Losing Muscle Mass? (no time to thread surf now)

tasiamere
tasiamere Posts: 233
in Fitness and Exercise
Morning all. Quick Question/Statement combo: (I'm sure it's been asked before but I don't have the time to thread surf right now) I think I am losing muscle mass sticking most of my exercise to cardio. I am noticing that things that weren't that heavy to me prior to the weight loss are really taxing like rearranging my room or carrying my daughter from my bed to her's. My genetics make me bulk up fast so I've tried to stay away from the weights. I guess my question is how can I increase my strength without necessarily making my muscles look really...dude-ish (not a work but no other available description lol) A guy at the guy said REPS REPS REPS but I'm not sure I feel anything with doing so many reps of say 10lbs of weight. A little help...I even confused google with this one; It just tried to sell me some exercise bands and dumbells.

Please and thanks :smile:

Replies

  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    1-2 reps = pure strength (I'm talking near maximal effort here, to where you're staggering and your nervous system is screaming STOOOOOP!!!! after your second rep.)
    3-5 reps = strength
    6-8 strenth+hypertrophy(bigger muscles)
    8-12- hypetrophy
    13+ cardio

    in your case, try doing sets of 3 or 4 with a very heavy weight.

    I wish I had your genetics! I'm a dude, with dude level testosterone, and I've added 170lbs to my squat and still haven't got my legs any bigger. ;)
  • ThisCanadian
    ThisCanadian Posts: 1,086 Member
    bump
  • tasiamere
    tasiamere Posts: 233
    Thanks! I can handle that and it obviously won't take me all day doing soooo many reps!
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    I am not questioning your genetics or anything but a lot of people mistake the "bulk" they get in the beginning of weight training to actual muscle gains. When in reality this is mostly swelling from water. It is also possible to gain 1 or 2 pounds of actual muscle in the beginning but then anything beyond that will be extremely slow. And if you are in a calorie deficit almost impossible to add on new mass.

    Just thought I would throw that out there in case you were not aware of that. Lots of people see an initial gain for the first month or two and think that gaining muscle and size is super easy when it is really not. Not even with great genetics. You would still need a calorie surplus, testosterone, a training program that optimizes mass building and so on. Even then it will be really slow process.

    3-5 sets of 3-5 reps, as heavy as you can lift, on the big compound lifts,while in a calorie deficit or at maintenance, will be enough to preserve muscle mass and increase strength. Do that 2-3 times per week and you should be good.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    I wish I had the genetics of most of the women of MFP. I've had to bust my butt for years and years before I broke thru and starting gaining significant mass, But most of the women here just think about lifting a 15 lb dumbbell and their muscles start ripping thru their blouses.
  • radeema
    radeema Posts: 161 Member
    bump
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Look into strong lifts 5x5. There's s women's group here.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    I wish I had the genetics of most of the women of MFP. I've had to bust my butt for years and years before I broke thru and starting gaining significant mass, But most of the women here just think about lifting a 15 lb dumbbell and their muscles start ripping thru their blouses.

    True story. That's why I can only wear tanks tops now. I don't even want to tell you what happened to my calves.
  • timmymon
    timmymon Posts: 304 Member
    Eat and lift more while cutting down on the cardio
  • samhigh
    samhigh Posts: 86 Member
    The recommendations for lower reps, higher weight make sense. Conversely, doing a ton of reps at low weight could also be effective.

    But bulking/gaining muscle is a reflection more of diet than your particular exercise program.

    For optimal performance and body composition, some balance between low rep strength and high rep cardio would be ideal. Do a periodized routine something like the following:

    Push Day -
    Warm up sets followed by
    Bench Press (2 sets of 3-5 reps)
    Body weight dips to near failure
    Chest Flyes - (3 sets of 10 reps)
    Dumbbell Press - (1 set of 40 reps)

    And then you would switch around the reps for each exercise. Go high volume on bench press, low rep strength on flyes, etc.

    Increase your protein intake and reduce your carb intake. This will preserve lean mass while limiting muscle growth.

    I wish I had your problem as well! I have been training like a beast and eating as many clean calories as possible but still struggling to gain muscle (only 6 pounds gained in 8 weeks). Good luck ;-)
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    you might want to check out leangains.com there is a pretty interesting article on there about how woman can still lift big and look hot....A lot of what has already been said makes sense. I would def cut down on the cardio...about three months ago I was running longer distances and doing more plyo and not really lifting heavy and my friends were like "you are getting skinny" So I cut out the cardio and started lifting heavier..now I only do like one HIIT sprint interval session per week and everyone says I look more solid...

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