Wanting to "lift heavy"... but too weak to start!

It is SO subjective...kind of like flexibility. I was a dancer, too, so I feel gross and unflexible because I can no longer do a split, but that's probably the norm for a lot of women over 225lbs!

I haven't even attempted and actual bench press yet...I'm scared I wouldn't even be able to lift the bar! 65lbs sounds about like what I do on the machine, and 12.5-15 pound dumbbells are what I can do freelifting curls or tricep extensions. I started lifting regularly about 2 weeks ago.

Just keep working at it and pushing yourself to crank that last rep out.

A few things that will help you...

Eat protein every three hours, lots of it. You need protein to rebuild your muscles so that they can get stronger. If you don't eat protein, your body will eat your muscles and it makes it almost impossible to build strength.

Eat carbs prior to weight training-simple carbs are technically worse for you but will help because your body can access the energy faster. Your body needs energy to flex your muscles and lift weights. In particular you need Carbs/ATP/Creatine/oxygen.

When doing cardio try not to hit your body's O2 cycle (aerobic exercise). Aerobic exercise is counterproductive to building muscle. Your body burns protein and carbs during the O2 cycle and fat during the anaerobic cycle. Instead of running try walking on maximum incline and keeping your heart rate in the fat burning zone rather than in the aerobic exercise zone. Doing this will help build muscle rather than eat it away.

Use machines in conjunction with free weights. You will be able to lift more weight on the machines because you can focus your efforts on the large muscle groups without your smaller muscles holding you back (stabilizing muscles). Continue to use free weights as well to work on your stability, however, you will notice larger strength gains using machines.

There are two products that you can buy at GNC that will considerably help with strength training. One should be obvious, it's Creatine. Your body will love you for feeding it Creatine daily during strength training. Alternatively your body can get Creatine from meats and proteins, but if you take the supplement your muscles will surely have the supply they need for the energy they consume during weight training. The second product increases blood flow to the muscles, is an immediate precursor to the synthesis of Nitric Oxide, and is necessary for your body's synthesis of Creatine. It's called L-Arginine, and probably the best product on the market right now to deliver the supplement is branded "NO3", however GNC has their own generic brand that is probably just as good. Follow the directions on the box for how to take NO3. These products have been on the market for many years and are widely considered safe.

Trust me- by using machines, eating protein every three hours, creatine daily, and carbs and NO3 pre-workout, you will see exponential strength gains. Also make sure that you are doing multiple sets. I noticed some people mentioned doing 6-8 repetitions, but make sure if you are doing so few repetitions that you are doing 5-7 sets for each exercise. Your muscles should be sore the next day, if not, you're doing something wrong. The soreness comes from the lactic acid that is released by your body when you reach muscle fatigue and then do that one extra set. That last set is where ALL of the strength gains come from, and if you aren't doing that last set after you feel like you're muscles can't take any more, then you're not going to see the gains in strength. You need to shred those muscle fibers so that your body can rebuild them stronger overnight.

I hope this advice is helpful. I'm a certified trainer and combat instructor. Let me know if any of this works for you, I'm curious to see your results!

A few things that will help you...

Eat protein every three hours, lots of it. You need protein to rebuild your muscles so that they can get stronger. If you don't eat protein, your body will eat your muscles and it makes it almost impossible to build strength.

Eat carbs prior to weight training-simple carbs are technically worse for you but will help because your body can access the energy faster. Your body needs energy to flex your muscles and lift weights. In particular you need Carbs/ATP/Creatine/oxygen.

When doing cardio try not to hit your body's O2 cycle (aerobic exercise). Aerobic exercise is counterproductive to building muscle. Your body burns protein and carbs during the O2 cycle and fat during the anaerobic cycle. Instead of running try walking on maximum incline and keeping your heart rate in the fat burning zone rather than in the aerobic exercise zone. Doing this will help build muscle rather than eat it away.

