What does lifting "heavy" mean to women?

Lifting heavy as others have said is wroking your muscles, in a 5-8 rep set to exhaustion, last rep being almost unachiveable. It is essential to figure out what that weight is by finding your one rep max. This link will then help you calculate what your 5 RM will behttp://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/other7.htm. Work with that weight untill you get to 7-9 Reps with out exhaustion, check your 1 RM again and adjust. By doing this you will add lean muscle. Dont worry about bulking up to much, unless you use steroids, growth hormones or testostrone, what God intended you to have is the most you will get.

Ligting light with light weights builds muscle endurance. This is important also. There are some that would argue that you "lift heavy" at 10-12 reps and you will get both benifits. I think the Nautilis sytem worked this way.

Personally I work all resistence training at 84% of my 1 Rep Max

4' 11" 128lbs

Deadlift and Squat - 130lbs x 10
Leg Press - 240lbs x 10

Doing sets of 10 at the moment with my program, drop to 6's next week so will see how I get on then.

Have no idea of 1RM, still a newb and not tested yet!!

4' 11" 128lbs

Deadlift and Squat - 130lbs x 10
Leg Press - 240lbs x 10

Doing sets of 10 at the moment with my program, drop to 6's next week so will see how I get on then.

Have no idea of 1RM, still a newb and not tested yet!!

I don't know my max either. Never tried. I need someone to spot and the time to try.

You are tiny and lifting so heavy! Congrats!!

Thanks :happy:

I've got the same thing as you, with having almost equal dead-lift and squat numbers when most people have higher dead-lifts. I've been struggling with grip, just not able to hold on to the bar with more weight on it, so just got some straps. I know a lot of people don't recommend them but I'm working hard on it and guessing that my grip will catch up in time!!!

So loving lifting though!!

Good luck with your progress:drinker:

I don't like to brag

Like a lot of other posters have said, don't worry about others' numbers. Just do what is heavy for you.

I see many women claim to lift heavy, and I am just curious what exactly this means?

It means you moved past the Oreck 8 lb. vacuum and can now lift the 17 pound Dyson vacuum instead.

4' 11" 128lbs

Deadlift and Squat - 130lbs x 10
Leg Press - 240lbs x 10

Doing sets of 10 at the moment with my program, drop to 6's next week so will see how I get on then.

Have no idea of 1RM, still a newb and not tested yet!!

I don't know my max either. Never tried. I need someone to spot and the time to try.

You are tiny and lifting so heavy! Congrats!!

Thanks :happy:

I've got the same thing as you, with having almost equal dead-lift and squat numbers when most people have higher dead-lifts. I've been struggling with grip, just not able to hold on to the bar with more weight on it, so just got some straps. I know a lot of people don't recommend them but I'm working hard on it and guessing that my grip will catch up in time!!!

So loving lifting though!!

Good luck with your progress:drinker:

Yeah, that's my problem. Grip. STUPID HANDS and forearms!

I am deadlifting 140 lbs, but it starts to slip from my fingers by rep 5-6. I could do more I bet, but I'm scared I won't be able to keep my fingers on the bar. I alternate my grip, and it still slips. I can't do barbell calf raises either because I can't hold on to the barbell with the amount of weight I can do, so I have to resort to doing calf raises on the sitting leg press machine. I do OCR too, and I find that the obstacles where grip is a must, I lack at....I need to work a lot on my grip. Also, pull ups suffer from my lack of grip.

Know just how you feel!! With the dead-lifts I've been doing the first set with maximum weight I can hold and then a couple of sets with straps so my forearms/grip is still being pushed. Don't know if this is the best theory but so don't want to hold up my dead-lift weight by having woosy hands!

Not been doing pull ups yet but this would probably be good for increasing grip/forearm strength so should probably start with some negative's!!

Any other suggestions for good 'grip' improver's welcome from all parties!

I deadlift and squat 185lbs, press 50lb barbell, 20-25lb dumbbells. I rarely ever curl...last time I did I think I used 15lb dumbbells.

