Enough Strength Training?

UpEarly

I don't enjoy strength training *at all*. I do it only for the health benefits of helping maintain my bone density and lean body mass as I approach middle age. I'm 40 now and want to do enough strength training to stave of the frailty/weakness that comes with getting older.

Does there come a point where the heath benefits of lifting are maximized, and any gains/additions are solely for the lifter's personal/cosmetic/aesthetic goals? Why is it necessary for me to be constantly striving to work to fatigue and make my weights heavier.

I think I'm doing enough to reap the benefits I want, so is there any real health-based reason I have to do more? I'm using 10-25 lb dumbells for my upper body and a heavier barbell to work lower body.

(I typically do two strength workouts a week, plus several days of hiking tough hills with a weighted pack, a day or two of interval training, and occasionally I throw in step aerobics for variety)

erickirb

Does there come a point where the heath benefits of lifting are maximized, and any gains/additions are solely for the lifter's personal/cosmetic/aesthetic goals? Why is it necessary for me to be constantly striving to work to fatigue and make my weights heavier.

I think I'm doing enough to reap the benefits I want, so is there any real health-based reason I have to do more? I'm using 10-25 lb dumbells for my upper body and a heavier barbell to work lower body.

First off if you don't increase the weight your body would just get use to the workout, the point of strength training is to challenge your muscles, as that is what makes them stronger. Once you can do 10-12 rep in each set you should increase the weight so the last 2 or so reps in every set are difficult to complete with good form, failing to do this, would not give you nearly as much benefit, as you have to challenge the muscles.

As your muscles get stronger and you don't increase the load, would be like lowering the weight you lift, if your muscles didn't get stronger. What would be the point of lowering the weight, when you can handle the current weight just fine?

Hopefully someone chimes in with a more scientific answer for you.

moxette

I think this is a personal questions. What is enough? Are you eating "enough" fiber? Drinking "enough" water? If you don't like strength training that is fine, but it could also be the workout. Strength training can be group exercise boot camps, P90X at home, or bench press in your garage, There are many ways to achieve your goal if it is worth achieving. If you have good bone density and feel comfortable with your level of muscle and "tone". Then you are probably fine. If you want more, do more.

UpEarly

First off if you don't increase the weight your body would just get use to the workout, the point of strength training is to challenge your muscles, as that is what makes them stronger.

What if I feel like I'm strong enough? Continuing to lift the same weights without continually adding 'challenge' isn't going to make me weaker, it just means I won't have any additional strength gains, correct?

I'm trying to understand if there is a point where one can do enough strength training to have the health benefits, without always having to push to do more. Like, we all know that eating a cup of broccoli is good for you, but four pounds of broccoli isn't necessarily better. Or, sleeping 7-8 hours a night is good for your health, but staying in bed 12 hours a day is not.

I want to figure out the minimum amount of strength training I need to do to get tangible health benefits.

HeidiMightyRawr

If you don't like it you don't have to go any extra days, train for longer, work any extra hard to increase the weights all the time - but if you have gotten so used to a weight that's it's now easy (which will happen over time) what would be the harm in increasing it? It isn't any extra effort and will only be beneficial to your muscles

UpEarly

What would be the harm in increasing it? It isn't any extra effort and will only be beneficial to your muscles

Because my shoulders are so big they barely fit in the sleeves of the shirts that fit the rest of my torso! My calf muscles are so disproportionally big compared to my ankles that I can't wear tall boots or straight leg jeans. I think my thighs look like turnips already, so I don't want my quads to get any bigger.

I know that woman don't bulk or build muscles, but I feel like I do! Or at least, I don't like the way my arm and leg muscles look in the mirror. I'd like to lose a little bit more of the padding (fat!) layer over my muscles, but I really don't want anything to get bigger. (sorry if that offends anyone who is trying to build/gain muscle). I'm about 10-15 lbs. from my ultimate goal weight.

erickirb

What would be the harm in increasing it? It isn't any extra effort and will only be beneficial to your muscles

Because my shoulders are so big they barely fit in the sleeves of the shirts that fit the rest of my torso! My calf muscles are so disproportionally big compared to my ankles that I can't wear tall boots or straight leg jeans. I think my thighs look like turnips already, so I don't want my quads to get any bigger.

