3. Lift Heavier Weights… BUT for How Long?
Having more strength usually — but not always (it’s possible to be less muscular but still very strong) — correlates to having bigger muscles.
When you lift heavy weights, your muscles endure more tears in their fibers, thereby inducing more muscle protein synthesis (the process by which your muscles uptake protein to repair and build).
Keep in mind that “heavy” is relative, and I’m not saying you should max out on your deadlift every week. Choose weights that are heavy enough to bring you to fatigue on a set of 8 to 15 reps. You can also lift heavy in a lower rep range, such as 4 to 6 reps, to focus on building strength.
Repping “to fatigue” means going until you’re on the brink of failure. If you do so many reps that you end your set with an incomplete rep, you’ve gone too far and repped “to failure.”