Weights - how heavy is heavy?

lisamarie2181

Hi all

I am starting full blast into my weight training this week (finally) and I am trying to figure out how much weight to use to start. It seems a lot of people say to do heavy weight training, but how do I know whats heavy enough? I only have 5 pounders at the moment so im starting there, and obviously going to have to go buy a higher set, so what do u recommend? 10lbs? 20lbs? I cant afford to buy a set of weights of each, so what do u suggest would be a good weight to go to after the 5lbs?

Please help if u can! Thanks!

wellbert

The highest amount you can only do 5-8 reps for. Then next week, add MORE!

I suggest a barbell. It took my wife about 2 months to break 200lbs on her heaviest lift. Keep that in mind.

GAsoulstar

If and when you get a chance go to the below website and it will give you a lot of insight

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/a/weight101.htm

meshashesha2012

barbell is going to be easier to go heavy on. you can get a shorter 20/25 pound bar as well as the longer oly bar which is 45 pounds.

i think barbells are better because you can get weight plates as low as 1.25 pounds so it'd be more cost effective for a home gym. also dumb bells go up by 5 or 10 pounds which can be a huge difference in the strength you'd need. for instance if you only have a 10 pound dumbbell and a 20 pound one you're going to waste a good amount of time trying to make the leap from 10 to 20 pounds when instead you can do it with barbells like 12.5 ->15->17.5 -> 20.

with the barbells you should look for the bars and weight plates to go with them. i think starting off you'd be fine with the bar, 2-2.5 pound plates , 2-1.25 pound plates, a few 5 pound plates, 2-10 pound plates and maybe 2 25 pound plates. once you get stronger and need to use the 45 pound plates you'd also want to start looking into a squat rack of some type

like wellbert said, "heavy" is determined by how much weight you can do low reps on (3-8) and you absolutely NEED to take a few minutes rest between sets. also you should be always increasing your weights from workout to workout. i pretty much go through weights like water. i exercise in a gym but i think it can be done at home, you'd just need to have the weights ready for use. for instance by the end of this year i should be at a 270 pound deadlift. i dont have the space to store those kind of weights :laugh:

heybales

Hi all

I am starting full blast into my weight training this week (finally) and I am trying to figure out how much weight to use to start. It seems a lot of people say to do heavy weight training, but how do I know whats heavy enough? I only have 5 pounders at the moment so im starting there, and obviously going to have to go buy a higher set, so what do u recommend? 10lbs? 20lbs? I cant afford to buy a set of weights of each, so what do u suggest would be a good weight to go to after the 5lbs?

Please help if u can! Thanks!

It's how you end up. Couple of studies have shown it's the reps until failure that matter, not 3 x 8 or 5 x 5 that increases strength the most.

So if you have to do 5 x 20 so that the last few reps are barely good form (they should be) and then the muscle fails - so be it.

But then look to get some heavier weights.

I'd go for 15 lb dumbbells once 3 x 20 is easy.

That way you can add the 15 and 5 together for the leg based lifting.

elprincipito

i ccould probably juggle with 5lbs but...if it's heavy for you, then that's useful. I suggest a gym membership though. Buying weights everytime you outgrow them seems a lot more expensive to me (finding space for them too).

RedHeadDevotchka

If it's heavy to you it's heavy. You should be able to about 6-8 reps and with good form.

Bakkasan

Sets of 3-5 to failure is heavy. Just my humble opinion.

lisamarie2181

Thanks for all the advice. I know the 5lbs arent that heavy but its all i have for now, so gonna have to use those for the moment. I will definitely look into the barbell and see if i can swing it

Thanks all!

fishgutzy

Personally i try to avoid days of muscle pain after a workout. For that reason I avoid doing anything "to fail." 8 - 10 reps, 3 to 4 sets.
Pushed it too hard the last time I did legs. Walking hurt for 3 days. :explode:

ChinUp4Life

As a trainer, I start many clients off with basic bodyweight movements including lunges, step ups, and 1 leg romanian deadlift. As anyone can attest, walking lunges for more than 30 seconds will make your thighs and glutes burn like craaaaazy.

5 Lbers are pretty light. 10lbs DB's are often a starting point.

However you can increase the difficulty of each exercise by slowing down the tempo. For example, instead of doing 1 second reps, you can focus on form by doing 3 full seconds up, and then 3 full seconds down.

For home workouts, I'd also suggest the use of resistance bands because you can get more angles than DB's alone.