Question about strength training

shimmer_glo

I am just getting started with weight loss and improving my fitness. I have been doing the same strength training routine for about one month, at least 3x a week. I am challenged by the exercises, and can still only do 5lb weights with some of my upper body. I could probably spend another few weeks working on upping the weights with lower reps. In your opinion, is it better for me to strength train with the same routine for 2 months and then switch to a different one (working the same muscles), or vary similar exercises each time I work out?

Abells

You should be varying your exercises. YOu can go up in weight and lower your reps. they Should be a struggle to do around that 8 rep count. This way you are building strength to up your weights. YOu are NOT going to bulk up.

I would list out your exercises that you are doing so people can be more accurate to help you

kdiamond

Agreed with above. You should change up every 6 weeks or so regardless of the weights you are lifting.

You will find as time goes by you can lift more, but you have to try it out and push yourself!

RUNNER48WH

I have tried to use the same strength training routines approx. 4-6 weeks....then I switch it up.

shimmer_glo

You should be varying your exercises. YOu can go up in weight and lower your reps. they Should be a struggle to do around that 8 rep count. This way you are building strength to up your weights. YOu are NOT going to bulk up.

I would list out your exercises that you are doing so people can be more accurate to help you

I attempted to do a shoulder press with an 8 lb weight last week and hurt my shoulder, so I'm going to need a little more time before I can do all my upper body exercises with 8lb or higher.

shimmer_glo

I have tried to use the same strength training routines approx. 4-6 weeks....then I switch it up.

Has this produced good results for you? Have you ever tried varying exercises every workout and, if so, does the 4-6 week method work better for you?

BigHulkDiesel

There are several ways you can approach this. The number one thing you need to do is keep your body guessing. Don't let your muscles become comfortable with a routine. This can be done by changing up your whole routing, changing the order in which you work out each week, or small things like doing the same exercise and changing up the way you do it. The last approach is my favorite. Example, this week I did Flat barbell bench press, incline dumbell bench press, standing cable crossovers, machine pullovers, and machine presses for chest. Next week I will do Flat DUMBELLS, Incline Barbell, dumbell flies, and push ups. Still pretty well the same workout, just doing different versions of each exercise.

Try doing that, you will be sore almost everyday that way.

erickirb

How many reps do you do now, and what exercises are you doing?

shimmer_glo

I do this workout 2x through most of the time.


15 Bicep curls - 8 lb per arm
15 Tricep kickbacks - 8 lb per arm
15 Tricep dumbbell extensions - 8 lb
20 Lateral raises (arms bent) - 5 lb per arm
20 Upright rows - 5 lb per arm
20 Shoulder presses - 5 lb per arm
20 Bent rows - 8 lb per arm
15 Flat dumbbell presses - 8 lbs per arm
15 Lying dumbbell flies - 8 lbs per arm
12 Pushups from knees

40 Standard crunches
20 L crunches
20 R crunches
20 Alternating oblique crunches
10 Reverse crunches

20 Squats (front squat?) - 16lb
20 Standing side lifts per leg - 8lb
20 Forward lunges - 16lb
20 Backward lunges - 16 lb
30 Standing rear kickbacks per leg - no weight
20 90 degree leg lifts with chair per leg - no weight
35 calf raises - 16 lb
Holding squat position for 32 seconds, no weight

erickirb

I do this workout 2x through most of the time.


15 Bicep curls - 8 lb per arm
15 Tricep kickbacks - 8 lb per arm
15 Tricep dumbbell extensions - 8 lb
20 Lateral raises (arms bent) - 5 lb per arm
20 Upright rows - 5 lb per arm
20 Shoulder presses - 5 lb per arm
20 Bent rows - 8 lb per arm
15 Flat dumbbell presses - 8 lbs per arm
15 Lying dumbbell flies - 8 lbs per arm
12 Pushups from knees

40 Standard crunches
20 L crunches
20 R crunches
20 Alternating oblique crunches
10 Reverse crunches

20 Squats (front squat?) - 16lb
20 Standing side lifts per leg - 8lb
20 Forward lunges - 16lb
20 Backward lunges - 16 lb
30 Standing rear kickbacks per leg - no weight
20 90 degree leg lifts with chair per leg - no weight
35 calf raises - 16 lb
Holding squat position for 32 seconds, no weight

Wow that is a lot of reps/set, you are not using nearly enough weight if you can do that many reps.

I would suggest upping the weight now and lowering your reps to 8-10, once you can get 12 reps for a certain exercise, increase the weight so you can only do 8-10. The last rep or 2 in each set should be difficult to complete with good form, if you do all 10 or 12 reps then stop the weight is not heavy enough, you shouldn't be done, until you could not do one more rep with good form.

annavt09

I like Jamie Eason's Livefit plan (on bodybuilding.com). It starts off easy in phase 1 and builds up. There are videos of each exercise.

Abells

I do this workout 2x through most of the time.


15 Bicep curls - 8 lb per arm
15 Tricep kickbacks - 8 lb per arm
15 Tricep dumbbell extensions - 8 lb
20 Lateral raises (arms bent) - 5 lb per arm
20 Upright rows - 5 lb per arm
20 Shoulder presses - 5 lb per arm
20 Bent rows - 8 lb per arm
15 Flat dumbbell presses - 8 lbs per arm
15 Lying dumbbell flies - 8 lbs per arm
12 Pushups from knees

40 Standard crunches
20 L crunches
20 R crunches
20 Alternating oblique crunches
10 Reverse crunches

20 Squats (front squat?) - 16lb
20 Standing side lifts per leg - 8lb
20 Forward lunges - 16lb
20 Backward lunges - 16 lb
30 Standing rear kickbacks per leg - no weight
20 90 degree leg lifts with chair per leg - no weight
35 calf raises - 16 lb
Holding squat position for 32 seconds, no weight

Wow that is a lot of reps/set, you are not using nearly enough weight if you can do that many reps.