I know that woman don't bulk or build muscles, but I feel like I do! Or at least, I don't like the way my arm and leg muscles look in the mirror. I'd like to lose a little bit more of the padding (fat!) layer over my muscles, but I really don't want anything to get bigger. (sorry if that offends anyone who is trying to build/gain muscle). I'm about 10-15 lbs. from my ultimate goal weight.

Lifting will not make you bulk up, for starters to gain any muscle mass you have to eat at a caloric surplus, and even then most of any gain will be fat, not muscle. Unless you are taking performance enhancing drugs, you will not bulk up by lifting heavier, you will just be stronger.

UpEarly

Lifting will not make you bulk up, for starters to gain any muscle mass you have to eat at a caloric surplus, and even then most of any gain will be fat, not muscle. Unless you are taking performance enhancing drugs, you will not bulk up by lifting heavier, you will just be stronger.

So, you are saying if I continue to lift heavier and heavier weights... my muscles will not get *any* bigger at all?

HeidiMightyRawr

What would be the harm in increasing it? It isn't any extra effort and will only be beneficial to your muscles

Because my shoulders are so big they barely fit in the sleeves of the shirts that fit the rest of my torso! My calf muscles are so disproportionally big compared to my ankles that I can't wear tall boots or straight leg jeans. I think my thighs look like turnips already, so I don't want my quads to get any bigger.

I know that woman don't bulk or build muscles, but I feel like I do! Or at least, I don't like the way my arm and leg muscles look in the mirror. I'd like to lose a little bit more of the padding (fat!) layer over my muscles, but I really don't want anything to get bigger. (sorry if that offends anyone who is trying to build/gain muscle). I'm about 10-15 lbs. from my ultimate goal weight.

I understand you feel like you do bulk, but seriously increasing the weight doesn't add much extra, if any. When I first started lifting it seemed like I got muscles quite quickly but it then evens out and doesn't keep increasing at the same speed (the way I think of it is a bit like the letter "r" on a graph, but more rounded, not just straight up and across)
Fat gives the appearance of bigger arms/legs alot more than muscle does. If you look at my profile pic, that was at my goal weight roughly, and I was lifting the heaviest I'd ever done before (more than 10-25lbs dumbells) but was the smallest I had been in the arms, legs, waist, everywhere basically!
Once you lose the extra fat you will be smaller, and as muscle is more dense than fat, even if you gain a little it still won't be as much as you are now. Say you lose 10lbs of fat, and gain 5lbs of muscle (some women take a whole year to build that even with a good surplus and solid lifting program so that's not going to happen accidently anyway) you should still be smaller than you would've been if you only lost 5lbs of fat

UpEarly

If you look at my profile pic, that was at my goal weight roughly, and I was lifting the heaviest I'd ever done before (more than 10-25lbs dumbells) but was the smallest I had been in the arms, legs, waist, everywhere basically!

I don't know if you're able to see my older profile photos, but there is one of me sitting with my back to the camera, with my arms folded up on my knees, in a pink, sleeveless top. I had that photo as my Facebook profile photo for a while. I didn't think anything of it when I posted it, but almost immediately four or five of my friends made comments on my shoulder muscles. A couple were 'nice muscles - you look like you've been working hard' but the rest were all kind of rude/jokey comments like 'Hey, Rambo!'. It's made me feel very self conscious and 'manly' instead of fit and feminine. My shoulders were the only thing anyone even noticed in the photo... no 'pretty mountains!' or 'where did you hike?'

Your arms look great in your profile photo - toned, but still graceful and lean.

HeidiMightyRawr

If you look at my profile pic, that was at my goal weight roughly, and I was lifting the heaviest I'd ever done before (more than 10-25lbs dumbells) but was the smallest I had been in the arms, legs, waist, everywhere basically!

