Females doing Heavy Weight Training

thepetiterunner

Thanks for asking these questions! Marking to read for later.

Doreen_Murray

Bump for later, but I log everything in my diary (public) and am working on power lifts today and can't wait! 45 minutes and counting...

gastankerdriver

Guys are a bunch of idiots. Go online and look up women like "Monica Brant" or "Cory Everson" and find out what their routines look like. A friend of mine is dating a figure model and she gave us some really good advice. She pointed out the importance of complex carbohydrates --yams, brown rice, peas, etc. She also turned us on to "Allmax- Aminocore." It helps to prevent muscle loss. Feeding your muscle with the proper amount/mix of protein and complex carbs is just as important as your workout routine if not MORE important. Monica Brant always carries a can of tuna and creatine chews with her to provide a constant source of muscle nutrients. Universal creatine chews are like candy to me. Hope that helps you a little. Feel free to add me.

ChristyU74

Bumping for future reading...

mae1020

Great questions! I've spent the last week researching weight lifting for women and have reserved New rules of lifting for women at my library. I start my weight training today. I'll be doing this at home and at the gym until the middle of May and then after that, on my own at home. Good luck. Feel free to add me.

warmachinejt

Hi everyone!

My name's Laura,
I'm currently 158lb and 5'7" my goal is to be in the 130's. At the moment my fat % is around 23.5%

I've come across quite a few success stories on here that claim it was heavy weight training that has given them their success. I've read a particular story that seemed to fit my situation very well, and I thought that maybe heavy weights is what I need to be doing to get rid of that extra layer of fat.

I've asked a few male friends what they do at the gym to get an idea and told them that I wanted to start lifting heavy... the amount of ignorance out there! You wouldn't believe it! "Why do you want to lift heavy?" "Just tone" "What! You want to be a body builder?" It was frustrating, so now I turn to you, MFP folk and hope for a more informed response :-)

I've started heavy weight training just last week, and I guess what confuses me, or what I'd like to know is:

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight?
4. Did you up your calories?
5. Did you use any protein supplements?
6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results?

I just want to know if I'm on the right track as I don't hear of many women doing heavy weights.

My routine is as follows:
1. Squats with 20kg (44lb) barbell 3 sets of 7
2. Machine leg press 100kg (220lb) 3 sets of 7
3. Lat pull downs 40kg (88lb) 3 sets of 6-7
4. Lunges with 7kg (15lb) dumbells 3 sets of 10
5. Military arm raises 20kg (44lb) 3 sets of 7
6. Bicep curls 10 kg (22lb) 3 sets 6
7. Abs (what ever I feel like doing on the day)
8. Bench press 10 kg (22lb)
9. Tricep kick backs 7kg (15lb) while in plank

Any feedback would be fantastic!!!

lol where is the rest of your routine?
anyways put back and triceps on monday, legs on wednesday, and back and biceps on friday.
In between you can workout calves again, and then forearms, shoulders and abs. Also do cardio whenver you feel like no less than 2 or 3 days a week.

tigersword

Hi everyone!

My name's Laura,
I'm currently 158lb and 5'7" my goal is to be in the 130's. At the moment my fat % is around 23.5%

I've come across quite a few success stories on here that claim it was heavy weight training that has given them their success. I've read a particular story that seemed to fit my situation very well, and I thought that maybe heavy weights is what I need to be doing to get rid of that extra layer of fat.

I've asked a few male friends what they do at the gym to get an idea and told them that I wanted to start lifting heavy... the amount of ignorance out there! You wouldn't believe it! "Why do you want to lift heavy?" "Just tone" "What! You want to be a body builder?" It was frustrating, so now I turn to you, MFP folk and hope for a more informed response :-)

I've started heavy weight training just last week, and I guess what confuses me, or what I'd like to know is:

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight?
4. Did you up your calories?
5. Did you use any protein supplements?
6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results?

I just want to know if I'm on the right track as I don't hear of many women doing heavy weights.

