Lifting Goal/ Body Fat %

tocara

So i have reached my body weight goal and now i want to concentrate on decreasing my body fat% a bit (currently 25%)

I am new to weight lifting, and working with a trainer to help with form.
what is a good weight lifting goal to have?

so far I can:
3x10 squats at 80 lbs
3x10 bench press at 70lbs

Are there generic goals, that one should be able to do?
What do you lift? (seeing your profile pic with what you look like and what you are capable of may help to guide me)

Thanks in advance,
Cara

LJCannon

:drinker: Congratulations on reaching your Goal Weight! You will enjoy Weight Lifting. What Goals has your Trainer suggested?

tocara

haven't talked to him yet about it, i see him on thursday ...

If he says what do you want to be able to lift...
i would have no idea how to answer that question.

I can do everything in my daily life just fine.. but i want to be more 'sculpted' (if that makes sense)

Bekahmardis

I would say being more sculpted is a very decent goal and you should go with that. I've only ever had the goals of a) being able to fit into my jeans again, and b) being able to lift my dog into the boot of my SUV to get him/her to the vet if they are unable to do so for themselves!

HelloDan

Only you can set goals, how far do you want to go?

Most generic goal - keep getting stronger.

Less generic, but still arbitrary - squat 1x bodyweight, 1.5x, 2x etc...

Even less generic - I want to take up powerlifting, weightlifting, (insert any other sport here) and be competitive at local\regional\national\international level.

Really it's up to you though.

LJCannon

My Goals are just to be able to take care of Myself and My Home without assistance: Buying Grocerys, Bathing, Carrying Laundry, Driving, etc. I see too many people not much older than me who are Not Able to do that.
Not to mention that my Family is full of Diseases like Depression and Arthritis that I believe are better Prevented/Treated with Exercise than with Drugs.
:ohwell: Not sure how that would translate to "Measurable Goals" for a Trainer?

JoanB5

This is a hard transition for women. I'm one of them. Recomposition (gaining muscle while losing fat) is hard. Diet, diet, diet.

HIIT train is great for reducing body fat, but hard to fit into a weight training week. As such, I am switching mine around to Stronglifts A/B sets in hopes of having something left for cardio. I miss it. My running misses it. Spring is great weather for running, and the fat weight didn't seem to be going anywhere for me until I added some back in. I'm constantly mixing things up, though.

As far as starting weight, seems you have some starting points. Those are great lifts already. They often know where to start you, and you can do a warmup set(often recommended at lower weights anyway) as a means of determining where you should start.

Hope that helps!

tocara

so can most people squat their body weight, or 1.5x body weight? etc?

savoiaS1

For most females. An increase in strenght deems an increase in muscle mass which will help you burn more fat. At 25% youre not too far off for a healthy fit bodyfat for a female. Focus on getting stronger in your power movements IE Squat,Bench. And dont be afraid of doing the strenght lifts males do. Dont try to copy anyone else. Just keep track of your progress.

medic2038

so can most people squat their body weight, or 1.5x body weight? etc?

MOST people don't even squat properly, so the answer is no.

95% of the dudes I'd seen at the gym squatting 250+ weren't even close to parallel.

Strength is somewhat individual, and also subjective.
My general goal is to MAINTAIN strength while dropping fat. So really if I squat the same at a lighter body weight, then I'm good (technically got stonger).

How much (in relation to bodyweight) is mostly only important, if it's important to YOU. If you use it to push yourself, or want to do some type of competitive lifting by all means set goals.
I don't even know my 1RM as I've never even attempted to find out what it is.

HelloDan

so can most people squat their body weight, or 1.5x body weight? etc?

Most people are unhealthy and out of shape!

Just pick what you want to achieve and don't worry what others do, I was only giving examples of goals.
At the end of the day there is no rule as to what you must achieve, it's purely what you want and how far you're willing to go.

Lyadeia

so can most people squat their body weight, or 1.5x body weight? etc?

My heaviest sets this week for squats were 3x5 @ 155 pounds which calculates to a 1RM of 180 pounds. I do "*kitten* to grass" squats, none of those half squats or quarter squats... I don't know my exact weight since I don't weigh myself often, but 3 weeks ago I weighed 140 pounds.

