Ladies...LIFT HEAVY or do a million reps?

curvykim78

So I am looking to get some input from my fellow lifters out there. I bought a home gym and have been lifting pretty much every other day for about 6 months now. I can see a change with my muscles and body shape changing, but it's not fast enough or what I want. I can see my biceps when I flex my arms, but I would like to have more definition on the 'outside' of my arms. (When your arms are down at your sides, the 'outside' is the part others see.)
My question is this...if I want to get more results with my exercises, is it better to 'lift heavy' or is it better to 'do a million reps' of each exercise at a lower weight?
I'm also welcome to other ideas or hepful info as well. Thanks!

tuffytuffy1

Lift as much as you can in a set with no more than 8 reps. You should be barely able to get through the 8th rep. For your arms, I recommend lots and lots and lots (I mean lots, lol) of pushups.

curvykim78

Lift as much as you can in a set with no more than 8 reps. You should be barely able to get through the 8th rep. For your arms, I recommend lots and lots and lots (I mean lots, lol) of pushups.

grrrr...not a fan of pushups.....lol! I usually do 8-10 reps and 3 sets of them for any of the exercises I do with lifting.

WendyTerry420

I agree with lift heavy. The only way to build strength and increase your muscle size is to consistently increase the amount of weight that you lift. And there comes a point when you do so many reps that its practically cardio instead of lifting. Nearly everything that I have read, and folks that post here, say to lift as much weight as you can for anywhere from like 8-12 reps. And some of them are women who developed incredible bodies already, so I figure they know a thing or two. :laugh:

Good luck to you!

HMVOL7409

Lifting heavy will yield the results you want and no you don't need to do hundreds of push-ups if you don't want to but they are a great exercise if you can learn to like them! I change my routines a lot but I normally do 3-5 sets with 6-8 reps and its rare that I go up to 10 reps. I never do more than 10 for any exercise I do and that's what has worked for me.

McBully4

lift heavy,

but im sure 1,000,000 reps would be a killer work out.

opuntia

I was just asking the trainer at the gym about this. Apparently lots of reps gives endurance, while a few reps of very heavy lifting gives strength. I'm aiming to do a bit of both.

meshashesha2012

after 20+ years of lifting i've noticed different ways of lifting effect my body differently. when i wanted to see muscle definition, and gain mass then i lifted for hypertrophy which means lots of reps and weights that are 50-75% of my 1 RM. when i want to increase strength more so than muscular size then lift small number of reps at 75-95% of my 1 RM (and dont eat over my TDEE)

either way barbie weights aren't really good for much except if you're doing rehab on healing muscles or paper weights

Capt_Apollo

5/3/1

HeidiMightyRawr

I've gotten better results through lifting heavy, and so have several of my friends on MFP.

Just to add, "heavy" means heavy for you. It's based on rep range and % of 1RM rather than the actual weight. It may sound obvious but a lot of people don't know this and keep asking.

sunshinesquared

bump

KCoolBeanz

I prefer to lift heavy, although "heavy" is relative to each individual. Good luck!

sportytalldoll

i flip 300 pound tires ... and i dont do it a million times.so you can simply assume which theory I dissprove by not being bulky, and having excellent calorie burn workouts.

bahacca

Heavy. Also, keep in mind that if definition is what you are after, then you need to drop body fat. You can lift til the cows come home, but if your body fat percentage is high, no amount of lifting will get rid of the fat that is covering the muscles themselves.

LoraF83

Heavy - compound lifts. I like Strong Lifts 5x5.

To get definition, you need to lose bf% - keep working on it and losing weight and you'll get there

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Lift heavy.

Lose fat for definition.

Sarauk2sf

Lose body fat.

Lift heavy.

amybg1

Lift heavy! For one I find it more satisfying when I leave the gym and I'm pleasantly sore! Plus for me I find the rep range of about 8 to be good for strength as well as size. If I want to work on endurance I'll stay at the same weight but increase to 10-12 reps and do about 4 sets, not 3

mmapags

Lose body fat.

Lift heavy.

This. Seeing definition is mostly a matter of lowering body fat. Lifting heavy has all kinds of benefits that lifting lighter and doing excessive reps does not have. Hormonal, neuromuscular etc. Also, it waaaay more time efficient!

deninevi

Lose body fat.

Lift heavy.

This.

curvykim78

I just wanted to make aure I was going about this the right way.

curvykim78

i flip 300 pound tires ... and i dont do it a million times.so you can simply assume which theory I dissprove by not being bulky, and having excellent calorie burn workouts.

Where do you find those at?

embercakez

Like most I agree with lifting heavy!

curvykim78

I've been lifting heavy, so I'm on the right track I guess. I would just like to see my arms with more definition... My stupid scale won't budge very much lately, thanks to a stupid plateau I'm trying to get through. Anyone have any good arm exercises in mind?

LorinaLynn

Heavy. Who has time for a million reps?

I don't remember the last time I did pushups. I can do them. I just don't. Same goes for crunches.

Xaspar

My humble opinion:
If you can do more when you are done, you aren't done.
If you are lifting weights that don't make your muscles struggle and scream, you are not building muscle, you are using what you already have. But counter that with responsibility for what you are doing to yourself.
Go heavy, but go smart too!
Don't over-do it but definitely do it with a weight that you can't do a lot of!

I started Stronglifts 5X5 a few weeks ago ... The workout isn't long or complicated, but as my weights go up, they are certainly challenging. I haven't hit the point where I need a spotter yet, but expect to get there soon. And I am loving it!

MissAnjy

Lift heavy.

2012asv

I'm aiming for somwhere in the middle like 8-10 reps. Heavy enough that it's hard but light enough to do at least 8.

dewgirl321

Not sure what exercises you're doing. Make sure you're doing specific exercises to target triceps since that's the area of your concern. All the bicep curls you can handle won't help your triceps.

Ge0rgiana

Lift HEAVY. If you can easily do more than 10 reps, it ain't heavy enough. :drinker:

rachelrb85

I've done lighter weights and more reps for about 5 years with ZERO results. I was stupid and listed to those girly fitness magazines. I've been lifting heavy for about 3 months and have seen SUCH an improvement. Much more muscle definition and lost inches everywhere, especially my waist and hips.