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I don't understand the appeal of using ultralight weights and doing hundreds of reps. The muscles women have work just like the ones men have there is no difference. my favorite is the ones that steal your spot. I was doing deadlift I went to the bathroom when i got back some guy was standing right there with 2 15 lb dumbells flexing in the mirror. I said this will take a while. I waited about 20 minutes he was still doing curls I just went home.
Women come in all shapes and sizes and the more petite women are not going to be able to lift heavier weights right off the bat. A great way to injure your shoulders like tear a rotator cuff is to lift a weight that is too heavy for shoulder moves. Men and women have different ways of working out because we want different things. The weight should be a challenge but should not be overwhelming. Light weights and a lot of reps is pointless however.
Women come in all shapes and sizes and the more petite women are not going to be able to lift heavier weights right off the bat. A great way to injure your shoulders like tear a rotator cuff is to lift a weight that is too heavy for shoulder moves. Men and women have different ways of working out because we want different things. The weight should be a challenge but should not be overwhelming. Light weights and a lot of reps is pointless however.
And many of us have imbalanced strength too. For example, I have weak shoulders, so any lateral or front raises need less weight than other things. biceps are much stronger. My deadlift is much more, and using a barbell makes more sense than trying to lift dumbbells.
But I do think the average woman can safely move past 3-5 pound weights pretty quickly. Considering a laptop bag or purse might be 7-10 pounds, a toddler is 25 and a laundry basket is 30. And if you are like me, carrying in the groceries means 20 pounds in each hand (because I only want to make one trip upstairs). You can safely lift a little heavier.
And many of us have imbalanced strength too. For example, I have weak shoulders, so any lateral or front raises need less weight than other things. biceps are much stronger. My deadlift is much more, and using a barbell makes more sense than trying to lift dumbbells.
But I do think the average woman can safely move past 3-5 pound weights pretty quickly. Considering a laptop bag or purse might be 7-10 pounds, a toddler is 25 and a laundry basket is 30. And if you are like me, carrying in the groceries means 20 pounds in each hand (because I only want to make one trip upstairs). You can safely lift a little heavier.
1. I don't own a laptop and if I did, I'd have it in a backpack and hang it off my shoulders. My pocketbook weighs less than 5 pounds and I hang it from a long strap over one shoulder.
2. I don't own a toddler.
3. One load of laundry weighs less than 15 pounds.
4. I can carry a 40-pound box of kitty litter, or a 30-pound case of water, on one shoulder. I cannot, however, lift either of them out in front of my body.
Carrying a 10 pound bag over a shoulder is not the same as lifting a 10-pound dumbbell in each hand out to the side (flies) or up and down repeatedly (curls) or squatting down and clean-breaking them up over your head and then squatting down to put them on the floor again, rinsing and repeating several times in a minute's time.
I used to bowl. My bowling ball was 13 pounds. If I wasn't holding it in _both_ hands, before I swung it back and let it go, I wouldn't have been able to bowl at all. Eventually, my shoulder just couldn't handle even that much, and I gave up bowling.
Repetitive movement with heavy weights is great for someone who is already fit. But if you're not fit, then you can't lift that kind of weight.
To Lao:
Yes, a 2-year-old can lift 5 pounds. Doubtful a 2-year-old can lift 5 pounds in each hand over his head several times in a row without tipping over or getting seriously injured.
Insulting people by saying your 2-year-old can do it, only makes you look like you need to stop working your brain out with heavy weights, and start working it out with cognizant thought instead.
Carrying a 10 pound bag over a shoulder is not the same as lifting a 10-pound dumbbell in each hand out to the side (flies) or up and down repeatedly (curls) or squatting down and clean-breaking them up over your head and then squatting down to put them on the floor again, rinsing and repeating several times in a minute's time.
I used to bowl. My bowling ball was 13 pounds. If I wasn't holding it in _both_ hands, before I swung it back and let it go, I wouldn't have been able to bowl at all. Eventually, my shoulder just couldn't handle even that much, and I gave up bowling.
I have a ways to go to improve my fitness. I can't bowl with a double digit ball. I can use 15 pound weights for a few reps of bicep curls, but 10 is my limit on my shoulders. I can lift a 40 pound box and carry it front of me for a good amount of time, if I squat to pick it up off the ground.
(Those laptop bags, I wear crossbody. I've walked for 2-3 miles with it and all day at a tradeshow)
We are stronger than we think. You'll move out of the 3 and 5 pound dumbbells pretty quickly with a bit of practice, and it translates to functional strength. I find, I have been upping my weights 5-10% every week or 2. So I am sure in a few weeks time those deltoid raises will be fine with 12 pounds and even 15.
1.) Here are some thoughts on toning and definition:
a.) Most women write and talk about 'toning', with no real idea of what it means. Women generally want that tight, defining look—however, not a bulky muscular appearance. Let's say a woman is 150 pounds and 35% body fat...
b.) 33-49% is considered overweight for women 20-40 years old. That is 52.5 pounds of fat and 97 pounds of lean mass, bones, muscles and all. When a woman loses that fat and does not replace it with muscle (remember, 1 pound of fat is 3x bigger than 1 pound of muscle), she will appear to have a very saggy appearance (in the case of this 150 pound woman).
c.) Definition, explained: Five pounds of fat takes up much more room than five pounds of muscle. So, let's just say that out of the 97 pounds of lean mass, only 50 pounds of it is muscle, comparable to 50 pounds of fat. Imagine the woman losing 25 pounds of fat and does not replace it with muscle. Now she weighs 125 pounds at 20% body fat, considered 'athlete to fitness'.
