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Its because those women dont train in the rep range for hypertrophy, which is 8-12 for most muscles,except the calves (to failure) and legs(quads) 12-15. You also need to have enough food/protein intake in order to fulfill those hungry muscles after your workout and rest enough. Remember muscles grow when you are resting, not when you are in the gym.
Hey Don & Tom, Can you two go argue the point elsewhere?
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OP, congrats on the weight loss!!
I agree that you need to increase your weights. "Toning" is way outdated and ineffective. It doesn't require much effort. "Toning" is what I hear my overweight &/or lazy girlfriends say they want to do, when I invite them to come lift with me. They are afraid of heavy weights because they think it is too hard to do, and they think they will get huge muscles.
What movement are you doing with the 12-15 lb weight for your arms? I assume you are doing a 25 lb dumbbell chest press. How much effort does that require? If you can effortlessly do 2 sets, then the weight is too light. What other weight lifting exercises are you currently doing?
I would highly recommend that you find a personal trainer who can guide you through the process. You don't have to use them continuously, although it does make the process easier IMO. One reason, is they will push you harder than you will push yourself...but not in a bad way. They will come to know you, your needs and your capabilities...and then you won't need to rely on a lot of conflicting info/ideas found online.
Hey Don & Tom, Can you two go argue the point elsewhere?
.................................................. ..
OP, congrats on the weight loss!!
I agree that you need to increase your weights. "Toning" is way outdated and ineffective. It doesn't require much effort. "Toning" is what I hear my overweight &/or lazy girlfriends say they want to do, when I invite them to come lift with me. They are afraid of heavy weights because they think it is too hard to do, and they think they will get huge muscles.
What movement are you doing with the 12-15 lb weight for your arms? I assume you are doing a 25 lb dumbbell chest press. How much effort does that require? If you can effortlessly do 2 sets, then the weight is too light. What other weight lifting exercises are you currently doing?
I would highly recommend that you find a personal trainer who can guide you through the process. You don't have to use them continuously, although it does make the process easier IMO. One reason, is they will push you harder than you will push yourself...but not in a bad way. They will come to know you, your needs and your capabilities...and then you won't need to rely on a lot of conflicting info/ideas found online.
Keep up the hard work!!
Thank you! I don't know all of the correct terms...... I do bicep curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, and a few other moves I don't know the names for. One is with a weight in each hand, bringing them overhead so the weights meet- I think the one works upper arm and shoulders. I do two more for triceps I don't know the name of- one us laying on the edge of the weight bench and holding one weight, bringing the weight overhead. The other is standing with both hands up clutching one weight. Then keeping elbows straight I bring the weight up and down behind me. The dumbbell chest press is incredibly hard each time.
Other than that, the only thing I do with the free weights are walking lunges. The other weights are just with the machines.
The first set on 12lbs is pretty easy. The second set is harder. When I tried the 15 lb Monday, each set was a struggle. I still feel it in my biceps today. I did work with a trainer a few months ago when I first got serious about toning up, that's where I learned the exercises I was trying to describe above. I might do it again though, I agree she definitely pushed me!
Hello I would get to get some advice about using free weights. I'm a woman and I've lost 55 lbs this year, doing weight watchers and working out. I had mostly focused on cardio and light toning. I've recently stepped my toning up and am currently at a 12-15 lb weight when working on my arms and 25 lbs for chest.
Is it better at this point to increase my reps or increase the weight?
My main goals at this point are to tone and develop my arms and abs.
Congrats on the loss!
I know you said in another post you don't want to bulk and gave the ideal look.
If that athletic arm look is what you are going for you shouldn't worry about bulk.
I "bulk" to athletic and try to keep that in check. My upper body does easily gain but it also loses pretty easily when I cut back from doing work that is creating that result.
Bulk is heavy weights, right diet, long rest periods and time.
If your arms get too puffy at this stage and you don't have the shape you want (sculpted) then you should look at your body fat percentage. That mostly comes from diet and partially genetics. Your arm area will also swell as it is getting in shape.