Use machines in conjunction with free weights. You will be able to lift more weight on the machines because you can focus your efforts on the large muscle groups without your smaller muscles holding you back (stabilizing muscles). Continue to use free weights as well to work on your stability, however, you will notice larger strength gains using machines.

There are two products that you can buy at GNC that will considerably help with strength training. One should be obvious, it's Creatine. Your body will love you for feeding it Creatine daily during strength training. Alternatively your body can get Creatine from meats and proteins, but if you take the supplement your muscles will surely have the supply they need for the energy they consume during weight training. The second product increases blood flow to the muscles, is an immediate precursor to the synthesis of Nitric Oxide, and is necessary for your body's synthesis of Creatine. It's called L-Arginine, and probably the best product on the market right now to deliver the supplement is branded "NO3", however GNC has their own generic brand that is probably just as good. Follow the directions on the box for how to take NO3. These products have been on the market for many years and are widely considered safe.

Trust me- by using machines, eating protein every three hours, creatine daily, and carbs and NO3 pre-workout, you will see exponential strength gains. Also make sure that you are doing multiple sets. I noticed some people mentioned doing 6-8 repetitions, but make sure if you are doing so few repetitions that you are doing 5-7 sets for each exercise. Your muscles should be sore the next day, if not, you're doing something wrong. The soreness comes from the lactic acid that is released by your body when you reach muscle fatigue and then do that one extra set. That last set is where ALL of the strength gains come from, and if you aren't doing that last set after you feel like you're muscles can't take any more, then you're not going to see the gains in strength. You need to shred those muscle fibers so that your body can rebuild them stronger overnight.

I hope this advice is helpful. I'm a certified trainer and combat instructor. Let me know if any of this works for you, I'm curious to see your results!

^Just disregard that entire post, too much misinformation. Don't need to bother with nitric oxide. And soreness doesn't matter. And going to failure isn't mandatory.

I just started lifting weights last week, so I'm almost as new as you can get. On the one machine I can press the equivalent of 210lbs (or so the chart says, it's a dorky weight & pulley system). On another machine, I can only bench press 25lbs before my shoulders say no way. (btw, my upper body strength is definitely lacking in strength).

But over the week and this week, I've been able to feel the weights getting easier towards the end, so much that I've increased the weight on a few lifts.

I can barely lift the 45lb plates off the rack, no way I'm going to press them at this point. But I bet with time and effort, they'll get easier as the days & weeks go by.

What is light for you, will be heavy for someone else. What is heavy for you, is also light for someone else. We're all different, and have different abilities.

A friend of mine can run at 6mph on the treadmill for an hour at a time, but it took her 5mos to get to that speed. I can only walk at 3.5mph and she & I joined the gym at the same time.

Take your time to get to know your abilities, and track each lifting session. This helps you see where you were, and how you are today. Don't lift too heavy too soon, or you and your body will regret it for too long.

wow! i'm up to 60lbs on the bench press while i can squat 100. we're all different!!! we all start where our bodies allow us to. nothing wrong with that. remember, slow and steady...slow and steady. there's no big rush to try to lift huge amounts of weight over night. just listen to your body.

you're totally awesome for being able to bench 65! :glasses:

I am also on phase 1 of NROLFW. I can't really lift heavy, but my goal is to continue improving with slightly heavier weights each time I lift, even if the weights I use aren't as heavy as what other people use. It's in our nature to compare ourselves, but it can drive you crazy.

As far as the advice of using machines, NROLFW doesn't really encourage using machines, and they didnt' set their program to use them. If you're not going to follow it, then ignore me. But if you're following it, have faith in the program they set up and follow it, and you should get results if you have patience and give it time. That's the hardest part for me, but I've seen other people have tremendous success with it, which is why I'm sticking with it.

Good luck :bigsmile:

Heavy is subjective. Start with a weight you can lift 5 times tops, nom proteins, repeat. Your strength WILL increase if you really are putting in effort in the last 1 or 2 lifts. 65lbs is half your bodyweight - it's not bad, honestly.

