I'm Weak!

AwMyLoLo

My sis in law got a Wii Fit for her birthday. She set me up on there and it said my BMI is 19.20 and according to a quick test I took, I am weak! This has really been bothering me :grumble: . I always knew that I was a "weakling" but I have been lifting weights for a long time, I would think my body overall has some strength. What should I do to start really building strength? Right now I do about 50 minutes of weight training 2-3 times a week including things like - squats, lunges, leg press, calf raises, flies, curls, seated rows, back extensions, military press, all of this with abs and pushups in between. I know as I'm doing all this lifting I'm not strong, but I keep doing it in hopes that I will soon move up in weight and/or be able to do more pushups, harder lifts, etc... I can't afford a trainer... what should I do? :sad:

mszSHOGAN

I just got a wii fit myself and you DON'T EVEN WANT TO KNOW what it says my BMI is! :grumble:

My arms definitely need some work too so I'm not the expert on what workouts you should do. I would suggest searching online, and I'm sure the other will recommend some GREAT exercises (they're like that )

Good luck!
~Katie

savvystephy

You should work your muscles a little harder, maybe. Work until muscle failure. So, add some weight to your strength training. It should be hard to do on your last few reps in a set (say 12 reps). How I have been doing strength training is start at 12 reps, then 10, 8, and 6. Because as your muscles hurt towards the end they can't withstand as many reps on a heavy weight. It should be difficult to lift the weight for the last few reps. When your muscles give out and you can't lift another thing, then you have gone to muscle failure.

Also, you don't need to work one part of your body more than once a week. Pick one day to work on biceps and chest, another to work on triceps and calves, etc, etc.

Does that help a bit?

jalara

AwMyLoLo,

The Wii Fit is a wonderful tool, but don't take it too seriously - you're score improves with practice - it really does. I'm curious though - what test did you do that told you you were weak? Most tests that I get are for balance and Wii Fit Age.

As far as getting stronger, as far as you continue to challenge yoursel (more pushups than last week, etc..) that your body will continue to improve your strength.

How you feel is more important that what a game tells you.If you feel strong, you are - maybe not as strong as GI Jane, but strong. You can only compare yourself to yourself.

You have a wonderful wedding photo by the way!

poustotah

For me, lifting weight doesn't necessarily make me stronger. What has helped me has been to fight. My trainer was a fighter for over 20 years and he's been teaching me to fight and it has made a HUGE difference. We box a few times a week and I've noticed that it's enabled me to lift more when I'm strength training. There are also a lot of other benefits to it and it is a great cardio workout.

songbyrdsweet

Can you be more specific about your training? Just lifting a weight doesn't mean you're LIFTING. I can curl 5lbs and technically that's lifting, but I won't feel it unless I'm using 15-20 lbs. I see a lot of women limiting themselves to really low weight and really high reps in an attempt to avoid 'getting bulky'. Really what they're doing is wasting time unfortunately.

CasperO

Wow,,, girl physiology. I'm not really sure.

Here's how guys get stronger:
Do the classic freeweights training exercises. Bench presses, military presses, arm curls, squats, rows, stuff like that.

Do a set of 4-6 repititions. If you can do 8 - add weight. You should be struggling with all your might (and maybe a bit of a cheat) to do the 6th rep. If you get to 7 or 8, add weight next time. Run through your whole routine that way.

Do something else for a bit, take a little recovery time. I like to knock in a bit of cardio, or run through one of Jillian's shred routines.

Then - Run through it again, again, if you get to 8, add weight.

Recovery time again.

Then, run through it one more time at 80%-ish on the weights, going for 8-10 reps this last time. You should be trembling when you're done, totally freaked-out wierd. Hardcore music helps.

And that's your workout. It should take an hour or less - maybe a little more if you're working in a lot of cardio. Do this 3 days a week - giving yourself enough time between workouts for full healing and recovery. Do this too frequently and you can actually overtrain and tear yourself down and lose mass and strength.

Eat enough calories to feed a little growth, with emphasis on protein. Change the routine regularly, adding/subtracting exercises.

