LIFTING - Come on then!

emma155

So lets talk lifting.

Most people on here are mad on lifting weights, its seems to be the answer to everything:

"im not losing weight" - "LIft more!"
"I dont see a difference" - "start lifting heavy"
"I dont fancy my boyfriend" - "start lifitng weights and lots of them" (lol joke)

So advantages and disadvantages of lifting?

I have previously thought lifting was for people who wanted to look muscly and therefor mostly for men. (please excuse this simple view)

I realise now there are many more benifits but it is all getting a bit scrambled in my head now becuase everyone says something slightly different!



So lay it out guys!!!!

babydiego87

Bump.

I would also like to know how 'heavy' heavy is. Specifically what type of lifting for: arms, core and thighs. How many times a week you should be doing, reps etc.

RandiLandCHANGED

I started with stronglifts 5x5. It consists of squats, deadlifts, overhead press, bent rows and bench press. Heavy is different for everybody....a 65 lb bench press is a challenge for me, but not for my husband.

jonnythan

"Heavy" means 80-90% of the maximum you can lift (your one-rep-max, or 1RM). You should be lifting weights so that you fail in the neighborhood of 6-10 reps.

Lifting builds and maintains muscle mass, which is extremely important metabolically. Lifting significantly strengthens bones and prevents osteoperosis. At a given weight, a woman with 18% body fat will look firmer, smaller, and shaplier than a woman with 25% body fat who will look droopy, saggy, and fatty. Lifting strengthens joints and improves posture.

Lifting is extremely important.

As for which lifts, there are a variety of effective training routines out there, but they all incorporate the same 5 fundamental lifts:

The squat
The bench press or pushup
The overhead press or handstand
The deadlift
The row or pullup

You can do each of these exercises once a week and build enormous amounts of muscle everywhere on your body. In all seriousness, I suggest finding a powerlifting gym and picking up a copy of a book like Starting Strength, Convict Conditioning, or Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. These exercises are non-trivial to perform, so you need to know what you're doing. These books will teach you, but it's also best to have people who know how to do them around - and a powerlifting gym is where you find these people. "Trainers" generally have no clue how to do these exercises, because typical gyms simply won't let them. It's much harder to injure yourself on one of those pointless machines typical gyms have, so typical gyms encourage/force people to use the machines. They are pointless - never use them for anything but targeted accessory work.

Of course, most women won't ever do that, which is a shame. But for women who want awesome, shapely thighs and butts along with a flat stomach and shapely arms? The squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, and pullup will do unbelievable things to your body.

This is what these 5 exercises, and these 5 alone, can do to your body. This is a real life example:
http://i51.tinypic.com/dc6mfp.jpg

patentguru

What do you want to accomplish? Size, strength, stamina, range of motion, healing, etc?

My understanding of "heavy lifting" is lifting a weight sufficiently heavy so that the last repetition (rep) you can barely lift the weight- i.e. you have taken the muscle to failure, at a low rep range (i.e. less than 10 reps total). Taking the muscle to failure after a high number of reps is different and I would not consider heavy lifting.

Lifting is far harder than it looks in order to isolate the muscles you want to exercise and range of motion. I general, I go for full range of motion and 100% concentration on desired muscle I am working. Furthermore, I also lower the weight in a controlled manner and the try to explode the weight up- i.e. accelerate the weight up instead of constant speed.

On my upper body I go after fast twitch muscles, with size and strength so I lift in the range of 10 or less reps with the last lift being failure, i.e. for bench first warm up with 125 x 10, then 185 x 10, 205 x 6 and 225 x 4.

For lower body and core- I go after the slower twitch muscles- higher reps- up to 15 and cardio- running and biking.

