Lift like a guy, look like a goddess or the other...

RunHardBeStrong

Did you read the book? If not, buy it and do so. It's pretty amazing, and it teaches you the correct way to lift, different exercises to do and what you should be eating.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/1583332944

I agree! This book is my bible! I was losing fat but did not start seeing amazing results until I read this book and used it's principles!

BabyDuchess

can i ask a really silly question as a novice, when you say heavy, how heavy do you mean? im 5'3" and 120lbs. what should i be lifting? my arms are gettng toned but i use 6lbs and do more reps. how much should i be lifting?

1st....no question is ever silly. ) Lifting heavy means to be able to do 3 sets of 6-10 reps and by the last 1-2 reps you feel as though you can't do it. If however, you are lifting and are having no problem completing all the reps, then you need to increase the weights. Good luck! My trainer has be increasing weight just a little through each set and I love it! :flowerforyou:

sbilyeu75

Go check out Bodybuilding.com. Read the site, read the forums (especially in the women's section). You'll get all the advise you need right there.

OHJeepGirl

I've been lifting for 3 years so take this into account. Here are the top weights on my sets for some specific recent excercises: dumbbell flat bench press 30 lbs, barbell flat bench 75 lbs, seated row machine 100 lbs, barbell bent over rows 70 lbs, dumbbell military press 25 lbs, dumbbell side raises 15 lbs, dumbbell front raises 15 lbs, dumbbell clean & press 25 lbs, barbell clean & press 65 lbs, cable curls 70 lbs, dumbbell behind the head (single) 30 lbs, press down 45 lbs, barbell squat 145 lbs, barbell front squat 80 lbs, prone leg curls 55 lbs, standing calf raises 60 lbs. Don't be afraid of the weight. Do what you can do safely and in good form.

NoWeighJose74

I definitely give props to the (few and far between) girls I see at my gym that are using the free weights. It's admirable, and impressive!

noltes2

Hi Laurie, you are right where I was 44 pounds ago!!! I started at 195, and now I am at 151 with a goal of 140 like you! I feared the same thing, will I bulk up? I wanted to shrink so I was scared of lifting at a heavier weight. I'm pretty sure there is no "right" way to do things, but I'd be happy to share what I have done and had great success with.

Went from 195 to 180 with just changing eating habits and adding more walking. At 180 I started doing dumbells and cardio 5x a week... Got to 175 next month, got to 170 the next month. I would do 5-10 pound dumbells 3 sets of 15.... I started building muscle underneath the fat. I did not rest between sets and would do each muscle group back to back with jogging in between.

Then I started really amping up the cardio to shred the fat. I continued lifting with dumbells 3x a week at 8-12 pounds and did 90 minutes of cardio 4-5 times a week. I would do interval training so my heart rate was high even while lifting to burn the most fat. Well 5 months of doing that (some slip up weeks and "breaks in between"). Once I hit 159 or so 2 months ago I started lifting heavy with machines and now that my body fat has dropped you can really start to see the results, just look at my pics on my profile. 2 months of heavy lifting have yielded me fantastic results and I've firmed up like no other. My weight isn't dropping quickly, but that is okay. Slow and steady wins the race. It's still important to build muscle under the fat so you burn more calories all day long. My routine now is weight machines 2x a week 3x12 and 60 minutes of cardio 3x a week.

Good luck with whatever you do, there is no magic answer or one way to do things!

M_lifts

can i ask a really silly question as a novice, when you say heavy, how heavy do you mean? im 5'3" and 120lbs. what should i be lifting? my arms are gettng toned but i use 6lbs and do more reps. how much should i be lifting?

1st....no question is ever silly. ) Lifting heavy means to be able to do 3 sets of 6-10 reps and by the last 1-2 reps you feel as though you can't do it. If however, you are lifting and are having no problem completing all the reps, then you need to increase the weights. Good luck! My trainer has be increasing weight just a little through each set and I love it! :flowerforyou:

thanks! i can do 6lbs quite easily. i do 3 sets of 15 reps (is that the right way to do it?) maybe i should do heavier but less! will have to go and see if i can get that book!

DianaPowerUp

I just ordered that book from Amazon (New Rules of Lifting for Women), and I can't WAIT! I do weight training 3x/wk, and after 4 mos, my butt sits higher, everything is tighter, I have better muscle tone....and I'm burning more calories all day long, than ever before. But I want to see if I can increase my muscle mass, and finally get a 6 pack (hence the book).