Lyadeia

Are there generic goals, that one should be able to do?
What do you lift? (seeing your profile pic with what you look like and what you are capable of may help to guide me)

Thanks in advance,
Cara

Generic goals are simply to improve progressively upon what you can currently do each and every time you step inside the gym. Focus on compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead shoulder press.

My current program has 4 lifting days per week (Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri) and each day starts with 3 sets of 5 reps with one of those compound lifts listed above. Then I do 4 exercises after the compound lift that use the same major muscle groups as that particular compound for 4 sets of 10 reps. Since I started doing this, my compound lift strength has increased dramatically. I've only been doing this particular program for a little less than a month so far, and these are my 1RM for the compound lifts (keeping in mind that I am 5'5" female that weighs somewhere around 135-140):

Squat: 180
Deadlift: 170 (working on this, but my issue is grip strength more than back strength, even with staggered grip)
Bench Press: 110
Overhead Shoulder Press: 80 (Also working on this...I can lift more while seated, but I do OHP while standing)

One of my personal goals for this summer is to complete unassisted pull-ups and chin-ups (quantity doesn't matter at this point since I am struggling just to do 1 right now). When I started doing assisted pulls and chins, I was using over 90 pounds of assistance. I am currently down to just 50 pounds of assistance and can do the flexed arm hang for nearly 1 minute (as opposed to just a couple of seconds when I first started out).

You can look at my profile for recent pictures. The bikini picture was taken in January at 23.3% body fat. I am now leaner than that, probably around 22% or so. Or you can just imagine Grumpy Cat lifting those barbells. :flowerforyou:

Lupercalia

Congratulations on your dedication and hard work!

I'm still in the process of getting all this weight off me. I think it's great that you've got a body composition goal and are thinking about strength goals--strength goals are super motivating and really positive, IMO.

My first strength related goals are to dead lift and squat my bodyweight for reps. I just made it with my dead lift last week, and am getting close with squats, but that's gonna take some more weight loss/strength building. I'm finding it sort of interesting to see what will happen first--will I get to my first goal weight on the scale (23 lbs to go), or if I will squat my body weight for reps when I'm still overweight (I'm 30 lbs away from that right now). Seems like we'll meet in the middle somewhere.

Can you do pull ups/chin ups? I think that's a great goal to have, too.

kdiamond

so can most people squat their body weight, or 1.5x body weight? etc?

MOST people don't even squat properly, so the answer is no.

95% of the dudes I'd seen at the gym squatting 250+ weren't even close to parallel.

Strength is somewhat individual, and also subjective.
My general goal is to MAINTAIN strength while dropping fat. So really if I squat the same at a lighter body weight, then I'm good (technically got stonger).

How much (in relation to bodyweight) is mostly only important, if it's important to YOU. If you use it to push yourself, or want to do some type of competitive lifting by all means set goals.
I don't even know my 1RM as I've never even attempted to find out what it is.

I totally agree with this!!!! When I did Crossfit there was always this competition to get your 1RM heavier and heavier. I have no desire to do that. I lift as heavy as it feels uncomfortable for 8-12 reps. My heartrate is up, I'm huffing and puffing, but still able to get through all the reps. Then I repeat it 3 more times, and move on to the next compound lift.

My goals are just to maintain my strength and weight, and look sculpted and firm.

ndj1979

I got this from lean gains....

"For women in the 115-155-lb range, the corresponding advanced strength goals are 0.9 x body weight bench, 1.1 x body weight chin-up, 1.5 x body weight squat and 1.8 x body weight deadlift. Relative to men, women have much less muscle mass around the chest area and shoulder girdle (men have much higher androgen-receptor density in this particular area), but the lower body is comparativly strong to the upper body.

A 135-lb woman that has been training consistently for 5-10 years should then be expected to:

Bench press 120-125 lbs.
Do 4-5 chin-ups with body weight or do one with an extra 10-15 lbs hanging from her waist.
Squat 200-205 lbs.
Deadlift 225-230 lbs."

ndj1979

right now I can squat 240 and do three reps..I have not gone for a 1rep max ...so that puts at about 1.4 x body weight..

deadlift I can do 350 which is just a tad over 2x body weight...


