Lifting Heavy?

futurestarz

After reading so many posts about the importance of lifting heavy, I have decided to give it a try. The only problem is that I don't know where to start. What is considered lifting heavy for a woman? Right now I have ten pound weights and they feel pretty heavy to me when I am doing curls etc. Can anyone recommend some good exercises? Any other help or advice related to "lifting heavy" would be great! Thanks in advance.

EatClean_WashUrNuts

New Rule of Lifting for Women.

Check it out

Yanicka1

New Rule of Lifting for Women.

Check it out

This absolutly....the best 15$ I ever spent. I was a total newbie and it was a great help.

Nix143

There is a group on here as well for NROL4W

LoraF83

Check out "New Rules of Lifting for Women" or "Strong Lifts"

Either program will help you get started.

Heavy is a relative term - my definition of heavy will be different from yours. It's about lifting substantial weight that you are comfortable with. And then trying to increase it, slowly. So maybe you can only bench press 60lbs right now? That's fine....in a month or two, you could be up to 75. And just because I can bench press 105 right now, that doesn't invalidate your effort. Just do what you can and work from there.

The only thing not allowed are pink 5lb dumbbells :laugh:

thedreamhazer

After reading so many posts about the importance of lifting heavy, I have decided to give it a try. The only problem is that I don't know where to start. What is considered lifting heavy for a woman? Right now I have ten pound weights and they feel pretty heavy to me when I am doing curls etc. Can anyone recommend some good exercises? Any other help or advice related to "lifting heavy" would be great! Thanks in advance.

You're going to need heavier weights or a gym pass. You need to focus on compound moves, not isolations. I'm going to sound like a broken record, but: deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, rows, pull-ups. You can have some variation, throw in some extras, whatever makes you happy ... but you want big moves to see change.

I, personally, like Starting Strength and StrongLifts. NROLFW stage 1 is good, but I'm not a big fan of the other stages (they got too complicated/time-consuming for me).

Have fun!

JustMagpie

I do weight lifting. I enjoy it more then any other excersize as I see immediate results. It really is not the weight you lift but the reps you do and proper form. Women and men lift differently. It also depends on what muscle group your doing. The shoulder has three tiny muscles where small weights are better. Such as 10 lbs and reps of 10 x 4.

I work with a trainer so when we do shoulders and back that is all we focus on. I can do 35 lb curls but that is heavy for a woman and I do shorter reps.

Maybe take a look at the reason you wish to do weights. Mine is I want a very long line in the muscle. I do not wish to bulk. I am finding that I like the lines in my calves and my neck muscles have very good definition. Also with my shoulders. I see my biggest change with my weight loss is those areas.

Do I lose alot of weight. No. I really do not. I have 50 or so lbs to go. But I love the power of working with weights.

Barbara

futurestarz

Thanks everyone!

RunHardBeStrong

Check out "New Rules of Lifting for Women" or "Strong Lifts"

Either program will help you get started.

Heavy is a relative term - my definition of heavy will be different from yours. It's about lifting substantial weight that you are comfortable with. And then trying to increase it, slowly. So maybe you can only bench press 60lbs right now? That's fine....in a month or two, you could be up to 75. And just because I can bench press 105 right now, that doesn't invalidate your effort. Just do what you can and work from there.

The only thing not allowed are pink 5lb dumbbells :laugh:

Completely agreed! Heavy means what is challenging for you and as long as you're pushing (safely) to move that number up then you're doing it correctly! Good luck! I think you're going to fall in love with it and the results!

ETA: I prefer Stronglifts over New Rules, both focus on big compound moves which gives you more bang for your buck but Stronglifts is more straight forward and a little less foo fooey!

LoraF83

I do weight lifting. I enjoy it more then any other excersize as I see immediate results. It really is not the weight you lift but the reps you do and proper form. Women and men lift differently. It also depends on what muscle group your doing. The shoulder has three tiny muscles where small weights are better. Such as 10 lbs and reps of 10 x 4.

I work with a trainer so when we do shoulders and back that is all we focus on. I can do 35 lb curls but that is heavy for a woman and I do shorter reps.

Maybe take a look at the reason you wish to do weights. Mine is I want a very long line in the muscle. I do not wish to bulk. I am finding that I like the lines in my calves and my neck muscles have very good definition. Also with my shoulders. I see my biggest change with my weight loss is those areas.

Do I lose alot of weight. No. I really do not. I have 50 or so lbs to go. But I love the power of working with weights.

Barbara

Why do you think men and women have to lift differently?

mmapags

After reading so many posts about the importance of lifting heavy, I have decided to give it a try. The only problem is that I don't know where to start. What is considered lifting heavy for a woman? Right now I have ten pound weights and they feel pretty heavy to me when I am doing curls etc. Can anyone recommend some good exercises? Any other help or advice related to "lifting heavy" would be great! Thanks in advance.

You're going to need heavier weights or a gym pass. You need to focus on compound moves, not isolations. I'm going to sound like a broken record, but: deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, rows, pull-ups. You can have some variation, throw in some extras, whatever makes you happy ... but you want big moves to see change.

I, personally, like Starting Strength and StrongLifts. NROLFW stage 1 is good, but I'm not a big fan of the other stages (they got too complicated/time-consuming for me).

Have fun!

I agree with every point made in this post! Excellent advice.

