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Can Lifting Light Weights Help Me Build Muscle?

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Being able to build muscle by lifting with light weights will depend on how light the weights are and how many exercises you perform. You will not be able to build much muscle by using weights that weigh only a few pounds, since your muscles do not work hard enough during an exercise. You will need to experiment with the exact amount of weight to use for each exercise, then you can start to try and build some muscle.

Benefits of Lifting Light Weights

Lifting with light weights will not put much stress on your joints, which is one of the main reasons many people do not like to train with heavy weights. The amount of time your body needs to recover from a light weight workout is less than a workout you perform using heavy weights. Besides adding muscle, using light weights can also help you to shape and define your muscles. You accomplish this by doing high repetitions for each of the various exercises that you perform.

Exercising to Build Muscle With Light Weights

If you want to build muscle with light weights, you must work your muscles to the point of failure during an exercise. For example, if you are using a pair of light dumbbells to build your arm muscles, as you perform the lift eventually you will reach the point where you cannot do another repetition. This is know as muscle failure, and is a common method that many bodybuilders use.

To build muscle with light weights, you must find the point of muscle failure for each exercise that you perform. You do not want to use a weight that allows you to do more than 10 to 12 repetitions during a set. The benefit of the exercise will be more aerobic than anabolic, which means you are building muscle endurance instead of muscle size.

Once you determine how many repetitions to perform for an exercise in order to reach muscle failure, you will next need to find out how many different sets you can do with the same weight. If you can perform the same number of repetitions using the same amount of weight for three sets, you are lifting with the correct amount. If you are unable to do three sets with the same amount of weight, use a lighter weight for the second and third sets so you can still perform the same number of repetitions. This method of exercising is called descending sets, and will allow you to build muscle by reaching the point of failure during each set.

Creating Muscle Confusion

When you are trying to build muscle with light weights, it is also important to try and create muscle confusion. This occurs when you change your workout routine on a regular basis. Muscle confusion forces your muscles to adapt, which can help them continue to grow. An example of changing your workout to create muscle confusion is to perform a regular workout on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for one month. During the second month, change your workout to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Your body will work harder on less rest during the second month, which should help you to build muscle size.

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