My routine is as follows:
1. Squats with 20kg (44lb) barbell 3 sets of 7
2. Machine leg press 100kg (220lb) 3 sets of 7
3. Lat pull downs 40kg (88lb) 3 sets of 6-7
4. Lunges with 7kg (15lb) dumbells 3 sets of 10
5. Military arm raises 20kg (44lb) 3 sets of 7
6. Bicep curls 10 kg (22lb) 3 sets 6
7. Abs (what ever I feel like doing on the day)
8. Bench press 10 kg (22lb)
9. Tricep kick backs 7kg (15lb) while in plank

Any feedback would be fantastic!!!

I personally think you have a lot of unnecessary filler in your routine. To be fair, unless you're a competitive athlete of bodybuilder, isolation exercises like triceps kickbacks and biceps curls are a waste of energy. Your triceps get more work than they can handle from bench press and military press, and your biceps get worked both from negatives on the bench and military presses as well as getting plenty of work in on the lat pulldowns. Also, if you're doing squats, dump the machine leg press, that's another wasted exercise, as essentially it's just a machine version of squats (and yes, leg pressing way more than you squat is normal, as the machine pretty much does most of the work for you.) Compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench press and rows will be much more effective than the isolation moves you have in there.

I know a lot of people mention New Rules of Lifting For Women, but I read through it when my wife got it from the library, and I wasn't really all that impressed with it. Some good information, mixed with a lot of bad information, and the routines seemed a bit over complicated, for no good reason. I also recommend either Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength for a good, heavy weight training program. Between the two, Stronglifts is a little easier from a technical lifting standpoint, as it uses more basic compound lifts, where Starting Strength uses more technical Olympic style lifts.

irridia

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
I use stronglifts 5 x 5. If you google it you will find the PDF, download and read it. It is written more for men, but if you are already squating 44lbs you are ready. I started off with a 15 lb bar because I didn't think I could handle 45 lbs and I didn't have an olympic set anyway. I do now but I still sometimes use the 15 lb bar and it doesn't matter since I go by the total weight including the bar.
There are two workouts, workout A and workout B. You alternate between them and do them 3x's per week so there will always be 2 of the same workout per week. All of them are done with a Barbell.

Workout A is: Squats, Bench, Bent Rows
Workout B is: Squats, Overhead Presses, Deadlifts

Form is critical, on squats make sure your knees don't go past your toes and your hips go below your knees in the hole.

2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
For a good 6 months or so I did neither because before that I was doing HIIT daily and my energy was flagging greatly. I still dropped inches like crazy and a bit of weight too. However I ended up relying on my BMR too much during the holidays and slacked off too much and while I still have quite a bit of the muscle base I built, I layered on fat on top. So, I'm back to working really hard on weight days and nothing much more strenous on off days than yoga and sometimes only the hip openers (which I pretty much need to do daily regardless)

3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight? technically the 45lb olympic bar which you should do because you already are lifting that much. Increse by 5lbs every time you do the exercise. As an example if you start at 45 on Squats doing MWF (there's a worksheet you cand dld too that will program what you should be doing), by Friday you should be lifting 55 lbs because you do Squats every workout. Benches would be 50 lbs by Friday because you only will be doing them 2x's that week. Deadlifts will not increase until week 2 because you only do them once on the starting week.

Warm ups, you warm up with 3 sets of just the bar, then add part of the weight that will be your final lift for 2 sets and then do 5 of your working weight. More tricky when you are just starting so you could technically warm up with dumbells or just holding weights in your hand if your bar is olympic, if it's a standard bar then you can add weights for the 2nd warm up till you hit yourworking weight. Thus your warm up weight will increase as you move through the program.

4. Did you up your calories? yes but I couldn't tell you how much. I did try to eat back my calories within at least 100, sometimes over : -(

5. Did you use any protein supplements? yes. I'm diabetic, sometimes if my energy is really low I will have a shake before my workout and one after if dinner isn't going to happen right away, or If I'm going to add a HIIT session for that day. For a while I was using a pre workout drink, which adds niacin, but it makes me itchy and lifting exascerbates it so I dropped that in favor of protein if needed.

