Arm Exercises For Women: Get Sleek, Sexy ArmsPage: « Prev 1

Nopedotjpeg

Oh and bump for the chick at my gym I saw today who outdid my puny squats big time.

MrsCon40

Workouts should remain a challenge, whether one starts with 3 pound sissy weights or not.

Well put. Everyone has a starting point, and "heavy" is quite subjective.

This^^^

You do realize that everyone who advocates heavy weights knows this right? When we talk about heavy weights, we're talking about at roughly what rep the muscle fatigues. I lift light relative to many guys my size, but it's heavy for me because I'm only able to do a lower amount of reps with that weight.

Ding! Ding! "Heavy" is by definition subjective. The people who lift understand this as do the people who read what is said about "heavy" - the ones that are interested in burning more calories in the gym than they do on the forums.

Spanaval

You do realize that everyone who advocates heavy weights knows this right? When we talk about heavy weights, we're talking about at roughly what rep the muscle fatigues. I lift light relative to many guys my size, but it's heavy for me because I'm only able to do a lower amount of reps with that weight.

I'm just going to give you my honest opinion here. I haven't been on MFP for long. Based on what I've seen of discussions here, there is *definitely* a certain level of disdain for people who choose to use hand weights, and especially isolation exercises. My impression is that there is little to no respect for people that are starting out low - "little pink weights" and such. Perhaps it is not the message as much as how it is conveyed.

Jeff92se

Your distain is misplaced in this particular thread.

Nopedotjpeg

You do realize that everyone who advocates heavy weights knows this right? When we talk about heavy weights, we're talking about at roughly what rep the muscle fatigues. I lift light relative to many guys my size, but it's heavy for me because I'm only able to do a lower amount of reps with that weight.

I'm just going to give you my honest opinion here. I haven't been on MFP for long. Based on what I've seen of discussions here, there is *definitely* a certain level of disdain for people who choose to use hand weights, and especially isolation exercises. My impression is that there is little to no respect for people that are starting out low - "little pink weights" and such. Perhaps it is not the message as much as how it is conveyed.

There may be some joking about "barbie weights", but the fact is that if that's what someone can do for less than 12 reps, then they should do that. However most can do more than this.

As far as isolations vs. compounds. There's nothing subjective here. Compound exercises are healthier and more natural movements, allow you to burn more calories, and will increase strength and bone density (something women really should be concerned about) more effectively. I don't think isolations are worthless, but they should be secondary to compound lifts.

Spanaval

@Jeff- no disdain here. I'm good with whatever people do to achieve their health goals, as long as it is done in a safe manner.

I completely agree that compounds are more effective. That is fact based. As I said previously, it isn't the message as much as how it is conveyed. Not everyone is guilty of it, but there is enough condescention that it can put people on the defensive, and therefore less open to the message.

Jeff92se

@Jeff- no disdain here. I'm good with whatever people do to achieve their health goals, as long as it is done in a safe manner.

I completely agree that compounds are more effective. That is fact based. As I said previously, it isn't the message as much as how it is conveyed. Not everyone is guilty of it, but there is enough condescention that it can put people on the defensive, and therefore less open to the message.

You have to have some shock value to get through to some. Read the other thread. There will be a long well thought out explaination as to why it wouldn't work well. then the very next reply is "thanks!, I'll do this! Should help greatly!"

At that point, normal conversation doesn't work

Spanaval

You have to have some shock value to get through to some. Read the other thread. There will be a long well thought out explaination as to why it wouldn't work well. then the very next reply is "thanks!, I'll do this! Should help greatly!"

At that point, normal conversation doesn't work

A LOT of people read the original post, especially when it has workout advice, and then nothing in the rest of the thread. Including well thought out rebuttals of why that information is incorrect or misleading. I think that poking fun of and talking down to those that might be open to that information is the wrong approach to take. After all, you can't force people to read, and why piss off those that might, by devaluing what they might be doing?

Anyway, I didn't mean to take this off on a tangent like this.

