Health & Family No need to lift heavy at gym or is there?

At first I was lifting heavy but really couldnt feel anything .

For eg i usually do 4 sets 10reps x 40kg barbell raises for my biceps.

last night i decided because i was feeling bit sick to do 15kg x 15 x 5 sets

i could actually feel the pump in my bicep lifting this small weight !
it started to burn and i could feel it growing every raise.

sure there were guys in the gym looking at me thinking why this big guy with a long beard is lifting weight so small but it felt better.

'they say u must lift heavy for it to grow though?

 

What are you lifting for?

If you want to get as strong as possible lift heavy with reasonable form, but with no base you will likely get injured sooner or later.
If you want to grow muscle and target certain muscles, you need to be in control of the weight.
You were probably using all back and front delts with your 40kg curls, then when you reduced the weight, you would have been using more of your biceps.

If you keep going the way you are then you're gonna get injured, you need to build a solid foundation over a period of years and understand how your body functions bio mechanically.

 

Also, you're doing 40-75 reps of biceps in one session !
I wonder how long it takes you to work all the other major muscles in your body as the biceps are only a very minor muscle group.

 

You have to walk before you run! Just take it slow, get some professional advice, and focus on what you're doing. Not point pushing yourself too hard and hurting yourself.

 

I get it. You want to look like Arnie. Movies, politics, extramarital affairs. You devil lol.

 

It comes down to volume. Light weights and heavy weights (with the right number of sets) can lead to the same amount of volume at the end of your session.

 

Broadly speaking
Heavy weights with low reps = muscle mass
Low weights with high reps = muscle definition
As Ace says biceps are a small muscle and you are doing a lot of reps, don't forget your triceps are also part of your upper arm and is actually a larger muscle ( normally)

 

This is bro science. Muscles can only get bigger or smaller. Muscle definition comes from body fat %.

Heavy and light weights both induce a very similar level of hypertrophy. Provided the light weights are lifted until momentary muscular failure.

Heavy weights cause much greater strength gains and are also needed for progressive overload to lift the light (once heavy) weights over time.

 

True.

You can lift very heavy for low reps and get considerably stronger with no increase in muscle size.
This is myofibrillar hypertrophy via neural adaptions.
Diet plays a part too.

On the other hand, you can gain plenty of muscle mass using relatively light weight when targeting sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.

And yes, the biggest misconception people fall for is light weights/high reps is for definition.
Definition is simply a low body fat %.
Muscle shape/size is primarily determined by genetics, with some adaption possible via targeted training.