Guys & Gals...How much weight to lift to tone my arms...

curvykim78
curvykim78 Posts: 799 Member
edited December 19 in Fitness and Exercise
Ok guys & gals...I need some help. I just bought a home gym (Weider Pro 8900) for myself to use along with my treadmill. I would like to lose some more weight, but what I'd really like to do is make my belly a little flatter and really tone my arms. How much weight should I use on myself and what exercises are the ones I should really concentrate on?

Replies

  • curvykim78
    curvykim78 Posts: 799 Member
    I'm at 156 now, and I'm 5 foot 4. Hoping to get around 135ish.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    That's an impossible question to answer. It depends on how strong you are and what exercises you're doing. Lift whatever is heavy for you. If you're looking to build muscles I'd go with whatever weight you can't lift more than say 8 times. Last few reps should be a struggle.
  • curvykim78
    curvykim78 Posts: 799 Member
    Maybe I worded that wrong...How many reps of weights are you supposed to do to start out? I was just curious where to start toning at, I don't wanna look like Hulk Hogan! lol
  • aproc
    aproc Posts: 1,033 Member
    You can't 'tone' what you don't have. And women don't bulk up from lifting heavy. Lift whatever weight is hard for you. If you make it to 12 or so reps and could go on for more, then you need to bump up the weight. You have to build muscle (lifting heavy) to have anything to 'tone'.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    Maybe I worded that wrong...How many reps of weights are you supposed to do to start out? I was just curious where to start toning at, I don't wanna look like Hulk Hogan! lol

    Aim for 5-10 reps per set and do 3-4 sets. You are female so you don't have to worry about bulking up much, you don't have the testosterone for it.
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    Lift whatever weight is hard for you. If you make it to 12 or so reps and could go on for more, then you need to bump up the weight.

    ^^^^^ This exactly. Lift what is hard for you.

    On the number of exercises to do I'd say just pick 3 different exercises for that muscle group and do about 3 sets of 10 reps each set. Let's say you're doing triceps.

    3 x 10 reps of tricep push downs.
    3 x 10 reps of overhead dumbbell extensions
    3 x 10 reps of tricep dumbell kickbacks


    That would be considered a pretty fair workout for your triceps. As mentioned above the last rep should be really hard to get out. Not impossible but pretty close to it. If you're not used to lifting at all or you're trying out a new exercise it's okay to start out with a lower weight that's just slightly difficult to get the feel of how to do the exercise but generally after you've warmed up that muscle then push it as much as you can.

    Don't worry about looking like Hulk Hogan. You won't ever get there even if you quit your job and lifted full time like your life depended on it. Most women who work out hard probably can't even surpass your average couch potato guy in strength. As a woman the best you'll do is get nice toned awesome looking arms/legs. Lift as heavy as you can. It will crank your metabolism up quite a bit and help you burn through more fat.
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
    I've really seen the most change in my arms since I started a focused effort on lifting. I lift total body 3x a week and here's the upper body exercises I do. Everything is 3 sets of 6 reps except for pushups:

    Bench press: 65lbs
    Overhand lat pull-down: 100lbs (I attempt a pull-up at the beginning of each set, but not quite there yet)
    Dumbbell lateral raise: 12lbs

    Dumbbell shoulder press: 25-30lbs
    Underhand pull-down: 105lbs (I do the first 1-2 reps of each set as a chin-up and then finish with the machine)
    Barbell curl: 40lbs

    Overhead press: 60lbs
    Pushup (3 sets of 10, body weight)
    Barbell row: 65 lbs
    Bench dip (body weight)
  • LBxLB
    LBxLB Posts: 691 Member
    You can't 'tone' what you don't have. And women don't bulk up from lifting heavy. Lift whatever weight is hard for you. If you make it to 12 or so reps and could go on for more, then you need to bump up the weight. You have to build muscle (lifting heavy) to have anything to 'tone'.

    Agreed, you can't tone only build muscle you should lift at your maximum it is nearly impossible for women to bulk up so I wouldn't worry about it. Once you build muscle you will get that "toned" look you are going for.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    It is near impossible for a woman to bulk up without drugs

    And for those few other cases that make it only near impossible....it didn't accidentally happen, it takes total dedication.

    Even for males without drugs bulking up is very, very hard. Looking like Hulk Hogan takes drugs, period. Getting bulky for a guy takes YEARS of dedication to both exercise and nutrition (with the goal of packing on muscle).

    You should look into the 5x5 programs, Stronglifts and/or Starting Strength, they are without question the best beginners programs out there.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    It is near impossible for a woman to bulk up without drugs

    And for those few other cases that make it only near impossible....it didn't accidentally happen, it takes total dedication.

    Even for males without drugs bulking up is very, very hard. Looking like Hulk Hogan takes drugs, period. Getting bulky for a guy takes YEARS of dedication to both exercise and nutrition (with the goal of packing on muscle).

    You should look into the 5x5 programs, Stronglifts and/or Starting Strength, they are without question the best beginners programs out there.

    Best case for most men, if you have normal testosterone levels, perfect nutrition and lifting program, and also are a newbie would be 4-5 pounds in the first month and tapering off every month thereafter. After you become "trained" and are no longer a newbie you'd be happy with 1 pound per month. There are guys with freaky genetics who can gain more than that though.

    Bottomline is if you see a guy that gained like 15-20 pounds of muscle in 3 months, he's probably not natural.
  • manospeed
    manospeed Posts: 5
    If you want to tone your arms you'll need to do the following:

    Pick out 4 upper arm exercises. Two movements for your biceps and two for your triceps. Once you have your four exercises picked out do the following:


    Warm up set (15-20 reps)
    2nd set (10-12 reps)
    3rd set (8-10 reps)
    4th set (6 reps)
    5th set (6 reps)

    With each set you finish you add more weight. So you want to start out with a low weight for your warm up set and then progressively add more weight as your rep range goes down.

    I am not going to tell you how much weight you should be lifting, but the key is to be going to failure during each set. For example, don't lift 5lbs in each arm for your warm up set if you aren't failing arounf 15-20 reps. Add more weight. You must push yourself to failure during each set.

    If you don't feel exhausted, spent, drained, or tired after your workouts then you're not training hard enough.
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