Lifting heavy?

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missemily1124
missemily1124 Posts: 102
in Fitness and Exercise
So I'm almost at my goal weight :smile: but I would still like to lose a bit of body fat. I've heard that heavy lifting is great for toning, building muscle, losing fat, etc. My question is... What's heavy? Like 10 pound weights? Or 100 pound weights? I have no idea.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Emily

Replies

  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
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    Heavy cannot be defined by weights, as what is heavy for you may not be heavy for me,

    Heavy lifting is generally defined by how many repetitions you can do of a weight.

    Anything where you cannot do more than 5 reps would be heavy weigh training imo, but training anywhere in the 5-10 rep range should be sufficient.
  • BigRich822
    BigRich822 Posts: 681
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    Heavy lifting will not make you tone. Low BF% makes you tone. You have too have a good muscle base and then cut the fat off to give you the toned look!
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    It's not about the weight, but more about the rep range. "Heavy" therefore differs depending on the individual.

    I'd say less than 6 reps is heavy, no more than 8.
  • HotMamaByVday
    HotMamaByVday Posts: 343 Member
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    I recommend The New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women. Its done amazing things for me. I used to think lifting heavy would be 10-25 lbs, but now I can squat with 115+lbs on my shoulders. I can deadlift 120 lbs. The book gives you step by step instructions and structures your workouts.

    Good Luck!
    (Feel free to friend me)
  • Jynus
    Jynus Posts: 519 Member
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    So I'm almost at my goal weight :smile: but I would still like to lose a bit of body fat. I've heard that heavy lifting is great for toning, building muscle, losing fat, etc. My question is... What's heavy? Like 10 pound weights? Or 100 pound weights? I have no idea.

    Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

    Emily
    Lifting heavy is anything that uses the the bodies ATP-CP energy system to power the fast twitch muscle fibers to do maximal force work.
  • jlcl119
    jlcl119 Posts: 51
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    For me a heavy weight is anything that requires a large amount of effort to push out 6-8 reps while maintaining proper form. If I can do 8-10 I go up in weight.
    Actual weight is relative. What's heavy for me may not be heavy for you and vice versa. You just have to experiment with the weights and find what works for you.
  • jg627
    jg627 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    It's hard to tell without 'maxing out', but that's a bit unsafe.. A slow and steady way would be to start light with a progressive loading routine. Eventually you will figure out what weight is difficult to handle at various rep ranges. It's up to you how you want to do it.

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