‘To get big you have to lift big’ is the prevailing motto in bodybuilding circles when it comes to the best way on how to pack on muscle size. Enter any gym in the country or speak to anyone in the know and the one thing you will hear is that big weights equal big muscles. We read about Mr. Olympia squatting with 700 lbs and benching 500 lbs or how some pro bodybuilder describes his leg training with 1500 lbs leg presses in a magazine article.

It comes as no surprise that this philosophy of ‘go heavy or go home’ is strongly reflected in people’s training style. Take a good look around your gym. Not considering those gym members who just go through the motions or simply use this place as a means to socialize, everyone who trains seriously can be caught doing the same thing to a more or lesser degree. I am talking about the usage of too much weight with bad form for too few reps.

Squats are being done with just a quarter range of motion but the bar is loaded with a bunch of 45’s on each side. This might boost your ego but does nothing for your quad development. Barbell curls turn from an excellent biceps and forearm exercise into a test for your lower back strength by swinging back and forth because too much weight has been used again. The ultimate ‘uber-ego’ exercise bench press is being abused to the

A case can be made for almost any exercise. People use too much weight, oftentimes way too much weight and compensate by relying on excessive swinging, bad form and bouncing. Their whole focus is on moving the weight up instead of focusing on the muscle they train…or intend to train.

While there is a certain correlation between strength and size its importance is not as significant that it should determine the way you train. The amount of weight someone uses is totally relative. With enough mental focus and controlled performance you can even make a light weight feel extremely heavy.

Having said all the above, the first thing anyone should do is ‘CHECK YOUR EGO AT THE GYM DOOR’. You are here to train your muscles and not to boost your ego. Remember, you are a bodybuilder which means your sole purpose is to build your body, your muscles to be precise. You are NOT a weightlifter who just cares about lifting as much weight as possible. There is a distinctive difference between bodybuilders and weightlifters: BODYBUILDERS FOCUS ON THEIR MUSCLES WHILE WORKING OUT WHEREAS WEIGHTLIFTERS FOCUS ON THE WEIGHT THEY USE. Do yourself a favor and re-read this statement. It is one of the most important rules you can ever come across as a bodybuilder. Focus on the muscle and forget the amount of weight you handle.

While it may be gratifying to lift as much weight as possible in whatever bad form you choose, it doesn’t do much for the muscle building process. You need to make a decision here and ask yourself the following question: Do I want to satisfy my ego and impress my gym buddies by hoisting heavy weights up and down or do I want to own a well-muscled bodybuilder-type physique and rather impress people with my appearance in and out of the gym? If you opt for the latter, keep reading. Here is what you need to do:

2–Use 10-15 reps for all exercises: Stimulating muscle growth is not a matter of lifting heavy ass weights for a few hard reps but it is rather a matter of using enough tension over a long enough time and repeating this process. In plain words this means that muscle hypertrophy (the actual growth, thickening of existing muscle fibers) occurs most when you use 10-15 reps, with 12 being the ideal number. 12 reps equals a long enough time to impose the kind of tension your muscles need to respond with growth. This process needs to be repeated several times during your workout as repetitiveness is crucial. How many times will be discussed in the next paragraph when we talk about the ideal number of sets per muscle.

3–8-10 sets for large muscle groups and 6-8 sets for small muscle groups: Once you are in the 10-15 rep range per set repetitiveness is key. Repeating this scenario 8-10 times for larger muscle groups and 6-8 times for small muscle groups is what makes your muscle adapt and your muscle fibers respond with growth. To avoid mental boredom you should not do more than 2-3 sets per exercise. Which means for a large muscle like legs for example you could do 2 sets of squats, 2 sets of leg presses, 2 sets of hack squats and 2-3 sets of leg curls. For biceps you could do 2 sets of barbell curls, 2 sets of seated dumbell curls and 2 sets of cable curls. Rest period between sets should be around 2 minutes with the exception of legs where you may want to take up to 3 minutes to catch your breathe.

4–Frequency: Since you are not using ultra heavy weights your joints, tendon and central nervous system need less time to recover. Try to train each muscle every 5-6 days. Split up your body into 4 parts. Day one is shoulders, triceps, day two is back, calves, day three is chest, biceps and day four is legs. You can train each muscle either every five days by using a 4 on/1 off split or every six days using a 2 on/1 off split.

5–Progression: As mentioned above 10-15 reps per set are ideal. Once you can do 15 or more reps you should increase the weight you use by 2.5-5 lbs. Make sure not to add too much weight so you don’t drop beneath the 10 rep minimum range as this would force you to sacrifice form which means you are getting back to your old and unproductive ways of working out. Since you main focus is on the muscle and not the weight, do not expect to get stronger with every workout. You don’t have to. Your muscle will grow as long as you target it in the way described above. Muscle hypertrophy can very well occur without a concomitant increase in strength. If you are able to increase the weights during your workouts do so, but do not sacrifice form. You must stay in control and be able to fully focus on the muscle you train.