As per squats... your legs are your strongest muscles so if you can bench 65lbs, I'm pretty sure you can squat more than that.

5-6 reps for strength which seems to be your aim.
8-12 for hypertrophy.
12+ for muscular endurance.

Go kick *kitten*.

You took the words right out of my mouth. My biggest problem isn't that I'm "not strong enough". My problem is that I tend to push myself beyond my limits, so I don't like to do it (especially bench presses) without a partner to spot me. I'm stuck using the machines for now. :sad: I'm hoping I can find someone who is willing to meet me three times a week at the gym to do strength training.

bump

A few things that will help you...

Eat protein every three hours, lots of it. You need protein to rebuild your muscles so that they can get stronger. If you don't eat protein, your body will eat your muscles and it makes it almost impossible to build strength.

Eat carbs prior to weight training-simple carbs are technically worse for you but will help because your body can access the energy faster. Your body needs energy to flex your muscles and lift weights. In particular you need Carbs/ATP/Creatine/oxygen.

When doing cardio try not to hit your body's O2 cycle (aerobic exercise). Aerobic exercise is counterproductive to building muscle. Your body burns protein and carbs during the O2 cycle and fat during the anaerobic cycle. Instead of running try walking on maximum incline and keeping your heart rate in the fat burning zone rather than in the aerobic exercise zone. Doing this will help build muscle rather than eat it away.

Use machines in conjunction with free weights. You will be able to lift more weight on the machines because you can focus your efforts on the large muscle groups without your smaller muscles holding you back (stabilizing muscles). Continue to use free weights as well to work on your stability, however, you will notice larger strength gains using machines.

There are two products that you can buy at GNC that will considerably help with strength training. One should be obvious, it's Creatine. Your body will love you for feeding it Creatine daily during strength training. Alternatively your body can get Creatine from meats and proteins, but if you take the supplement your muscles will surely have the supply they need for the energy they consume during weight training. The second product increases blood flow to the muscles, is an immediate precursor to the synthesis of Nitric Oxide, and is necessary for your body's synthesis of Creatine. It's called L-Arginine, and probably the best product on the market right now to deliver the supplement is branded "NO3", however GNC has their own generic brand that is probably just as good. Follow the directions on the box for how to take NO3. These products have been on the market for many years and are widely considered safe.

Trust me- by using machines, eating protein every three hours, creatine daily, and carbs and NO3 pre-workout, you will see exponential strength gains. Also make sure that you are doing multiple sets. I noticed some people mentioned doing 6-8 repetitions, but make sure if you are doing so few repetitions that you are doing 5-7 sets for each exercise. Your muscles should be sore the next day, if not, you're doing something wrong. The soreness comes from the lactic acid that is released by your body when you reach muscle fatigue and then do that one extra set. That last set is where ALL of the strength gains come from, and if you aren't doing that last set after you feel like you're muscles can't take any more, then you're not going to see the gains in strength. You need to shred those muscle fibers so that your body can rebuild them stronger overnight.

I hope this advice is helpful. I'm a certified trainer and combat instructor. Let me know if any of this works for you, I'm curious to see your results!

^Just disregard that entire post, too much misinformation. Don't need to bother with nitric oxide. And soreness doesn't matter. And going to failure isn't mandatory.

I went from being able to do only 20-30 pushups to over 300 on the bench with that routine in under a year so disregard if you like but it works. True you don't need nitric oxide, or creatine for that matter, but they will help, especially if fatigue is holding you back. Going to failure isn't mandatory but were not talking about what the least effective way to build strength is here... I'm just letting you know what the most effective way that I found is. Sure you can do one set per day and maybe you can upgrade from 5 pounds to 6 pounds after a few months. Soreness doesn't matter? lol

It doesn't take any of this to achieve what you're trying to do. You are a beginner. Take it easy, lift heavy, and keep it simple. This is especially true if you're just starting. Spend at least a month ensuring that your form is right. Then we can move into more advanced topics as you move forward. No need to get all technical with it. So I agree, disregard it, lol! Seriously!

