When Bulking Should You Lift Heavy Weights? Everyone will respond differently to lifting weights however you will need to lift heavier weights over time in order to build muscle, this is otherwise known as progressive overload. Therefore when calories are high on a bulk then this is the best time to lift heavier weights.
Historically, weightlifting, bodybuilding and general physique development has always primarily revolved around the concept of bulking and cutting phases. The bulking phase is used to consume a calorie surplus, lift heavy weights and build muscle whereas a cutting phase is focused on consuming a calorie deficit, lifting lighter weights and burning body fat.
Other strategies to physique development have gradually become more mainstream like using a lean bulk to maintain a lean physique year round and an IIFYM (if it fits your macros) approach which is a flexible diet approach using current technology like Myfitnesspal.
At some stage in physique development however you will consume a calorie surplus and technically be on a bulk and one of the most common questions that come up when first getting into this is should you lift heavier weights.
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What Is the Purpose of a Bulk
The purpose of a bulk is to consume a calorie surplus in order to facilitate muscle growth. A calorie surplus basically means eating more calories than what your body requires just to maintain weight and operate general functions like digestion, movement and regulating body temperature.
This set requirement is known as your maintenance calorie requirements. Once you know what your maintenance calorie requirements are then, and only then can you start a bulking phase and set your surplus calories.
If you don’t know how to work out your maintenance calorie requirements then check out this article to work it out as it’s essential that you work from this in order to properly bulk. It’s a beginners bulking guide and it will run you through everything that you need to know in order to start a successful bulk.
How Much Weight Should You Lift When Bulking
Assuming that you know how to approach a bulk from a dieting aspect (which is definitely the most important part) the next part you will need to nail down and the one you are most likely excited about is the training aspect.
Lifting weights creates the necessary stimulus and muscle damage in order to facilitate muscle growth. There are literally millions of articles and videos available that focus on the many intricacies of building muscle so I won’t even be covering the basics here.
What I will be looking at is specifically how much weight you should lift when bulking. There are the strength/powerlifting guys who will preach that getting strong in the bench press, squat and deadlift are all you need to build muscle.
Then there are the hypertrophy guys who say you need to focus on set volume, use moderate weight and focus on mind muscle connection and getting a pump. In truth both perspectives are correct and you will need to use a blend of these approaches.
This article looks into this in more detail but strength training and muscle hypertrophy have certain carry over and having a blend of the two approaches in your routine is really key to maximally recruiting muscle fibres and building muscle.
Work out Your 1 Rep Max
Before you look at how much weight you should lift on a bulk you first need to determine what heavy weight is in relation to your own strength levels. Heavy weight will obviously mean different things to different people depending on who you ask.
Personally, I started lifting weights with a beginners York dumbbell and barbell set which were cement filled vinyl and the total weight I could use was 55kg for any exercise. At that time 55kg was the most I could use for any exercise so that was my benchmark for my max lifts.
Then when I first joined a gym the dumbbells went up to 30kg sets and then they had fixed machines so this was my new benchmark. After that I joined a more commercial gym with dumbbells going up to 50kg and a range of fixed machines.
Finally I progressed to proper bodybuilding gyms where dumbbells went up in weights in excess of 100kg sets and the range of plate loaded, customised machines meant I could hit any muscle group regardless of how small it was.
Therefore my perception of heavy weights changed based on the environment I was in. The big guys in the first gym I went to would press the 30kg dumbbells and I didn’t know how i’d ever get to that level, now my perception has changed and the 30kg dumbbells are my second warm up set weights!
Therefore to know what is classified as heavy weights you can’t actually use a generic term like ‘heavy weights’, what you need to get is a specific number relevant to you and the way to do this is to find out your 1 rep max.
The 1 rep max is the maximum amount of weight that you can use on an exercise with good form (it’s essential that this is with good form) for 1 rep. It’s an all out effort and will give you a guide to what is a heavy weight by your own bodies standards.
You might know some of these and if not spend a few sessions finding what yours is for the key compound movements. It’s pointless knowing what this is for smaller muscle groups as a 1 rep max curl does not have the same level of intensity as a 1 rep max deadlift.