Jeff92se

You have to have some shock value to get through to some. Read the other thread. There will be a long well thought out explaination as to why it wouldn't work well. then the very next reply is "thanks!, I'll do this! Should help greatly!"

At that point, normal conversation doesn't work

A LOT of people read the original post, especially when it has workout advice, and then nothing in the rest of the thread. Including well thought out rebuttals of why that information is incorrect or misleading. I think that poking fun of and talking down to those that might be open to that information is the wrong approach to take. After all, you can't force people to read, and why piss off those that might, by devaluing what they might be doing?

Anyway, I didn't mean to take this off on a tangent like this.

Thus the idea of another thread creation right? :drinker:

suziecue66

This was NOT accomplished by some frilly magazine article.

Look at her, all icky and bulky

Well she is...

You can avoid that look by not losing as much weight. She has visible muscles for the reason that she has low enough bf% for them to be visible. Yes she needs to have muscles in order for this to happen, but my guess is most overweight people have a similar lean body mass, but the fat covers it all up.

Why would you want to avoid that look (after). She looks fabulous and not bulky at all. If anyone thinks that's bulky they need their head read.

Jeff92se

Exactly.

bump

Jeff92se

bump

Jeff92se

I wish we had the "thread views" back

Jeff92se

bump

Cmonnowguys

<-- StrongLifts. strong > toned

You've got great muscular arms, well done.

BUT some women AND men prefer the toned slim dancers' arms look rather than the muscular look so each to their own, I think.

Regardless of light or heavy weights, unless you are a dancer, you won't get dancer's arms. To have a swimmer's body, you swim. Same concept.

Jeff92se

And just because you dance, doesn't mean you will get a "dancer's body". Good dancers have that body because their bodies are genetically that way. People tend to gravitate towards their strengths.

Jeff92se

Not getting advice from a women's magazine.

JNick77

Workouts should remain a challenge, whether one starts with 3 pound sissy weights or not.

Well put. Everyone has a starting point, and "heavy" is quite subjective.

True, everybody has their own starting point. I'd say that "heavy" is approximately 80%+ of that person's 1-rep max in that particular lift. For one person that might be 95lbs on the bench press for another it might be 295lbs on the bench press. Definitely relative to the individual. Although I'd say that for the general healthy adult female population 2lb dumbells for any lift is not quite that.

Although I think that it is prudent to point-out in this thread that not all muscle groups benefit from heavy lifting. Core compound lifts like the bench press, military press, squat, and deadlift definitely benefit most from the 3-5 rep range (maybe even 3-7 with women). But supporting lifts like rear deloid flyes, tricep extentions, and good mornings benefit from more moderate weight and moderate reps. I've actually seen lifters with nicely built shoulders do rear deltoid work with reps in the 20-30 range.

JNick77

Nice post, this is so hot! She's got better squat form then 90% of the men I see in the gym.

Not getting advice from a women's magazine.

tinamina78

True, everybody has their own starting point. I'd say that "heavy" is approximately 80%+ of that person's 1-rep max in that particular lift. For one person that might be 95lbs on the bench press for another it might be 295lbs on the bench press. Definitely relative to the individual. Although I'd say that for the general healthy adult female population 2lb dumbells for any lift is not quite that.

Although I think that it is prudent to point-out in this thread that not all muscle groups benefit from heavy lifting. Core compound lifts like the bench press, military press, squat, and deadlift definitely benefit most from the 3-5 rep range (maybe even 3-7 with women). But supporting lifts like rear deloid flyes, tricep extentions, and good mornings benefit from more moderate weight and moderate reps. I've actually seen lifters with nicely built shoulders do rear deltoid work with reps in the 20-30 range.

This has been the most helpful post I've seen so far. The info you provided here will actually help me to tailor some workout routines. Thank you!

ReinasWrath

Examples of compounds please? Or maybe a good site with some? Would a compound be doing say a squat with a hammer curl ?

JNick77

Examples of compounds please? Or maybe a good site with some? Would a compound be doing say a squat with a hammer curl ?