That's it. If you do that you will get stronger. You might start off doing arm curls with 20 pounds, and in a couple weeks you'll hit that 8th rep, and you'll be adding a little and doing 25 pounds. Before you know it it'll be 30, and you'll look in the mirror and see "guns". It's kewl.

AwMyLoLo

Can you be more specific about your training? Just lifting a weight doesn't mean you're LIFTING. I can curl 5lbs and technically that's lifting, but I won't feel it unless I'm using 15-20 lbs. I see a lot of women limiting themselves to really low weight and really high reps in an attempt to avoid 'getting bulky'. Really what they're doing is wasting time unfortunately.

I would say on average for arms using free weights I use 12-15 lbs (curls, tricep extensions, press, etc...) 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps... Probably what I'm doing wrong is not really pushing myself to "failure", which I've read you post about, and someone else commented here. I feel like what I'm doing now I have better control over form and upping will be ::too:: difficult, causing bad form...

Squats I add 30lbs to the bar and 4 sets of 8-10 (I'm pretty unstable and just starting back into squats)
Curls - 15 lbs 3 sets of 15 each arm
Leg press: 90 lbs
Rows: 70 lbs 3-4 sets of 10
Walking lunges with 8 lb weights 12-16 lunges total (6-8 each leg)
I can only do about 8 "girl" pushups in a row and I do them between alternating sets. For example: 1 set squats, 1 set calf raises, 30 reps some sort of abs, 8 pushups, repeat, repeat. Then, 1 set curls, 1 set back extensions, 30 reps abs, 8 pushups, repeat 2-3 more times. I dunno if that makes much sense but... Should I be SORE after every weight session? I used to get really sore every time I worked out and now I dont seem to. I mean, I will feel like my muscles are a little tired, but I don't find it so bad I am whining and complaining all day unable to sit down or reach up or bend over, you know? :laugh:

CasperO

Seems like an awful lot of reps to me. If you want to get stronger you have to lift heavier, forcing your body to adapt to the stresses you're putting on it - and when you lift heavier you'll be able to do fewer reps at first.

savvystephy

Yeah, I agree with Casper. You should add more weight. You can add just a little amount of weight to do more reps (12 - 15). But make sure the last 3-5 reps are hurting.

AwMyLoLo

AwMyLoLo,

The Wii Fit is a wonderful tool, but don't take it too seriously - you're score improves with practice - it really does. I'm curious though - what test did you do that told you you were weak? Most tests that I get are for balance and Wii Fit Age.

As far as getting stronger, as far as you continue to challenge yoursel (more pushups than last week, etc..) that your body will continue to improve your strength.

How you feel is more important that what a game tells you.If you feel strong, you are - maybe not as strong as GI Jane, but strong. You can only compare yourself to yourself.

You have a wonderful wedding photo by the way!

Thanks for the compliment on my photo!

I think the test I did was for balance. I had to shift my weight to the right or left to line up within these markers and hold it for 3 seconds. AND it told me my Wii Fit age was 28, I'm 23. Honestly, I think part of the reason it considered me to be weak is because I had a hard time doing that test because of my feet problems and I was barefoot. (I am hoping Santa will bring me some new feet for Christmas!) Actually, I will be going to The Good Feet Store as soon as I get some free time because my feet are actually starting to interfere with my exercise.

I definitely don't feel strong though and am starting to feel like I am spinning my wheels in the gym. I was interested in P90X but don't have the money for that, and I enjoy going to the gym for my workouts. :ohwell:

iplayoutside19

Do you (or anyone else) keep track of your srength training in a notebook? I keep track of every thing I do in a notebook (that has wrinkled pages because I sweat on it all the time) That way there is no "about" or 3 to 4.

After I finish a set, I write it down and weather I need to subtract, add, or equal weight the next time I do that excersise. That way I know I'm progessing...or not progressing.

SHBoss1673

So there's a big difference between functional strength and muscle size. Being weak has very little to do with traditional isolation weight training (using free weights and machines to perform traditional isokinetic exercises). IMHO if you want to make yourself LOOK better (I.E. muscle sculpting, muscle size increases...etc.) you do isokinetics like bench presses, arm curls, leg extensions, squats...etc. all that stuff. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.

