weights...?

I don't agree with Hermit. or it could be semantics, but I want to be clear:

Don't worry about building bulky muscle. It's not going to happen by accident. I'm a guy, with a heckuva lot more testosterone in my bloodstream than you, and I would have to absolutely work my patootie off to "build bulky muscle". Women obviously have different hormone levels than guys, making it much harder to build muscle. Also you are on a fat-reduction diet of some kind right? You are working on losing weight and taking IN fewer calories than you BURN? Well then please trust me: under those conditions even a guy can't build muscle, unless he's some kind of genetic freak, or using steroids. I went through 90 days of P90X (known for being a "muscle-building program"), but I was on a calorie deficit to lose fat. I did hydrastatic weighing at the beginning and end so that I could see exactly how much muscle I had on day 1 and on day 90. I worked my tail off, "brought it" every single workout. By the end? I had lost a BUNCH of fat, and looked great. But I didn't gain even 1 ounce of muscle, and I was TRYING!

So don't worry! The goal of resistance workouts for you should be to PRESERVE the muscle you already have. You won't build any. Now, LATER ON when you are trim and svelte and decide to improve your physique to look like a fitness model or something, you would go on a calorie SURPLUS, reduce your cardio and increase the resistance training... NOW you have the right ingredients for building a little muscle. Even then you won't get bulky... just sexier!

To do weight workouts right, you MUST choose a weight that is heavy enough that your last rep is the absolute last one you can do... even if I held a gun to your head you couldn't pump out another. If you don't you're just wasting time. There are many different opinions as to how many reps per set you should do. I would recommend that you shoot for maybe 8-12. Many experts will tell guys to shoot for 8-10 and women to do 12-15. Some believe that's because higher reps will "tone" the muscle and lower reps will build it larger. The ones who actually have a degree in exercise science from a reputable school know that that's just BS! There is no such thing as "toning" a muscle. What does that even mean? Most would say it means "shaping" a muscle. Muscles cannot be shaped - they have the shape that your genetics determine. The only things you can affect in a muscle through exercise are how big they are, how strong they are, and how thick a layer of fat covers them. I think the 8-10 for men vs. 12-15 for women thing is just a marketing ploy to get women to pick up a weight! If they think there's a magic number of reps that will save them from becoming bulky, they will try it. i think the real truth is that beyond a certain point (I guess at around 12), a set simply becomes less EFFECTIVE at building size (or maintaining it during calorie deficit).

Whew! :embarassed: Sorry if I got up on a soapbox! Sometimes this stuff makes me crazy.

In a nutshell -

WEIGHT: heavy enough that your absolute last (couldn't lift it again if you HAD to) rep is somewhere between 8 and 12 reps

REPS: between 8 and 12. If you can't do at least 8, use a lighter weight. If you can do 12 or 13, time to increase the weight a little. Remember this is PROGRESSIVE resistance. You have to keep increasing. But realize that your muscles can get stronger (much stronger, in fact) without getting bigger - just because your weights are getting heavier doesn't necessarily mean that your muscles are getting bigger.

SETS: this is harder to pin down. AT LEAST 2 sets per exercise, and at first that's all you should do. As you get stronger and have less of an issue with muscle soreness after the workouts, you can try increasing to 3 and then maybe 4 sets per exercise.

NEVER do resistance training on a muscle more than every other day. Usually, you should cycle your workouts so each muscle has at least two days of rest between workouts. You could do something like this (just one way to do it):
Day 1: Chest and back
Day 2: Arms & abdominals
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Chest & back
Day 5: Arms & abdominals
Day 6: Legs
Day 7: Rest

I hope all this helps!

Good luck! If you stick with it, resistance training will give you control over your body and greater confidence!

Mike

That was REALLY helpful Mike, thanks a bunch!!!

What visio said is pretty much the same thing my trainer tells me, except he has me do 2 reps of 20.

Example: if your max is 10 then for the 2 min drill do 8 reps then 6 reps, then 4 reps then 2 reps all within 2 min. I started using this theory in my weight lifting. I can now complete my work out in 45 min. On the last set I do as many as possibly can. My question is. ” Is this ok”, or should I be doing it different? How long in-between sets? I know I should not wait 15 min between sets, but I can’t complete each set if I don’t wait. If I lower the amount of weight I use, then I fill my fist sets are useless. Thanks for your help.