6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results? I want to say about 4 weeks in it was obvious enough that my spouse dropped his hi- rep, low wieght body builder routine for mine and his body changed even quicker (testosterone).

arock1000

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
I use stronglifts 5 x 5. If you google it you will find the PDF, download and read it. It is written more for men, but if you are already squating 44lbs you are ready. I started off with a 15 lb bar because I didn't think I could handle 45 lbs and I didn't have an olympic set anyway. I do now but I still sometimes use the 15 lb bar and it doesn't matter since I go by the total weight including the bar.
There are two workouts, workout A and workout B. You alternate between them and do them 3x's per week so there will always be 2 of the same workout per week. All of them are done with a Barbell.

Workout A is: Squats, Bench, Bent Rows
Workout B is: Squats, Overhead Presses, Deadlifts

Form is critical, on squats make sure your knees don't go past your toes and your hips go below your knees in the hole.

2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
For a good 6 months or so I did neither because before that I was doing HIIT daily and my energy was flagging greatly. I still dropped inches like crazy and a bit of weight too. However I ended up relying on my BMR too much during the holidays and slacked off too much and while I still have quite a bit of the muscle base I built, I layered on fat on top. So, I'm back to working really hard on weight days and nothing much more strenous on off days than yoga and sometimes only the hip openers (which I pretty much need to do daily regardless)

3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight? technically the 45lb olympic bar which you should do because you already are lifting that much. Increse by 5lbs every time you do the exercise. As an example if you start at 45 on Squats doing MWF (there's a worksheet you cand dld too that will program what you should be doing), by Friday you should be lifting 55 lbs because you do Squats every workout. Benches would be 50 lbs by Friday because you only will be doing them 2x's that week. Deadlifts will not increase until week 2 because you only do them once on the starting week.

Warm ups, you warm up with 3 sets of just the bar, then add part of the weight that will be your final lift for 2 sets and then do 5 of your working weight. More tricky when you are just starting so you could technically warm up with dumbells or just holding weights in your hand if your bar is olympic, if it's a standard bar then you can add weights for the 2nd warm up till you hit yourworking weight. Thus your warm up weight will increase as you move through the program.

4. Did you up your calories? yes but I couldn't tell you how much. I did try to eat back my calories within at least 100, sometimes over : -(

5. Did you use any protein supplements? yes. I'm diabetic, sometimes if my energy is really low I will have a shake before my workout and one after if dinner isn't going to happen right away, or If I'm going to add a HIIT session for that day. For a while I was using a pre workout drink, which adds niacin, but it makes me itchy and lifting exascerbates it so I dropped that in favor of protein if needed.

6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results? I want to say about 4 weeks in it was obvious enough that my spouse dropped his hi- rep, low wieght body builder routine for mine and his body changed even quicker (testosterone).

Me too! Just started sim routine last week so still watching the scale and inches for results. The routine seemed too easy because it doesn't take very long but my thighs were sore for a week after my first day so I know it's doing something. I do some cardio before to warm up and some after. Too much cardio makes me super hungry on rest days so I take it easy on the cardio and go for target heart rate.

HappilyLifts

sorry, not a useful reply, but I'm adding this to my topics as I'm thinking about lifting heavy and buying the book recommended here.
Good luck to the original poster, sounds like you're doing great. I can't wait to see if I can lift heavy too (at the moment I only use 8lb dumbells for my bicep and tricep work :blushing: )

Nopedotjpeg

Hi everyone!

My name's Laura,
I'm currently 158lb and 5'7" my goal is to be in the 130's. At the moment my fat % is around 23.5%

I've come across quite a few success stories on here that claim it was heavy weight training that has given them their success. I've read a particular story that seemed to fit my situation very well, and I thought that maybe heavy weights is what I need to be doing to get rid of that extra layer of fat.

