What do 'you' consider as heavy?

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Replies

  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    Heavy is relative to the person lifting the weight.

    I've never really liked the ratio between men and women though. When a guy is lifting X weight and a girl comes along and calls him weak and then lifts an X variable that in "ratio" from men to women is technically heavier for her; and acts proudly about it.

    That sounds confusing rereading it, but some people will get it. I simply find that stupid. And vice versa, guy lifting XXX mocking a girl for lifting XX is just plain stupid.

    I get what you're saying :)

    simply put, I judge it by that person's 1RM- 1 rep max for that exercise. For those that are new to this,
    you have a maximum amount of weight that you can lift one 1 time. 1 time and you're too tired to continue (after a warm up of course) for each exercise, your 1 rep max will be different. It takes time to test, but it's worth your time to know it.
    train smart! when you know how much heavier you really can go, you'll push through so much more. It's a real confidence booster, or if you're not happy with it, a wake up call to get serious. Always remember too this varies very much from person to person, different body types, experience, body weight, many many factors.

    That said, once you know your 1 rep max, you can train at a certain % relative to that number.
    so,for example, 70% of your 1 rep max is the weight you're actually lifting, not the 1RM weight.
  • KatrinaWilke
    KatrinaWilke Posts: 372 Member
    This should give you an estimate of where you stand as far as standards on weight amounts/lift/body wieght.

    http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

    Dont be discouraged if you are lifting below the untrained level as long as you are pushing yourself with correct form. It is just a guideline.

    But I agree with the others it is really specific to each person and how many reps they are lifting. If you are lifting x amount of weight for 3 or 4 sets of 1-12 reps and by the end you are really struggling then that would be considered heavy.

    If you are just lifting weights and doing 15+ reps you are really just doing conditioning and not really strength training.

    That site is very informative, thank you.

    Thank you for the reply.

    I just took a look at this website. As a novice I would say it is pretty accurate!
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
    As long as you are continually progressing, then it doesn't matter what the actual number is.

    If today you can do 10 squats with 30kg on board, and next week you push for 12 squats with 30kg or 10 squats with 35kg ... then you are progressing and that's all that matters.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    it is a bit annoying though when girls claim they are lifting 'heavy' which is using 25lbs for a leg workout.
    um that's probably not challenging enough. if the weight isn't challenging you, it's just a waste of time
    doing set after set until you feel the burn, and pushing through it.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    What lift do you lift 30kg in? Otherwise I can't judge.

    Just kidding, I won't judge anyway. Heavy is as heavy as the person can lift with good form for as many sets and reps as they want (anything from 5x5 to 3x8 usually).

    Currently squats, dead-lifts and stiff leg dead-lifts.
    For those lifts I don't consider 66 lbs. (30kg) heavy. Even if you're doing 3 sets of 12. I'm female, 5'5" and weigh 140 lbs.
  • EmmaReed84
    EmmaReed84 Posts: 263 Member
    What lift do you lift 30kg in? Otherwise I can't judge.

    Just kidding, I won't judge anyway. Heavy is as heavy as the person can lift with good form for as many sets and reps as they want (anything from 5x5 to 3x8 usually).

    Currently squats, dead-lifts and stiff leg dead-lifts.
    For those lifts I don't consider 66 lbs. (30kg) heavy. Even if you're doing 3 sets of 12. I'm female, 5'5" and weigh 140 lbs.

    May I just ask, when you say you don't consider 30kg heavy, is that because you have been lifting a while and have been able to progress? The reason I ask, I have only just started and the first 3 sessions I did I thought I was going to die LOL *BLUSHES* but the last time it felt a tad easier mainly for the dead-lifts. The squats I am still trying to get my form right before I look to up it x
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    I follow the Stronglifts 5x5 program... Squats, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Barbell Row and Deadlifts. Whatever I can manage for 5 sets of 5. I am now getting very close to stalling, so failing at least 1 rep on 1 set, at which point I'll stop adding weight to the bar each workout. I add 5 lbs each workout for Squats, 10 lbs for Deadlifts, and 2.5 lbs to Bench, OHP and BB Row as long as I complete all 5x5.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Heavy is whatever weight causes me to fail my last rep.

