It’s strongly ingrained in male culture in the United States, that to be as manly as possible you must lift the heaviest weights possible. This practice is not only dangerous, but doesn’t get maximum results for your body. Per T-nation.com, the one rep maximum is dead. The one rep maximum is when people find the heaviest weight that they can lift at least once. Many dangers are accompanied with this and this practice should be stopped.
The Dangers
The dangers are obvious when you think about them, but since one rep max lifting is so common, it is a part of male lifting culture. “Do you even lift bro?” or “What’s your Max?” Are questions often raised amongst weight-lifting guys.
The dangers that are accompanied with this are:
- muscle injuries increase
- if dealing with free weights, heavier weights are tougher to spot and accidents are more likely to occur
- results are not as long lasting as doing multiple reps
Risking injuries just to look cool, or super strong in the gym should not be worth the risk. Especially since the results are not going to be as good as superior with a weight that you can rep.
The Answer
The answer to this should be to emphasize exercise form and multiple repetitions. Even three to five reps would be much healthier than just one. (Depending on what type of weight training you’re doing, three to five reps may be recommended.) Weight lifting to the point where you must strain yourself to do just one rep should never be recommended. The next time you’re in the gym, focus more on how you’re lifting versus how much you’re lifting. Results come when things are done the right way.
