Three pound and five pound weights

[td333]

For those of you that don't want to read: High Reps and Light Weights vs. Low Reps and Heavy Weights? (Only thing I would recommend is 3-5 for strength/cns, 5-8 for 50/50 strength/microfib size, 8+ endurance/sacroplasmic size)


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...


http://www.leighpeele.com/wp-content...res-female.jpg


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).


http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.co...t-v-muscle.jpg


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'.


Body Fat Chart


BUT, that doesn't take into account the lack of muscle.


http://bodychangewellness.files.word...10/skinny1.jpg


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.


[Lady Lifters - Sasha Meshkov]


3.) On to weight lifting:


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]

• 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.

and...


[Why High Reps Aren’t For Toning | Hot Body Training]

- 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.

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by jade408

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.

I'm not looking only at my muscletone and muscular strength. I'm also looking at my heart rate. When you raise your arms to shoulder height, and above your shoulders, you spike your heart rate. If you're fit, that spike will be negligible. If you're not fit, it can be significant.

When I do flies with 5 pound weights, I'm good to go for 3 sets of 12-15 reps at a steady but unhurried pace. I'll sweat a little, breath a little heavy by the middle of the second set, but otherwise I'm fine and can continue my daily workout.

If I try to do the same flies with 10 pound dumbbells, I get palpitations after the first five or six reps, and then I'm done working out for the day.

My trainer kept trying to put me on 10-pound weights for things - squats while holding 10 pound dumbbells in each hand would have me winded dizzy after the first 10, and I'd have to sit for around 5 minutes to catch my breath before I could move on to the next exercise.

The same thing happens when I try to jog or run on the treadmill, so I stick with the arc and can move twice as fast with less effort.

Problem is, I have no stamina. My heart rate at resting is around 110-115. When I'm on the arc trainer it gets up to around 160 after around 5 minutes and I can maintain that 160 (give or take 5).

But if I'm lifting weights heavier than my comfort zone (which is, and has been, 5 pounds for the past 20 years) it will skyrocket within minutes to 185 and higher.

Now remember, this is not "lifting one item and carrying it into the house, then putting it down." It's not "carrying your groceries by the handles and setting them on the kitchen table." It's not "dragging the vacuum cleaner up the stairs and pushing it around the hallway carpet."

We're talking about lifting weights in a repetitive manner, in steady succession, one after the other, without stopping, for some indeterminate number of reps, without more than a second or two pause between reps.

I can very easily do all the mundane chores in the house, I can climb a tree and saw a branch off the end when it's too close to the roof. I can shovel the front walk, though -lifting- the shovel to throw the snow to the side is very tiring for me. I can use my hand-held plow though and _push_ it, without any problem. I can pull the leaves behind me when I'm raking the yard, but I can't push them in front of me. I can sprint to the mailbox and back if it's raining out, but I can't sustain a run for any length of time without getting dizzy.

I can lift a 40-pound box of kitty litter. With both hands. I can lift it high enough to perch it up over one shoulder so that I can get the door on my way in, and not have to drop it and drag it into the house. But I can't lift it up, then drop it, then lift it again, then drop it, then lift it again, nor can I hold it out in front of my body for longer than *maybe* a second. My upper body is not strong.

However, I am developing my triceps, biceps, and shoulder muscles, and even my neck muscles are showing a little definition now. I can see the difference very clearly between what it looks like now, and what it looked like when I was 40 (10 years ago). So regardless of whether people insist that lower weights at more reps *cannot* possibly be of any use to people who just want to tone up...I'm proof that they are categorically wrong.

[newbie09]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

I'm not looking only at my muscletone and muscular strength. I'm also looking at my heart rate. When you raise your arms to shoulder height, and above your shoulders, you spike your heart rate. If you're fit, that spike will be negligible. If you're not fit, it can be significant.

