weight lifting for women

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ive been reading a lot about exercise and how to burn fat as a woman and i always see that you should lift heavy weights... but wat is considered heavy for a women? for like arms, chest, squats etc?

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  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    heavy is relative. usually when people say that they mean to go past the 5 pound weights which means you're going to have to change the number of sets and reps you do. so instead of 3 sets of 20 you might do 5 sets of 5 or 3 sets of 5 .

    also this is usually used in conjunction with large compound lifts that work multiple body parts at a time like deadlifts, squats, overhead press, bench press, barbell row

    look up starting strength, strong lifts and new rules of lifting for women
  • sailawaykate
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    Heavy is whatever is heavy for you. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to do about 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps without failing. If you can do more than 8 reps in a set, it's time to move up to a higher weight.

    I concur about starting strength and stronglifts. They are good about starting light to focus on form and then adding weight fairly gradually. Plus they both are relatively short workouts, as they don't have you doing a huge amount of accessory exercises.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

    Start with the bar. Add 5lbs each time. When you get to the point where you can't do all 5 reps on all sets, you are lifting heavy.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    Heavy is whatever is heavy for you. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to do about 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps without failing. If you can do more than 8 reps in a set, it's time to move up to a higher weight.

    I concur about starting strength and stronglifts. They are good about starting light to focus on form and then adding weight fairly gradually. Plus they both are relatively short workouts, as they don't have you doing a huge amount of accessory exercises.

    Concur with concurring
  • jessigoct17
    jessigoct17 Posts: 57 Member
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    thanks guys!