If low weights/high reps is pointless...

FullOfWin

Every Personal Trainer or Someone with The Body good enough to take their opinion seriously recommend High reps Lower weight to begin with, well at least who i have taken the time to speak to. It always depends on your Goals. But it is a great start to build a foundation for your body and support your future weight lifting ventures. It will lower the risk in getting injury later on when you do change your approach to lifting weight as it becomes easier. Its a Change for life! So dont rush it if you want to transform yourself.

I recommend against high reps with lower weight to begin with

omnisis

Every Personal Trainer or Someone with The Body good enough to take their opinion seriously recommend High reps Lower weight to begin with, well at least who i have taken the time to speak to....

This is a huge over-generalization. To the motivated trainee a low rep routine like a 5x5 is often the perfect ticket but I think a lot of PTs don't do it because 1) it's hard for for ppl who aren't truly motivated and 2) Bad form can lead to injury and loss of buisness for the PT, they might not want to be responsible for your crappy deadlift and squat form in your home gym when they aren't there to supervise you :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:. Also for a complete newb they want to build your "muscle memory" first, when you get fatigued you will revert to your most comfortable form and forget what your trainer said -- this can be a recipe for disaster if your form sucks.

mockchoc

Bumping because I just started weight training this week.

honkytonks85

...Then why do people who do Jillian Michaels' videos get such great results?

I'm not just talking about overweight people. People who are in relatively good shape and felt they were still "skinny fat" did and reviewed videos like Ripped in 30 and 30 Day Shred and toned up considerably. They're not super muscular and they're hardly body builders, but they got the body type a lot of ladies on here say they want, myself included. They also lose inches rather than just pounds, a sure sign of gaining or at least maintaining muscle as well as burning fat.

Not saying there's anything wrong with lifting heavy and I know it does great things for people, but light weights can't be all that bad considering the kind of results people who use them get.

It's not pointless because it's not whether you use high rep/low weight or heavy/fewer reps, what counts is whether you are lifting to failure. It just takes a lot longer to lift to failure doing high rep/low weight than vice versa.

RunDoozer

What about P90X? Don't they claim you get ripped, but don't use heavy weights. It's been proven.

p.s. to one person above, Jillian never said "you'd get ripped in 30 days." She claims you will lose up to 20 lbs and shred fat in 30 days."

P90x uses a ton of body weight exercises. Which is a lot heavier weight than most people are using in the gym. And all of these programs have some sort of claim that they will do something in a period of time and the reality is that of you do any kind of workout and eat relatively well over the same period of time you will also see results.

I can't say anything about Jillian's programs as I have not done them but fairly certain there is also some form of body weight work.

ndj1979

for a while i was doing lower reps lower weight with cardio and plyo mixed in. I realized that I was losing muscle mass. Three months ago I switched to a program that involves lifting heavier and incorporates weighted chins/pulls, deadlifts, squats, overhead press, etc..


Three months later I have increased my deadlift by about 50 pounds and increased my squat by 45 pounds. I can also do five set of chin + 25 at about 7-8 reps each..

My body fat has gone from about 16% to 10-13% (that is rough measure with calipers)

I am definitely stronger and look better too..

so that is what has worked for me...

woman can lift big and look great too ..I suggest you check out www.leangains.com and read "train like a man, look like a goddess"

Good luck to ya..

WendyTerry420

Light weights at high reps does not build strength. Here is a good article to read:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/girls-get-your-guns-why-women-should-lift-weights.html

And yet … when I started JM a year ago, I could barely do 30 day shred with 3 lb weights. Now I can do it with 15+ lbs easily(doing RI 30 and extreme shed & shred). If it doesn't build strength, how come I can lift more weights better now than a year ago?

It does help you gain strength, but with different types of muscles.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm

arneslammer

I find it ridiculous that in 4 pages of discussion, the real answer was only mentioned once.

Stereotyping a bit here but it may be that the people who do this are going from not lifting at all to lifting something...Anything is better than nothing though

If you don't exercise, and you start exercising, you will get results. It doesn't matter what the exercise is. There are good reasons for both types of training, but for beginners, IT DOESN'T MATTER, as long as you lift something, anything.

WendyTerry420

Every Personal Trainer or Someone with The Body good enough to take their opinion seriously recommend High reps Lower weight to begin with, well at least who i have taken the time to speak to....

This is a huge over-generalization. To the motivated trainee a low rep routine like a 5x5 is often the perfect ticket but I think a lot of PTs don't do it because 1) it's hard for for ppl who aren't truly motivated and 2) Bad form can lead to injury and loss of buisness for the PT, they might not want to be responsible for your crappy deadlift and squat form in your home gym when they aren't there to supervise you :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:. Also for a complete newb they want to build your "muscle memory" first, when you get fatigued you will revert to your most comfortable form and forget what your trainer said -- this can be a recipe for disaster if your form sucks.

That actually makes perfect sense. Form is very important for a newbie. It's also another reason why bodyweight exercise is a great start for obese persons.

