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

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curvykim78
curvykim78 Posts: 799 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
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! :)
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Replies

  • tuffytuffy1
    tuffytuffy1 Posts: 920 Member
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    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
    curvykim78 Posts: 799 Member
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    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
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    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
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    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
    McBully4 Posts: 1,270 Member
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    lift heavy,

    but im sure 1,000,000 reps would be a killer work out.
  • opuntia
    opuntia Posts: 860 Member
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    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
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    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
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    5/3/1
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    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
    sunshinesquared Posts: 2,733 Member
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    bump
  • KCoolBeanz
    KCoolBeanz Posts: 813 Member
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    I prefer to lift heavy, although "heavy" is relative to each individual. Good luck!
  • sportytalldoll
    sportytalldoll Posts: 208 Member
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    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
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
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    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
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    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
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Lift heavy.

    Lose fat for definition.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Lose body fat.

    Lift heavy.
  • amybg1
    amybg1 Posts: 631 Member
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    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
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    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
    deninevi Posts: 934 Member
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    Lose body fat.

    Lift heavy.

    This.
  • curvykim78
    curvykim78 Posts: 799 Member
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    I just wanted to make aure I was going about this the right way. :)

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