Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Is Martin's training protocol as efficient with lighter weights? I use kettlebell and bodyweight exercises and have only a few bells from 45lbs-72lbs. Even doing double kb front squats with 2 45lb bells is only 90lbs. Martin talks about lower reps at a much higher weight (200lbs). Can this be achieved by more reps?

I've always used KBs for HIT, are they simply not heavy enough to mimic the leangains style of training?

Anyone experiment with this?

flag	asked Apr 17 2012 at 13:07 terra 691●2●15

Lars · Answer 1 · 2012-04-17 14:41:53Z UTC

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By doing goblet squats instead of normal squats, you might be able to up the intensity and still use your KBs.

But yes, if you're doing Leangains for cutting weight, the recommended thing to do is low volume and high intensity (as in heavy weights, not metcons). If you are not trying to cut weight, other types of traning might become more favourable as well.

answered Apr 17 2012 at 14:41

Lars
1,392●3●14

Very interesting. For weight loss, I've generally heard "weight - all you can do for 12-15 reps, and short rest time ~15 seconds between different exercise sets", which generally implies getting the exhaustion from both the reps and weights, not just very heavy weights. Can you explain "the recommended thing to do is low volume and high intensity (as in heavy weights, not metcons)" - some more? I've heard that for maintenance and mass gain, but not weight loss. – greymouser Apr 17 2012 at 14:52

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Leangains is a little different than the typical way of looking at fat loss, and IMO is a better way of looking at it. Most diets tend to just look at net weight and not the amount of muscle lost. Leangains attempts to preserve or gain muscle while losing fat. If you do a volume workout, you may cannibalize muscle in order to get the energy to complete the workout. Intensity does not require as much overall energy and helps preserve the muscle, even if you aren't gaining much. That is the impression I got from all of Martin's writings and rippedbody.jp. – Rob Apr 17 2012 at 16:10

Casey · Answer 2 · 2012-04-17 15:05:43Z UTC

I did just fine following 16/8 IFing and using comparatively light weights last year. I only had dumbbells up to 52.5 lbs, and could remove the plates and put them in a backpack. So I did dumbbell deadlifts only up to about 100lbs, pushups with 40lbs in a backpack, chinups with 40lbs in a backpack, bodyweight rows, handstand pushups, dips, and a handful of others.

I lost weight, mostly fat, some lean mass. I didn't do the copious carbs PWO.

Since then, I've changed my methodology - I switched to heavier weights, lower reps. Implemented the carbs PWO. I gained about 15lbs, mostly lean weight.

So really, it depends on what you're looking to do. But chances are anything you do will be better than sitting around on your keister. And the more things you do well (16/8 fasting, fasted training, PWO meals, carb cycling, etc) the better you'll do overall. It's like a continuum.

miked · Answer 3 · 2012-04-17 15:12:13Z UTC

No, the light-weight, high-rep scheme triggers different hormones than a heavy-weight, low-rep scheme. You may still see some benefit, but there's a reason Martin prescribes what he prescribes, there really is something magical about heavy weights.

Leangains style training with light weights

3 Answers