Many weight lifters believe that using extremely heavy weights for their weight training workout sessions will produce superior results when compared with a lighter weight workout philosophy, and this idea is correct. Heavy weight and low rep weight lifting sessions do produce larger, more dense looking muscles, so it’s no shock that most who achieve muscle building success perform at least a portion of their weight lifting workouts using a lower rep range.
Yet, the problem for many weight lifters is that their desire for low rep weight training exercise sessions far too often causes them to sacrifice proper weight lifting form, which can lead to severe injury. If a legitimate study were conducted, I would not be amazed to learn that the majority of those who experience weight lifting injuries are using incorrect form during their workouts, which causes muscles to function in awkward ways, resulting in muscle tears and strains. In fact, muscle gains are maximized only if consistent weight training can be maintained for an extended time frame, and many find themselves taking unplanned vacations from their weight lifting workouts due to injuries occurring due to improper weight training form.
The desire is strong to abandon strict form in order to enhance weight used for a particular weight training exercise, especially when using low reps and heavy weight during a weight lifting workout session, and when a weight lifter does not immediately correct such behavior, he or she will soon modify weight lifting form to the point where the exercise is no longer safe, and severe injury is likely to occur.
What all weight lifters must remember as they pursue maximum muscle building is that the term “heavy” is relative, and proper weight training form is far more important than the weight used in each weight training workout session. Therefore, when you are contemplating adding weight to a bodybuilding exercise, make sure that you are doing so with proper weight training form in mind, adding weight in small increments to avoid using incorrect, awkward weight lifting performance.
If you find yourself altering exercise form to allow for greater weight in a given exercise, then you should reduce the amount of weight used by at least 10-20 pounds, focusing on fostering a connection between your mind and muscles during each set, only increasing weight (in small increments) when you are once again confident that form is 100% correct. It’s simple to become convinced that because you have not added weight for a few exercise sessions that your muscle gain efforts will suffer, when it’s extremely common to stay with the same weight for several workouts while still increasing muscle size. But by using incorrect form to try and increase the amount of weight used in a given weight training exercise, you will actually risk slowing muscle gains in the long run given both the injury potential, and the likelihood of transferring emphasis away from the target muscle group.
Remember that the success of your weight lifting pursuits will be based on how consistent you are able to train, and using improper form with heavy weight will lead to injuries, forcing missed weight training workout sessions, and will impact your overall weight training progress in a negative way.