I've asked a few male friends what they do at the gym to get an idea and told them that I wanted to start lifting heavy... the amount of ignorance out there! You wouldn't believe it! "Why do you want to lift heavy?" "Just tone" "What! You want to be a body builder?" It was frustrating, so now I turn to you, MFP folk and hope for a more informed response :-)

I've started heavy weight training just last week, and I guess what confuses me, or what I'd like to know is:

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight?
4. Did you up your calories?
5. Did you use any protein supplements?
6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results?

I just want to know if I'm on the right track as I don't hear of many women doing heavy weights.

My routine is as follows:
1. Squats with 20kg (44lb) barbell 3 sets of 7
2. Machine leg press 100kg (220lb) 3 sets of 7
3. Lat pull downs 40kg (88lb) 3 sets of 6-7
4. Lunges with 7kg (15lb) dumbells 3 sets of 10
5. Military arm raises 20kg (44lb) 3 sets of 7
6. Bicep curls 10 kg (22lb) 3 sets 6
7. Abs (what ever I feel like doing on the day)
8. Bench press 10 kg (22lb)
9. Tricep kick backs 7kg (15lb) while in plank

Any feedback would be fantastic!!!

lol where is the rest of your routine?
anyways put back and triceps on monday, legs on wednesday, and back and biceps on friday.
In between you can workout calves again, and then forearms, shoulders and abs. Also do cardio whenver you feel like no less than 2 or 3 days a week.

Forearm? A novice doesn't need to directly work their forearms.

DaveRCF

Have a look at stronglifts.com. I have just started the 5X5 program today, after doing a fair amount of research. It may turn your crank, it may not. Very simple routine. full body, compound lifts (only 5 different lifts) and would definitely qualify as heavy weight training as you progress through the program. It is probably more "tried and true" than just about any other heavy lifting program and I really like the simplicity and no BS attitude of the site.

dschavers

Bump for later

jj3120

Bump for later. great question and great info

juliagulia624

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
----> I started "New Rules of Lifting for Women" (NRLFW) a couple of months ago. I am starting phase 4 today. Each phase is 2 different fullbody workouts that you interchange for about 3 weeks then move to the next phase with a different set of full body workouts and usually decrease reps. I LOVE this program. I have been lifting for years but never was on a specific program or increased weight. I lifted heavy but my body got comfortable doing the same things over and over. NRLFW has completely changed it up and I started seeing results within weeks.
----> 2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
---> I do NRLFW (full body weights) mon/wed/fri and stay active on tues/thurs with a spin class or an outdoor run with my dog. I also do HIIT cardio for 15-25 minutes after one or two of my lifting days. So about 4 days of cardio total mixing up HIIT and steady state cardio. I use the elliptical, spin bike, step mill, treadmill, sidewalk. Switching up workouts, even cardio, is the key to changing your body. I try to rest or just light activity (walking dog, going to the park...) two days out of the week, usually the weekend.
3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight?
----> I increase the weight when I can easily do the last rep of a set and it no longer is as difficult as it was when I first started that exercise with that weight. Lifting "heavy" is all about perception. What is heavy to me may be light to you. So if your program calls for 8 reps of rows and on the second week the 8th rep feels easy, go up to the next weight block. If you can only do 6 or 7 with this new weight thats ok... eventually you will get up to 8. If your program calls for 8 reps of rows, make sure the weight you start with is very difficult to get the last rep in. Thats how you know you are lifting what is "heavy" for you.
4. Did you up your calories?
----> I did not up my calories bc my overall goal is to lose body fat. I would love extra muscle and have gotten some, but I dont want to gain any extra fat along with the muscle. I focus on getting as much protein as possible through whey supplements and meat and eggs, along with some almonds and yogurt. Try to get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. 1.5 is even better.
5. Did you use any protein supplements?
---> Yes I use optimum nutrition cookies and cream whey isolate. I mix it with unsweetened almond milk for just 35 extra calories. I use this right after my workout and for a snack during the day or with breakfast
6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results?
----> about 3 weeks. Seeing better results every week though.