I would say that your training should be progressive, in that you keep increasing weights or reps. When you go stagnant i.e. no more gains, then you need to re-assess what you are doing ..

so if you can squat 3X5 at 150 then two weeks later you should be at 3x5 at 155 or 160 ...or at least adding reps....

I think someone else said this but just focus on your compound lifts - deads, squats, over head press, bench press, etc - and keep getting better at them. I would keep a notebook and log all your workouts so that you can flip back and see your improvement..that is what I do...

agggie550

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

You can try that, found that playing on the internet one day.

I squat 450 for my one rep, which is body weight plus 210
I dead lift 500 which is bodyweight x2 + 10
I bench 280 so thats body weight + 40

murphy612

haven't talked to him yet about it, i see him on thursday ...

If he says what do you want to be able to lift...
i would have no idea how to answer that question.

I can do everything in my daily life just fine.. but i want to be more 'sculpted' (if that makes sense)

Your PT isn't going to ask you what you want to lift or ask you anything technical at first. They don't care what you can lift, just that you make progress. What he/she will ask are what are your goals and then they will decide a course of action for you. (If they are good trainers). They will know what you mean when you say "sculpted". But be specific as you want with them, they will know what you're asking. I've been with a trainer for over a year and my goals continue to change and he adjusts my workout accordingly. At our last evaluation I said ok I want broader shoulders, larger thighs and more defined back, he creates the workout I do the work Good luck!!

thesupremeforce

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

You can try that, found that playing on the internet one day.

I squat 450 for my one rep, which is body weight plus 210
I dead lift 500 which is bodyweight x2 + 10
I bench 280 so thats body weight + 40

That chart makes me feel pretty good about my lifting skills while I was in high school. I REALLY need to get back into a gym.

murphy612

Deadlift: 170 (working on this, but my issue is grip strength more than back strength, even with staggered grip)
Bench Press: 110
Overhead Shoulder Press: 80 (Also working on this...I can lift more while seated, but I do OHP while standing)

We sound a lot a like, except BF%, I'm much higher. Anyway.... have your tried Versa Gripps? I know it's important to continue to increase grip strength (and I am) but I don't want to sacrifice increasing other strengths just because of my grip so I will use the Versa Gripps when my grip starts to give out.

medic2038

Deadlift: 170 (working on this, but my issue is grip strength more than back strength, even with staggered grip)
Bench Press: 110
Overhead Shoulder Press: 80 (Also working on this...I can lift more while seated, but I do OHP while standing)

We sound a lot a like, except BF%, I'm much higher. Anyway.... have your tried Versa Gripps? I know it's important to continue to increase grip strength (and I am) but I don't want to sacrifice increasing other strengths just because of my grip so I will use the Versa Gripps when my grip starts to give out.

My grip strength was a limiting factor before with my DL weight too. Keep pulling (it definitely helps!), and there's a few other things you can do too. There's really 2 schools of thought on straps: some people feel it's cheating, and some think they're fine.
My personal preference for lifting is raw (without gear).

Bar hangs for as long as possible is one thing I've heard (I haven't tried this myself).

Farmer walks are pretty amazing for your forearms. Basically what you want to do is take a moderately heavy dumbell and just walk back and forth with it at your sides (like you're carrying a bucket/suitcase). The HARD part is doing it with the wider grip, you can use fat gripz, or what I do (just wrapping a small washrag/towel around it). The extra girth on the bar makes your hand more open, and works out your forearms a lot more (which is where a lot of your grip strength comes from).

Lya, awesome progress!
Have you ever tried negatives for your pullups/dips if you're having trouble?
You're hitting the same muscles on both the "up" motion as the "down". A negative is starting at the "top" of the exercise, and lowering yourself down as slow as possible.

When I was first starting out I could only do 1 real pull up. So what I did is 1 pullup, then got a bench (or chair, and just stepped up into "chin above bar position") and finished off my sets doing negatives. Progress came VERY quick, as I started to be able to do more real pullups, and less negatives. I used this for dips as well.

Lyadeia

Lya, awesome progress!
Have you ever tried negatives for your pullups/dips if you're having trouble?
You're hitting the same muscles on both the "up" motion as the "down". A negative is starting at the "top" of the exercise, and lowering yourself down as slow as possible.

When I was first starting out I could only do 1 real pull up. So what I did is 1 pullup, then got a bench (or chair, and just stepped up into "chin above bar position") and finished off my sets doing negatives. Progress came VERY quick, as I started to be able to do more real pullups, and less negatives. I used this for dips as well.

I do negatives at home on my pull-up bar that I have in a doorway, but most of my progress has been made on the assisted pull-up machine (regardless of what the naysayers say about the machine) and inverted pull-up on the Smith machine. I've made all my progress in less than 4 months, so I fully expect to be doing unassisted ones this summer.

Lyadeia

I got this from lean gains....

"For women in the 115-155-lb range, the corresponding advanced strength goals are 0.9 x body weight bench, 1.1 x body weight chin-up, 1.5 x body weight squat and 1.8 x body weight deadlift. Relative to men, women have much less muscle mass around the chest area and shoulder girdle (men have much higher androgen-receptor density in this particular area), but the lower body is comparativly strong to the upper body.

A 135-lb woman that has been training consistently for 5-10 years should then be expected to:

Bench press 120-125 lbs.
Do 4-5 chin-ups with body weight or do one with an extra 10-15 lbs hanging from her waist.
Squat 200-205 lbs.
Deadlift 225-230 lbs."

Why on Earth would it take 5-10 years to build up that strength???

I'm nearly there in only 4 months.

Or am I...weird?

ndj1979

I got this from lean gains....

"For women in the 115-155-lb range, the corresponding advanced strength goals are 0.9 x body weight bench, 1.1 x body weight chin-up, 1.5 x body weight squat and 1.8 x body weight deadlift. Relative to men, women have much less muscle mass around the chest area and shoulder girdle (men have much higher androgen-receptor density in this particular area), but the lower body is comparativly strong to the upper body.

A 135-lb woman that has been training consistently for 5-10 years should then be expected to:

Bench press 120-125 lbs.
Do 4-5 chin-ups with body weight or do one with an extra 10-15 lbs hanging from her waist.
Squat 200-205 lbs.
Deadlift 225-230 lbs."

Why on Earth would it take 5-10 years to build up that strength???

I'm nearly there in only 4 months.

Or am I...weird?

I believe it was just a general statement based on his experience training woman.....

what are your stats on lifts?

Warchortle

162 and I dead lift 265 and squat 320... I don't barbell press, but I dumb bell 70s for lots of reps.

Lyadeia

Deadlift: 170 (working on this, but my issue is grip strength more than back strength, even with staggered grip)
Bench Press: 110
Overhead Shoulder Press: 80 (Also working on this...I can lift more while seated, but I do OHP while standing)

We sound a lot a like, except BF%, I'm much higher. Anyway.... have your tried Versa Gripps? I know it's important to continue to increase grip strength (and I am) but I don't want to sacrifice increasing other strengths just because of my grip so I will use the Versa Gripps when my grip starts to give out.

I've never tried them, but I have thought about it. I will have to check out those other ways that I saw posted about increasing my grip strength as well.

Lyadeia

I got this from lean gains....

"For women in the 115-155-lb range, the corresponding advanced strength goals are 0.9 x body weight bench, 1.1 x body weight chin-up, 1.5 x body weight squat and 1.8 x body weight deadlift. Relative to men, women have much less muscle mass around the chest area and shoulder girdle (men have much higher androgen-receptor density in this particular area), but the lower body is comparativly strong to the upper body.

A 135-lb woman that has been training consistently for 5-10 years should then be expected to:

Bench press 120-125 lbs.
Do 4-5 chin-ups with body weight or do one with an extra 10-15 lbs hanging from her waist.
Squat 200-205 lbs.
Deadlift 225-230 lbs."

Why on Earth would it take 5-10 years to build up that strength???

I'm nearly there in only 4 months.

Or am I...weird?

I believe it was just a general statement based on his experience training woman.....

what are your stats on lifts?

Look a few posts above, they are listed. Only increase the OHP to 90, I did that this morning.