Question about weightlifting and results

Lift_hard_eat_big

As a beginner you CAN gain muscle on a caloric deficit (newbie gains)

I wouldn't train to failure research actually shows going to failure is counter productive, stopping 1-2 rep reps short of failure is ideal. Make sure you track your workouts on progressively overload ( add weight, add a rep or increase the number of sets)

if your eating 1600 cals i'd recommend

120p/180c/40f- Switch some carbs for fats and vice versa if you need to.


I recommend you read starting strength, it has vast information on training, and helps you get down form for the main lifts to a tee.

Newbie gains on a deficit and specially for a woman are negligible.

joybedford

Hi I am quite new to lifting and just wanted to share my experience. I have been a runner for 2 years dabbling in weights a bit but not consistently. My husband lifts weights and one day he was on bodybuilding.com I looked around the site thinking it would be aimed at men but came away inspired. Their are also a number of women on here who truly inspire me as well. For the past 6 weeks I have been following jamie easons live fit plan and can already see a huge difference in my body. By week 4 I was in the mirror saying to my hubby wow look at my shoulders. I am currently bench pressing about 55lbs and leg extensions are 88lbs squatting 77lbs still lots of room for progress but ok for a newbie. I now love lifting but will always run as well I believe you can do both. I still have some body fat to lose at about 26.5% but feel positive I will get there. If you want to add me for motivation feel free. I log every day and workout 6 days a week. Good luck with your new regime.

bahacca

Would you clarify something for me OP-You state you are doing 1 hour of weight training, but when you listed your workout, you showed only 4 exercises. If you are only doing 3 sets of 10 reps, why is that taking you an hour? How long are you resting between sets? Are there a lot of warm-up sets that you didn't mention?

Humbugsftw

I tend to take my time with weight exercises, because I'm not one for doing as many reps as fast as possible. I'd rather do them slowly but properly. Also, my recovery time after each set is still relatively slow, especially with NO glycogen in my body at all, so I do struggle after a while, but manage to push through. I've been told this is normal for now though, and I will find that I recover faster after each set the more I get used to, especially when I reintroduce carbs back into my body.

Humbugsftw

Hi I am quite new to lifting and just wanted to share my experience. I have been a runner for 2 years dabbling in weights a bit but not consistently. My husband lifts weights and one day he was on bodybuilding.com I looked around the site thinking it would be aimed at men but came away inspired. Their are also a number of women on here who truly inspire me as well. For the past 6 weeks I have been following jamie easons live fit plan and can already see a huge difference in my body. By week 4 I was in the mirror saying to my hubby wow look at my shoulders. I am currently bench pressing about 55lbs and leg extensions are 88lbs squatting 77lbs still lots of room for progress but ok for a newbie. I now love lifting but will always run as well I believe you can do both. I still have some body fat to lose at about 26.5% but feel positive I will get there. If you want to add me for motivation feel free. I log every day and workout 6 days a week. Good luck with your new regime.

Thanks! I'm sticking to 3-4 days a week workout in the meantime, filling the in-between days with a run or a walk in Hyde Park in London. Will be upping it to 4-5 days a week soon though It was unnerving how I was the only woman in the free weights section at that point and time lol, kept getting people staring at me in the gym

Humbugsftw

Would you clarify something for me OP-You state you are doing 1 hour of weight training, but when you listed your workout, you showed only 4 exercises. If you are only doing 3 sets of 10 reps, why is that taking you an hour? How long are you resting between sets? Are there a lot of warm-up sets that you didn't mention?

I tend to take my time with weight exercises, because I'm not one for doing as many reps as fast as possible. I'd rather do them slowly but properly. Also, my recovery time after each set is still relatively slow, especially with NO glycogen in my body at all, so I do struggle after a while, but manage to push through. I've been told this is normal for now though, and I will find that I recover faster after each set the more I get used to, especially when I reintroduce carbs back into my body. I also take time to warm up and cool down after each weights session.

ixap

You could always drop the deficit a little - when you have less that 10lb to go, its generally recommended to aim for a 1/2 lb weight loss which is 250 calories - I would see how your energy is and play it by ear - if you are seeing strength gains leveling off or even going down, then you should definitely up your cals a bit.

I agree w/ this suggestion. Believe it or not you may see better results with a little less steep of a deficit. I ate at a very very modest deficit and did strength training over the past 2 months (about 200 per day) trying to get the last couple of pounds off -- I lost a pants size, 1" off waist, 1/2" off thighs, 1" off hips, despite the scale only going down by 1.5 pounds.

ixap

It was unnerving how I was the only woman in the free weights section at that point and time lol, kept getting people staring at me in the gym

well could also be because you're gorgeous!!

Lady_Bane

It took me 3 months, 2 hours a day 6 times a week....lifting to failure every day to get to where I am now.

I did crossfit and trx for 4 months prior to that. But that just slimmed me down.

And also understand that if you have some excess body fat, you wont see lean results until you shed that layer.