women lifting weights

Hi, I first want to tell you awesome job on the weightloss!!!!! As for the weight lifting: I lift heavy three times per week. Just going to do that when I am done posting this! I choose a full body workout that I log as circuit training because I do not give my body a rest in that time. I start with back & lift 12 as heavy as I can then quickly move to a lower body muscle like quads lift heavy 12-15 times go back to the back for at least another set then back to quads again. I work an upper body then a lower body:
Upper is back, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps. Lower is quads, hamstring, calves, glutes and abs. I do work some of the areas like the abs on more than one machine or crunches etc; along with other areas I feel need more attention, but usually just my weight lifting alone is 1 to 1 1/2 hour session. I am NOT bulky but am strong and fit and proud to say I can do this at 50. Getting muscle built burns calories and the more you have the better you will burn for a longer period of time! Ask question at your gym and get feedback! I swear by weight lifting but you do still need to do cardio! I wish you the best honey, you ARE on the right path just keep movin ahead! Contact me if you wish!!

Courtney is right- women generally can't get all bulky without help. I lift on average five days a week (two days of heavy weights/low reps, three days lighter weights/high reps). I feel that I'm in better shape than I was when I was 18 and I have a lot more strength and energy. Congrats on the weight loss, btw. You're doing great!

You may want to peruse an issue or two of Women's Health on the newsstand next time you're in a book store. They usually have some awesome workouts that will help. If not, you can check out Men's Health because I know for a fact that they do.

My biggest advice is to make sure you always mirror every muscle group you work on. For instance, if you work your abs, you should also work your lower back. If you work on your biceps, you should also work on your triceps. If you work on your quads and thighs, you should also work on your hamstrings/glutes.

You're not going to get bulky :flowerforyou: . That just isn't possible for the average woman, no matter how hard they work out. It takes excess calories to build BIG muscles and hours and hours of training. Most of the hugely bulky women you see in magazines/competitions also take "supplements" of the unnatural variety. :noway:

I lift heavy weights 3x a week. I do shoulders/back/arms - butt/legs/calves - chest/abs. I am doing more and more free weights and less and less machines. An article I read that said that many machines don't force your body to do the exercise right. Ie: you can sit there in the leg press, all slumped over, with your feet at an angle, heels hanging off the plate, locking your knees while you do your reps...OR you can do a squat with nothing but dumbbells which makes not only your legs work hard, but your arms, butt, back, calves, stomach, obliques and shoulders are all being used to make that squat successful. It engages MORE muscles than using a machine.

I also like body weight exercises ie: hanging leg lifts on capt chair, crunches on slant board, pull ups, dips, and lunges in addition to the above mentioned squats (which I do with 15lb dumbbells). There are a few specific lifts I do for certain areas, but mostly I do compound lifts to engage the most muscles at once.

Here is an awesome site regarding gyms, weight lifting, etc. - http://www.stumptuous.com/

Another site that lists every muscle in the human body and the corresponding exercises of all types that one can do to work on it - http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Oh, I should add that when I do use weights, I usually only do 2 sets of 11-12. By rep 10, I should be totally straining to get it done and rep 12 is a maybe. Rest 30 seconds and go again. I keep a notebook with me and log all my training. I try to increase the weights or reps each week.

Yep Cassandra said it,

Basically this is a big misconception. To "bulk up" even if you were lifting heavy weights, you would have to start consuming betwwen 3000-5000 calories (mainly protein) as muscles need a lot of substanace to grow, so dont worry at all about doing light weights, and even if you want edto increase the weights slightly as you get stronger that will be fine too. Just make sure that you consume under your daily calorie intake.

Good luck

For the most part, women will become more "solid", but they don't bulk up, as others have said. That is not 100% true and different body types respond differently to resistance training. You can always modify an exercise or work through different routines if you see changes you don't like. Again, for most people, that is unlikely.

"Bulking up" or muscle hypertrophy is more related to volume than to intensity. To gain bulk, it is usually recommended that you lift "moderate" weights (e.g. 8-12 RM), but higher volume (4-6 sets, multiple exercises) and relatively short recovery periods (1 min). That along with appropriate food intake.

Again, lifting heavy does not necessarily lead to increased "bulk". The best example I ever saw was a 30 yr male that I tested about 13 yrs ago. He was 5'10" and weighed about 145; around 7% body fat, with around a 32 inch waist. Obviously he had great definition, but was not "bulky" at all. In street clothes he looked like an attractive, thin, fit adult. The only way you could tell that he lifted weights was when he took off his shirt, he had the broader shoulders and the "shelf" (as I call it) across his chest that are signs of someone who can push a pretty good sized weight. Sure enough, he could bench press more than 150% of his body weight (220 pounds). He was the best example I have ever seen of someone who both really lean, but also pretty damn strong.

I weight train 5 days per week which is only one or two muscle groups per day.

Mondays - Chest (bench press, incline bench, and chest flies)
Tuesday - Shoulders (military press, lateral arm raises, anterior arm raises)
Wednesday- Legs/Butt (squats, lunges, calf raises)
Thursday - Arms (assisted pull up targeting biceps - palms facing toward body, curls, assisted dips, and tricept extensions)
Friday - Back (dead lift, assisted pull ups targeting back - palms facing away from body, seated row)

I do abs 3 days per week on different days depending on what kind of time I have. And run 45 minutes at least 4 days per week. I prefer free weights whenever possible.

In my best shape (pre-pregnancy) I could bench press 110lbs (two 55 lbs dumbells) and was never bulky - very slender at 125lbs.