Skip to main content
Blog

Do you guys lift heavy?

Do You Guys Lift Heavy?

Potential members show up to Industrial Athletics with a wide range of fitness backgrounds.  Some show up with no background at all.  Others come with varying levels of exposure to areas of fitness like lifting, sports, gymnastics, and running.  Those who come to Industrial Athletics with a lifting background, usually ask some variation of the question, “Do you guys lift heavy?”

The short answer is “YES.”  We do lift heavy.  The longer answer is a little more involved.

Usually, this question is really asking, “Do you guys squat heavy?”  Or, “Do you guys deadlift heavy?”  Again, yes we do.  However, we do more than just squat heavy, deadlift heavy, or press heavy.

Heavy Focus

Throughout one of our fitness classes, there are typically different elements to a day’s programming.  There is the warmup, the extra work, and the workout.  Between two and four times per week, we lifting heavy as an individual element during a fitness class.  We call it “extra work.”  It might be five sets of five back squats at 85% of a one rep max.  Or, it might be spending 15 minutes finding the maximum weight you can deadlift three reps.

So, yes, we lift heavy multiple times per week by spending specific time in class focusing on a single heavy lift.

Heavy Lifting as Part of a Workout

The highlight of each day is the workout of the day (“WOD”).  This is also known as the metabolic conditioning workout each day.  Those familiar with CrossFit in Pittsburgh are probably familiar with these workouts.  Or, if you have ever watched CrossFit on television, you have likely seen a metabolic conditioning workout.  These workouts usually have multiple movements put together in a timed element.  An example is:

5 Rounds for Time:
10 Back Squats
10 Pullups
Run 400m

Because we mix weight training into our workouts, we have opportunities throughout our programming to add additional “heavy lifting.”  We will adjust suggested weights and rep ranges to specifically target goals like gaining the ability to move heavier weight for longer periods of time.

All Kinds of Heavy Weight Options

Beyond the simple question of “Do you guys lift heavy,” are the questions of “what are we lifting” or “how are we lifting it?”

First, there is more to lifting heavy than using a barbell and with plates.  We use large medicine balls that can weight 14, 20, or even 30 pounds and throw them.  Or, we might use sandbags that are awkward and heavy.  We also use dumbbells and kettlebells that will challenge your ability to stabilize heavy weight in each hand individually.

Second, we do more than squat, deadlift, and press.  Those are the standing power lifting movements.  We also clean, jerk, snatch, row, and more.  There are a ton of ways to lift weight and lift heavy weight.  If we are doing our job in a constantly varied program, like a CrossFit in Pittsburgh program, we will be lifting heavy all kinds of different ways.

So, do we lift heavy?  Yes, we do.  We have areas of our programming dedicated solely to heavy lifting.  We mix heavy weights in our workouts for different kinds of exposure.  Additionally, we do all kinds of different lifts and make those lifts heavy.

One final note, “lifting heavy” is very subjective.  What is heavy for you may not be heavy for someone else.  That is why we work with each individual to make sure you know how to lifting properly first.  Then, and only then, do we start adding more weight until we find something “heavy” for you.