How many days a week is it safe to...
Losewtforlife4him
Posts: 423 Member
Lift weights and do strength training? My neck and scapula area have been so sore lately but I think it's from using 3-10 lb weights doing 10-15 min. arm workouts pretty much everyday for the past few months. Is this too much? I use fitness blender, tone it up and pop sugar workouts on YouTube. Thanks for any advice.
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Replies
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Too much is subjective to the individual.
3-10 lb weights are usually not enough to tax the nervous system, though rest can be benificial if your drained or hitting the same muscles.5 -
Too much is subjective to the individual.
3-10 lb weights are usually not enough to tax the nervous system, though rest can be benificial if your drained or hitting the same muscles.
I don't think it's a nervous system problem. Just sore muscles and I was thinking maybe I've been doing too much because there's a lot of repetitions.
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Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.5 -
Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.
It's definitely working as I have tone and definition now so that's a good thing. But you're right. I need to just listen to my body and give some rest days too.
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.
It's definitely working as I have tone and definition now so that's a good thing.
That's probably from overall fat loss.
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Cherimoose wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.
It's definitely working as I have tone and definition now so that's a good thing.
That's probably from overall fat loss.
Tone and definition would be from sculpting the muscles using weights. Fat loss is from diet. Both together definitely help!
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The human body is an incredible machine and it can handle WAY more than most folks think! Working out every day isn't a problem. The hard part is fueling your body and taking care of its nutritional requirements. The above comment is totally correct! Your body will signal or tell you when you've gone to far. You can either ad more fuel and keep the machine running or give it a break. Depends on the signals your getting.2
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The human body is an incredible machine and it can handle WAY more than most folks think! Working out every day isn't a problem. The hard part is fueling your body and taking care of its nutritional requirements. The above comment is totally correct! Your body will signal or tell you when you've gone to far. You can either ad more fuel and keep the machine running or give it a break. Depends on the signals your getting.
I agree. Typically I do cardio every day and would want to keep that up. It's just the weight lifting I'm not sure about but for now going with some rest days as my neck feels strained a bit.
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Cherimoose wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.
It's definitely working as I have tone and definition now so that's a good thing.
That's probably from overall fat loss.
Tone and definition would be from sculpting the muscles using weights. Fat loss is from diet. Both together definitely help!
you can't sculpt your muscles. If you want muscle growth you have to use a progressive overload program. Doing the same thing over and over isn't going to make you stronger or change your muscle size. It's pretty much an endurance exercise.5 -
If you're feeling pain Def take a break. If you'received just sore...well, you could chalk that up to a lot of things, ie bad form, to heavy of a weight etc. Twice a month when I see a chiropractic then go for an hour massage then maybe a hot tub soak. Works wonders! You need to figure out if the pain is muscular, skeletal or neurological and then treat accordingly. Sometimes poor nutrition will lead to fatigue which leads to bad form which could lead to pain. Soreness is OK pain is not.1
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Cherimoose wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.
It's definitely working as I have tone and definition now so that's a good thing.
That's probably from overall fat loss.
Tone and definition would be from sculpting the muscles using weights. Fat loss is from diet. Both together definitely help!
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Take one week of just stretching, yoga, walking or other light activities. Your body needs to recover after months without a break.2
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singingflutelady wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Cherimoose wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Lots of reps at extreme low weight generally doesn't equate to too much.
Of course low weights without progression won't make you stronger either.
If your body needs a break it will tell you. Part of lifting is listening to it.
It's definitely working as I have tone and definition now so that's a good thing.
That's probably from overall fat loss.
Tone and definition would be from sculpting the muscles using weights. Fat loss is from diet. Both together definitely help!
you can't sculpt your muscles. If you want muscle growth you have to use a progressive overload program. Doing the same thing over and over isn't going to make you stronger or change your muscle size. It's pretty much an endurance exercise.
^ This. "Sculpting" the muscles is accomplished by losing the subcutaneous fat covering them, which makes them appear more defined. Strength training makes the muscles stronger and (with adequate calories, protein and training stimulus) can make them larger. Light weights/high reps with inadequate intensity and no progression isn't 'strength training', it's just ineffective/very low intensity cardio. It won't accomplish anything except maybe making you better at waving a small weight around for 10-15 minutes.3 -
Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Tone and definition would be from sculpting the muscles using weights. Fat loss is from diet.
Looking "toned" and "defined" is mostly from reducing body fat.
Not saying not to do strength training, but light weights produce minimal visible changes.
You do lower body exercises too, right?0 -
I know that the fat loss would be showing the muscle more however what would the point be in all of the exercises that people come up with such as fitness blender, Denise Austin arms, etc. if they didn't work?! I've seen lots of thin people with no muscle definition in their arms and they have 0 fat, so what do you say to that? I'm confused with what you're saying? I do lower strength training as well--
It's really not pain at all--just sore and tight in my neck and it's relieved with stretching and Motrin.
Definitely not neuro problems.0 -
And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!0
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
3lbs? I think my water bottle weighs more than that! As others mentioned, 3lbs weights for a million reps will help with endurance, but not muscle building.
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Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
3lbs? I think my water bottle weighs more than that! As others mentioned, 3lbs weights for a million reps will help with endurance, but not muscle building.
