Few would argue that progressively heavier weights build muscle. Still, there are those who fail to load enough weight on the bar to effect marked change on body composition, clinging to the misguided belief that lighter-weight sets burn more calories. A recent study showed that lighter-weight sets that induced failure near 30 reps triggered the same hypertrophy as heavier sets in the 6-8 rep range. However, the lighter work didn’t have near the same impact on net gains in strength.
Lifting heavier weight has been shown to have a much higher impact on the release of muscle-building, fat-nuking hormones like testosterone and growth hormone. Also, researchers found that using a weight that only allows for six reps increased resting metabolic rate higher and for longer after the workout than 12-rep sets. Keep those rest periods to 60 seconds or less and you stand to burn even more calories in the post-workout period.
>> For a body that is stronger, bigger and burns more bodyfat, lift heavy and rest less. On your main lifts, keep to heavier sets of 6-8 reps and keep rest to 30 seconds or less.