Women lifting heavy?

xosunny520

I feel somewhat silly posting this, but...

All my life I did not understand why women were afraid of lifting heavy weights. All I ever saw were posts or articles advocating for heavy weight workouts for women.

Now that I am older and more serious about my fitness journey, I must ask:

Should I go heavy weight, low reps, or light weight, many reps?

My goal is to lean out completely - I have bulky thighs from playing soccer and volleyball as a teenager.

middlehaitch

Heavy weight, low rep is for, primarily, strength gain.
Light weight, high rep is for, primarily, endurance.

If I were you I would opt for the former. But, to lean out you, not knowing your stats, you will probably have to eat at a deficit to reveal any muscle.

So, lift heavy (for you) and eat at a reasonable deficit.

You may do better posting this in the 'gaining' or 'exercise' (not both) forum.

You can request the mods to move it.

Cheers, h.

Fflpnari

I love love love heavy lifting!!!! Depending on the weight is how many reps I do. For example I can deadlift #175 for 10 reps, but might do 205 for 3-5 reps. I do crossfit so reps and the movement change daily.

stanmann571

Unfortunately if your "bulky thighs" are the result of soccer, volleyball, dance, etc, the only cure is a coma

rckeeper22

mcorrr wrote: »

I feel somewhat silly posting this, but...

All my life I did not understand why women were afraid of lifting heavy weights. All I ever saw were posts or articles advocating for heavy weight workouts for women.

Now that I am older and more serious about my fitness journey, I must ask:

Should I go heavy weight, low reps, or light weight, many reps?

My goal is to lean out completely - I have bulky thighs from playing soccer and volleyball as a teenager.

The answer is yes - and by that, I mean combine heavy, low reps for a primary exercise or two, and work in auxiliary exercises that are higher rep, lower weight. An example might be doing 3-4 or 4-5 reps, heavy, for weighted back squat. Then, maybe super-set body-weight or lightly-weighted lunges and hamstring curls, etc. There are many different ways to do it - some like to focus on body parts (e.g., leg day, upper body day, etc).

Recently I've been following a program that advocates 3 main movements 3x a week: a squat (backsquat, split squat, front squat, etc), a pull (DL, RDL, clean, KB swing, etc), and a push (bench press, incline BP, shoulder-press, etc) and rotates which one is the main heavy lift, with the other two being lighter and higher rep.

Find what works for you, but I think some reasonable combination of heavy and light will give you the best results.

psuLemon

mcorrr wrote: »

I feel somewhat silly posting this, but...

All my life I did not understand why women were afraid of lifting heavy weights. All I ever saw were posts or articles advocating for heavy weight workouts for women.

Now that I am older and more serious about my fitness journey, I must ask:

Should I go heavy weight, low reps, or light weight, many reps?

My goal is to lean out completely - I have bulky thighs from playing soccer and volleyball as a teenager.

Why choose only one. There are benefits to having a program that includes a variety of reps and weight ranges. Ideally, you could start with a base of low rep, high weight to maximize strength gains, and then transition to something with a bit more variety. Either way, getting on a program that addresses your goals and that is proven successful, is going to be the best approach.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Davidsdottir

Lifting heavy weights will NOT make you bulky. I keep hitting PRs and am still a size 2. You will only bulk if you eat in a surplus and lift a lot of weight for a long time. I've been lifting for 5 years and I WISH I was bulkier!

Nikki10129

I've always played competitive soccer growing up and as a result had bigger thighs, I used to hate them but learned to love them. Heavy lifting has honestly made them smaller - more defined, but smaller!

EmmaCaz4

Both.... always nice to mix up rep ranges.

Opt for heavy weights but incorporate lower weight stuff with high rep ranges. Helps muscles grow using different rep ranges and weight ranges.

I use anything from 6-20reps.

The usual rep range is 10-12 but if you can push for 10-12 & it feels ok, up the weight and do 8reps, then do drop sets and lift for 20reps etc.

Both work well and work better used together. Hope this helps

Wheelhouse15

Nikki10129 wrote: »

I've always played competitive soccer growing up and as a result had bigger thighs, I used to hate them but learned to love them. Heavy lifting has honestly made them smaller - more defined, but smaller!

Actually, it is more than likely that what has happened is that you've dropped body fat. I know a lot of soccer and field hockey players that have large thighs, but they are also a natural pear shape so they have a combination of more muscle and fat on the thighs. Once you lean out the legs will definitely look smaller and more defined. Diet is the most important factor for overall body shape and composition.

Okiludy

Follow a proven novice program such as Starting Strength or Strong Lifts.