BUT

Being strong is about adaptive, dynamic movements that increase your muscle GROUPS in ways that you would use them in the real world. I.E. a mother of 5 may not be able to squat 400 lbs like an olympic weight lifter, but maybe she can twist the lid off the pickle jar when that same weight lifter can't (ok that's a silly example but it proves my point). That mother doesn't have huge bulging forearms, but she still has strength.

For the same reasons, I feel that you build strength by doing exercises that mimic real world activity, and you build definition by doing isolation.

Real world activities (ok this is a little bit of a misnomer, as most of these activities aren't in your "normal" routine but they are situations that could and do happen to people) such sprinting, jumping, lifting (dead lift type lifts), twisting, and balancing. Also combination moves such as a lift and jump, or twist and throw, or a squat and pushup. All things that could conceivably happen in a real world situation. OK so maybe some of these things happen only once in your life, like maybe you slip on some ice crossing the street and you fall flat on your face, well you have to do a pushup, then a squat and then a jump, all in a very fast motion to get out of the way of that car. Hey if you only have to do it once, you want to make sure your body can actually do it right? I call it my explosion training, because most of this stuff doesn't really build much muscle, but it can improve muscle density, agility and reaction time, and (believe it or not) critical thinking in crisis situations.

I can try to put together a list if you like, but it probably won't be comprehensive. Basically you need to figure out what you'd like to be strong in, and then use whatever you have available (equipment wise), and put together a strenuous routine that strengthens the muscles safely.
FYI, there's a whole class of trainer (one that I'm aspiring to be) that focus on this specific type of training, most work with athletes that NEED the functional strength and agility, you can look some up, they're usually pretty expensive though.

Kath712

I started Wii Fit a few weeks ago and have found it to be a little off with the body tests. I'm only 39 and it said my Wii Fit Age was 56!!! :noway: As I do more and more body tests, I'm bringing the age down. Last night it was 30!! :drinker: And the body tests get easier as I do more. It just takes a while to get used to the balance board. I bet if you kept doing it, you would improve your score in no time. Don't put a lot of stock into what Wii Fit says, just have fun with it. It's just a game.

But good luck with your feet, though! :flowerforyou:

CasperO

Thanks for the compliment on my photo!

I think the test I did was for balance. I had to shift my weight to the right or left to line up within these markers and hold it for 3 seconds. AND it told me my Wii Fit age was 28, I'm 23. Honestly, I think part of the reason it considered me to be weak is because I had a hard time doing that test because of my feet problems and I was barefoot. (I am hoping Santa will bring me some new feet for Christmas!) Actually, I will be going to The Good Feet Store as soon as I get some free time because my feet are actually starting to interfere with my exercise.

I definitely don't feel strong though and am starting to feel like I am spinning my wheels in the gym. I was interested in P90X but don't have the money for that, and I enjoy going to the gym for my workouts. :ohwell:

Whoa - that's not "Weak",,, that's just a bad Wii fit body test. Strength has nothing to do with that, that goofy thing is just measuring balance and body control. Try it a couple more times to get the hang of it and you'll probably do a lot better.

Hehehe,,, I thought you couldn't carry a gallon of milk or something. You're fine,,,

AwMyLoLo

So there's a big difference between functional strength and muscle size. Being weak has very little to do with traditional isolation weight training (using free weights and machines to perform traditional isokinetic exercises). IMHO if you want to make yourself LOOK better (I.E. muscle sculpting, muscle size increases...etc.) you do isokinetics like bench presses, arm curls, leg extensions, squats...etc. all that stuff. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.

BUT

Being strong is about adaptive, dynamic movements that increase your muscle GROUPS in ways that you would use them in the real world. I.E. a mother of 5 may not be able to squat 400 lbs like an olympic weight lifter, but maybe she can twist the lid off the pickle jar when that same weight lifter can't (ok that's a silly example but it proves my point). That mother doesn't have huge bulging forearms, but she still has strength.

