Heavy or light weights?

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stonel94
stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I've been doing new rules of lifting for women and I did it once through and am in the middle of stage 4 now because I'm redoing it. So basically, one thing I haven't been able to do is get my arms smaller, my legs have gotten smaller but I want my shoulders and arms to get smaller, they got really big from water polo while i was gaining weight because of hypothyroid, and i'm still really self conscious about how broad my shoulders/back are and how large my arms are. I have this really nice italian leather jacket i love, but I can't wear it comfortably now because it's too tight across the back and arms, that's my new goal, so should I continue to lift heavy or do lighter weights, suggest things please!

Edit: my arms/back aren't flabby or anything, they're just too big so there's muscle there but I need to make it leaner...how do I do this

Replies

  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Keep lifting heavy- switching to light weights won't do anything but hinder your progress. For your trouble areas to get smaller, you just need to keep going with your current plan, eat at a reasonable caloric deficit, and wait it out. Everyone's trouble areas take a frustratingly long time- my arms took FOREVER, but eventually with a deficit it will work.

    Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to speed up your body's fat reduction schedule in any area over any other area. Lighter weights don't fire as much muscle tissue, which means you won't burn as many calories 24/7, and it doesn't have the same hormonal fat-reducing response as heavier weights.
  • stonel94
    stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
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    what deficit do you eat at? I had mine very low, like probably under BMR, and I just upped it a lot (500 calories) to 2000, planning on eating around 1900 something which is my TDEE minus 10%
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    what deficit do you eat at? I had mine very low, like probably under BMR, and I just upped it a lot (500 calories) to 2000, planning on eating around 1900 something which is my TDEE minus 10%

    To what deficit I eat at- I don't. I've been in maintenance for almost a year, and eat +/- a couple hundred cals of maintenance everyday, averaging to my maintenance. For you, it looks like you're withing 5lbs of your goal weight, so I would not suggest ever eating less than TDEE-10%....That's about perfect.

    If you just added 500 cals don't freak out if your weight goes up for a couple days or a week, it's normal and it will come back off- don't cut back again if you go up a couple lbs.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    TDEE-10% is what Scooby recommends as the maximum deficit where you still might put on muscle. I am trying to put on muscle in a deficit if at all possible, so that's what I use.

    I love your lats (and my arms are that big myself), but if you want to make absolutely sure you don't build there, I do think endurance-style reps are your best best (at 10% deficit, because that's not a big deficit at all). But since you are doing compound work, that would effect everything else you are using. Maybe just do endurance reps on the lats-focused lift? Then add in strength work for delts or whatever you miss by doing the lats that way.

    I know the recommendation is always to lift very heavy for absolutely everything, but it really depends on what you want out of it. Maybe just eating at a deficit will do it itself, but it depends on how strongly you feel about the possibility of growing a bit in the areas you are concerned about. You just look nice and really strong, btw! I think it looks great :)

    But I don't want my hamstrings any bigger myself if possible, so I feel ya. Mine started out disproportionately large, so it's a muscle balance thing for me, too. I overuse them to the detriment of my body mechanics.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,688 Member
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    Light weights are usually only needed if one is training for muscular endurance, rehabbing an injury, or for warm up.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ars1300
    ars1300 Posts: 159 Member
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    Keep lifting heavy. Also try focusing more on the diet aspect, there is usally more body fat covering those muscles than people realize. Unsure of your goals though.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Keep lifting heavy, lose more weight, then reassess. Just because they aren't flabby doesn't meant there's not fat there. It can be in and around the muscle, not just in large flabby deposits.
  • stonel94
    stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
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    Keep lifting heavy. Also try focusing more on the diet aspect, there is usally more body fat covering those muscles than people realize. Unsure of your goals though.

    Like i said, I eat at TDEE-10% and i just upped it because I think I was eating too low before, I am really focused on diet, I do eat "bad foods" like ice cream and homemade vegan gluten free cookies but in moderation, in measured out amounts, and I log it all, so I don't really know where i would be going wrong with my diet, take a look if you would like, a few days around christmas it was worse than normal, and i just recently upped it so before it was at 1500 and 40% carbs 30% fat and protein, and now it's 50, 25, 25 and I'm now no longer eating back cardio calories (never ate back lifting calories) I would love some feedback though from anyone
  • missADS1981
    missADS1981 Posts: 364 Member
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    HEAVY FTW !!! :)

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