Women and weight-training - Please advise

MistyCheese

I've been training with weights for about a month now and my husband is worried that I'm lifting weights that are too heavy. He's anxiously concerned that I'll get really big even though, from everything I've heard/read, that won't happen unless I actively persue it. I'm just looking to increase my overall strength and muscle tone, I don't want to "bulk up".

I've promised him that I'll get some advice and I am due an assesment soon so I will ask my trainer then but can any of you knowledgeable folk here back me up in the meantime?

With the free weights I'm doing bicep curls with 3kg weights, 3 sets of 15 reps and tricep extensions with 3kg weights, 3 sets of 15 reps.

On the machines I'm using the lateral raise, 3 sets of 12 reps with 20kgs and the lateral pull-down, 3 sets of 15 reps with 50kg.

This is the programme that my trainer designed for me. Do you think I should stop until I've spoken to her again or is this okay to continue with for another week or two? I'm okay with it but my husband keeps going on about how I'll get really big and freaky-looking and I know it's only because he's worried but all the negativity is really starting to get me down.

BossArky

MistyCheese wrote: »

With the free weights I'm doing bicep curls with 3kg weights, 3 sets of 15 reps and tricep extensions with 3kg weights, 3 sets of 15 reps.

Take a look at your shopping bags the next time you are buying stuff. They probably are 3kg or so in each arm. Have they turned you into She-Man in the past? No.

Take a look at the likes of Malteaser and the weights she is lifting in the fitness logs (check out her videos). Does she look like She-Man? No.

Finally, google Jamie Eason (lifts weights) and show your husband. He will force you out the door and down to the gym

Hanley

Your husband must not go to the gym much. He must not know that much about weight training either. Getting big doesn't just happen. It takes serious training and even more serious eating. Go to your average gym and look around, what percentage of the GUYS are "too big". I'll wager it's not that many at all. The majority of people I see in the gym are skinny fat.

You should get Maltesear to link you to one of her pictures if you wanna see the horrors of what heavy weights do to girls (!!)

MistyCheese

Woo-hoo. Thank you both. To be honest, that is what I was hoping to hear. Of course if I were wrong I would appreciate being corrected but I'm happy with the workout I'm doing, I feel like it's enough to be a challenge (allbeit less now than when I started) but not so much that I'm risking injury or burnout. Plus, I didn't make it up as I went along, I got the advice of a qualified instructor.

I'll ask my husband to back off. If anyone else wants to add their own opinions though I'd appreciate that too. The more balanced a view I can present him with the better.

Malteaser!

I just wrote a up bit about why women should do weights in this sticky, it might be of help!!

Roper

If your hubby thinks you're getting too much muscle tone then I don't think you'll have a problem finding a new one on here.

olaola

I try to go as heavy as I can for about 10 reps - so I'd do a bicep curl with 8kg in each hand. I most defininetly do NOT have Arnie-arms!! :eek:

Malteser's post is right on the money - you'll see some fabulous results if you stick with the weights. Don't be afraid to go heavier (your 3kg are sounding too light for you!) And you'll be delighted with the outcome.
Next time you meet your trainer, ask him/her to up the weights (or just do it yourself). Give it a shot for a month and see how you feel.

Black Swan

MistyCheese wrote: »

I'm just looking to increase my overall strength and muscle tone, I don't want to "bulk up".

Think more reps rather than more weight. Lots of reps in sets with light weights will give you muscle tone and some added strength, but not where you start looking like Arnie the "Governator" of California. Same with machines. Keep the weight down and increase reps and sets. It's also grand for your cardio-vascular conditioning, so you should start feeling the health benefits of your workouts.

Hanley

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Think more reps rather than more weight. Lots of reps in sets with light weights will give you muscle tone and some added strength.

No. They won't.

aye

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Think more reps rather than more weight. Lots of reps in sets with light weights will give you muscle tone and some added strength, but not where you start looking like Arnie the "Governator" of California. Same with machines. Keep the weight down and increase reps and sets. It's also grand for your cardio-vascular conditioning, so you should start feeling the health benefits of your workouts.

she is already doing 12 to 15 reps. not much point in doing much more reps than that, as she is already in the lean muscle tissue rep range.
maltesers post is the one to read.

cowzerp

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Think more reps rather than more weight. Lots of reps in sets with light weights will give you muscle tone and some added strength,.

No added strenght benefits and minor muscle tone-less than she;s already doing! why would she do that?
Old school bad advice

MistyCheese

So, rather than increasing the reps with the free weights and doing 3 sets of 18 reps with 3kg, it would be better to stick to 3 sets of 12 -15 reps with 4kgs? Increase the weight not the reps, as long as I'm doing 12 - 15 reps?

I'm researching loads of articles about women and weight-training (including yours, Malteaser!) and I'm going to print them out to show my husband.

He could be thinking these things because he's just started in a gym himself and he was telling me that that he bench-pressed 50kgs. I told him that was the same as I was lifting (well, pulling down) and maybe that's why he's so freaked out.

olaola

Yes - you're on the right track there. If you get to your 12th rep with 4kg and feel like you could push out a few more. It's more than likely too light.

