Lower weight, higher reps

mirna_ayala0428

I'm doing leg extensions, abductor and seat row. Currently, most of them I'm doing 60lbs. I'm doing 6 sets of 15 reps. Or is it the other way around? 15 reps and 6 sets.

Is this correct? I'm trying to lose weight right now not gain muscle on top of fat.

binary_jester

Always do compound muscle exercises first, then move to isolation exercises. As for sets and reps, I would do 3-4 sets of 12 to 15 reps. You should struggle with that final rep in each set.

KhollerSA05

When you do more reps with a lower weight it helps to tone the muscle and create muscle endurance. anytime you begina strength training regimine you will end up gaining some lean muscle mass. The muscle will help increase your resting metabolic rate, but ultimately you will need to still do cardio in order to burn off the layer of fat on top of the muscle in order to see the definition.

ShaneT99

I'm a fan of lower reps with higher weight. The strength and muscle gains you achieve from working with the heavier weights will help to accelerate fat loss all the more. My current lifting program uses 3 sets of 4-6 reps for each exercise with enough weight that you can't physically do more than 6 reps but you can get at least 4.

TrainerRobin

Things have really changed in the fitness industry and every day, we learn something new that changes how we train people. Weight lifting, especially with regard to women, is one of those things. Unfortunately, the biggest challenge is getting the new, accurate information out to the average consumer/trainer.

In a recent training seminar I participated in at the Cooper Institute in Dallas (very respected ... former President GW Bush is a patient of Dr. Cooper and many noted athletes are involved with CI including folks like Lance Armstrong and Michael Johnson). The trainer asked experienced trainers to raise their hands and dozens of hands went up. She asked those that haven't extensively trained women to lower their hands. Some went down. They she asked how many trainers generally follow, for WOMEN, the three sets of 15 repetitions. Most of the trainers said they did. Her immediate comment was, "Well, it's not he 80's anymore and we now know better. If after everything you learn today, you still follow that dated rule, please don't tell folks you were trained at the Cooper Institute." That pretty much summed up how hard it is to get accurate information out to the masses, even when they are professional, respected trainers.

That said, we now know (from extensive research with women and resistance training) that women are capable of and benefit dramatically more from, using heavier weights. The old "lift light weights and do many repetitions" thinking has been long blown out of the water. Less well known is that fact we are now advised to have women perform 8 to 10 repetitions of a weight that is very difficult to execute WITH CORRECT FORM on the last repetition. And, we have them do three sets. If they can't finish six reps, then we lower the weight a bit. But we push women (and men!) much harder than we used to.

The emphasis must be on correct form and timing (slow is better ... think of a count of 1, 2, 3 on the way "up" and the same count on the way down, with a one second hold at the top and bottom of the move. There are many more complex twists to advanced training but this is good general advice for folks starting out, or who have been working out a long time, but have been doing it incorrectly. You'd be amazed at how many men tell me what weight they use, but they find out that when they execute the move correctly in terms of form and timing, they can't even budge the weight. It's important not to rush yourself to the point of using bad form or cheating, but also to push yourself.

If you do push yourself as I noted, you will have much faster muscle development and your body composition (body fat percentage to percentage of lean) will proceed much faster. I find my clients are afraid that they'll "bulk up" at first, but quickly get over that fear (it simply doesn't happen unless the bulking up is from excess calories in their diets ... and it's not muscle they're laying on). They love the quicker transformation and I love the motivation they get by seeing results more quickly than when they train with old school approaches.

The last thing I'll add, is that you might want to keep in mind volume. Trainers calculate volume for each workout. This is how it works: lift 10 pounds ten times and you have lifted 100 pounds. Do three sets, and you've lifted 300 pounds. Add that up for all of your moves and your total workout. When you want to vary your reps/sets, and you want to lift a little lighter ... then go ahead, but make sure your volume meets and preferably exceeds by a small margin, the volume of the same exercise at a heavier weight. In this case, you may lift 5 pounds, but you'll want to lift it 20 times, to get to the volume of 100 pounds per set. Does that makes sense? To keep building, our goal is to challenge your muscles with increasing volume each time. I change things up with my clients, but try to never get too close to a lighter weight that will permit them to do 15 reps. My rule of thumb is that when you get to your teens (e.g. 13 reps), you "graduate" to a heavier weight. Your number of reps will drop with the increase in weight, but you will make that volume up in sets.

Have fun with it. Hope that wasn't too technical. I just love to see folks progress and know how frustrated people get when they follow old rules and the progress comes so slow they get discouraged!

Good luck!

mirna_ayala0428

Things have really changed in the fitness industry and every day, we learn something new that changes how we train people. Weight lifting, especially with regard to women, is one of those things. Unfortunately, the biggest challenge is getting the new, accurate information out to the average consumer/trainer.

In a recent training seminar I participated in at the Cooper Institute in Dallas (very respected ... former President GW Bush is a patient of Dr. Cooper and many noted athletes are involved with CI including folks like Lance Armstrong and Michael Johnson). The trainer asked experienced trainers to raise their hands and dozens of hands went up. She asked those that haven't extensively trained women to lower their hands. Some went down. They she asked how many trainers generally follow, for WOMEN, the three sets of 15 repetitions. Most of the trainers said they did. Her immediate comment was, "Well, it's not he 80's anymore and we now know better. If after everything you learn today, you still follow that dated rule, please don't tell folks you were trained at the Cooper Institute." That pretty much summed up how hard it is to get accurate information out to the masses, even when they are professional, respected trainers.