    ^^^ this

    heavy is relative to the person's current level of strength. If you can do 12 reps with good form, the weight's too light. Depending on what rep range you're working in, you want to be using a weight that's heavy enough that you fail (i.e. your muscles start to give out and you literally cannot complete another rep) within that rep range. So if you're training in the 5-8 rep range, if you can do 8 reps with good form it's too light and you need to add a little extra weight for your next set or next workout. If you can only do 5, 6, 7, 7 and a half reps etc, then you keep training at that weight until you can do 8 with good form. Then you add more weight.

    It is totally, 100% dependent on your own level of strength.

    (rep ranges may vary, if you're training in the 8-12 rep range, the same applies, except you should be failing between 8 and 12 reps, and if you can do 12 with good form you add more weight next time)

    note: there are other ways to train, where you don't go to failure every time, I'm not saying this is the only way. Just giving an example and showing how "heavy" is relative to your current level of strength. But whatever way you train, if it's too easy to pump out the required number of reps you're not going to be getting the benefit of it.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    For Pike Pushups, Diamond Push-ups, Chin-ups, Pistol Squats and yoga's Fierce Pose, I am lifting nothing and that's heavy enough for me!

    you are lifting something.... your bodyweight. Bodyweight exercises done the same way as weight lifting (i.e. required number of reps to failure and matching the difficulty of the exercise to your current level of strength, i.e. so you fail within the right rep ranges) will work your muscles the same way as weight lifting and have the same benefits.

    What's yoga's fierce pose? (interested because I do weights and bodyweight exercises)
  • gerard54
    gerard54 Posts: 1,107 Member
    Anything I can't do more than 8 times...
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    What's yoga's fierce pose? (interested because I do weights and bodyweight exercises)

    Fierce Pose - is squat until your thighs are around paralell to the floor, now swing your arms up towards vertical and look up towards your hands with fingers outspread. Draw your backside out as if someone was taking a chair away from behind you and you are trying to keep sitting on it.

    Then exhale, sit a little deeper and on inhaling bring those arms straighter and a little nearer in line with your ears toward vertical. Look up into your hands.

    Feel where it is working yet?

    Strong Pose!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    I view heavy as a rep range. For me that's about 6 or less reps of a given movement
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
    Anything above 85% 1RM.
  • xampx
    xampx Posts: 323 Member
    I could leg press 100kg (I weigh 92kg and DID weigh 115kg, so my legs were used to dragging that much weight on a daily basis. I think that is heavy!

    As for upper body, I have only been doing this for a couple of weeks, so 20.5kg is about my limit at the minute. I have pathetically weak arms compared to the rest of me!
  • toomuchbootyindapants
    toomuchbootyindapants Posts: 811 Member
    Heavy is relative to the lifter and his/her background and strength. Heavy is anything I can do about 5 or less times and feel quite exhausted and need a recovery/rest period before attempting again.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    I have read a few posts about heavy lifting and a few comments about certains weights not being "heavy" although to the person doing them, they are.

    I currently lift 30kg (66lbs) I am a 5ft 2, 122lb woman...

    So in YOUR opinion what would you class as heavy? What do you lift and what are your stats?

    Anything that you can barely do last set of. I do 5x5 and so if for me 40kg for OHP is heavy lifting because I can barely finish the last set. Soon it'll be 45, so on and the previous weights will be light weights
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    Heavy is relative. The point is to pick up something that requires you to exert yourself. That is what 'heavy' means. If someone said that a certain amount of weight wasn't heavy, then they were belittling the OP.

    QFT.

    I'm a person who doesn't "lift heavy", according to many people on MFP. I don't do any sort of program, just working with my own body weight for the lower body (resistance bands) and 8# barbells for my arms/back (shoulder lifts and biceps, if my shoulders aren't making that lovely crunching noise).

    As others have said, "heavy" is what you consider heavy, not what others do. For what lifting I do, my "heavy" is 8#. I saw this mentioned a few times - my purse weighs 862g (1.9#) holding what I normally take with me when I go out with it. :drinker:
  • twelfty
    twelfty Posts: 576 Member
    as everyone else has said, i tend to go for between heavy and light at 10 reps to failure and find it keeps something solid there instead of what i call "blubbery muscles" it's taking longer but so far i'm really happy with the results, my chest and arms are getting bigger and solid :D
  • Z_I_L_L_A
    Z_I_L_L_A Posts: 2,399 Member
    The question was " What do 'you' consider as heavy? "

    Heavy is relative to the person and their strength. 8 reps is light heavy, 5 reps is medium heavy to me. Heavy is 3 or less.
    10 and above is getting the blood flowing.

