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Once a mainstay at the CrossFit Games, Marcus Filly has shifted the focus of his training over the last two years so that his workouts are all about building strength and muscle in a safe, sustainable way while protecting his body from injury.
He regularly offers advice on this functional approach to bodybuilding on his YouTube channel, and in a recent short video he breaks down three reasons why it is not always a good idea to get fixated on how much weight you’re lifting, when there are other important factors to consider in your training.
Firstly, he says, “nobody really cares” what weight you’re lifting, especially if you’re doing it with bad form: “You are far more likely to impress somebody with the technique you use instead of how much weight you have on the bar.”
Secondly, he argues that training to failure and providing adequate stimulus to your muscles is what will make the difference. “If your goal is building muscle, then you can accomplish that with sets of 20, or sets of 10,” he says. “I can’t lift as much for 20 reps as I can for 10 reps, yet both can build muscle, and arguably they both do just as good a job when we train close to failure. Weight, outside the context of reps, makes no sense.”
And finally, Filly shares a reminder that lifting heavy weights without working up to it in a consistent way is one way to heighten your risk of getting hurt.
“Pushing the limits on how much you can lift increases the risk of any exercise,” he says. “An injury en route to chasing five more pounds might just set you back far enough that the risk is greater than the reward. Remember: getting stronger also has a lot to do with tempo, range of motion, rest, and sets. Don’t get hung up on weight when there’s so much more you can do to keep progressing.”
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
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