You have to lift heavy to increase strength beyond your natural limit.
But for muscle mass and appearance, light weights are good. And injury rare.
I’ve been lifting light lately, mostly of necessity. I have no spotter in my home gym and am 65yrs old now.
4 x 10 75lbs bench press and dead lifts.
Slow. Always slow, focusing on precise form.
And 5 x 10 45lbs barbell curls, rows etc.
It works.
I’m strong and muscular for a 65yr old man.
Great job Mr 65!!!!
Personally, I mix up my routines
One week; Heavy lift target muscle areas (chest, back, legs, shoulders, arms), working through the ranges of the muscles. Fort instance, chest...dumbbell bench to 120#, then bar bell bench to higher weight, then incline dumbbell press, or flies, then cross pulley downward closed flies. This works the Middle, up and bottom of the chest.
Another week; Large group heavy...trap bar dead lifts, added weight pull ups, added weight dips.
Another week dumbbells only, high rep count.
Between each exercise two sets of core, such as decline bench (highest decline angle only) crunches with 35-45# dumbbell on my chest, incline straight leg lifts-ties to the ceiling & pelvis lifted off the bench, seated dumbbell (15-25#) leg lift crunches, hanging straight leg windshield wipers, seated dumbbell butt pivots 40#, plank dumbbell (10-15#) back flies, decline bench overhead medicine ball 10# throw/catch to 15’ away, kettle bell back and side raises, etc. Always to 12 reps, or add weight if too easy.
Rest every other day mostly, but also mix in 4&5 day lifting weeks on low weight/high rep sessions. Listen to my body.
3 mile runs on rest days when I’m not exhausted...your body will tell you when, if you listen to it.
This has kept me under 12% body fat, 6pack abs, excellent sleep patterns, feeling great,light on my feet and...well, I’ll just say it...guys, heavy weight training is excellent for you as an older man. I’ll leave that right there.
59
6’
171#
29” waist, 45” chest
With that said, I think light weight/high reps should be part of, but maybe not the exclusive weight training for a man, if you’re fit for it, especially if you want to raise your testosterone naturally.
Of course I’ve also had arthroscopic surgery to each shoulder and bicep tendon, mostly due to unavoidable arthritic damage. So there IS real concern for injury with heavy lifting, as the article states
Bottom line listen to your body, lightly stretch before lifting to feel the potential problems and to guide you. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. =o)
...that is all
At that weight for your bench press, couldn’t you just substitute with pushups? Would save time.
I’m doing 5 sets of 15 on each excercise. Made a giant difference going from ten to 15 reps with lighter weight. Almost an HIT workout because the heart rate gets up pretty good.