When young male athletes lift weights until they can't anymore, it doesn't matter much whether they use heavy weights or lighter ones—both ways build about the same amount of muscle after 8 weeks.

46

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

46

Community contributions welcome

46

Impact of high versus low fixed loads and non-linear training loads on muscle hypertrophy, strength and force development

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2016

The study found that lifting heavy weights or light weights to failure both made muscles grow about the same amount, so the claim that weight size doesn't matter much for muscle growth when you push to exhaustion is supported.

Contradicting (0)

0

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Impact of high versus low fixed loads and non-linear training loads on muscle hypertrophy, strength and force development

Score: 46

DOI: 10.1186/s40064-016-2333-z

Similar Assertions

When young male athletes push themselves as hard as they can in weight training, whether using heavy or light weights, their muscles grow about the same amount after 8 weeks.

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Whether you lift heavy weights with fewer reps or light weights with more reps—as long as you push until you can’t do another rep—your muscles grow about the same amount.

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If you lift weights until you can’t do another rep, it doesn’t matter if you’re using light, medium, or heavy weights—you’ll still grow your muscles about the same, as long as you push yourself hard and do enough total work.

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Whether you lift heavy weights for fewer reps or light weights for more reps—as long as you push until you can’t do another rep—your muscles grow about the same amount.

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