Ladies lifting weights!

swaggadactyl

Hi everyone! Wanted to see if there were any other ladies out there lifting (heavy, free) weights My boyfriend got me into lifting last year and we did it for awhile together and made some good gains. Then we moved and I got busy with school and work and we sort of fell off the wagon.

Looking to get into it again and figured I'd try to get involved with other mfp people who are doing the same! It makes me feel strong and awesome, and muscle gains in larger groups have really given the fat left on my body something to hold on to - my shape has really changed into something I like!

I've been reading some fitness magazines and was excited to discover that some of them are encouraging heavy weight lifting now! Rather than the minimal lifting and endless "toning" exercises I remember from previous years

I encourage you to try it if you've thought about it. For me, it's tons of fun to push myself and become stronger. Get down and dirty with the boys and show them what we can do, girls!

1FITmamaofTWINS

im a heavy lifter 100%

jmmtaylor

I'm not "heavy" lifting yet. I am doing ChaLEAN Extreme and right now I'm up to muscle failure at 15 pounds (doing 8 reps). I never lifted before though, so I think that's pretty good since I started a month ago having failure at 8 pounds (doing 12 reps). Plus she helps you make it feel like you are lifting more than what you are. I can already see a difference in my muscle

starboardzor

Good for you!! I'd like to get into it a little heavier, even though I don't think my boyfriend likes it. I LOVE having muscle. I get this sense that I can take care of myself, you know?

taldie01

I am slowly getting back in to it

I do legs Chest Triceps one day, cardio next day, Back, biceps, shoulder one day, Cardio next day, ,

NoAdditives

3 times a week I do a 30 min cardio/weights circuit at my gym. I lift as heavy as I can and increase weight at least once a week.

beccaboo1021

I only do upper body weights (biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, and some chest), the heaviest I lift is 20# for the bicep curl. I need to get my own bench press bar so I don't have to mess with my husband's HEAVY weights, then I think I'd do more presses and squats.

millerll

I've been a heavy lifter for over 30 years. In fact, it's the only kind of lifting I do. If it were up to me, I'd banish the word "toning" from the fitness lexicon! I don't know why so many women are intimidated by weights. Strength training is great for weight loss, overall fitness, and helps strengthen your bones to stave off osteoporosis. Win-win all around!

swaggadactyl

Awesome everyone! I'm getting into a new routine that my bf is putting together for us. I'm so excited by just the idea of lifting regularly again I'll post what we end up doing. Before, I did a program focused on powerlifting and had built up my squat to 165 and my deadlift to 210.. probably no where near those numbers anymore but that's where the motivation from mfp will help! I'm hoping getting back into it will help me on my fast-track to my first-ever bikini body.

Keep going, ladies! Please share any and all lifting experiences

liftingbro

Good to see the ladies lifting weights, it's probably the best thing for a woman's body.

It increases bone density
tightens up problem areas for women (Back of the arms, legs..ect)
Helps balance hormone levels
More functional strength (if you're a mom this is helpful)
Tends to help highlight your shape better.

Way to go ladies!

bethiepoo30

I've always heavy lifted, the five and ten pound weights just seem pointless to me. Fifteen years ago, my sophomore year in high school, I took advanced PE with many members of our football team. Starting in January, I began lifting again. I generally lift three times a week, I do upper and lower body in the same session. My lifting sessions generally last 35 to 45 minutes. I do 3 sets of 10 reps each on about 10 to 12 different exercises (what we did in high school). I havent lost a lot of weight during this time but I've went down a whole pants size as I see my body tightening and toning up. I may be an exception though, I've yet to see another female at my gym who lifts as heavy as I do but I've always been pretty stong.

I would encourage anyone to go for it!

namrettik

I've only been doing the machines, but I'm trying to get my strength up enough to mess with the barbells. I mainly focus on the machines that train groups of muscles rather than individual ones (which I know do next to nothing for the body and are more likely to injure it than anything else).

My favorite machine is basically a vertical bench press. I started at 30 lbs. a couple weeks ago, now I'm up to 40-45 (doing three sets of 12). Once I'm comfortably at 45+, and if my friend ever tags along with me to the gym again (finals season is terrible on coordinating schedules) to spot me, I'm off to the real bench press.

I'm a little terrified of deadlifts and squats, though. Great for the body, if you don't break something trying to do them in the process :P

torregro

I've pretty much given up the cardio classes (although they were a lot of fun), because I wasn't seeing the results that I wanted.
Today's work out was upper body.
We do four sets of upper body exercises.....warm up set, regular set, regular set with 10 second isometric hold and max set with 15 second isometric hold.
Today:
Chest press: 40# 15 45# 15 50# 12/8sec 50# 15/15 sec
Chest flies: 15# 15, 15# 13, 15# 14/2sec 50# 15/15 sec
Seated Row : 70# 15, 75# 15/10 sec, 75# 15/15 sec, 80# 12/0 sec
Lat Pullover: 100# 15, 110 15, 120# 10/0sec, 120# 11/15 sec

The reason I'm posting these numbers is because I have no idea how they relate to any other woman, but only how they relate to ME. I have made gains in every one of these exercises over the past month, so regardless of what the scale is showing, I AM getting stronger, which is a good thing. Lift on!

aippolito1

ME! Not TOO heavy but my trainer has me curling 12.5 free weights and 25 lbs on a curling machine. The most I've worked my arms is about 30.

End6ame

I've only been doing the machines, but I'm trying to get my strength up enough to mess with the barbells. I mainly focus on the machines that train groups of muscles rather than individual ones (which I know do next to nothing for the body and are more likely to injure it than anything else).