Maybe I'm confused with all of this. Sorry. I am not trying to build muscle or be a muscle builder or anything like that lol! Just sculpting and toning and 3 lbs is great for many exercises. Try the fitness blender videos on you tube and tell me they don't work! 3-10 lbs is great for toning arms
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
Lolz.1 -
Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
3lbs? I think my water bottle weighs more than that! As others mentioned, 3lbs weights for a million reps will help with endurance, but not muscle building.
Maybe I'm confused with all of this. Sorry. I am not trying to build muscle or be a muscle builder or anything like that lol! Just sculpting and toning and 3 lbs is great for many exercises. Try the fitness blender videos on you tube and tell me they don't work! 3-10 lbs is great for toning arms
yes, you are confused, for starters - 'toning' is not a thing!3 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
3lbs? I think my water bottle weighs more than that! As others mentioned, 3lbs weights for a million reps will help with endurance, but not muscle building.
Maybe I'm confused with all of this. Sorry. I am not trying to build muscle or be a muscle builder or anything like that lol! Just sculpting and toning and 3 lbs is great for many exercises. Try the fitness blender videos on you tube and tell me they don't work! 3-10 lbs is great for toning arms
yes, you are confused, for starters - 'toning' is not a thing![/http://www.health.com/health/m/gallery/0,,20681364,00.html0 -
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/muscle-tone/ a better source than a women's magazine1
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One day off, one day on. As an alternative, you can do upper body one day, lower body the next.2
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Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
3lbs? I think my water bottle weighs more than that! As others mentioned, 3lbs weights for a million reps will help with endurance, but not muscle building.
Maybe I'm confused with all of this. Sorry. I am not trying to build muscle or be a muscle builder or anything like that lol! Just sculpting and toning and 3 lbs is great for many exercises. Try the fitness blender videos on you tube and tell me they don't work! 3-10 lbs is great for toning arms
yes, you are confused, for starters - 'toning' is not a thing!
Muscle + less fat = TONE
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you aren't gaining muscle doing endless reps of 3-10 lbs6
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Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »Muscleflex79 wrote: »Losewtforlife4him wrote: »And using light weights 3-10 lbs have produced amazing results thank you!
3lbs? I think my water bottle weighs more than that! As others mentioned, 3lbs weights for a million reps will help with endurance, but not muscle building.
Maybe I'm confused with all of this. Sorry. I am not trying to build muscle or be a muscle builder or anything like that lol! Just sculpting and toning and 3 lbs is great for many exercises. Try the fitness blender videos on you tube and tell me they don't work! 3-10 lbs is great for toning arms
yes, you are confused, for starters - 'toning' is not a thing!
Muscle + less fat = TONE
No. It's not no matter how much you want it to be.3 -
It has helped me to stick to a weekly whole body schedule. Every day I typically work two different muscle groups which allows the others to rest/recover. Right now I do 2 days of cardio (right now running) and 3 strenghtening. Running in between strengening helps me recover from being sore before doing another session. I do the strengthening exercises for my legs on Fridays so I can recover from being sore from that over the weekend before running again. That way I know I can go all in, without having to worry about it making me miserably sore for the next days exercises.
It may be helpful to you if you find a weekly whole body plan online. Especially since doing the same exercise over and over, day after day can lead to being weak in areas which may cause injurys. I like to switch things up a lot to keep everything interesting (mentally and physically benefiting).
Also, completely resting a minimum of 1 day a week is a must. It has been proven that a person can be more productive if they do.
I have found these tips to be useful for me. Hopefully they will help you out too. Happy exercising!0 -
OP, I think you've kind of bought into what some of the industry tries to sell women. Fitness magazines and a lot of the fitness industry tries to sell "toning" programs to women simply because women typically have an innate fear of gaining too much muscle and looking like guys, which is very difficult to do. Women just don't have the testosterone levels to build that kind of muscle without some serious help, at least in the upper body. Women in general can be as strong and developed, pound for pound, as men in the lower body. There really isn't a lifting program that, by itself is going to make you toned, that is really related to weight loss. Weight bearin programs, done consistently, will tighten the underlying muscle and increase size simply because the muscles are in a recovery phase and pumped full of fluid.
The above comments are correct, do a progressive strength training program. A lot of high rep exercises will increase your muscle endurance but not cause your muscles to grow. Muscle growth is a good thing and emphasises the appearance of definition when you cut off fat. You will not look like a muscular guy by lifting heavier weights, no matter how hard you try, unless you're just a freak of nature or are juicing. Most of the women that you see in a lot of fitness magazines aren't really that big, they just look like they are from the photo shoots. Magazines have a weight of playing up certain aspects of a woman's physique and giving women an unrealistic ideal of what a lot of those women actually look like. Just work to be the best you you can be and don't worry so much about gaining too much size.7 -
3-10lbs are effectively just cardio so I would think you could do that everyday without ill effects. Carry on.5
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I am a female and have been doing light cardio, by this I mean no more than 30 minutes a day, and the remainder is strength. I lift 10 pound weights as a minimal up to fifteen. My strength is anywhere from 30-60 min. A day 6 days a week. I am not bulky! I have great definition a flat tummy (after two kids)! I have lost 19 lbs in 2 mos on a 1560 cal "diet"! I really just eat healthy, but never tell myself or anyone I'm on a diet because I'm not! I do squats, lunges, plies, (all with weights) strength training is the key! You won't look like a man! Promise!3
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