WendyTerry420

Most in the religion of low rep, lifting heavy would benefit from more high rep work, and most of the afraid of getting bulky clan of high rep weight cardio would benefit from low rep work.

This really isn't an either/or question, but instead should be looked at as an and/both answer.

There is a striking amout of "was told...." in this thread. Way too many people base their programs around nothing more than heresay.

Great points.

JNick77

What about P90X? Don't they claim you get ripped, but don't use heavy weights. It's been proven.

p.s. to one person above, Jillian never said "you'd get ripped in 30 days." She claims you will lose up to 20 lbs and shred fat in 30 days."

P90x uses a ton of body weight exercises. Which is a lot heavier weight than most people are using in the gym. And all of these programs have some sort of claim that they will do something in a period of time and the reality is that of you do any kind of workout and eat relatively well over the same period of time you will also see results.

I can't say anything about Jillian's programs as I have not done them but fairly certain there is also some form of body weight work.

Getting ripped is a factor of diet.

zoukeira

Low weights high reps isn't pointless if you're still pushing to failure. It takes longer though. If you're combining cardio in with your strength training (like Jillian or like a bodypump class) you need higher reps and light weights, you can also expect to burn more calories.

I've done both high reps lower weights and higher weights with lower reps. I mix them up a little because as long as I'm still lifting heavy relevant to the task I get the desired results.

I personally think the key is simply to make sure you are always upping your weights and never letting it get easy. Whether you chose to lift heavier or lighter is personal preference. It's definitely much easier to get a workout with heavier weights and lower reps if you aren't able to push yourself properly or if you aren't really on top of your form (lighter weights = easier to cheat).


ETA - for anyone who thinks 30DS is solely weightloss and no muscle building here are my results. I decided to do the program without ANY other form of strength or resistance training. Over the 30 days I GAINED weight, and it wasn't fat.

MichelletheMonkey

"I don't know if low weights to exhaustion has any effect on the connective tissues and bones. In order to be able to lift more, you pretty much have to improve those, too.

Others have mentioned, for a woman to get "muscular" takes a lot more effort than you'd think. Strength training isn't going to make you look like you go to the gym"

Response:
Sometimes I think that people who don't lift, say things based on what they hear, but without any real experience on the topic.

For example, you say "Strength Training isn't going to make you look like you go to the gym"

What does that mean exactly? Isn't the point of going to the gym, to look like you go? Or to rephrase, we go to the gym to look like we're are in shape. That's the point. Why would we strength train to look like we stay home and eat donuts??

In addition to the irony of your statement, it's also completely false. As a female that trains very heavy I'm happy that my body shows the results of my training. I lift purely for strength gains (because I get bored and challenge myself to move up) but the physical results naturally occur with that, as long as you don't mask it with tons of calories. So although I'm really strong...I've developed a slimmer stronger physique too. I eat what I like on weekends, and try to eat a lot of protein during the week, and watch my calories. This way, I'm able to stay slim, but stay strong enough to keep making strength gains.

I just want to note, that I'm a natural lifter. I do not take steroids and I never would. But my point is that a high majority of the women that you'll see in fitness magazines are taking substances which can make them look "too big or mannish." Actually even a lot of the bikini models take substances, but you may only notice it when you get closer (you can see it in their facial features). I'm saying this because although I do have muscles, and I do think I look like I go to gym, I feel that the appearance is "athletic" but NOT "manly"----If you've ever seen Athleta magazine (by the GAP)....the girls in there are sort of how I'd describe my look.

I say all this, because I think so many women worry about bulk. It's so crazy. Just lift heavy and enjoy the results (and don't eat too many Twinkies....that will hide all of your good results under blubber)

My workouts are generally very heavy weight for 6 to 10 reps. This is the perfect mix for gaining both strength and muscle. If I can do more than 10....I'm doing too light a weight. (For me) Rarely, but every so often, I'll do a burn set...(drop the weight and bang out 12-25 reps till I burn or fail)....though I will say that even my dropped weight is often a weight most women won't try to lift even once. It's still substantial, allowing me to achieve a burn eventually.

And back to the original poster. Yeah, getting muscular takes time, but less time than lifting light. It's about effort more than time. I'd rather pick up a 50lb dumbbell and lift it 6-10 times and exert the energy....than pick up a 5 lb dumbbell and flail it around for a gazillion times while the clock ticks and I get no burn unless I do it 100 times. This is not an offense to a beginner...we all start somewhere. It's meant for the woman who is afraid to push themselves a little...either because they just don't want to work, or due to unrealistic fears..

Just my two cents on the topic. I know that not everyone has the same body goals, and some women like a softer look. I'm simply addressing a lot of bad information, and unfounded fears. And to wrap up my ramblings by saying "Weight's are your friend, not your enemy."

helpfit101

New people should do 3x12-14 in my opinion. Girls and guys.

But for new people basically anything they do will have positve effects so it doesn't really matter either.