HeidiMightyRawr

1. What is your heavy weight routine?
2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.
3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight?
4. Did you up your calories?
5. Did you use any protein supplements?
6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results?

1. 4x a week, upper/lower split. Upper body on Mon and Thurs, Lower body on Tues and Fri. 5 sets on every exercise, 4-8 reps, sometimes up to 10 reps for exercises such as bicep curls / tricep dips etc which can be quite hard to move up on.

2. Cardio now and again (not regularly) Probably once every few weeks when I want some extra calories to eat! I walk a lot day-to-day so I'm not unfit though.

3. Started on:
Bench: The bar (44lbs)
Squats: The bar
Deadlifts: 66-88lbs depending on reps.
Shoulder press: I worked up to the bar for a couple of months with dumbells before I had the strength for the bar.
I can't remember starting weights on other exercises.

4. When I first started lifting, I didn't watch my food at all. When I joined MFP I was on 1500 net, which later changed to 1750 when I was struggling with the last 5lbs. Then I did a bulk (2800 net) and am now cutting (2000 net)

5. I use a whey protein shake, 1 a day (ON Gold Standard 100% Whey)

6. Straight away for strength. Strength gains were really fast, and slowed down after around 6 months. Weight-wise, that was all based on my eating. I lost the first 10lbs really quickly (5-6 weeks) and the last 10 were quite slow (6-7 months). Looks-wise, this was mostly determined by weight, but I saw definition in my arms/shoulders quite quickly. Lower body showed less definition as I carry more fat there that wasn't gone yet.

Rae6503

1. What is your heavy weight routine?

I do Strong Lifts 5x5. It's a free program, google it. Very simple, basic. If you focus on getting good form and start with just the bar, it's great for beginners. (Beginners really shouldn't build their own program. They don't know what lifts hit which muscles and they might miss muscles groups or over-train some)


2. Do you do cardio with training or only on off days or both or neither.

Right now I only do cardio on non lifting days (and generally only like twice a week). This is due to time constraints. I used to do 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio after lifting.


3. What kind of weight did you start off with and how often do you increase the weight?

Starting with the bar is a great place to start. Strong Lifts calls for you to increase by 5lbs every time as long as you can, although I sometimes stay with a weight for 2 days if it feels really hard.


4. Did you up your calories?

Right now I eat around maintenance. I'm supposed to be eating about 300 less than that but I'm not very good at it. I ate ABOVE maintenance over the winter and gained 10lbs, probably half muscle, half fat.


5. Did you use any protein supplements?

I usually do one shake a day, but not always. If I can hit my protein minimum without a shake, then I will.


6. How long did it take you before you started seeing results?

Only a month or so. I've now been doing it for 6 months and LOVE the results.

tigersword

Form is critical, on squats make sure your knees don't go past your toes and your hips go below your knees in the hole.

Close, but actually your hips should be below your knees. You want to reach parallel or just below parallel in order to fully engage your hamstrings and glutes. By not going all the way down you're actually risking knee injury.

Nopedotjpeg

Form is critical, on squats make sure your knees don't go past your toes and your hips go below your knees in the hole.

Close, but actually your hips should be below your knees. You want to reach parallel or just below parallel in order to fully engage your hamstrings and glutes. By not going all the way down you're actually risking knee injury.

I believe that's what they said.

tigersword

Form is critical, on squats make sure your knees don't go past your toes and your hips go below your knees in the hole.

Close, but actually your hips should be below your knees. You want to reach parallel or just below parallel in order to fully engage your hamstrings and glutes. By not going all the way down you're actually risking knee injury.

I believe that's what they said.

Rereading you're right. When I first read it I read it as make sure your knees don't go past your toes and your hips (don't) go below your knees. Then again, mixing positives and negatives together always throw me off. :laugh: