lift more or less weight?

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eham22
eham22 Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have heard many different view point on toning up and loosing weight. I have huge running legs and bigger around the middle, so to make your muscles leaner I have heard that to strengthen and power you should do low weight high reps, however I have also heard that this doesn't matter and that you can do more weight less reps. I'm so confused HELP!!!

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  • jmzz1
    jmzz1 Posts: 670 Member
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    Sailing in the same boat of confusion. ... would love to hear from other
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
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    The answer is more.
  • CaptainHNNNGGG
    CaptainHNNNGGG Posts: 205 Member
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    Sailing in the same boat of confusion. ... would love to hear from other

    Low reps/high weight = strength gain
    High reps/moderate weight = muscle gain

    Neither is going to make a female look like a caveman.
  • adswillis27
    adswillis27 Posts: 76 Member
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    Lifting heavy does wonders for the body. I have done ChaLEAN Extreme which is a heavy lifting program where you max out in 10-reps the first month and 6-8 in month 2. But, I have also had great results from Les Mills PUMP which is is lower weight lots of reps kind of workout. You are still lifting as heavy as you can though for the amount of reps you do during a track.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
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    Sailing in the same boat of confusion. ... would love to hear from other

    Low reps/high weight = strength gain
    High reps/moderate weight = muscle gain

    Neither is going to make a female look like a caveman.

    This. I vote for heavier weights, less reps.
  • benjicmon
    benjicmon Posts: 2
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    It's generally accepted that, if you want bigger muscles, you should do 6-12 reps. The last rep should be really hard to push out. However, if you want to lose body fat, it's 90% diet.

    This is my favorite summation: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=553453753#post553453753

    In short, it says: lift 3x per week, eat 500 calories less per day than you need to maintain your weight, and eat about 1g of protein per day per pound of lean body mass.

    If you have any questions about calculating how many calories to eat or how much lean body mass you have, just ask! Feel free to add me. :)
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    I have heard many different view point on toning up and loosing weight. I have huge running legs and bigger around the middle, so to make your muscles leaner I have heard that to strengthen and power you should do low weight high reps, however I have also heard that this doesn't matter and that you can do more weight less reps. I'm so confused HELP!!!

    loosing wait is hard

    There's no reason to be a douche bag about it.

    More weight, less reps, eat at a deficit, take measurements and stay off the scale and you should be fine. Less weights and more reps is just an inefficient use of your time.
  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Muscle is only bigger or smaller, and fat is only more or less.
  • white_horse
    white_horse Posts: 36 Member
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    bumping for later...
  • GeoJenna223
    GeoJenna223 Posts: 68 Member
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    Lift more!
    Women who are not taking steroids or testosterone will not "bulk up" like guys do.
    Heavy weight training is awesome and will give you some awesome muscle definition. The brazillian butt that all women are after....SQUAT. *kitten* TO GRASS.

    I recommend New Rules of Lifting for Women or Strong Lifts. NROLFW is more of a beginners program. It assumes you can safely squat and deadlift (among other things). Strong Lifts would be what I recommend after NROLFW.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    Lifting heavy does wonders for the body. I have done ChaLEAN Extreme which is a heavy lifting program where you max out in 10-reps the first month and 6-8 in month 2. But, I have also had great results from Les Mills PUMP which is is lower weight lots of reps kind of workout. You are still lifting as heavy as you can though for the amount of reps you do during a track.

    BodyPump is more of a mishmash of cardio and lifting. Don't get me wrong, I love it so much that I teach it, but it's endurance lifting which is completely different from anything that most people would do in the weightroom.
  • daniellemm1
    daniellemm1 Posts: 465 Member
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    bump because I just started doing some weights and want more info.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    low rep & high weight (generally 3-5) = Strength with some physique assist "toning" (hypertrophy)

    high rep & moderate weight (generally 8-12 reps) = more "toning" (hypertrophy) and some sacrifice of raw strength gains.

    It really depends on where you are...if you're a noob, I'd recommend building a foundation of strength first...get really strong...then work on hypertrophy/toning. Note...even if you're doing a hypertrophy program you are not going to bulk. It is very difficult for men...10x harder for women.

    PS...**** loads of reps = waste of time...you'd be better off doing some circuit training or tabata or something for muscular endurance.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    You've likely heard both are good because both are good. As long as you keep increasing intensity you will continue to see gains.

    By continually increasing weight you can see the gains without much increase in the length of your workout. Increasing reps will mean you need to spend increasingly more time to get to failure.
  • eham22
    eham22 Posts: 5 Member
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    This is so good to know thanks so much! I think I'm definitely going to start lifting more heavy weights. and perhaps do more cardio too.
  • eham22
    eham22 Posts: 5 Member
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    It's generally accepted that, if you want bigger muscles, you should do 6-12 reps. The last rep should be really hard to push out. However, if you want to lose body fat, it's 90% diet.

    This is my favorite summation: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=553453753#post553453753

    In short, it says: lift 3x per week, eat 500 calories less per day than you need to maintain your weight, and eat about 1g of protein per day per pound of lean body mass.

    If you have any questions about calculating how many calories to eat or how much lean body mass you have, just ask! Feel free to add me. :)



    Thanks for the link!:)
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    Lifting heavy does wonders for the body. I have done ChaLEAN Extreme which is a heavy lifting program where you max out in 10-reps the first month and 6-8 in month 2. But, I have also had great results from Les Mills PUMP which is is lower weight lots of reps kind of workout. You are still lifting as heavy as you can though for the amount of reps you do during a track.

    BodyPump is more of a mishmash of cardio and lifting. Don't get me wrong, I love it so much that I teach it, but it's endurance lifting which is completely different from anything that most people would do in the weightroom.
    Appreciate you breaking down more about BodyPump... so what does our body gain from doing it vs. lifting heavy?

    Also thanks to all the kind, helpful responses in answer to the OP's question... it'd helped me as well.
    low rep & high weight (generally 3-5) = Strength with some physique assist "toning" (hypertrophy)

    high rep & moderate weight (generally 8-12 reps) = more "toning" (hypertrophy) and some sacrifice of raw strength gains.

    It really depends on where you are...if you're a noob, I'd recommend building a foundation of strength first...get really strong...then work on hypertrophy/toning. Note...even if you're doing a hypertrophy program you are not going to bulk. It is very difficult for men...10x harder for women.

    PS...**** loads of reps = waste of time...you'd be better off doing some circuit training or tabata or something for muscular endurance.
    :drinker:

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