For the same reasons, I feel that you build strength by doing exercises that mimic real world activity, and you build definition by doing isolation.

Real world activities (ok this is a little bit of a misnomer, as most of these activities aren't in your "normal" routine but they are situations that could and do happen to people) such sprinting, jumping, lifting (dead lift type lifts), twisting, and balancing. Also combination moves such as a lift and jump, or twist and throw, or a squat and pushup. All things that could conceivably happen in a real world situation. OK so maybe some of these things happen only once in your life, like maybe you slip on some ice crossing the street and you fall flat on your face, well you have to do a pushup, then a squat and then a jump, all in a very fast motion to get out of the way of that car. Hey if you only have to do it once, you want to make sure your body can actually do it right? I call it my explosion training, because most of this stuff doesn't really build much muscle, but it can improve muscle density, agility and reaction time, and (believe it or not) critical thinking in crisis situations.

I can try to put together a list if you like, but it probably won't be comprehensive. Basically you need to figure out what you'd like to be strong in, and then use whatever you have available (equipment wise), and put together a strenuous routine that strengthens the muscles safely.
FYI, there's a whole class of trainer (one that I'm aspiring to be) that focus on this specific type of training, most work with athletes that NEED the functional strength and agility, you can look some up, they're usually pretty expensive though.

Thanks, Boss! I think what I am striving for is what you explained in the second part of your post. I want to actually BE STRONG! I want to be agile, with good posture, and able to do things like move furniture. I'm seriously a weakling when it comes to stuff like that! I am content with the "shape and figure" of my body but I definitely want to be more tone and muscular and strong. If you wouldn't mind, I would love to check out a recommended routine by you. I have taken your advice before and would love more! Thanks again!

PS. Would Kickboxing be a good routine to add as "real world activities" Twisting, kicking, punching... ?

songbyrdsweet

Can you be more specific about your training? Just lifting a weight doesn't mean you're LIFTING. I can curl 5lbs and technically that's lifting, but I won't feel it unless I'm using 15-20 lbs. I see a lot of women limiting themselves to really low weight and really high reps in an attempt to avoid 'getting bulky'. Really what they're doing is wasting time unfortunately.

I would say on average for arms using free weights I use 12-15 lbs (curls, tricep extensions, press, etc...) 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps... Probably what I'm doing wrong is not really pushing myself to "failure", which I've read you post about, and someone else commented here. I feel like what I'm doing now I have better control over form and upping will be ::too:: difficult, causing bad form...

Squats I add 30lbs to the bar and 4 sets of 8-10 (I'm pretty unstable and just starting back into squats)
Curls - 15 lbs 3 sets of 15 each arm
Leg press: 90 lbs
Rows: 70 lbs 3-4 sets of 10
Walking lunges with 8 lb weights 12-16 lunges total (6-8 each leg)
I can only do about 8 "girl" pushups in a row and I do them between alternating sets. For example: 1 set squats, 1 set calf raises, 30 reps some sort of abs, 8 pushups, repeat, repeat. Then, 1 set curls, 1 set back extensions, 30 reps abs, 8 pushups, repeat 2-3 more times. I dunno if that makes much sense but... Should I be SORE after every weight session? I used to get really sore every time I worked out and now I dont seem to. I mean, I will feel like my muscles are a little tired, but I don't find it so bad I am whining and complaining all day unable to sit down or reach up or bend over, you know? :laugh:

In order to gain strength, size, endurance--whatever--you HAVE to push yourself. But you also have to train specifically.

If you want to get strong, you need to lift heavy. I mean really heavy...8 reps or less.
If you want endurance, you need to do really high reps and a lot of whatever exercise you want more endurance in--swimming, running, tennis.
If you want size, you need to reach failure in a mid-rep range and eat more.

Like Banks said...you have to pick what you want to be strong in and work on that. If you want to be able to do a real push up, you have to DO a real push up. That means, even if you can only do one, do that one and follow it with some 'girl' pushups. Same with pull ups--you may only be able to jump up and lower yourself down for one rep. Do that. You have to *make* your body do what you want it to do. You have to push it. That's how you cause adaptations.