So don't listen to those guys in the gym! You can do it! And if you follow through, in a few months, you'll be SMOKIN'!!!

BabyDuchess

can i ask a really silly question as a novice, when you say heavy, how heavy do you mean? im 5'3" and 120lbs. what should i be lifting? my arms are gettng toned but i use 6lbs and do more reps. how much should i be lifting?

1st....no question is ever silly. ) Lifting heavy means to be able to do 3 sets of 6-10 reps and by the last 1-2 reps you feel as though you can't do it. If however, you are lifting and are having no problem completing all the reps, then you need to increase the weights. Good luck! My trainer has be increasing weight just a little through each set and I love it! :flowerforyou:

thanks! i can do 6lbs quite easily. i do 3 sets of 15 reps (is that the right way to do it?) maybe i should do heavier but less! will have to go and see if i can get that book!

I would go heavier with less reps. I would aim for a maximum of 3 set of 10 reps with the last one or two reps being fairly difficult to do.....good luck!

BabyDuchess

I just ordered that book from Amazon (New Rules of Lifting for Women), and I can't WAIT! I do weight training 3x/wk, and after 4 mos, my butt sits higher, everything is tighter, I have better muscle tone....and I'm burning more calories all day long, than ever before. But I want to see if I can increase my muscle mass, and finally get a 6 pack (hence the book).

So don't listen to those guys in the gym! You can do it! And if you follow through, in a few months, you'll be SMOKIN'!!!

So true.....that's another benefit of lifting, my butt has lifted like a 20 yr old and several people have noticed among my gym friends and my close friends/family.......I love it! :flowerforyou:

ltf304

Start lifting now and don't wait. I started lifting about 8 years ago and I learned by watching trainers at the gym. Take a look at New rules of lifting for women....I got it used for about $10 from Amazon. Also, check out bodybuilding.com. The only problem with this site is they don't give you a lot of variety. I get bored so I like to do various things while I'm at the gym. Lift heavy!!

RunHardBeStrong

I just ordered that book from Amazon (New Rules of Lifting for Women), and I can't WAIT! I do weight training 3x/wk, and after 4 mos, my butt sits higher, everything is tighter, I have better muscle tone....and I'm burning more calories all day long, than ever before. But I want to see if I can increase my muscle mass, and finally get a 6 pack (hence the book).

So don't listen to those guys in the gym! You can do it! And if you follow through, in a few months, you'll be SMOKIN'!!!

So true.....that's another benefit of lifting, my butt has lifted like a 20 yr old and several people have noticed among my gym friends and my close friends/family.......I love it! :flowerforyou:

Same here...my butt didn't even look this good in highschool!!!

BabyDuchess

I just ordered that book from Amazon (New Rules of Lifting for Women), and I can't WAIT! I do weight training 3x/wk, and after 4 mos, my butt sits higher, everything is tighter, I have better muscle tone....and I'm burning more calories all day long, than ever before. But I want to see if I can increase my muscle mass, and finally get a 6 pack (hence the book).

So don't listen to those guys in the gym! You can do it! And if you follow through, in a few months, you'll be SMOKIN'!!!

So true.....that's another benefit of lifting, my butt has lifted like a 20 yr old and several people have noticed among my gym friends and my close friends/family.......I love it! :flowerforyou:

Same here...my butt didn't even look this good in highschool!!!

:laugh: Mine either.

TrophyWifeSass

I am ordering the books now! I am going to lift now and lift heavy and I am so PUMPED to do this! Thank you everyone for inspiring me! My only wish is if some of you were at my gym and could do it with me. But I will just think of all you ladies all over the world with better butts and lifting heavy! It would be cool if I could fast forward 5 months to what the END result will be, (I really want to see my butt look like my high school years or better) but if I have learned anything it's slow and steady wins the race and of course it took me awhile to get unfit so it will take awhile to be fit! I can't wait to flaunt the new smokin" me to the manly gym rats. I think I will wear baggy clothes the whole time then one day be like BOOM and wear a cute little pink girly workout thingy! That will teach 'em! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