    5X5 is a good routine, provided you keep trying to move up in weight instead of reps.

    JMHO from power lifting.
  • NJL13500
    NJL13500 Posts: 433 Member
    I'm working on upping my weight. I've made some progress. I'm 5'6" and 135 pounds and a 42 year old female. I do 3 sets of 8-10 reps each (I cannot possibly do more than 10 on any).

    Flat Bench-65 pounds
    Squat-65 pounds
    Romanian (Straight Leg) Deadlifts-85 pounds
    Regular Deadlifts-65 pounds
    Barbell Curl-40 pounds

    I started with just the bar on bench and deadlifts and 20 pound curls in January.

    Heavy enough for me. I try to increase the reps or add a tiny bit of weight every couple of weeks.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    What lift do you lift 30kg in? Otherwise I can't judge.

    Just kidding, I won't judge anyway. Heavy is as heavy as the person can lift with good form for as many sets and reps as they want (anything from 5x5 to 3x8 usually).

    Currently squats, dead-lifts and stiff leg dead-lifts.
    For those lifts I don't consider 66 lbs. (30kg) heavy. Even if you're doing 3 sets of 12. I'm female, 5'5" and weigh 140 lbs.

    May I just ask, when you say you don't consider 30kg heavy, is that because you have been lifting a while and have been able to progress? The reason I ask, I have only just started and the first 3 sessions I did I thought I was going to die LOL *BLUSHES* but the last time it felt a tad easier mainly for the dead-lifts. The squats I am still trying to get my form right before I look to up it x
    No, not at all. During my very first workout in the NROL4W program my squat and deadlift was 80 lbs.(36kg) and I estimate it was only around 75-80% of my max effort. I had no idea how much weight to start with so I arbitrarily chose 80 lbs. People are just built differently (genetics) and I've always been stronger than my girlfriends.

    But other posters are correct. "Heavy" is whatever weight makes you struggle on the last 1-2 reps, while still maintaining perfect form. If your form breaks down, the weight is too heavy and you need to back off to avoid injury. Good luck and keep progressing!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I have read a few posts about heavy lifting and a few comments about certains weights not being "heavy" although to the person doing them, they are.

    I currently lift 30kg (66lbs) I am a 5ft 2, 122lb woman...

    So in YOUR opinion what would you class as heavy? What do you lift and what are your stats?

    Weight is relative...lifting "heavy" is most often synonymous with full body, compound lifts in the 3-5 rep range for maximum strength gains. Basically, you should be very close to failure on your last set for it to be "heavy"...obviously, the actual weight is relative to the person lifting it. My wife squats 130 Lbs after two months of Starting Strength (5'2" 125Lb woman)...for her it is heavy as she is close to failure on her final reps...for me, I could squat 130 lbs in my sleep and wouldn't constitute a workout at all.

    Are you really doing the same weight for every exercise? That seems odd to me...generally one can squat and dead-lift more than they can bench or OH press. Are you progressively upping your weight to increase the stress on your muscles?
  • twelfty
    twelfty Posts: 576 Member
    I'm working on upping my weight. I've made some progress. I'm 5'6" and 135 pounds and a 42 year old female. I do 3 sets of 8-10 reps each (I cannot possibly do more than 10 on any).

    Flat Bench-65 pounds
    Squat-65 pounds
    Romanian (Straight Leg) Deadlifts-85 pounds
    Regular Deadlifts-65 pounds
    Barbell Curl-40 pounds

    I started with just the bar on bench and deadlifts and 20 pound curls in January.

    Heavy enough for me. I try to increase the reps or add a tiny bit of weight every couple of weeks.

    lol... i may need to up my weight after reading this :P fair play to you miss!
  • NJL13500
    NJL13500 Posts: 433 Member
    I'm working on upping my weight. I've made some progress. I'm 5'6" and 135 pounds and a 42 year old female. I do 3 sets of 8-10 reps each (I cannot possibly do more than 10 on any).

    Flat Bench-65 pounds
    Squat-65 pounds
    Romanian (Straight Leg) Deadlifts-85 pounds
    Regular Deadlifts-65 pounds
    Barbell Curl-40 pounds

    I started with just the bar on bench and deadlifts and 20 pound curls in January.

    Heavy enough for me. I try to increase the reps or add a tiny bit of weight every couple of weeks.

    lol... i may need to up my weight after reading this :P fair play to you miss!

    Thank you! Nicest compliment I've had in a long time. :-)

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