Therefore focus on the key compound lifts and spread them out over a few workouts, if you try to find them all out in one session then this will be too taxing on your nervous system so won’t give a true representation. Pick 2-3 compound exercises per exercise, warm up sufficiently and then test your 1 rep max for each.
Focus on Getting Stronger First to Build Muscle
Once you know what your 1 rep max is for the majority of your compound lifts then you will know what you consider to be heavy weights for yourself. Once you have these numbers your goal is going to simply be to increase these numbers over time.
Don’t get this statement confused with me saying you are now a powerlifter and need to train like one, your 1 rep max is a point of reference but it’s not a rep range that you are going to work in. Most people will go on a bulk to build muscle and the focus will therefore be muscle hypertrophy.
Getting stronger is however going to be your primary focus and this will be done through progressive overload. The human body will only adapt and grow when sufficient stimulus is placed upon it forcing it to do so, it’s a survival mechanism.
You don’t however adapt beyond what your body deems necessary, an extreme example is ballet dancers. Ballet places significant tension on your calves for prolonged periods and one thing for certain is that ballet dancers have well developed calves as a result.
Someone walking prolonged periods however won’t have the same level of development because this action does not stimulate a necessary reason for the body to adapt past the level of intensity it faces on a daily basis.
Your focus for this bulk will therefore be to get stronger in the 8 – 12 rep range for the majority of exercises with some flexibility to push your strength levels in the 3 – 6 rep range.
How Many Sets and Reps Should You Do on a Bulk
When on a bulk you want a mix of heavy sets with low reps (3 – 6 reps) and moderate to heavy sets with moderate to high rep ranges (8 – 12 reps). In this section I’ll outline exactly how you can calculate how many sets and reps you should be doing on a bulk.
The Ideal range for muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth) is typically focusing in the rep range of 8 – 12 reps, this allows for a heavy weight to be used relative to your current level of strength whilst also allowing sufficient time under tension (46 – 60 seconds per set).
When looking to target the hypertrophy range you want to be using weights in between the 75% – 85% range of your 1 rep max which is why it’s crucial that you know what this figure is. If your barbell bench press 1 rep max is 100kg, then you will want your working sets weight to be around 80kg as a benchmark.
This will make the workout challenging though will still allow you to hit the target rep range.
For a strength focused set you will want to do these at the start of your workout after warming up and when you are at your freshest. These should be limited to multi joint compound movements like the deadlift and squat where you want to maximally increase muscle fibre recruitment to stimulate hypertrophy from a different angle.
For these heavy sets you want to focus on working up to sets at around 85% – 90% of your 1 rep max keeping reps between 3 – 6. Here you will be looking to increase your base strength week to week which will in turn make you stronger on your accessory exercises.
Based on this guideline you might want to set up a pull session like this:
Warm up – 10 minute row
Pullups – body weight, 3 sets x 8 reps
Deadlift – 5 sets x 5 reps (2 sets are warm ups)
Dumbbell row – 4 sets x 10 reps
Low cable row – 3 sets x 12 reps
Rear delt dumbbell raises – 4 sets x 10 reps
Dumbbell hammer curl – 3 sets x 8 reps
EZ bar preacher curl – 3 sets x 12 reps
This would be an intermediate, moderate – high volume workout, as a beginner you could remove one of the rowing exercises and one of the bicep exercises in order to reduce volume and ensure you can recover properly.
So… Should You Lift Heavy Weights When Bulking?
Following the guidelines set out above you should lift heavy when bulking however heavy is relative to your own level of strength and based on your 1 rep max for most compound lifts.
Stick to around 80% of your 1 rep max for most lifts and try to get stronger each session, either by increasing the weight or increasing the reps.
For a select few exercises you can push the limit and work up to 90% of your 1 rep max but make sure this is only for 1 – 2 exercises per workout.
Lifting heavy weights is without a doubt the way you need to go on a bulk in order to build muscle however, don’t forget that your main focus should be on hitting your daily calorie target everyday to stay in a surplus and also ensure you get adequate rest and recovery as this is where the muscle growth occurs.
What Next
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