How heavy should girls lift?
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Just a personal experience from someone who loves to lift heavy and run..
I ALWAYS gain weight when training for endurance runs--either half marathons or full marathons. I lift about 5 days a week while also training for my runs and watch my calories. Doesn't matter, I still gain weight. It might be hormonal, I'm really not sure. When I trained for my last full marathon, I gained 15lbs and was puffy and bulky the entire time. I ran my race and stopped long runs for a while, all of it came off within a few months and I lost the puffiness.0 -
As much as they want. Women do not need to train any differently than men.0
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As much as they want to. I love out pulling the boys.0
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If you've put on weight, you're in calorie surplus (or holding onto water). The weight on the bar does not make you gain weight.0
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MoniqueHoltman wrote: »I eat anything between 1,300 and 1,700 calories a day. I do a lot of running too as I'm training for a half marathon - surely that can't be a calorie surplus?
I would have to admit to some skepticism that you have actually gained any size or weight. Here's one reason why: It is really hard to build muscle. Alberto Salazar trains world-class distance runners. He has them lift heavy weights as an element of their training. (That is, squats as heavy as twice body weight.) Distance runners have a huge advantage when they are lighter, so no world class trainer is going to have his people doing something that will put on pounds. He says there has been one runner who gained two pounds with the weight lifting. That's it. They all run too much to have the calorie surplus to bulk up, he says.
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DOMS suck so badKaren_libert wrote: »I think it depends what you are trying to achieve. As Jennifer says, you wont look like a body builder by accident so don't worry about looking 'manly'.
I love to lift heavy. I like the feeling of strength it gives me. I don't want to look thin, I want to look 'fit'. Having muscles is a great way to burn calories and increase your metabolism.
I personally couldn't lift 5 days a week. It takes me more than a day to recover so I cant do consecutive days. I am in the process of dealing with the reason I get DOMS so badly with nutrition and supplements. I mix heavy lifting with circuits and boxercise. I'm also running. Running is not my usual exercise of choice but I have a charity race in July. I am discovering it's a great calorie burner but I'm not sure if it fits with my strength training.
If you like to lift but you're worried that you are making too much of a gain, I wonder if you'd enjoy something with a bit of weight but also cardio, like circuits or crossfit? Might be worth looking into getting a bit of variety?
are you eating enough antioxidants?
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NekoneMeowMixx wrote: »At risk of coming off as some kind of femnazi, you can lift as much as you damned well please (so long as you aren't risking injury or improper form, of course). Women simply do not contain the level of testosterone necessary to "bulk" like a man... If you're looking to stay lean/burn off the fat whilst building muscle, you need to make sure you're watching your calories...
As far as lifting low weights, high reps, I suppose this could help, though personally I'm more of a high weight, low rep kind of gal. I would presume that the latter should build more muscle, but don't quote me...
Very generally speaking, low rep high weight = stregnth and little if any hypertrophy (there will likely be some from most beginners baseline sizes). Moderate weight moderate reps = hypertrophy, assuming complimentary nutrition. High rep low weight = cardio, little to no hypertrophy and little to no gains in stregnth or even a loss in stregnth countered with an increased capacity for work over time.0 -
As much as you can.0
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like others said..as heavy as you can.
are you doing a structured program, or are you doing a homemade one?0 -
nothing beyond pink weights. If they aren't pink, not for women. Same with protein. If the protein is in a pink container, it's formulated properly.0
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I'm just starting Strong Curves, which takes a different approach - has explicitly aesthetic goals more in line with traditionally "feminine" bodies. Involves lifting heavy, though
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nothing beyond pink weights. If they aren't pink, not for women. Same with protein. If the protein is in a pink container, it's formulated properly.
I joined recently a Planet Fitness. I have read here people complaining about them not having free weights, so I visited before joining, and fortunately this one here is a perfectly average gym, with several free weight benches. What they have however thatis weird at first glance, is a lot of pink weight plates I suspected at first that they used to be red and just faded with time. But now I realise the error of my ways, it is a clever plan to attract women to heavy weights 
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nothing beyond pink weights. If they aren't pink, not for women. Same with protein. If the protein is in a pink container, it's formulated properly.
I joined recently a Planet Fitness. I have read here people complaining about them not having free weights, so I visited before joining, and fortunately this one here is a perfectly average gym, with several free weight benches. What they have however thatis weird at first glance, is a lot of pink weight plates I suspected at first that they used to be red and just faded with time. But now I realise the error of my ways, it is a clever plan to attract women to heavy weights
God, I hope not. I would hope a judgement free zone wouldn't be so steeped in sexism... 0 -
queer_mermaid wrote: »Lift however much you damn well please as long as your form is on point and it makes you feel good! high weight low reps definitely builds strength, but muscle size doesn't really grow unless you're eating at a calorie surplus, if anything, the heavier the weights I lift, the smaller and more defined but strong I seem to get. If you're concerned, you should book a programme with someone at your gym who will probably know loads about it all.
Also, I use IIFYM to make sure I'm hitting all my macros etc!
I've seen a few people talk about this, what's IIFYM?
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like others said..as heavy as you can.
are you doing a structured program, or are you doing a homemade one?
Just doing a home made one. I'll tend to do my run first - anything from 30 minutes to an hour. I do one session of HIIT training a week on the treadmill too. Then I'll do an hour of weights focusing on either back and biceps, chest and triceps or legs.
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You can lift as much as possible, however Im pretty sure you eat below your BMR sometimes which can be dangerous and will cause you to lose muscle mass! 1300 is not enough for a grown woman!0
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It's been a while since I've done proper lifting (illness and hamstring injury). But I gain a fair amount of weight when I start lifting - like others have said, I think it's because your muscles hold more water.
Looking at your diary, you're logging the real weights of things (I note the slightly different weights of the grapes each day) - keep it up, that's a great habit to get into.
My advice would be to be patient. I don't think the weight you've gained is fat, I think it's water and it will settle down.
Oooh and IIFYM is short for If it fits your macros (essentially eat what you like so long as you're getting the right balance of carbs, fat protein and cals).
I'm no expert but I'd be interested to know what others think of an hour's lifting after a run - to me this seems too long but I'm not a qualified trainer or at target or any of the other things that might add knowledge to this gut feeling.0 -
Here's the Strength Standards for the major lifts (men and women's tables included) http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html0
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