New research reveals best way to build muscle
A research team from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada found a strategy that counters the commonly-held belief that to build muscle, you need to lift heavy weights. Nicholas Burd and his colleagues examined the effect of resistance exercise intensity and volume on muscle protein synthesis, anabolic signaling, and myogenic gene expression. They had 15 men lift light weights that represented a percentage of what the subjects could maximally lift. At 30%, the team observed that subjects could lift that weight at least 24 times before they felt fatigue. The researchers report that: “These results suggest that low-load high volume resistance exercise is more effective in inducing acute muscle anabolism than high-load low volume or work matched resistance exercise modes.” In other words, to build muscle, it is better to lift lighter weight and do more repetitions, than to lift heavier weight and do less repetitions.