When I do flies with 5 pound weights, I'm good to go for 3 sets of 12-15 reps at a steady but unhurried pace. I'll sweat a little, breath a little heavy by the middle of the second set, but otherwise I'm fine and can continue my daily workout.

If I try to do the same flies with 10 pound dumbbells, I get palpitations after the first five or six reps, and then I'm done working out for the day.

My trainer kept trying to put me on 10-pound weights for things - squats while holding 10 pound dumbbells in each hand would have me winded dizzy after the first 10, and I'd have to sit for around 5 minutes to catch my breath before I could move on to the next exercise.

The same thing happens when I try to jog or run on the treadmill, so I stick with the arc and can move twice as fast with less effort.

Problem is, I have no stamina. My heart rate at resting is around 110-115. When I'm on the arc trainer it gets up to around 160 after around 5 minutes and I can maintain that 160 (give or take 5).

But if I'm lifting weights heavier than my comfort zone (which is, and has been, 5 pounds for the past 20 years) it will skyrocket within minutes to 185 and higher.

Now remember, this is not "lifting one item and carrying it into the house, then putting it down." It's not "carrying your groceries by the handles and setting them on the kitchen table." It's not "dragging the vacuum cleaner up the stairs and pushing it around the hallway carpet."

We're talking about lifting weights in a repetitive manner, in steady succession, one after the other, without stopping, for some indeterminate number of reps, without more than a second or two pause between reps.

I can very easily do all the mundane chores in the house, I can climb a tree and saw a branch off the end when it's too close to the roof. I can shovel the front walk, though -lifting- the shovel to throw the snow to the side is very tiring for me. I can use my hand-held plow though and _push_ it, without any problem. I can pull the leaves behind me when I'm raking the yard, but I can't push them in front of me. I can sprint to the mailbox and back if it's raining out, but I can't sustain a run for any length of time without getting dizzy.

I can lift a 40-pound box of kitty litter. With both hands. I can lift it high enough to perch it up over one shoulder so that I can get the door on my way in, and not have to drop it and drag it into the house. But I can't lift it up, then drop it, then lift it again, then drop it, then lift it again, nor can I hold it out in front of my body for longer than *maybe* a second. My upper body is not strong.

However, I am developing my triceps, biceps, and shoulder muscles, and even my neck muscles are showing a little definition now. I can see the difference very clearly between what it looks like now, and what it looked like when I was 40 (10 years ago). So regardless of whether people insist that lower weights at more reps *cannot* possibly be of any use to people who just want to tone up...I'm proof that they are categorically wrong.

Thanks, AnonChick, for writing this (and for your earlier posting here.) Your responses were what I would have said to those arguing that EVERYONE should work out with much heavier weights & that our current routines are useless!

I'm a female in my mid-50s, about 20 -25lbs overweight but very active for my age w/ singles tennis 3 -5 days/wk plus biking, walking (don't own a car) and workouts at the gym (resistance workouts, new to Pilates/Yoga) but I would really hurt myself if I tried to lift 50lb dumbells as often advised in this forum! Or if I tried 10 lbs in each arm while doing squats! (not even sure I could work up to those weight levels) Would be the end of my workouts for the day & might be injured, have to stop playing tennis for a while until recovered -- no thanks, can't afford to get injured & have to stop most of my activities/workouts. If that happened, I'd probably gain 10 lbs or more within a few weeks!

Thanks again for voicing your opinion, explaining your viewpoints so clearly & speaking out here for people like me!

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

I'm not looking only at my muscletone and muscular strength. I'm also looking at my heart rate. When you raise your arms to shoulder height, and above your shoulders, you spike your heart rate. If you're fit, that spike will be negligible. If you're not fit, it can be significant.

When I do flies with 5 pound weights, I'm good to go for 3 sets of 12-15 reps at a steady but unhurried pace. I'll sweat a little, breath a little heavy by the middle of the second set, but otherwise I'm fine and can continue my daily workout.

