Samson Dauda took Sam Sulek through a chest workout and shared some insight on weight.
Samson Dauda has established himself as one of the top competitors in Men’s Open over the last two years. He has built an elite physique in the gym and knows exactly what needs to be done to improve. During a recent chest day, he spoke with Sam Sulek about using less weight to focus on muscle contraction rather than moving the most amount of weight possible.
Hosstile’s YouTube account shared a video of a chest day between Dauda and Sulek. During the workout, the two discussed some benefits of different workouts and what works best to hit a specific area. Sulek grabbed 150-pound dumbbells for his second set of incline presses. Dauda had a simple question and began a conversation.
“Why are you pushing so heavy?
When I say that, it’s not cause you’re not freaking strong enough to lift 200. That’s not ideal Remember, it’s one thing to power lift. It’s another thing to body build.”
Dauda continued to explain that it is beneficial to use less weight on certain exercises to focus on contraction rather than simply moving the weight.
“You gotta understand, you’re not using the muscle you’re supposed to be using. You’re concerned so much about lifting so heavy, that you’re not actually pushing your chest out of it.”
Samson Dauda Talks Benefits Of Using Lighter Weight
Samson Dauda hit his set before continuing the discussion about why he uses lighter weight on some exercises. This includes lowering the risk of injury as well.
“You gotta think about it. You’re lifting a lot of heavy weight in your second set. When you’re moving that weight up, you have more risk, especially doing free weight dumbbell, to cause an injury instead of bringing it down and slowing it down where you actually get that contraction.”
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Sam Sulek asked a follow-up question about weight limits.
“What do you think the limit is on necessary weight?
I don’t ever think I need to do like 200’s or anything like that. But I do think the mechanical tension is a factor.”
Dauda discussed the body’s response to what is happening rather than the mental side of it.
“That’s the biggest factor. Remember, the body have no idea what weight you’re lifting. It only knows the resistance you’re putting through it. When you start focusing on the numbers you lift, you try to move the weight so much, you lose the actual idea of what you’re trying to do. The idea is you’re trying to build the muscle.
The muscle doesn’t care about the weight. It cares about the tension you’re putting it through. When you can contract it as tight as it can without resistance and release it and contract it again, that pushes blood flow and causes growth.”
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For his final set, Sam Sulek dropped from 150-pound dumbbells to 100 pounds. He joked that this was a difficult change.
“Let’s see what kind of set I can get with the 100’s instead of the 150’s. I’ll tell you what though, I’m still an ego lifter at heart so this is hard for me to hear.”
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