I don't know if you're able to see my older profile photos, but there is one of me sitting with my back to the camera, with my arms folded up on my knees, in a pink, sleeveless top. I had that photo as my Facebook profile photo for a while. I didn't think anything of it when I posted it, but almost immediately four or five of my friends made comments on my shoulder muscles. A couple were 'nice muscles - you've been working hard' but the rest were all kind of rude/jokey comments like 'Hey, Rambo!'. It's made me feel very self conscious and 'manly' instead of fit and feminine. My shoulders were the only thing anyone even noticed in the photo... no 'pretty mountains!' or 'where did you hike?'

Your arms look great in your profile photo - toned, but still graceful and lean.

I can't see any of your other pics.
I'm sorry you had to have the rude comments though, people are so unthoughtful sometimes I can assure you that once you lose body fat, your shoulders will be a lot smaller. People get so afraid of muscle and fail to realise the effect that fat can have on how you look.
Before I started here with the goal to lose weight I was lifting at the gym, I got bigger and heavier and pretty soon several of my clothes were really tight on my shoulders / biceps / lats (under arms) I could see muscles but there was fat there too. I only lost 20lbs overall afterwards but now the same clothes are loose in that area hanging down from my arms by around an inch or more.
Also when I was younger (before strength training) I was around 130lbs with hardly any muscle definition, I had this pair of jeans I really liked that were so tight, but I wore them anyway occasionally as I really liked them! After I gained and lost the weight again, getting back down to 130lbs but with more muscle definition I tried them on for the first time in ages and they fit so much better. Not exactly loose but definitely an improvement on before, and considering I was the same weight I was happy.

Let's consider though that you do get bigger/bulkier than you are now by lifting heavier (unlikely, but still..) it is quite easy to lose it again, just go back to the weight you were doing before and they should get smaller again.

erickirb

Lifting will not make you bulk up, for starters to gain any muscle mass you have to eat at a caloric surplus, and even then most of any gain will be fat, not muscle. Unless you are taking performance enhancing drugs, you will not bulk up by lifting heavier, you will just be stronger.

So, you are saying if I continue to lift heavier and heavier weights... my muscles will not get *any* bigger at all?

That is correct, they may get more dense and stronger but will not get bigger if you are on a caloric deficit. even people that try to gain bulk have a hard time, it is almost impossible to gain muscle without trying to gain.

UpEarly

Let's consider though that you do get bigger/bulkier than you are now by lifting heavier (unlikely, but still..) it is quite easy to lose it again, just go back to the weight you were doing before and they should get smaller again.

Thanks for the input! I'm probably over-sensitive to getting big because I'm tallish (5'9") with a large frame. I have really wide shoulders, a broad and spacious rib cage and a wide pelvis. I'm used to being bigger and stronger looking than almost all the girls... and a substantial number of guys, too! LOL

I guess we always want what we can't have. I would love to be lean and graceful and willowy like a dancer, but it's not in my genetic cards. My frame makes 'warrior woman' a more realistic goal. LOL

moxette

I am 5 foot 4 and was at my heaviest 189lbs, I remember when I had hit about 140 and was really feeling great... people started talking about my man arms. It was a compliment but I didn't take it that way. I was working out with Marine's and doing marine corp lifting workouts. So then I started restricting my workouts to not have too much arms or shoulders or thighs (didn't want them to get bigger either). And all I got out of that was wasted time in the gym. I was lifting weights with the military while aspiring to look like Kate Moss (I was young, I know now that she wasn't exactly a good role model.)
I was complaining about it and then someone asked me to think about the type of athlete I wanted to look like. Was it a body builder? A marathoner? I started doing triathlons because well, honestly they had the body I liked the best. What happened than was that I was actually working toward the goal I wanted while staying healthy. I was doing weight bearing workouts (which also contribute to a higher bone density). With 1 or 2 days of high intensity interval weight training a week and suddenly I was LIKING what the workouts were doing for my body. Sounds to me like you weight lifting workout is not suited to your goals?

UpEarly

Sounds to me like your weight lifting workout is not suited to your goals?

You're probably on to something there... my primary goal (besides overall health) is probably endurance rather than strength. I'm hoping to walk about 550 trail miles across the state of Virginia next spring. The weight lifting is an important component of my functional fitness because I need strong leg muscles to support my knee joints, but mostly I need to be fit enough to walk between 15-25 miles of mountainous terrain, every day with very few rest days.