Since you lost that much weight also give your skin a few years to full tone up.
That can also hide looking cut.
The only time bulk is an issue is if the goal is not athletic like Angela B. If the goal is to look more lithe like a ballet dancer you have to watch for bulking.
Athletic is easier to maintain for most and is a really good goal to have to keep the weight off.
Just be careful that you do not try to up your weight too fast to avoid joint injury. Work with someone that has experience in showing proper form. It is essential for safety when lifting heavy and makes your workout more effective.
Now get out there and get those arms!
p.s. you may also see that losing weight was the faster part and the fit part can take longer. Losing weight is just about breaking down. Being toned is about breaking down and building up new tissue. If you think about it that way it makes it easier to push through all the way to your goals.
The problem with very heavy weights is that they thicken the body and make women look more masculine. It's great for health, but not so attractive from my point of view.
Not true! This is an old wives' tale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NormalCarpetRide
This simply isn't true. Any woman that isn't taking androgens and has a normal female hormone profile is incapable of getting too bulky, no matter how much weight she lifts.
Besides, lifting heavier weight for low reps stimulates more neurological strength adaptation than it does muscle growth.
Exactly. why is this so difficult for many women to comprehend?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tommodonahue
Biggest myth ever.
Women don't have the testosterone levels to 'look more masculine' when lifting heavy weights. Most women generally aren't dedicated enough to even get to half of what people would consider 'masculine'.
still beautiful (and lifts more than most men)... and her rep range is <5... mostly <3.
High reps for 'accessory' exercises such as "curls" and the like, sure. You won't stimulate enough 'hypertrophy' (as a female) to get big. Squats, rows, other pulls, etc.. <5 for strength/intramuscular adaption.
Women do not have the testosterone levels to encourage thick and bulging muscles. It's genetically impossible. Your argument also doesn't include the possibility that those females may take hormone supplements or train 3x per day for the past five years. You too, are encouraging ideas that, out of context, confuse the poster.
Also, "check out what the sexiest women in the gym are doing"... is also out of context. One simply cannot look at someone else in the gym and assume what they are doing, copy it, and expect the same results.
For the OP... do not read a word of what Woof types. It's obvious he gives misleading information.
This comment should be posted on the walls at all gyms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tommodonahue
First of all, define "toning".
The loss of fat on one's body? Well you can't spot-target fat. You can however, increase the muscle mass (hypertrophy) in certain areas using reps of 8+. Trying to categorize "toning" as >15 is ridiculous. A weight you're able to do for >15 isn't heavy enough to stimulate much.
If you're doing squats pulls and heavy exercises, no need to do abs. If you're not an athlete, no need to do abs.
Your abs show from loss in fat, i.e., diet. If you're not an athlete or preparing for some sort of competition, you generally don't need to do 'abs'.
There is no such thing as toning. If a so called expert uses this term, don't listen to anything else they say.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz
do 3 weeks pyramids, one week cardio rest, three weeks light weights, 3-4 sets x 30 repetitions, with weight enough to make last 2 reps with max effort; one week cardio rest, as in - no weights to recover; 3 weeks pyramids; one week cardio rest; 3 weeks of twenty ones, 3-4 sets; one week cardio rest; 3 weeks pyramids; one week cardio rest; 3 weeks strips, 3-4 sets.
This should keep you busy for about 6 months. Come back and re-visit it.
Start any routine with abs, build up tolerance and go on cyclical abs, 4- 5 core exer-s x 5 pack, one minute rest between cycles.
Be well.
There is no rational basis to this workout scheme. It won't hurt you and obviously has some benefit but what is the point? Cardio is something you have to do on a regular basis. You should do both cardio and weights. It is not necessary to cycle like this. Do cardio and weights on the same day, do cardio one day and weights the next day, etc
Quote:
Originally Posted by KnownUnknown
This whole, set in stone rep range stuff is crap.
