Weight lifting

martina1606

Hello lovely people,
I am after some advice if you dont mind.
I am on a weightoss journey and I have successfully lost 40pounds (20 more to go)
I look and feel better but I am thinking of incoorperating some weightlifting now to tone up.
My question is, what is better?
Heavier weights with less reps or lighter weights with more reps?
I used to be in a pretty good shape before I had my son who is 20months and did body pump 2-3 times a week which I have enjoyed. I was a nicely toned UK size 10.
I am looking to workout at home this time around, in the morning before everyone wakes. I have a barbell with weights and hand weights.
Body pump was less weight with more reps so I have experience with this but not with heavy weight lifting.
i am looking for a workout program that would be about 30-40 mins.
I am planning on implementing most of the moves from body pump as I am familiar with them when it comes to technique and I like them but im not sure how many sets a d reps to do?
Could anyone advise me on this please?
Thanks

TheSurge0n

1 week of heavy lifting with low reaps & alternate week with light dumbbell higher reaps.
This method would be affective, give it a try.

KingoftheLilies

If you have a barbell at home, and it's safe for you to do so (meaning you have some form of spotter - human or metal), there's no reason not to get yourself lifting on a premade programme like New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROLFW). Though there's no reason to take up a lifting programme "for women".

cwolfman13

It depends on what you're after...

1-6 reps heavy is optimal for strength gains
8-12 reps moderate weight is optimal for hypertrophy
12+ reps light weight is optimal for muscular endurance/stamina
20+ reps is a waste of your time and energy

I would personally recommend doing an actual program...you need quite a bit of knowledge to program your own workout and I can guarantee that you're going to miss things and over train on other things going it on your own.

As a matter of general fitness, New Rules of Lifting 4 Women is a solid program and a very good read just for general knowledge...it gets a bit convoluted towards the end of the program, but by then you will be familiar enough with things to move onto something else. Strong Curves is also solid though my wife recommends to her friends to start with New Rules to become more familiar with things before moving to Strong Curves.

Beyond that, there are tons of good beginner lifting programs. Your program should emphasize compound movements and progressive over-load. Working in a variety of rep ranges is optimal for general fitness.

SonyaCele

get your form perfect, if you're gonna go heavy.