A few things that will help you...

Eat protein every three hours, lots of it. You need protein to rebuild your muscles so that they can get stronger. If you don't eat protein, your body will eat your muscles and it makes it almost impossible to build strength.

Eat carbs prior to weight training-simple carbs are technically worse for you but will help because your body can access the energy faster. Your body needs energy to flex your muscles and lift weights. In particular you need Carbs/ATP/Creatine/oxygen.

When doing cardio try not to hit your body's O2 cycle (aerobic exercise). Aerobic exercise is counterproductive to building muscle. Your body burns protein and carbs during the O2 cycle and fat during the anaerobic cycle. Instead of running try walking on maximum incline and keeping your heart rate in the fat burning zone rather than in the aerobic exercise zone. Doing this will help build muscle rather than eat it away.

Use machines in conjunction with free weights. You will be able to lift more weight on the machines because you can focus your efforts on the large muscle groups without your smaller muscles holding you back (stabilizing muscles). Continue to use free weights as well to work on your stability, however, you will notice larger strength gains using machines.

There are two products that you can buy at GNC that will considerably help with strength training. One should be obvious, it's Creatine. Your body will love you for feeding it Creatine daily during strength training. Alternatively your body can get Creatine from meats and proteins, but if you take the supplement your muscles will surely have the supply they need for the energy they consume during weight training. The second product increases blood flow to the muscles, is an immediate precursor to the synthesis of Nitric Oxide, and is necessary for your body's synthesis of Creatine. It's called L-Arginine, and probably the best product on the market right now to deliver the supplement is branded "NO3", however GNC has their own generic brand that is probably just as good. Follow the directions on the box for how to take NO3. These products have been on the market for many years and are widely considered safe.

Trust me- by using machines, eating protein every three hours, creatine daily, and carbs and NO3 pre-workout, you will see exponential strength gains. Also make sure that you are doing multiple sets. I noticed some people mentioned doing 6-8 repetitions, but make sure if you are doing so few repetitions that you are doing 5-7 sets for each exercise. Your muscles should be sore the next day, if not, you're doing something wrong. The soreness comes from the lactic acid that is released by your body when you reach muscle fatigue and then do that one extra set. That last set is where ALL of the strength gains come from, and if you aren't doing that last set after you feel like you're muscles can't take any more, then you're not going to see the gains in strength. You need to shred those muscle fibers so that your body can rebuild them stronger overnight.

I hope this advice is helpful. I'm a certified trainer and combat instructor. Let me know if any of this works for you, I'm curious to see your results!

^Just disregard that entire post, too much misinformation. Don't need to bother with nitric oxide. And soreness doesn't matter. And going to failure isn't mandatory.

I went from being able to do only 20-30 pushups to over 300 on the bench with that routine in under a year so disregard if you like but it works. True you don't need nitric oxide, or creatine for that matter, but they will help, especially if fatigue is holding you back. Going to failure isn't mandatory but were not talking about what the least effective way to build strength is here... I'm just letting you know what the most effective way that I found is. Sure you can do one set per day and maybe you can upgrade from 5 pounds to 6 pounds after a few months. Soreness doesn't matter? lol

Oral arginine isn't really going to impact NO much anyhow. The fact is that it's not going to matter much and is probably a waste of money. Creatine on the other hand, will be of benefit, so I agree with you there.
And without getting too much into why going to failure isn't always a good idea, the fact is that she's clearly new. Her main focus should be on learning form right now. She'll increase strength at a quick rate without going too heavy too fast. At this point, going to failure will cause more problems than it solves IMO. Not to mention that some folks get burned out by going to failure, and it affects the rest of their workout (but this is highly variable). And yes, soreness is irrelevant