There is some truth to this. The facts are that high reps (>12-15) will not give the benefits people are looking for. Low reps (<5) will give the greatest strength gains. Increasing muscle size is somewhere in between and probably varies between people and for different muscles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calitransplant27
Thank you! I don't know all of the correct terms...... I do bicep curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, and a few other moves I don't know the names for. One is with a weight in each hand, bringing them overhead so the weights meet- I think the one works upper arm and shoulders. I do two more for triceps I don't know the name of- one us laying on the edge of the weight bench and holding one weight, bringing the weight overhead. The other is standing with both hands up clutching one weight. Then keeping elbows straight I bring the weight up and down behind me. The dumbbell chest press is incredibly hard each time.
Other than that, the only thing I do with the free weights are walking lunges. The other weights are just with the machines.
The first set on 12lbs is pretty easy. The second set is harder. When I tried the 15 lb Monday, each set was a struggle. I still feel it in my biceps today. I did work with a trainer a few months ago when I first got serious about toning up, that's where I learned the exercises I was trying to describe above. I might do it again though, I agree she definitely pushed me!
Thanks for the reply!
The trouble you are running into is while 3 lbs. doesn't sound like a big increase, it is still a 25% increase. I would do as many reps as possible with 12lbs. and then do as many reps as possible with 15lbs. on the second set. Eventually, you will not be struggling with 15lbs. Try to find some other exercises since you will run into this again since you probably not find 17lb. dumbells in your gym. They exist but most gyms don't have them.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Muscle tone is the tendency of muscle tissue to stay somewhat contracted even when not being used. It's real. It comes from aerobic muscle tissue, the "stamina" kind of muscle. The other main kind of muscle tissue is anaerobic - it twitches fast and strong, but lacks endurance.
Most people have a balance between the two main types of muscle tissue. However in some people one or the other predominates: for example marathoners and long distance cyclists have mostly slow-twitch, aerobic muscle cells, while weight lifters tend to have fast-twitch, anaerobic muscles for powerful, explosive movements. That latter kind of muscle can hypertrophy - but the aerobic kind of cell, not so much. That's why cyclists are lean and not bulky, and why successful bodybuilders are big and bulky.
Aerobic exercise leads to aerobic muscle development, which is toned - always on, to some extent. Anaerobic intense workouts develop big muscles that can go in a moment from "flabby" to flexed, though not so much in females because of hormonal differences - for them there is a general thickening effect.
What I said about women thickening a bit is simply a matter of observation. People get "theories" about how it can't be true, and those override the observations.
Those women are overweight, not thickened from weight training
Seriously.
Woof, the gal that Tommodonohue posted also lift heavy weights, why isn she "thick" like the gals you posted? Its because she's not obese/fat like the other women, thats why. Not because of thickening from the weights. Holly Mangold, who is in one of the pics you posted battled weight issues her entire life. She decided to weight lifting because her brothers (one of which is an offensive lineman with the NY Jets) were doing it.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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She's not pushing THAT much weight. At any rate, individual cases mean nothing. Observe at gyms. Look at the aerobic trainers vs the heavy weighlifters.
What I said about women thickening a bit is simply a matter of observation. People get "theories" about how it can't be true, and those override the observations.
Your observation is completely incorrect. I can go observe what goes on inside of a Curves gym and based on the "observation" criteria that you used, can say that women who workout at curves will be obese, not work hard and maintain their thickness instead of losing weight and/or getting fit.
I know you want to help, which is an admirable trait, but sometimes passing along incorrect/false/wrong information can be a great deterrant and could hinder the OPs fitness weight loss goals. Factual information hopefully will trump the false information given to those who's life/health may depend on the advice given here.
This isnt about "theories" or "observation", its about FACTUAL information that has been PROVEN to work. Heavy weight lifting will NOT cause "thickness". Heavy weights will not make a woman "bulky" Heavy weights will not make a woman "manly". Light weights/high reps will NOT tone.
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