My favorite machine is basically a vertical bench press. I started at 30 lbs. a couple weeks ago, now I'm up to 40-45 (doing three sets of 12). Once I'm comfortably at 45+, and if my friend ever tags along with me to the gym again (finals season is terrible on coordinating schedules) to spot me, I'm off to the real bench press.

I'm a little terrified of deadlifts and squats, though. Great for the body, if you don't break something trying to do them in the process :P

Good articles on squats and deadlifts here:
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/

They are perfectly safe as long as you adhere to proper form.

Great to see ladies involved in heavy lifting. I get so annoyed when women say that it will make them “bulky”. And I also agree we should ban the word toning. There is no such thing as toning, there is only stronger and weaker.

songbyrdsweet

Ain't nothin' but a peanut!!

seckler

I am soooo glad I found this thread! I am on my 3rd week of P90X and was wondering whether to do the heavy weights and max out at 10 reps or the "toning" and max out at 15. I have been doing the toning and maxing out at 15. (I currently use 10 pounds for shoulders, back, and biceps and 8 for triceps). It sounds like I may need to switch and go heavier?
I have also been confused about my eating. I still have fat to lose so didn't know how many calories I would need to take in a day. I am 5'2" and have it set at 1300 (raised it up from the 1200 myfitnesspal set but didn't know if I should go to maintenance) and then try to eat back whatever I burn off during the day, but usually don't eat them all back - sometimes that would mean eating over 2000 calories a day. I am worried about getting "fat" weight back on if I do that.
Any help with either of these issues would be awesome!
Thank you!!

bmontgomery87

Nice to see ladies lifting heavy!

baisleac

Used to be. Waiting on being able to afford a gym to go back to it; for two reasons. One, I no longer have the equipment at home. Two, I want someone to watch me for form, at least in the beginning. For now, I do bodyweight plus resistance bands. But I can't wait to get back to the big numbers.

bmontgomery87

Ain't nothin' but a peanut!!

lol. aware

torregro

I am soooo glad I found this thread! I am on my 3rd week of P90X and was wondering whether to do the heavy weights and max out at 10 reps or the "toning" and max out at 15. I have been doing the toning and maxing out at 15. (I currently use 10 pounds for shoulders, back, and biceps and 8 for triceps). It sounds like I may need to switch and go heavier?

I'm sure you'll get lots of great answers. It's about feeding the muscle, causing micro trauma to the muscle, and allowing the muscle to recover. I could do biceps curls all day long with a 5# weight, but..............why would I want to? It's not efficient, and it would take forever to truly fatigue (and cause micro trauma) to the muscle. We've got to take our flabby little triceps muscles and STRESS them so they know to stay still and quit jiggling when we wave good-bye! LOL
good luck to you. And DON'T forget to stretch afterwards!

End6ame

Weight training aims to build muscle by prompting two different types of hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and myofibrillar hypertrophy. During myofibrillar hypertrophy, actin and myosin contractile proteins increase in number and add to muscular strength as well as a small increase in the size of the muscle. During sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell increases with little accompanying increase in muscular strength.

Weight training exercises are broken up into groupings of the number of times the movement is performed; these are called sets and repetitions (reps), respectively. The reason for this is to tailor the weight training towards a specific goal, such as strength, power, size, or endurance. Generally, the rep range breakdown is as follows:

1 to 5 reps = Strength & Power (Myofibrillar Hypertrophy)
6 to 12 reps = Size (Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy)
13 to 20 reps = Muscular Endurance

To put this in more understandable terms; generally bodybuilders that are concerned with the size and appearance of their muscles will work in the 6-12 rep range while power lifters and Olympic lifters that are concerned with lifting heavier weights will work in the 1-5 rep range. It is also important to note that any rep range will build strength, power, and muscular endurance, but some rep ranges will develop more than others.

So as it pertains to this topic, the women that do lower weight at higher reps actually contribute to the size (“bulkyness”) of their muscles more than the women that lift heavier weight for lower reps.

Steph_135

I've been lifting lighter weights with the Jillian Michaels DVDs, but if I had a gym membership, I would totally follow the program outlined in The New Rules of Lifting for Women book! It's a great read!

fitmom4ever

Just started lifting, and right now "heavy" to me is like anything in the 15 to 30 lb range. But I'm getting there. Glad to see so many strong women out there!

TiffanyW1014

What is good to lift if I am just starting?? I don't want to look like a man but i would love more muscle!! Just not sure what to do exactly and I can't afford a trainer!

RunHardBeStrong

Love heavy lifting! For me it's the only way I enjoy lifting!

baisleac

What is good to lift if I am just starting?? I don't want to look like a man but i would love more muscle!! Just not sure what to do exactly and I can't afford a trainer!

You're not going to look like a man; you don't have the testosterone levels for it. Start small, preferably with a mirror or another person, to practice good form (suggest bodybuilding.com for illustration/demonstrations), then move to heavier weights as you can handle them.

End6ame

What is good to lift if I am just starting?? I don't want to look like a man but i would love more muscle!! Just not sure what to do exactly and I can't afford a trainer!

Look here:
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/

You won’t look like a man, you can’t, your hormones won’t allow it. The women that look like men, go out of their way to look like that.

swaggadactyl

I was going to link Starting Strength for those of you asking for a beginning program . I did it and was able to establish good form and move on to an intermediate program. So thank you Grglandr for the link.

I suggest taking your time to make sure you are feeling the lifts in the right places and not over- or under-doing the weight.

Yay heavy stuff!! Time to work on my bench my upper body is blah!

millerll

Hey, swagga - a 210 DL is damn respectable! Good job! I was a competitive PL in college, and I'm thinking about getting back into it. I competed in a DL contest this weekend and it was a blast! Made me realize how much I miss the sport. Keeep it up!

frenchfri87

heavy lifting