One of my favorite rules in Old Man Conjugate is Make Light Weight Heavy. It’s right up there with Find What You Can Do Today. But what does Make Light Weight Heavy even mean?
Really, it is one of the most contrary statements I’ve ever made, unless you understand it.
It's also one of the most valuable lessons that I have learned.
This is the point in my article where I’ll usually go into an interesting (at least to me) backstory of how we got here, but not today.
Instead, today I’ll go right into explaining what Old Man Conjugate: Make Light Weight Heavy means.
Making a light weight heavy simply means that if you are using a weight that is light because you chose poorly or you intended to for whatever reason, you are going to need to do something to get any benefit from it.
Let’s use Tate Presses as an example.
Back in the day you did these with 95’s for sets of 10 easy, but now you’re older and a little more beat up. You aren’t 295 pounds anymore and anything over 50’s make your elbows hurt.
What do you do?
Easy, implement Old Man Conjugate: Make Light Weight Heavy and get better results.
What if you used a pair of 35’s or 40’s and instead of smashing the weights and getting after it like you did in 1994 with a sleeveless flannel shirt, you intensely focus on:
- Locking in and maintaining a HARD abdominal brace
- Squeezing the handles as hard as you can
- Lowering the weight at a slow pace
- Keeping everything aligned absolutely perfectly through the entire exercise
- Squeezing the working muscles lie your life depends on it the entire concentric (the way up) portion
- And finally, squeezing the shit out of the primary muscle (in this case-triceps) at the top for a solid one-one thousand count
Summing this up in one phrase that I use all the time when coaching, doing the exercise with purpose.
These tips apply to any exercise you can do.
Your joints only have so many bends in them over a lifetime, much like a door hinge.
You ever see a hinge on the door in a really old house?
They are loose (not lose) and worn. Our joints age in a similar manner, not exactly the same but similar.
They wear out over time, that’s why they hurt. Why they wear out is a topic for another article!
If we simply slow the pace of an exercise down, intently focus on the working muscles, keep the tension on them and squeeze them HARD at the peak contraction point, we get safer results and more longevity.
Doing higher reps with lighter weights isn’t great for your ego, but it is great for your joints.
NO!
I’m not saying we should always do higher reps and lighter weights, this is a specific technique used in Old Man Conjugate for the days we are feeling beat up, or for movements that typically can cause pain. It’s a tool in our toolbox to use when it is needed.
For the Personal Trainers and Coaches out there reading, Old Man Conjugate: Make Light Weight Heavy is a great tool to use in two specific situations.
1. A client is not strong enough to use more weight.
An example I have from today is a client was doing Overhead Triceps extensions on the cable stack with 30 pounds, but 40 pounds was too heavy.
I told her to make the light weight heavy and explained how to do it. All of a sudden, it was not too light at all, as a matter of fact, her triceps were en fuego after the set was over. She did each rep with focus and intent, or, purpose.
2. Teaching a new client how to do something.
This is best for Assistance and Accessory work like pulldowns, biceps, triceps leg curls etc.
Using a slow and squeezy tempo gets them to focus on using the muscles we want as prime movers.
An added benefit of Old Man Conjugate: Make the Light Weight Heavy is that we are not constantly bombarding our joints with heavy weight and we are getting a lot of blood to the working muscles.
Old Lifters, give this shot and leave a comment.
Personal Trainer and Coaches, you do it too and let me know how it works.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
June 16, 2022