SHBoss1673

Thanks, Boss! I think what I am striving for is what you explained in the second part of your post. I want to actually BE STRONG! I want to be agile, with good posture, and able to do things like move furniture. I'm seriously a weakling when it comes to stuff like that! I am content with the "shape and figure" of my body but I definitely want to be more tone and muscular and strong. If you wouldn't mind, I would love to check out a recommended routine by you. I have taken your advice before and would love more! Thanks again!

PS. Would Kickboxing be a good routine to add as "real world activities" Twisting, kicking, punching... ?

kickboxing is a marvelous combination routine, but I mean REAL kickboxing, not shadow kickboxing. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the shadow stuff, it's just not going to really make you functionally stronger and is more of a cardio routine than a strength builder. To make it a strength builder, you have to segment it into what's called failure workouts with resistance (resistance either means a heavy bag, or someone to hold a pad that you punch and kick). Find a heavy bag, take some time (there's a ton of good heavy bag routines out there if you google it), and map out a routine that works for you. it'll take a few sessions to get it right, so that it's hard, but not too hard to complete.

Another exercise would be something like a dumbell pushup to squatthrust to frog jump type routine. Where you start standing at rest holding moderate weight dumbells (hexagonal shaped dumbells if possible for the pushup), squat down then move into a pushup positon (quickly), do 1 pushup, put your fee back under your hips to stand, and frog jump forward, spin around and do the same in the reverse direction.

Another would be a lateral, vertical jump. with light to moderate dumbells. With your feet together and standing at rest, squat and explode in a lateral jump (sideways), then upon landing squat again and jump straight up as high as you can.

If you have access to a medicine ball and a solid wall (one that won't break when you throw the ball off of it), a medicine ball pickup and side throw is a good one. Stand about 4 feet from a wall perpendicular to the wall (I.E. you are looking in the same direction as the wall is running), with feet shoulder width apart, a medicine ball at your feet, squat and lift the ball in a dead lift fashion, then with a twisting motion throw the ball at the wall at a slight upward angle, quickly retreive the ball and repeat, doing enough to feel the burn in your obliques and maybe your gluts, repeat on both sides of your body.

Weighted squat jump spins. This is a great one to increase agility and strengthen the core. Have 2 dumbells in your hands, standing with feet together, do a squat with the dumbells and jump up and attempt to spin 360 degrees, if this proves to be too difficult at first, just do 180 degrees. This one is really good for balance and leg strength. Remember, lifting things is almost all your legs and stomach, it has very little to do with upper body.

As with any kind of explosion training, a disclaimer is necessary, these are difficult moves, and can be dangerous if not done correctly, please make sure before you attempt any that you have an area clear of obstructions to perform the routine, that your equipment is in good working condition, and that you don't have any medical conditions that these activities could aggrivate or trigger.

You may notice I didn't put in how many reps. That's because it's different for everyone, some can only do a few of these, some can do a lot, for most of these I usually say work to failure, that is, work until your muscles won't allow you to do the exercise correctly any more. Once you start cheating, stop, as you are no longer working the muscles correctly, and you risk injury by engaging muscles that were never intended to be used that way.

Obviously this is just a small subset of activities, there are tons of more, and many of these are plyometrics moves that you can combine. Look up plyometrics for more activities, many times you can find 2 similar activities and add them together to make a great combo move.

SHBoss1673

NOTE, many of the routines i posted are hard on the ankles and knees, make sure if you have problems with these areas to use braces or tape.

Also, when I say squat, or pushup, or dead lift, or anything that would be considered a isokinetic move, I mean using CORRECT form for it, I.E. when I say squat down, I mean keep your chin up, bending at the knees, pushing your *kitten* out and keeping your shoulders parallel to the floor in a correct squat motion, this keeps your back protected. If you don't know the correct form of something, look it up before you try it, and you should definitely practice a motion without weight, at a slow speed before trying it for the first time.

And as always, warm up, stretch, and cool down after these routines.