If you want to get into lifting weights- do a lot of reading and learning and focus on form in the beginning.

auddii

Read this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/896786-general-comment-about-people-who-don-t-lift

The many benefits of lifting are discussed.

timfitzy

Girls should not be scared of lifting weights. The impact it has on body composition in females is amazing, take a look at some female olympic lifters in the lighter weight classes - not an iota of freakishness about them. My girlfriend used to be a 'cardio bunny' until I got her doing heavy squats and deadlifts and she achieved the toned legs/nice butt she wanted from the start.

Advantages: Increased metabolism, increased strength, 'toned' body, strengthens bones & joints, the list goes on.
Disadvantages: Zero.

I would define heavy training as any weight that causes failure at around the 5-8 rep range. There isnt a specific weight - only what is heavy for your own standard. But this also depends on the exercise - i generally like to stick to very heavy, low reps for movements that recruit the greatest amount of muscles (eg. deadlifts, squats, bench press, row, etc.), and then as less muscles become involved, the reps go up. As jonnythan said, Starting Strength, 5/3/1, 5x5 are all awesome programs and definitely a good starting point - just be sure to invest the time in learning the lifts either by someone you know is experienced with weight training, weightlifting/powerlifting clubs, crossfit gyms or even via youtube videos (be careful though!).

Once you get into lifting and see the true beauty of it, you'll never look back!

Guamybear

I lift.. I started with the machines and moved to free weights..now do a combo of them. I lift as heavy as I can. The dumbells range from 15 to 30lbs depending the move. Machines 30-130lbs depending on the machine.

I don't spend all day at the gym either. I probably avg 30 mins of weights when I go.. 3-4 days a week.

jonnythan

Girls should not be scared of lifting weights. The impact it has on body composition in females is amazing, take a look at some female olympic lifters in the lighter weight classes - not an iota of freakishness about them. My girlfriend used to be a 'cardio bunny' until I got her doing heavy squats and deadlifts and she achieved the toned legs/nice butt she wanted from the start.

Advantages: Increased metabolism, increased strength, 'toned' body, strengthens bones & joints, the list goes on.
Disadvantages: Zero.

I would define heavy training as any weight that causes failure at around the 5-8 rep range. There isnt a specific weight - only what is heavy for your own standard. But this also depends on the exercise - i generally like to stick to very heavy, low reps for movements that recruit the greatest amount of muscles (eg. deadlifts, squats, bench press, row, etc.), and then as less muscles become involved, the reps go up. As jonnythan said, Starting Strength, 5/3/1, 5x5 are all awesome programs and definitely a good starting point - just be sure to invest the time in learning the lifts either by someone you know is experienced with weight training, weightlifting/powerlifting clubs, crossfit gyms or even via youtube videos (be careful though!).

Once you get into lifting and see the true beauty of it, you'll never look back!

Crossfit is an interesting beast, and one you need to be careful about. The philosophy is great and if the place has good instructors/leaders it can be fantastic and fun and non-intimidating. But if they're not that great, the place can devolve into madness where people do crazy stuff in highly non-optimal and dangerous ways.

frankyk89

I just started reading "The New Rules of Lifting for Women".... so far so good.

jonnythan

I just started reading "The New Rules of Lifting for Women".... so far so good.

I had a few thoughts about this post, in no particular order:

1) Why do women think the traditional rules apply to men and not women?
2) I assume that this book amounts to basically "the rules are the same for women."
Then I searched for the book on Amazon and had thought#3:
3) The subtitle is "lift like a man." Yup, coulda told you that!

Sounds like a great book, and since it has "women" in the title hopefully it'll help convince women that lifting doesn't turn them into a roided-up musclehead.

timfitzy

Girls should not be scared of lifting weights. The impact it has on body composition in females is amazing, take a look at some female olympic lifters in the lighter weight classes - not an iota of freakishness about them. My girlfriend used to be a 'cardio bunny' until I got her doing heavy squats and deadlifts and she achieved the toned legs/nice butt she wanted from the start.

Advantages: Increased metabolism, increased strength, 'toned' body, strengthens bones & joints, the list goes on.
Disadvantages: Zero.