If I try to do the same flies with 10 pound dumbbells, I get palpitations after the first five or six reps, and then I'm done working out for the day.

My trainer kept trying to put me on 10-pound weights for things - squats while holding 10 pound dumbbells in each hand would have me winded dizzy after the first 10, and I'd have to sit for around 5 minutes to catch my breath before I could move on to the next exercise.

The same thing happens when I try to jog or run on the treadmill, so I stick with the arc and can move twice as fast with less effort.

Problem is, I have no stamina. My heart rate at resting is around 110-115. When I'm on the arc trainer it gets up to around 160 after around 5 minutes and I can maintain that 160 (give or take 5).

But if I'm lifting weights heavier than my comfort zone (which is, and has been, 5 pounds for the past 20 years) it will skyrocket within minutes to 185 and higher.

Now remember, this is not "lifting one item and carrying it into the house, then putting it down." It's not "carrying your groceries by the handles and setting them on the kitchen table." It's not "dragging the vacuum cleaner up the stairs and pushing it around the hallway carpet."

We're talking about lifting weights in a repetitive manner, in steady succession, one after the other, without stopping, for some indeterminate number of reps, without more than a second or two pause between reps.

I can very easily do all the mundane chores in the house, I can climb a tree and saw a branch off the end when it's too close to the roof. I can shovel the front walk, though -lifting- the shovel to throw the snow to the side is very tiring for me. I can use my hand-held plow though and _push_ it, without any problem. I can pull the leaves behind me when I'm raking the yard, but I can't push them in front of me. I can sprint to the mailbox and back if it's raining out, but I can't sustain a run for any length of time without getting dizzy.

I can lift a 40-pound box of kitty litter. With both hands. I can lift it high enough to perch it up over one shoulder so that I can get the door on my way in, and not have to drop it and drag it into the house. But I can't lift it up, then drop it, then lift it again, then drop it, then lift it again, nor can I hold it out in front of my body for longer than *maybe* a second. My upper body is not strong.

However, I am developing my triceps, biceps, and shoulder muscles, and even my neck muscles are showing a little definition now. I can see the difference very clearly between what it looks like now, and what it looked like when I was 40 (10 years ago). So regardless of whether people insist that lower weights at more reps *cannot* possibly be of any use to people who just want to tone up...I'm proof that they are categorically wrong.

Totally agree. The idea that I should be using at the minimum 20-pound weights is just ridiculous for my needs and for what I want to do.

[yayoi]

For me it's not so much about weight as it is about progression. If I'm still struggling years later to lift 10lbs for the same exercise then I'm not doing something right.

Granted we all have max for what we can lift but my 10lb example is usually below the average woman's max.

[Luckyd609]

Form is much more important than weight. I see people struggle to lift heavier weights all the time and I know they are going to injure themselves. Everyone is different. There is no standard minimum weight.
Start light and then graduate up as you ability allows you to while never compromising your form.

[td333]

Originally Posted by newbie09

Thanks, AnonChick, for writing this (and for your earlier posting here.) Your responses were what I would have said to those arguing that EVERYONE should work out with much heavier weights & that our current routines are useless!

I'm a female in my mid-50s, about 20 -25lbs overweight but very active for my age w/ singles tennis 3 -5 days/wk plus biking, walking (don't own a car) and workouts at the gym (resistance workouts, new to Pilates/Yoga) but I would really hurt myself if I tried to lift 50lb dumbells as often advised in this forum! Or if I tried 10 lbs in each arm while doing squats! (not even sure I could work up to those weight levels) Would be the end of my workouts for the day & might be injured, have to stop playing tennis for a while until recovered -- no thanks, can't afford to get injured & have to stop most of my activities/workouts. If that happened, I'd probably gain 10 lbs or more within a few weeks!

Thanks again for voicing your opinion, explaining your viewpoints so clearly & speaking out here for people like me!

...I write with some scientific, empirical evidence, personal experience and resources..