WendyTerry420

The only thing not allowed are pink 5lb dumbbells :laugh:

What if 5 pounds is heavy!?! :sad:

MoreBean13

The only thing not allowed are pink 5lb dumbbells :laugh:

What if 5 pounds is heavy!?! :sad:

If 5lbs is heavy, I would hate to see how hard grocery shopping would be!
"Honey, can you please come pour me a glass of milk- I can't lift the 8lb gallon!"

*Disclaimer- I'm sure there are people that have specific conditions that make it difficult to lift 8-lbs, but they are exceptions to the rule. Most people can lift a gallon of milk.

LoraF83

The only thing not allowed are pink 5lb dumbbells :laugh:

What if 5 pounds is heavy!?! :sad:

If 5lbs is heavy, I would hate to see how hard grocery shopping would be!
"Honey, can you please come pour me a glass of milk- I can't lift the 8lb gallon!"

*Disclaimer- I'm sure there are people that have specific conditions that make it difficult to lift 8-lbs, but they are exceptions to the rule. Most people can lift a gallon of milk.

Exactly this. My purse weighs more than 5lbs. Most of us lift and carry relatively heavy things all day long, without even thinking about it. We are stronger than we give ourselves credit for.

My point was simply that too many women buy into the idea of small weights, high reps to "tone" and only doing isolated exercises (like curls). In fact, they would see much better results if they tried compound lifts - which work the whole body. But women are scared of that, because they think they will bulk up. Which is next to impossible for women, especially while eating at a deficit.

Yanicka1

I do weight lifting. I enjoy it more then any other excersize as I see immediate results. It really is not the weight you lift but the reps you do and proper form. Women and men lift differently. It also depends on what muscle group your doing. The shoulder has three tiny muscles where small weights are better. Such as 10 lbs and reps of 10 x 4.

I work with a trainer so when we do shoulders and back that is all we focus on. I can do 35 lb curls but that is heavy for a woman and I do shorter reps.

Maybe take a look at the reason you wish to do weights. Mine is I want a very long line in the muscle. I do not wish to bulk. I am finding that I like the lines in my calves and my neck muscles have very good definition. Also with my shoulders. I see my biggest change with my weight loss is those areas.

Do I lose alot of weight. No. I really do not. I have 50 or so lbs to go. But I love the power of working with weights.

Barbara

Hoscience

oOMusicBabii

Bump.

Looking for info as well.

Midnight_Sunshine

Women and men lift differently. It also depends on what muscle group your doing. The shoulder has three tiny muscles where small weights are better. Such as 10 lbs and reps of 10 x 4.

CakeFit21

I do weight lifting. I enjoy it more then any other excersize as I see immediate results. It really is not the weight you lift but the reps you do and proper form. Women and men lift differently. It also depends on what muscle group your doing. The shoulder has three tiny muscles where small weights are better. Such as 10 lbs and reps of 10 x 4.

I work with a trainer so when we do shoulders and back that is all we focus on. I can do 35 lb curls but that is heavy for a woman and I do shorter reps.

Maybe take a look at the reason you wish to do weights. Mine is I want a very long line in the muscle. I do not wish to bulk. I am finding that I like the lines in my calves and my neck muscles have very good definition. Also with my shoulders. I see my biggest change with my weight loss is those areas.

Do I lose alot of weight. No. I really do not. I have 50 or so lbs to go. But I love the power of working with weights.

Barbara

This is nonsense. You are being swindled by your trainer and it will go on and on because you are never going to reach your goals.

thistimeismytime

NROLW is great. I don't follow it myself, but it's a great program. Lots of my friends do it with great results.

I guess I'm the odd-woman out, but I DO like isolation exercises like curls, side laterals, yada yada. I use them in conjunction with big, compound power-moves like squats and deadlifts in a 5-day split routine. I don't mean to sound like a bi*ch, but my results the last 8 months speak for themselves, so I refuse to argue with people about this. To each their own.

OP, there's no reason you shouldn't lift like a man. I learned to lift mostly from my husband, who was a competitive bodybuilder for many years. Sometimes we work out together--we do the exact same stuff, just with different weights. You don't need to worry at all about "bulking"-- your measurements will ALL go down--the more you lift, the smaller you'll get. Guarantee it.

thedreamhazer

I guess I'm the odd-woman out, but I DO like isolation exercises like curls, side laterals, yada yada. I use them in conjunction with big, compound power-moves like squats and deadlifts in a 5-day split routine. I don't mean to sound like a bi*ch, but my results the last 8 months speak for themselves, so I refuse to argue with people about this. To each their own.

I do isolation exercises too -- I just throw them in as add-ons. Personally, I was just saying that a routine should be built around the big lifts. (I really enjoy doing bicep curls, and I specifically train up my rear delts on their own because I have a strength imbalance I'm trying to fix).

Yanicka1

I guess I'm the odd-woman out, but I DO like isolation exercises like curls, side laterals, yada yada. I use them in conjunction with big, compound power-moves like squats and deadlifts in a 5-day split routine. I don't mean to sound like a bi*ch, but my results the last 8 months speak for themselves, so I refuse to argue with people about this. To each their own.

When you are at that level of fitness that you are, sure....I intend to start isolation exercises when I start bulking. I still think they are a waste of time for beguiners that need to build everything.