Examples:
Compound movements: Bench press, shoulder press, back squat, conventional deadlift.
Isolation movements: Front deltoid raises, leg extensions, cable crossovers, leg curls, hammer curls

Not sure where Chin-ups fall into the mix, I'd side with them being a compound movement.

Compound simply represents and exercise that engages multiple muscle groups. For instance, the Deadlift really engages the quads but definitely engages your calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, lats, and traps. I remember the very first time I deadlifted and my pecs were sore. Go figure...

This is just an example, but one workout could look something like:

- Back Squat (3 to 5 reps @ 85% of 1RM) Number of sets can vary depending...
- Walking dumbell lunges: 8-12 reps 3 to 4 sets
- Good mornings: 8-10 reps 3 to 4 sets

That's just a very simple lower body workout plan.

ReinasWrath

Examples of compounds please? Or maybe a good site with some? Would a compound be doing say a squat with a hammer curl ?

Examples:
Compound movements: Bench press, shoulder press, back squat, conventional deadlift.
Isolation movements: Front deltoid raises, leg extensions, cable crossovers, leg curls, hammer curls

Not sure where Chin-ups fall into the mix, I'd side with them being a compound movement.

Compound simply represents and exercise that engages multiple muscle groups. For instance, the Deadlift really engages the quads but definitely engages your calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, lats, and traps. I remember the very first time I deadlifted and my pecs were sore. Go figure...

This is just an example, but one workout could look something like:

- Back Squat (3 to 5 reps @ 85% of 1RM) Number of sets can vary depending...
- Walking dumbell lunges: 8-12 reps 3 to 4 sets
- Good mornings: 8-10 reps 3 to 4 sets

That's just a very simple lower body workout plan.

Thank you ^_^ Makes sense to me, work in more muscles at the same time to accomplish more. And thank you for the examples!! As for the weights you use and how heavy they are, how long should you stick with the same size weight? ( I'm sure there's no SET amount of time obviously..) Or in other words say your using 12lb hand weights (just a random example) and it doesn't seem to get much easier for you after a couple of weeks, at what point should you force yourself to go up a little higher?

JNick77

Examples of compounds please? Or maybe a good site with some? Would a compound be doing say a squat with a hammer curl ?

Examples:
Compound movements: Bench press, shoulder press, back squat, conventional deadlift.
Isolation movements: Front deltoid raises, leg extensions, cable crossovers, leg curls, hammer curls

Not sure where Chin-ups fall into the mix, I'd side with them being a compound movement.

Compound simply represents and exercise that engages multiple muscle groups. For instance, the Deadlift really engages the quads but definitely engages your calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, lats, and traps. I remember the very first time I deadlifted and my pecs were sore. Go figure...

This is just an example, but one workout could look something like:

- Back Squat (3 to 5 reps @ 85% of 1RM) Number of sets can vary depending...
- Walking dumbell lunges: 8-12 reps 3 to 4 sets
- Good mornings: 8-10 reps 3 to 4 sets

That's just a very simple lower body workout plan.

Thank you ^_^ Makes sense to me, work in more muscles at the same time to accomplish more. And thank you for the examples!! As for the weights you use and how heavy they are, how long should you stick with the same size weight? ( I'm sure there's no SET amount of time obviously..) Or in other words say your using 12lb hand weights (just a random example) and it doesn't seem to get much easier for you after a couple of weeks, at what point should you force yourself to go up a little higher?

It depends, various methods have their own approach. For example:
- 5/3/1: On the main lifts you basically keep progressing until you can't do the prescribed reps, then you reset based on certain criteria.
- Westside 4SB's: On the main lift you just keep progressing the weight each set until you hit a weight you can't lift more than 3 to 5 times.

For assistance / supporting lifts, probably just progress when the weight is no longer a challenge. If you're doing 4 sets of 10 and it's putting you to sleep then bump-up the weight until that 10th rep on the first set is tough and your second set maybe you're only getting 9 reps. Requires a little thought but try not to over-think it if that makes sense.

Jeff92se

bump