the OPs original question. I have to agree with everyone else, that if you are implying that you are going to get results with LOW weights, you probably will fail. There are the anomalies that can get pretty big with calisthenics and KB’s, light weights, etc. but this doesn’t work for most people.

Most people need to overload their muscles and require more force/tension, which means HEAVY weights.

Having said that, I think something can be gleaned from your observation of this guy in the gym. I think lifting with a controlled but fast eccentric and an explosive concentric is a great way to put out maximum force and overload CERTAIN muscles and connective tissue. But from my recent experiences, this may not be sufficient.

I recently started slowing down my concentric portion of lifts a bit, and found that im a lot weaker than i’d expect. I attribute this to being very reliant on my stretch reflex and and momentum generated by the muscles at the beginning of the ROM of a lift.

For example, on something like bench: my pecs/shoulders produce most of the force and get the bar moving fairly fast, and the only way my triceps are really going to get worked, is if enough weight is used to where the speed is slow no matter what. This is fine for heavy lifting, but moderate weights will have this problem. And the middle part of the ROM is usually neglected, which also happens to be where my sticking point tends to be.

There are many solutions though. I think partials, paused reps, or slowing down the concentric are very beneficial at “covering your bases”. Another thing that seems to help is the “mind-muscle” connection type of thing and “squeezing” the weight through the ROM. Ive always been skeptical about these methods, but now im starting to see things differently.

So in summary: I think most of the time you should focus on progressing to heavier and heavier weights, as this is going to be what really gets you big. But for a certain portion of your training, you should worry about not neglecting muscles / parts of the ROM by minimizing momentum or using methods like pauses.

Still working on this myself, but something like ramping up to a max set of say 8 reps, and then backing off for a set or two, and “working the muscle” may be a good way to get the best of both.

My guess is he has rare genetics that can not be compared to the normal person, or he is full of shit and did not build his foundation that way.

Once you have built a solid foundation especially if it has been mostly built Natural and you have kept it for ten years or more you pretty much can maintain it with upside down pretzel curls and the richard Simmons workout.

Ask him what he weighed a couple years ago or if he still grows.

Not everyone is built the same way or optimally responds to a given training style. I also know of a guy at my gym who falls more into the mode of relatively lighter weights for controlled reps. So as not to get into the whole weight guesstimate, size wise, I’d say he is fairly comparable to stu. It works for him, but who knows if it will work for you.