Do light workouts have benefit?

[mainten84]

The cool thing right now is to talk about how you only see a benefit if you are training your muscles to near failure when you lift weights, and how you should be progressing to heavier weights, more time under tension, etc.

Well I travel a lot for work. I do a lot of workouts in small hotel gyms. Not saying you can’t get a killer workout with just some DBs, but I’m saying I don’t. I’m normally coming off a long day, on an irregular sleep schedule, unmotivated. So my standard is to try and hit two sets for every muscle group, to try to keep moving and feeling healthy. Is it even worth it to get some light sets in or should I just do some light cardio or something?

Thanks for all replies!

P.s. I make sure to prioritize good sleep, I don’t want this to be about that

 

[olirain]

@mainten84 Something is gonna be better than nothing.

 

[calvinabume]

@olirain Until it's not. Hear me out, yes at the beginning it will be something and then after a while without pushing progressive overload you will no longer be making gains as your body will adapt and no longer be stressed. It can be used to burn calories but your will not be gaining muscle .

 

[olirain]

@calvinabume Right but if it's all OP can muster than it's still better than nothing. Movement is good, period.

 

[calvinabume]

@olirain 100% correct. Just mentioning that if hypertrophy is the goal then it's not ideal. If being active and healthy is the goal then absolutely.

 

[jasonharless]

@mainten84 Not every day has to be about progress, some days will be about maintenence. When I was in corporate sales I did alot of what you did, mostly it was for mental health and an incentive to eat better and not drink as much while traveling. It might not have made me stronger but it prevented me from de-railing completely

 

[favorfromonhigh]

@jasonharless Exactly this ^

I always think of it as follows.

There's a big difference between "training" and "exercise"...

Training is the act of attempting to improve at something or acquire new abilities. In the context of strength training or hypertrophy this requires progressive overload etc.

In contrast you "exercise" an existing ability without necessarily having the expectation of improvement. In the context of strength training this means maintaining existing muscle mass and strength.

There are plenty of us who aren't particularly chasing mad gainz, and there's nothing wrong with working out with the intention of keeping what you've already worked so hard to achieve!

 

[jontue]

@favorfromonhigh Agreed. If we are doing something important and time draining in our lives (new job, baby, etc), a period of sustain can be a very good and difficult thing to achieve!

 

[dawn16]

@mainten84 Yes. All movement in excess of your daily baseline is good

 

[lisek]

@mainten84 IIRC Dr. Eric Helms has referenced research showing that strength and hypertrophy gains may occur up to 30 rep maxes. There of course is trade off in increased fatigue with those higher sets, but it can be countered with adding in band resistance, BFR, and myo-rep sets.

 

[ann3]

@lisek Dr. Mike Israetel preaches effectively the same thing. Although fuck me if sets of 30 aren't the worst thing on Earth, maybe 2nd only to Hitler.

 

[hilbrand]

@ann3 I tried doing sets of 30 for standing shoulder press due to a mild wrist injury. After 2 sessions I said F that I'm going down to sets of 20 lol.

 

[lisek]

@hilbrand FR, if it is not a core exercise I would rather do 15 reps max and make them slow/controlled.

 

[lisek]

@ann3 Dr. Mike is a GOAT in the space of communicating evidence-based fitness.

 

[jamesrawlings973]

@mainten84 Yes something is better than nothing as has been stated. But also good for mental health.

 

[theblackrider]

@mainten84 There's always value in moving, no matter how light your workout might be. There's plenty of evidence about the benefits of even tiny bursts of effort in overall health (think movement snacks, doing a few pushups or air squats for a minute or so).

Also the mental health aspect of it, as you stated, it makes you feel healthy, it also probably prevents you from falling into bad habits, so I say whatever you're doing is more than enough.

 

[kylels]

@theblackrider For me it’s important that cardio is also mental maintenance. No desire to run long distance in the rain, but nothing makes me feel better than swimming. It’s been one of the best parts about getting into fitness

 

[mbm_kdm]

@mainten84 Light exercise is infinitely better than no exercise.

Don't use this idea as an excuse to be lazy, but you gotta get whatever you can fit into your schedule!

 

[tbarjr]

@mainten84 Intensity is showing to be the important piece in terms of progress.
“Light” and “Heavy” are always going to be subjective.

The trouble is it’s really difficult to get to near failure with “light” weight because reps 15 to 30 often times feel as difficult as each other.

That said, with only light weights available, tempo is your friend. Slow lowering phases, pauses at the bottom, will all increase the intensity and relative number of reps you can complete for the same weight.

 

[mainten84]

@tbarjr So today I did deadlifts with 60lb DBs. I could not bring myself to do more than 15, when I probably had 10 more before I really started to grit my teeth. Next time slowing down is definitely an option to play more with