Heavy and less VS light and more

I'd like to know the difference as well. I can't lift really heavy - my joints just won't let me so I have been doing lighter dumbells. All I hear is how lifting heavy changes your body but won't lifting lighter as well?

Bump saving for those articles

What's your take on this? My goal is to burn fat and build muscle. I've read that women should lift less weight and do more reps to avoid "bulking". However, not sure I buy it. The lack of testosterone should prevent too much bulking, no? I personally prefer to lift heavy.

So, what do YOU think?? Lift heavy with less reps or light with more??

And, GO

You're not going to get big and bulky on accident... It takes years and years of consistency,hard training, and a caloric surplus in order to put on any appreciable amount of size, especially for a woman.

Lift your heavy weights; be fit, strong, and awesome.

There is value in both - you should alternate

The way my trainer usually does it is I will have one very heavy set, then he will drop the weight, do it again, drop the weight, do it one more time, or until exhaustion. These are usually on shoulder, lat and chest work.

Only thing he does not do that with are squats, cleans and deadlifts. those are the opposite. he increases the weight each set until exhaustion, or in a 12-10-8 set.

Bicep/Tricep work is a steady heavy weight with decreasing reps in each set. Usually 12-10-8.

He also incorporates ab work into each workout, either sit ups with a medicine ball, planks, leg lifts, etc.

I have seen some slight increases, but this is over almost 6 months, so results are on a long term for muscle growth, the largest improvement I've seen have been in endurance, strength and flexibility.

bump

You can actually build muscle and lose fat... The thought that you can't is a common fitness myth... Here's a link http://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition/lose-fat/7-tips-building-muscle-burning-fat

First off, the only way you can "bulk" is to eat at a surplus (focus on high protein and fat in order to effectively do this), but for toning purposes, you can actually eat at a deficit- but up your protein- and lose fat while building muscle. When you lift, you are making tiny tears in the muscle and then your body uses protein to rebuild the muscles, but they'll be stronger after more times you strength train. If you're not looking to bulk or focus only on strength, then I'd suggest 3-4 days of cardio and 2 days of strength training for an hour each day. Don't do them consecutively as you will need to let your muscles recover properly, but it is okay to do cardio the next day.

As for heavy and less vs light and more: I've done both and I think they both have their merits.
Lifting heavy weights with lower reps builds dense, lean muscle—but constantly upping the heaviness will exhaust your body fast. That’s why lifting lighter weights with more reps also deserves an invite to your muscle-boosting party.

Your nervous system has to adjust to the new fiber activation your muscles endure when you lift heavier-than-usual weights. Using lighter—but still challenging—weights with higher reps puts less strain on your muscle tissue and allows your nervous system to recuperate. This process of alternating between heavy and light lifting will gradually strengthen and build your muscles.

I enjoy doing a day a week on focusing on lifting HEAVY and less reps, but I like doing some of the lighter but more reps too. I used to do only Heavy lifting, but now I do a body pump class that is an endurance lifting class (uses a bar bell and weights to our strength level) that we do. We work literally every muscle group in an hour and each muscle group gets 88 reps of various kinds. The first time I did the class, I was shaking so bad that I could barely hold anything afterward because my muscles were so tired! Now that I've become a veteran of the class, I find it to be fun while testing me to my limits. Yes it's lighter weights, but I'm still squatting 60lbs 88 times and doing 65lbs hang clings.

Also, take measurements of yourself if you are going to focus on weight lifting. I haven't budged much on the weight side of things, but I'm losing inches. I feel that that is evidence that while I'm getting smaller, I'm burning fat, but also replacing it with muscle- which is much more dense than fat. I'm also an avid runner and am training for my first half marathon on May 31st. I've noticed that adding in the endurance lifting has boosted my ability to run faster and keep my endurance better during my long runs. My 7.1 mile time is sitting right at on an hour- which is tons faster than I've been able to run it before.

Just based on my own personal experience....I used to lift lighter (more reps) but I really wasn't seeing too much as far as definition, so on the advice of one of my friends I stopped doing that and lifted heavy to failure. Even if it meant I could only do 5 reps with a heavier weight. If at the end of that set I felt as if the body part I was working out was going to fall off (and I wanted to die!), then I knew I had done a good job!! It worked for me and I'm seeing such a huge improvement in my definition (and strength!)

Good luck