It is commonly accepted knowledge in many weight training circles that light weights are how one hones and improves their lifting technique. We use an easy and light weight to ensure that there are no deviations or compensations from what has been decided to be "optimal."

And while the fact is that these "optimal" designations are often times arbitrary, it is also true that for every permutation of human anthropometry - each coming with its own unique history and unique set of relative muscular strengths and weaknesses - there will be a most efficient lifting technique that finds an ideal middle ground between mechanical efficiency (i.e. yielding to one's own leverages and relative strengths), and commonly accepted safety techniques (for example, keeping a relatively neutral spine).  

Once that technique has been established to a somewhat concrete degree then progressive loading can begin in earnest. Volumes and intensities can be pushed higher and harder and heavier because it is reasonably assumed that the pattern that has been put in place will be the pattern that remains in place.

It never really stays the same! In fact, it continually evolves over time as the individual progresses in training age. That can be due to a shifting of relative strengths and weaknesses; it can be due to changes in body weight; it can be due to a shifting in muscular development; etc. etc.

There are many things that can cause the technique to desire or require to change, and those factors are omnipresent throughout the training career.

• Which means that lifting technique continuously evolves over the course of the training career.

• Which means it must continuously be honed.

• Which means the process of optimizing it is never truly finished.

If one stops paying attention to it, it may very well regress, no matter how concrete the established motor pattern seemed like it had been before.

Now we return to the question posed at the very beginning of the article. What is the best way to hone and optimize lifting technique? For rank beginners, this concept of "light weights with zero deviations" is almost certainly the way to go. This is, in part, because these trainees have no history of an established motor pattern to draw from and lean on. They need to play on easy mode in order to establish a baseline and move to playing on hard mode from there.

Further, people whose bodies are unaccustomed to the stimulus of weight training will respond very well to incredibly light weights anyway, numbers that would represent very low percentages of whatever their current one rep max on any given exercise may be. So it would be illogical to push past this point anyway. One should train with the lowest stimulus (volume, intensity, frequency) that allows them to maximize their rate of progress. For beginners this stimulus is very low, for advanced trainees it is often very high. So we can say quite confidently that the newer the trainee the lighter the weight that can be used to build strength and hone/optimize their lifting technique.

...people with a couple years or more under the bar who have built a moderate to large base of strength and muscle (remember technique must be continually honed! The set it and forget it concept does not apply here). While the general consensus seems to suggest that the answer is a resounding "yes," in my experience, it is actually quite the opposite.

Once a certain degree of stimulus has been adapted to, regressing that stimulus way, way down and expecting it to somehow translate when you once again dial the intensity way the hell up is optimistic at best, and simply unrealistic at worst. There are 2 primary reasons for this: the nervous system and differences in bar speed.

1. The Nervous System

It has been known for quite some time now that the nervous system simply treats heavy weights and light weights differently. I first read about this phenomenon many years ago. I can't fully recall the specifics, but I believe it was Soviet research that had been done on Olympic weightlifters and the Olympic lifts specifically. What they found was that lifts done at 80% or higher of the one rep max were simply treated as a different event by the body as compared to lifts done at 80% or less of the one rep max. Therefore, one could not expect to perform a bunch of "technique work" work at <80% and expect that to somehow translate up into a bigger 1RM on the platform.

Part of this has to do with the uniqueness of the Olympic lifts: them being a strength-speed movement by nature, and that aspect coupled with the way the lifter-barbell system behaves during these lifts. That is, as the bar weight increases the barbell accounts for a greater and greater percentage of the total system weight (the total system weight being the combined weight of the lifter and the barbell taken together as whole) with this ever shifting ratio altering the dynamics and leverages and mechanics of the movement.

If the lifter has not acclimated their nervous system to the unique changes that occur as the bar weight gets heavier and heavier then it doesn't really matter how "strong" they are (how much force their muscles can produce). They will simply be incapable of demonstrating this strength adequately because they will not be able to meet the technical demands of the movement at an appropriate level, which means their true strength will never really shine through.

These concepts are certainly more important for the Olympic lifts as they require greater precision, but they still hold true for pretty much any other compound barbell movement as well, to varying degrees. The relativity of the total system weight is constantly in flux no matter what lift you are doing. As you add weight to the bar YOU become a smaller and smaller percentage of this system and THE BAR becomes a greater and greater percentage of it, and this has a gradually more and more intense impact on how the system behaves.

The nervous system need be exposed to this particular stimulus frequently (or at least something closely resembling it) otherwise it will crash and burn. Your technique, which was otherwise built on a house of cards, will literally crumble before your eyes as your nervous system encounters what is essentially a foreign task.

2. Bar Speed

One thing I have noticed over time is that sometimes my warm-ups are sloppy! Sometimes the bar moves so fast that I throw myself out of position. Now, I have no intention of slowing things down because CAT (compensatory acceleration training) is a real thing and I don't want to train myself to become un-explosive. As well, I still always do my absolute best to maintain as perfect of positioning as I can, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way when the bar is moving really fast. You can almost lose control of your own power.

However, when the bar gets heavy enough things stop moving so fast. What I've noticed over the years is that during heavy lifts, because things move so slowly, you are able to feel things out over the course of the lift and find the optimal micro-adjustments and positional tweaks that need to be made in order to break through sticking points, help you maintain the most efficient bar path, and lift the most weight in the long run. 

And I should say, this takes a great deal of practice! Much like any other skill you probably won't pick it up right away. It does require a highly developed sense of kinesthesia (an awareness of what your body is doing in space simply by feel) and that takes time, practice, and repetition to truly hone, especially when you add in the variable of loading, which can induce a sense of panic in some people that makes them forget to focus on small details like this.

In time, however, after enough exposure, these sorts of fears are assuaged and the ability to work at full intensity but play at "half speed," so to speak, becomes a massive boon to your ability to make minute intra-lift adjustments, master the positioning of your body, and ultimately continually improve the efficiency of your lifting technique as you get stronger.

It is only the open-mindedness to understand that things won't always go perfectly, and along with that, the willingness to adapt on the fly - to change what you are doing while you are doing it - that makes this a possibility. Often times your body is trying to show you the best way; how YOU can best and most efficiently complete this particular physical task. For whatever reason, when it comes to lifting weights, we have all collectively decided that we should ignore this highly valuable feedback. I am simply suggesting that it is probably better if we don't.