BabyDuchess

I am ordering the books now! I am going to lift now and lift heavy and I am so PUMPED to do this! Thank you everyone for inspiring me! My only wish is if some of you were at my gym and could do it with me. But I will just think of all you ladies all over the world with better butts and lifting heavy! It would be cool if I could fast forward 5 months to what the END result will be, (I really want to see my butt look like my high school years or better) but if I have learned anything it's slow and steady wins the race and of course it took me awhile to get unfit so it will take awhile to be fit! I can't wait to flaunt the new smokin" me to the manly gym rats. I think I will wear baggy clothes the whole time then one day be like BOOM and wear a cute little pink girly workout thingy! That will teach 'em! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Love it! :flowerforyou:

kdiamond

I am ordering the books now! I am going to lift now and lift heavy and I am so PUMPED to do this! Thank you everyone for inspiring me! My only wish is if some of you were at my gym and could do it with me. But I will just think of all you ladies all over the world with better butts and lifting heavy! It would be cool if I could fast forward 5 months to what the END result will be, (I really want to see my butt look like my high school years or better) but if I have learned anything it's slow and steady wins the race and of course it took me awhile to get unfit so it will take awhile to be fit! I can't wait to flaunt the new smokin" me to the manly gym rats. I think I will wear baggy clothes the whole time then one day be like BOOM and wear a cute little pink girly workout thingy! That will teach 'em! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Good for you!!! I will share with you one of my major milestones achieved over the last 8 months...I used to only be able to bicep curl 5lbs, then 10, then 15, now 20 and ready to move on to 25! Same with lunges and step ups! It really helps increase your strength if you stick with it!

JudoJones

Machine vs free Weights Pro's & Cons
=====================================
Machine Allow for quickly changing weights & machines which is great for interval training and burning calories.

Free Weights are great for secondary muscles. As in, you have to be able to staibalize the weight throughout out its range of motion requiring more muscle cordination and better overall toning.

britachu

I feel totally inspired to start lifting now

texastae1010

Due to you ladies and the Amazon kindle I had to get this book and I can't put it down....I have tried weights before but always felt like I bulked up and I believe it was in the first chapter he said something of the nature we as women get inflammation so we think we are bulking lol...I haven't finished reading it...but I have about 80lbs to lose so my question is ...should I just keep going extreme cardio I have already lost a big chunky of weight before joining mfp or go ahead and add it in?? you ladies rock

poptastic

Agree with everyone else about the lifting, I love it and it's made a big difference for me, unfortunately I've had to take a break for the last month or so but can't wait to get back on it.

Really wouldn't take any notice of MOST of the muscley gym guys, in my experience they know next to nothing about anything other than bulking up - even one of the bulked up personal trainers told me that as a girl I shouldn't be doing free weights unless I wanted "a thick neck" !

Read up online and on forums, and ignore what other people are up to in the gym, your goals are your own! Good luck

FauxAngel13

My trainer had me on one of the free weight bicep curl "machines" and one of the bigger guys was waiting for the machine and said to her "Why don't you have her go over to the machine over there?" pointing to one of the cable machines. My trainer ripped him a new one. It was epic and great.

Awesome! I hang around in the guys section at the gym becuase I find the women who use the womens weights area are too *****y, the buys give you a hard time at first, but once they see what you are about and that you are lifting big they can be pretty supprtive :-)

MissAnjy

Lift now, and lift heavy.

DontWeightStartNow

I just ordered that book from Amazon (New Rules of Lifting for Women), and I can't WAIT! I do weight training 3x/wk, and after 4 mos, my butt sits higher, everything is tighter, I have better muscle tone....and I'm burning more calories all day long, than ever before. But I want to see if I can increase my muscle mass, and finally get a 6 pack (hence the book).

So don't listen to those guys in the gym! You can do it! And if you follow through, in a few months, you'll be SMOKIN'!!!

OMG, girl....have you looked down lately? YOU HAVE A SIX PACK!!!! You look awesome, btw.

paprikas

Lifting heavy at the gym has completely changed my body. My fat percentage went down from 39% to 23% and I get to eat around 2000 cals per day.

WendyTerry420

You will not bulk up like a man. Period. It's a myth. Do all the lifting you want.

Not totally true. You can bulk up like a man but it's very rare with most women. It's all about how much free flowing testosterone is in your blood stream. With MOST women you have very little BUT some women do have more then others. The ones that have more then others you can usually tell by definition of muscle structure and overall apparent lean fat mass.

I'd like to see a picture of that.