Pick a weight that will have you struggling at 12 reps.

Pulling down 50kg on a machine is quite different to bench pressing it with free weights!! I would also try and go for free weights as much as you can - you'll use more muscles in completing the set than just isolating a few on a machine.
If you're unsure, get your trainer to help or check out www.exrx.net.

I would start targeting other areas of your body too - squats and lunges do the most fabulous things for your legs and bee-hind! Remember the more muscle you have the more calories you're going to burn

BossArky

I would say go for 3 sets of 8 reps with as heavy a weight as possible on everything. It will save you time and get your heart going a bit more. Weights aren't just bicep curls. That is perhaps one of the least effective exercises for burning lots of cals.

Do the following: deadlifts, squats, pull ups (assisted if you cannot do proper ones yet), barbell rows, lunges, shoulder press, and a bit of running or cycling for cardio. You will see drastic changes if you lift heavy stuff. By drastic I mean improved bodyshape and solidness all over.

To give you pointers my 50kg girlfriend has deadlifted 60kg within 6 months, benched 30kg, and squatted 40kg. This is roughly the kind of weight you should be aiming at... not really low weights on crappy stuff like bicep curls. Hope that helps.

cowzerp

BossArky wrote: »

I would say go for 3 sets of 8 reps with as heavy a weight as possible on everything. It will save you time and get your heart going a bit more. Weights aren't just bicep curls. That is perhaps one of the least effective exercises for burning lots of cals.

Do the following: deadlifts, squats, pull ups (assisted if you cannot do proper ones yet), barbell rows, lunges, shoulder press, and a bit of running or cycling for cardio. You will see drastic changes if you lift heavy stuff. By drastic I mean improved bodyshape and solidness all over.

To give you pointers my 50kg girlfriend has deadlifted 60kg within 6 months, benched 30kg, and squatted 40kg. This is roughly the kind of weight you should be aiming at... not really low weights on crappy stuff like bicep curls. Hope that helps.

Agreed with all above

Hanley

BossArky wrote: »

I would say go for 3 sets of 8 reps with as heavy a weight as possible on everything. It will save you time and get your heart going a bit more. Weights aren't just bicep curls. That is perhaps one of the least effective exercises for burning lots of cals.

Do the following: deadlifts, squats, pull ups (assisted if you cannot do proper ones yet), barbell rows, lunges, shoulder press, and a bit of running or cycling for cardio. You will see drastic changes if you lift heavy stuff. By drastic I mean improved bodyshape and solidness all over.

To give you pointers my 50kg girlfriend has deadlifted 60kg within 6 months, benched 30kg, and squatted 40kg. This is roughly the kind of weight you should be aiming at... not really low weights on crappy stuff like bicep curls. Hope that helps.

That's a good post. The "big" lifts (ie "compound"/the ones that use a load of muscle at the same time) are what you want to be doing. Have a look at maltesear's log. Everything is kept ultra simple. Lots of squats, benches and deadlifts and other lifts to help those.

MistyCheese

Thanks again for the advice, I do lunges and squats aswell but I didn't add that originally because I don't do any weights with them. Sometimes it's hard to get the balance between "giving people enough info so they know what you're talking about" and "boring them senseless with too many details that aren't important"!

I also intend to do a lot more stretching with should increase my flexibility. Before I started this program my calves especially felt very stiff and tight. I was starting to worry that if I were walking home from work and someone tried to mug me I wouldn't be able to run because they would seize up. Thankfully no-one ever did try to mug me so I never found out for sure.

Hanley

I know with Malteaser she didn't really do any dedicated flexibility work during training, but alot of the exercises we chose were ones that would help with flexibility anyway. For example lunges with a long stride will help stretch your hips out, stiff leg deadlifts will do wonders for hamstring flexibility.

In your case, standing calf raises where you hold the bottom fully stretched position at the end of each set for 30-60 seconds will help stretch them out.

edges

BossArky wrote: »

I would say go for 3 sets of 8 reps with as heavy a weight as possible on everything. It will save you time and get your heart going a bit more. Weights aren't just bicep curls. That is perhaps one of the least effective exercises for burning lots of cals.

Do the following: deadlifts, squats, pull ups (assisted if you cannot do proper ones yet), barbell rows, lunges, shoulder press, and a bit of running or cycling for cardio. You will see drastic changes if you lift heavy stuff. By drastic I mean improved bodyshape and solidness all over.

To give you pointers my 50kg girlfriend has deadlifted 60kg within 6 months, benched 30kg, and squatted 40kg. This is roughly the kind of weight you should be aiming at... not really low weights on crappy stuff like bicep curls. Hope that helps.

Spot on bit of advice.
I remember the resistance I got from my missus when I increased her weights and lowered the reps, now, she would never go back and I'd never ask her to.

Keep on training, hubby will come round when the results start coming in (unless you start to outlift him that is!!)


Dave
www.WG-Fit.com