WOD Friday January 31st

Warm up : row 1000 meters

1. 45 lb weighted pullup x max reps

Rest 3 minutes

35 lb weighted pullups x max reps

Rest 3 minutes

25 lb weighted pullups x max reps

Rest 3 minutes

35 lb weighted pullups x max reps

Rest 3 minutes

15 lb weighted pullups x max reps

Rest 3 minutes

Pullups x max reps

Don’t even think about kipping.

2. As many rounds as possible in 8 minutes of:

4 Kneeling squat jumps

4 Handstand pushups

Hey guy’s, one of the most common misconceptions about lifting weights is that lifting more weight will make you bigger. If you watch these two video’s you may find there is a big difference in the priorities of the athletes in them. Bodybuilders have two main goals, Hypertrophy and being lean on stage (leaner muscle look bigger). Most bodybuilders focus on rep ranges between 8 and 15 reps. Weightlifters have one primary goal. Put heavier weight over their heads. The goal of a weightlifter is to be as strong as possible while staying in their weight class. This could be translated to strong and small. How do they stay strong and small? By lifting really heavy weights and not doing more than 5 reps at a time.

A translation of this could be: lifting light weights for high reps makes you bigger and heavy weights for low reps makes you stronger. (maybe an over simplification). The point that needs to be made here is that the whole low reps vs high reps debate is often misinterpreted. The more time your muscles spend under tension (high reps) the more they break down. When you let them fully recover (not training when you are sore) you give them time to repair themselves and adapt to the stresses you put them under. This is how you increase the size of your muscle fibers (hypertrophy). Training with low rep ranges (strength sports) decreases the amount of time under tension, and allows you to train more often, and adapt your muscular and nervous systems to handle heavier loads without excessive hypertrophy. This makes you stronger, but not bigger.

I would like to share my own journey through this stuff.  When I started training about 20 years ago I wanted to be big… really big. I ate as much as I could and trained as often as I was allowed to go to the gym. ( I was 13) I wanted to be a bodybuilder. I read all the magazines and looked at all of the pictures of Pro’s and tried to do what they did. I did Lots of sets and reps of lots of stuff. I got bigger. I went from 140 pounds to 165 lbs in 5 years. Some of this weight gain may have been from me going from 13 to 18 years old. Lets examine this though. 5 years of eating as much as I could and training as often as possible and having a ton of testosterone pumping through my body. I gained….. wait for it………5 pounds per year!!!!

I was disappointed to say the least. 5 years of training and only 25 lbs gained? I should be huge at this point. I was average size. 165 lbs and 5’9″ at 18 years old. Apparently it was hard to get big. I kept training and kept trying to get bigger and stronger. I focused on strength but always did bodybuilding movements and higher rep ranges to try and increase the size of my muscles. After 5 more years of training I was 30 lbs heavier. 23 years old and 195 lbs (still 5’9″) I was happier. my goals were becoming more of a reality. I was about 15 lbs heavier than an average “in shape” guy. Cool. 10 years of training to be 15 lbs heavier than my friends. Fast forward 10 years to 33 years old (still 5’9″), guess how much I weigh today? In the last 10 years I gained…. wait for it… 0 lbs.

You know what the funny thing is? in the last 10 years I stopped doing movements that made me “feel my muscles working” I stopped caring about looking in the mirror to “check my form”. I focused on getting stronger, I did not care how I looked. I cared about putting bigger weights on my back. I cared about putting heavier weights over my head. I started doing weightlifting and Strongman training. I got stronger, but my body weight stayed the same. Interesting.

Wait Jim don’t you do CrossFit too? Yes I do CrossFit. Does that have something to do with me not gaining any weight? Yes. Am I content to be a little bigger than average, a little stronger than average and not at all worried about my health? Yes.

Let’s break this down. I am a 33 year old man who has been lifting weights for 20+ years. For the majority of the 1000’s of hours I have spent exercising, my goal has been to lift the heaviest weights possible. I now weigh 15 lbs more than the average guy that is my height.

Testosterone (being a man) – Check

Lots of food ( excesive ) –  Check

1000’s of hours of lifting weights – Check

Thinking about lifting weights when I am not lifting weights  – Check

Reading magazines and trying different routines that the pro’s use – Check

Gaining 3 lbs a year for 20 years while going from 13 to 33 years old – Check

Lifting weights makes you strong. Eating doughnuts makes you big.