d.) The above photo is a demonstration of skinny fat (20% body fat, 125 pounds, not replacing with muscle) on the left, and a healthy woman on the right – 20% body fat, with muscle to replace the lost fat. Imagine the woman lost 20 pounds of fat and put on 10 pounds of muscle.
e.) But, fat loss and muscle growth are not the only things that make a muscle appear 'tone'. Heavy strength training creates a muscle with greater residual tension while in a rested state…meaning the muscle is firm and defined while at rest…more "toned". “As a test, go poke the traps or quads of an elite weightlifter at rest, if she’ll let you. They’ll he hard as rock. The same muscles of an elite road cyclist at rest will be firm, but not hard. Then compare the athletes’ muscle tone to that of a sedentary person. The results will he quite enlightening. Most exercise programs that claim to improve muscle tone are actually lower-intensity hypertrophy programs and are only moderately effective for improving muscle tone. If “tone” is the goal, strength is the method....muscle tone is an "electrophysiological" phenomenon. Getting stronger is also largely a function of the nervous system. The greater the nerve impulse to a muscle…the stronger it contracts and the greater force that muscle will generate. As a muscle becomes stronger, your nervous system becomes more efficient at sending strong signals to that muscle. Over time, the muscle will have a greater "ionic flow" even at rest…AKA greater "muscle tone". ” - Mark Rippetoe … achieve muscle tone through STRENGTH TRAINING. More on 'muscle tone' - What is Muscle Tone - Physiology - Can you Really Sculpt your Muscles? : AskTheTrainer.com
2.) Bulking up: Another made up word. Woman won't get big muscles. They lack testosterone. The average person lacks discipline in diet and workout to replicate what a bodybuilder does. Read my other thread for that. That same woman would have to put on double or triple the amount of muscle, in relation to the lost fat, to 'bulk'. So, 15 pounds of muscle (approximate) would look like 5 pounds of fat, only bulked up. Reminder though, that is nearly impossible to do for women.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy: Increase in sarcoplasmic volume of a muscle cell with no increase in muscular strength. Train at a rep range of 8-12+ and high volume (long hours at the gym). Density of muscle fibers per unit of area decreases, resulting in big size of muscles and no correlating strength increase.
Myofibrillar hypertrophy: Occurs when one lifts more than 75% of 1RM, allows muscles to adapt and lift heavier loads. Attained through high intensity, low volume (ideally), the size of the muscle increases at a slower rate because this type grows functional units of the tissue (as opposed to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy). HEAVY WEIGHT AND LOW REPS! Also benefits the CNS (Central Nervous System... see above, electrophysiological response). Increases the density of the muscle.
Stuff to look over:
Anything by Charles Poliquin, Mel Stiff... kinseology books..2
I would go on, but most of y'all might not read this so i'll cut and paste from this website [Women and Weightlifting Myths]
Quote:
Theoretically, women should avoid lifting light weights for high reps because high reps are associated with the look they want to avoid: the dreaded bulk look.
This might seem completely counter-intuitive since every woman’s magazine under the sun tells you “pick a 5-8 lb weight and lift it for 12-15 reps”. But no woman’s magazine has ever cared much about science or facts. They just want to sell magazines.
There are two parts of the equation when it comes to improving you appearance, losing fat and gaining muscle. Most women only concentrate on the first part, doing endless steady state cardio or cardio classes that they can’t make good use of. If they do lift weights, they pick a random light weight and lift it for a million reps. In that scenario they’ve done nothing to gain muscle or lose fat.
I find it ironic that in wishing to avoid “bulking” up, women will tend to do things that could actually lead to that look. First off, their cardio is barely burning any calories at all. The intensity is too low.
Everything is ass backwards. If women want to look good, they need to develop solid usable muscle due to myofibrillar hypertrophy. But that can only be done by training for strength with the majority of your work in the 5-8 rep range on the major exercises like squat and bench press.
- Myofibrillar hypertrophy is the result of training with heavy weights and low repetitions. It is an increase in the number of myofibrils, or muscle fibres in the muscle. This makes the muscle harder, stronger and more dense. Look at an Olympic Gymnast performing the crucifix on the rings. The striations and muscle fibres of the shoulder muscles stand out in sharp relief. Olympic weightlifters are in the same class. Those are examples of true muscle definition and are the result of heavy, hard training; not the ‘light weights and high reps for definition’ nonsense that goes around.
-Sarcoplasmic hypertophy will happen when you train using higher repetitions. What happens here is that you get an increase in volume of the non-contractile fluids of the muscle, the sarcoplasm. This fluid will make you bigger, but won’t give your muscles any definition. You won’t get a lot stronger either. This is why bodybuilders who train this way are bigger than other athletes, but aren’t nearly as strong, powerful or fast as other power athletes.
-Hopefully this will explain why you should drop the really high rep stuff and lift some heavy weights. For beginners, I wouldn’t recommend going below 5 repetitions in a set. Start of in the 8-10 rep range. For the more experienced lifter, you should try to incorporate lots of set in the 5 reps and lower range, even performing singles (that’s 1 rep) every now and again. The weight should be heavy enough so that you are struggling to complete the set. If you feel like you could have done at least 2 more reps at the end of your set, the weight isn’t heavy enough. On the other hand, don’t go overboard and train to failure on each set. Try to leave 1 rep in the tank at the end of each set.
Ladies, lifting heavy weights like I’ve described won’t bulk you up. To get significantly bigger requires intense training, vast quantities of food and high testosterone levels, so stop worrying about it.
On the last note... walking/running with weights in your hands will lead to injury. Don't do it.
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