That said, we now know (from extensive research with women and resistance training) that women are capable of and benefit dramatically more from, using heavier weights. The old "lift light weights and do many repetitions" thinking has been long blown out of the water. Less well known is that fact we are now advised to have women perform 8 to 10 repetitions of a weight that is very difficult to execute WITH CORRECT FORM on the last repetition. And, we have them do three sets. If they can't finish six reps, then we lower the weight a bit. But we push women (and men!) much harder than we used to.

The emphasis must be on correct form and timing (slow is better ... think of a count of 1, 2, 3 on the way "up" and the same count on the way down, with a one second hold at the top and bottom of the move. There are many more complex twists to advanced training but this is good general advice for folks starting out, or who have been working out a long time, but have been doing it incorrectly. You'd be amazed at how many men tell me what weight they use, but they find out that when they execute the move correctly in terms of form and timing, they can't even budge the weight. It's important not to rush yourself to the point of using bad form or cheating, but also to push yourself.

If you do push yourself as I noted, you will have much faster muscle development and your body composition (body fat percentage to percentage of lean) will proceed much faster. I find my clients are afraid that they'll "bulk up" at first, but quickly get over that fear (it simply doesn't happen unless the bulking up is from excess calories in their diets ... and it's not muscle they're laying on). They love the quicker transformation and I love the motivation they get by seeing results more quickly than when they train with old school approaches.

The last thing I'll add, is that you might want to keep in mind volume. Trainers calculate volume for each workout. This is how it works: lift 10 pounds ten times and you have lifted 100 pounds. Do three sets, and you've lifted 300 pounds. Add that up for all of your moves and your total workout. When you want to vary your reps/sets, and you want to lift a little lighter ... then go ahead, but make sure your volume meets and preferably exceeds by a small margin, the volume of the same exercise at a heavier weight. In this case, you may lift 5 pounds, but you'll want to lift it 20 times, to get to the volume of 100 pounds per set. Does that makes sense? To keep building, our goal is to challenge your muscles with increasing volume each time. I change things up with my clients, but try to never get too close to a lighter weight that will permit them to do 15 reps. My rule of thumb is that when you get to your teens (e.g. 13 reps), you "graduate" to a heavier weight. Your number of reps will drop with the increase in weight, but you will make that volume up in sets.

Have fun with it. Hope that wasn't too technical. I just love to see folks progress and know how frustrated people get when they follow old rules and the progress comes so slow they get discouraged!

Good luck!

Thank you for sharing this with me. Having a slow day so I may have to read a couple of times.:laugh:

myofibril

Dear Trainer Robin,

your post was bang on the money in my opinion. I sincerely hope that people, particuarly women, take your advice.

I think I may love you (kidding

rachmaree

TrainerRobin is correct... women don't need to be afraid of getting 'bulky' using heavier weights. We don't have as much testosterone available as men, so we don't bulk up like they do. Higher weight, lower reps, focus on form. Aim to do around 8-10reps, 3 or 4 sets. the last rep on each set should be really difficult.

Fesse

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CombatVet_Armywife

Great info Robin, thanks for sharing...I know many women ask this question a lot!

ShaneT99

Great post, Robin. It's nice to see that information coming out of the Cooper Institute. Now if they'd just quit telling everyone that squats and deadlifts are bad for your health I'd be happy.

TrainerRobin

Great post, Robin. It's nice to see that information coming out of the Cooper Institute. Now if they'd just quit telling everyone that squats and deadlifts are bad for your health I'd be happy.

LOL. Well, I recently visited a prominent sports medicine doctor in Dallas for a torn bicep (ouch!) and we talked about that. He told me that squats and deadlifts keep him in business and keep his kids in luxury cars. (double ouch!).

Cooper's not against these moves, but is really cognizant of the injuries that they create, and the long term detrimental effect on athletes' health and fitness over the years, following these injuries. They train us to modify them and create results with those modified approaches -- and I have to admit, it does work.

That said, I'll add that new research (from Cooper) also indicated that squats (e.g., two joint, large muscle moves) causes men's bodies (the study didn't address women) to release extra testosterone into their systems, which (long story short) resulted in statistically significant increases in muscle grown in other areas (e.g., specifically arms and chest) ... up to 20% under some conditions. As such, I often incorporate modified squats into a routine to get that release, even on upper body days. Of course, since these day are "rest" days for the lower body, it's controlled, but enough to get that testosterone boost. Pretty cool and I've seen better results in women with this approach (women are tough to add muscle to).

Thought you might find that interesting.

ShaneT99

Definitely interesting! Thanks for posting!

Can you describe the modified squats that you use?

TrainerRobin

Definitely interesting! Thanks for posting!

Can you describe the modified squats that you use?

Here is a quickie illustration of some of them. Of course, there are many more but these few are a start. I also use a step for some folks to do their squats on/off of, if that suits them better. Hope that helps!

http://exercise.about.com/library/blsquatFAQ.htm

jppizana

@TrainerRobin


Thanks for the info!! I love confirmation that what I'm doing is correct

GiGi76

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