Interesting...you are the 2nd person to say you don't curl. Any particular reason why? I love some bicep curls. Are there other exercises you prefer?

And it is refreshing to see you deadlift and squat the same weight. I wasn't sure that was how it should be! I feel like they are completely different things, so how am I doing the same weight. Deadlifting should be way more than squatting in my eyes.

How long did it take to get that high squatting?

I don't curl because I don't see the need; my biceps get enough work from the other compound lifts I do. I may throw in a few now and then but they're definitely not a regular thing. As for how long it took me to get those squat numbers....too damn long is all I'll say! I've had a few injuries and setbacks so I haven't been very consistent in my progression. I've had to start over several times after taking lifting hiatuses. I'm making a concerted effort to lift heavier now so I expect that number to go up shortly. I'm optimistic.

It's interesting that you think deadlifting should be more than squatting because I always thought the opposite, probably because that has been my experience. My squat progression has been relatively slow compared to my deadlifts, and that's despite two lower back injuries.

"Heavy" isn't a number.
For me, it's fatigue by the 5th or 6th rep.

this is helpful... thank you!

Reviewing this.. Lifting heavy has no real definition? It's just what is heavy for you?? I don't think I am lifting anywhere near heavy for me...

if I understand it right (what i've read and what i've seen online) You lift as much as you can for 3-5 reps and do 3-5 sets?

Today i used the barbell and did the following
Squats - with 20lbs worth of weights 5x5
Bench press- with 20lbs worth of weights 5x5
Bent over row with 30lbs worth of weights 5x5
Barbell shrugs with 40lbs worth of weights 3x8
Tricep extension - 35lbs overhead 3x8
Straight bar curls - no weight added just the bar 3x8
Hyperextension with 10lb plate - 2x10
Cable crunches - 90lbs - 3x10

The only ones that felt heavy were the curls, the tricep extension and the bench press. The crunches were easy once I got into the postion, it was hard to pull that weight down initally. But once I was on the ground it was easy to crunch.

So do I just keep increasing weight until it's difficult to do?

I also have no idea how much the bar weight or if that is record or not.. When people ask how much I lift do I include the bar weight in my answer?

Reviewing this.. Lifting heavy has no real definition? It's just what is heavy for you?? I don't think I am lifting anywhere near heavy for me...

if I understand it right (what i've read and what i've seen online) You lift as much as you can for 3-5 reps and do 3-5 sets?

Today i used the barbell and did the following
Squats - with 20lbs worth of weights 5x5
Bench press- with 20lbs worth of weights 5x5
Bent over row with 30lbs worth of weights 5x5
Barbell shrugs with 40lbs worth of weights 3x8
Tricep extension - 35lbs overhead 3x8
Straight bar curls - no weight added just the bar 3x8
Hyperextension with 10lb plate - 2x10
Cable crunches - 90lbs - 3x10

The only ones that felt heavy were the curls, the tricep extension and the bench press. The crunches were easy once I got into the postion, it was hard to pull that weight down initally. But once I was on the ground it was easy to crunch.

So do I just keep increasing weight until it's difficult to do?

I also have no idea how much the bar weight or if that is record or not.. When people ask how much I lift do I include the bar weight in my answer?

1-5 reps build strength
6-12 build mass
12+ endurance

When doing 5 reps a set or 8 a set whatever, you should be struggling with those last few reps in most programs.

There are programs that are made for different things. Many posters on MFP start with a 5x5 like stronglifts to build strength. Some programs will have a mix of strength and hypertrophy reps.

My suggestion is get a program if you are really wanting to lift and make gains (either mass or strength). You do include the bar weight in your answer. A 7' olympic barbell is around 45 lbs.

I agree - "heavy lifting" is whatever fatigues you in ~5 reps. If you want numbers, I've only been doing it for 3 weeks or so, but my numbers are (all 5x5):
Deadlift - 115lbs
Squats and Lunges - 75lbs (I'm pretty heavy, so I'm lifting myself here too )
Push press - 65lbs
Bench press - 80lbs