I would define heavy training as any weight that causes failure at around the 5-8 rep range. There isnt a specific weight - only what is heavy for your own standard. But this also depends on the exercise - i generally like to stick to very heavy, low reps for movements that recruit the greatest amount of muscles (eg. deadlifts, squats, bench press, row, etc.), and then as less muscles become involved, the reps go up. As jonnythan said, Starting Strength, 5/3/1, 5x5 are all awesome programs and definitely a good starting point - just be sure to invest the time in learning the lifts either by someone you know is experienced with weight training, weightlifting/powerlifting clubs, crossfit gyms or even via youtube videos (be careful though!).

Once you get into lifting and see the true beauty of it, you'll never look back!

Crossfit is an interesting beast, and one you need to be careful about. The philosophy is great and if the place has good instructors/leaders it can be fantastic and fun and non-intimidating. But if they're not that great, the place can devolve into madness where people do crazy stuff in highly non-optimal and dangerous ways.

Of course. Im not a fan of crossfit in general, but I do respect its not threatening environment for girls that just wanna train with weights without being stared at. Always pays to do research on the credibility of any place first.

kikih64

I stumbled onto the "lifting" threads and became interested. I had always been a cardio girl. I read New Rules, but it seemed too complicated. I followed the Stronglifts 5x5 for a while and had some progress. I used (and still love) kettlebells. I now do a hybrid of dumbbell/barbell/kettlebell and bodyweight.

I agree with what others have said - the 5 key lifts: squat, deadlift, overhead press, chest press and row - will give you great results.

My goal is to reduce my bodyfat % and change my shape. I don't think cardio is as effective as lifting for this goal.

Also - as a female (and getting to "that" age) - Lifting is good to keep the metabolism up and maintain bone density.

I encourage the OP to read some stuff on lifting and give it a try. I was a little nervous at first, but now I love it. I hate cardio now, but still do it for heart health. Good luck.

AllonsYtotheTardis

So advantages and disadvantages of lifting?

I'm not lifting weights yet - I don't have access to any, so I'm starting with body-weight exercises.

However, I want to lift weights and my biggest reason will be to protect my bone-density as I age. A dear friend suffers greatly from osteoporosis, and I don't ever want to be in that position.

balancedbrunette

replying to read again .

emma155

replying to read again .

Huh?

DarrelBirkett

So it shows in their "active topics" list

Yes, lifting. Good for blokes, good for women. doesnt mean you will suddenly bulk up. But it has numerous health benefits as covered. Body weight is a great place to start and yes it is good for bones and joints. Best thing to read up on is compound routines. In theory these are all you really need.

Best to mix in Cardio (standard) Cardio (HIIT) and Weights, Id also advocate the benefits of Yoga. Its all good

erinsueburns

Lifting heavy is based on your capabilities. You can start with body weight exercises like push-ups and squats. For me, when I started push-up (as in one not even plural) was hard for me. And once I got to a place where I could actually do a few pushups, I moved on to this:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

Now I am starting going to the gym and using actual weights. It is about making it progressively harder, relative to your own abilities.

hsnider29

I've always known lifting weights was good but relied on cardio to help me lose weight in the past. I lost weight but did not achieve the body I wanted. Last year I joined a gym and began using the machines. I wasn't focused on my diet but my body fat percentage went from 35% to 30% in a few months. January 1st I decided I really want to get down to a healthier weight and began the Stronglifts 5x5 program. In about 7 weeks I've lost 7lbs, inches and about 1% bf. I feel strong and I much prefer this to cardio.

I started out just using the barbell and added weights. I'm beginning to fail at the overhead press and bench press.

Squats 95 lbs
Bench press 75 lbs
Barbell row 65 lbs
Overhead press 60 lbs
Dead lift 125 lbs

I don't see any disadvantages to lifting weights. My husband tells the guys at work that I'm stronger than him and I actually got a head nod by a pretty buff dude while doing squats last week. Makes me feel accomplished.