I would suggest upping the weight now and lowering your reps to 8-10, once you can get 12 reps for a certain exercise, increase the weight so you can only do 8-10. The last rep or 2 in each set should be difficult to complete with good form, if you do all 10 or 12 reps then stop the weight is not heavy enough, you shouldn't be done, until you could not do one more rep with good form.

boom! she said she hurt her shoulder doing 8lbs under my similar comment. Also, maybe get someone to help with good form as well as he stated

shimmer_glo

I'm fairly confident that I know what good form looks like, although I'm sure there's always room for improvement. I definitely can't use heavier weight on any of my current 5lb upper body exercises, but I may see if I can try heavier weights and lower reps on some of the other exercises.

Since this change will likely shorten my workout time, I'm wondering if doing 3 sets would help me build muscle or if I'd be better off using the extra time for additional cardio? (I do cardio every other day and sometimes on weight days too.) I would like to build as much muscle as possible, but I realize that process will take time and I don't want to waste time doing extra/unneeded reps or sets during a workout.

badgerbadger1

If you can't manage 5-8 lbs how do you carry grocery bags or a big purse?

JNick77

I'm fairly confident that I know what good form looks like, although I'm sure there's always room for improvement. I definitely can't use heavier weight on any of my current 5lb upper body exercises, but I may see if I can try heavier weights and lower reps on some of the other exercises.

Since this change will likely shorten my workout time, I'm wondering if doing 3 sets would help me build muscle or if I'd be better off using the extra time for additional cardio? (I do cardio every other day and sometimes on weight days too.) I would like to build as much muscle as possible, but I realize that process will take time and I don't want to waste time doing extra/unneeded reps or sets during a workout.

It's really important when selecting your weight programming to have a goal or at least a purpose for each exercise. You might want to try having like one core compound lift that you use a barbell with and build around it. For example,
1. Bench Press (work-up to a weight you can only bench for 5reps and no more then stop, that's your 5 rep-max for that exercise)
2. Chest Dumbell work: DB Bench, DB Incline Bench, DB Flies 8-12 reps 2 to 3 sets
3. Chin-ups 8-12 reps 3 to 4 sets
4. Rowing exercise: Barbell rows, reverse barbell rows, DB Rows, Face Pulls 8-10 reps 3 to 4 sets
5. Shoulder Shrugs: DB or Barbell 8-12 reps 3 sets
6. Bicep exercise: 8-10 reps 3 sets
7. Tricep exercise: 10 - 15 reps 3 sets

You could take exercises 3 and 4 and 5, 6, and or 7 and superset them too so you can move the workout along quicker.

crisanderson27

Bumping this to reply later.

shimmer_glo

If you can't manage 5-8 lbs how do you carry grocery bags or a big purse?

I don't have a problem with heavier weights on bicep curls, I have a problem with more than 5 lbs on shoulder presses. I don't typically lift my grocery bags over my head...

Spanaval

You cannot do even one rep with good form with heavier weights?

crisanderson27

You cannot do even one rep with good form with heavier weights?

This is what I'm thinking. If she can do 15 reps with 5lbs, I find it absolutely impossible to believe she's not strong enough to lift 8lbs, or honestly even 10lbs for 5 reps.

Something's not adding up.

shimmer_glo

You cannot do even one rep with good form with heavier weights?

I didn't realize I could do one or a few reps with heavier weights and then use the lighter ones. I never even thought of that. I was trying to do the same number of reps every time -- 12, 15 or 20. I'm new to any kind of consistency with weight training, so this is really the first time I'm trying to use heavier weights than 3's and 5's for my upper body. I will give it a try. I'm sure I can do some heavier weights for a few reps. I did at least 5 or 6 before I hurt my shoulder with the shoulder presses.

Let me just make sure I've got this right: for building muscle, it is better to do a few reps with heavier weight, even if someone can only do one or two, than to do a lot more reps with a lighter weight?

crisanderson27

You cannot do even one rep with good form with heavier weights?

I didn't realize I could do one or a few reps with heavier weights and then use the lighter ones. I never even thought of that. I was trying to do the same number of reps every time -- 12, 15 or 20. I'm new to any kind of consistency with weight training, so this is really the first time I'm trying to use heavier weights than 3's and 5's for my upper body. I will give it a try. I'm sure I can do some heavier weights for a few reps. I did at least 5 or 6 before I hurt my shoulder with the shoulder presses.

Ahhh...that makes more sense.

The point though is, you don't EVER have to do 15 or 20 reps, it's counter productive!!

I do ALL my exercises with weight heavy enough I can barely complete 5 reps. I then do 5 sets. If I can't complete the 5 reps at the end of the 4th set...I'll drop 5lbs and complete my 5th set. Other people do 8 reps for 3 sets.

If I were you, I'd drop ALL your lifting down to either 5x5, or 3x8 (I'm biased to 5x5 lol). Use weights where you struggle to complete 1-2 reps beyond the number required. So for a 5 rep set, you'd pick a weight you could only do perhaps 6 good form reps with on your first set...and do that. For example, I use (post surgery) 75lbs per arm on my dumbbell presses. On my first set I could perhaps do 7 reps (I still do 5). Because of this I know it's a good weight. If I could do 8 or more, I'd need to add weight. If I couldn't even complete 6, I'd need to lighten the weight.

I hope that makes sense.