If you are a fairly small woman, what does "lift heavy" mean to you?

[Anonymous]

Lifting heavy, in the context of the older woman, is about compound movements, not machines.

Heavy is based on the absolute amount you can left in one rep with all your effort.

To increase bone density you have to do weight bearing exercise, meaning your feet are on the floor. A machine bearing your weight does not give the maximum benefit.

Trainer would be the best route to understand weight selection and form.

If it’s too pricey (which it is for many) try to do at least a few sessions. Then, you can go to group classes knowing what is appropriate for your body in terms of weight selection and form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was not making fun of people for working vanity muscles--I do tricep work all the time. But it is accepted that they are vanity muscles, better trained when working a bigger muscle, like say, chest.

I am also not talking out my a$$ about squat standards. You carry your body weight around every day on your legs. You should be able to squat a good portion of this. This chart below is the universal standard.

Look, I am not gatekeeping, but the topic was lifting heavy--not getting started bat home. And I am not the only one posting.

There is absolute benefit to using lower eight dumbbells, but it is not gatekeeping to point out that you can't really lift heavy with anything less than 25-30 pound DBs.

Not sure why you are taking this so personally--there is nothing mocking or mean in any of my posts.

Pounds
Squat - Adult Women
Body Weight Untrained Novice Intermediate Advanced Elite
97 40 75 85 110 140
105 45 80 90 120 150
114 45 85 100 130 165
123 50 90 105 140 170
132 50 95 110 145 180
148 55 105 120 160 200
165 60 110 130 170 220
181 65 120 140 185 230
198 70 130 150 200 250
199+ 75 140 160 205 260

If I’m reading that chart correctly, as a beginner (untrained), a 132lb woman should be able to squat 50 lbs., 148 lb woman 55 lbs. That’s not 1/2 their body weight.

Untainted is someone who has never picked up a weight. Novice jumps exponentially to more than half your body weight. The "UNTRAINED" is basically a warm up set. You should not stay there at all if you want to lift heavy.

( I squat way less than half my body weight because I have a permanent injury. There is a lot of benefit to doing that as opposed to skipping. But I am not lifting heavy or even close to approaching).

No, "untrained" is not a warm up set. Untrained means you have not trained the lift and therefore need to start at a lower weight until you have proper form and have built up enough strength to step it up. Untrained means "untrained."

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lifting heavy, in the context of the older woman, is about compound movements, not machines.

Heavy is based on the absolute amount you can left in one rep with all your effort.

To increase bone density you have to do weight bearing exercise, meaning your feet are on the floor. A machine bearing your weight does not give the maximum benefit.

Trainer would be the best route to understand weight selection and form.

If it’s too pricey (which it is for many) try to do at least a few sessions. Then, you can go to group classes knowing what is appropriate for your body in terms of weight selection and form.

This is such good advice! I had a trainer for years then stopped working so I had to stop but by that time I’d learned so much and my form was good enough that I felt confident doing workouts on my own or following online classes. If you are older I would highly suggest an older trainer or one who understands how we change as we age. I had a 60 year old trainer and he was very good about being cautious and conservative. Injuring yourself is the quickest way to ensure you won’t stick with weight training going forward.

[Anonymous]

Lifting heavy means that you’re using a weight that is a struggle to complete 8 reps.

[Anonymous]

I’m 42, 5’3 and between 120-125. Lifting heavy for me means 20lbs dumbbells for bench press, 50 or 60lbs for squats, 15 per side for lunges, 15 or 20 per side for shoulder presses, 25-30lbs per side for bench step ups

You are not coming close to lifting heavy - which is fine in that some forms for exercise use light weights, but I’m sure you’re capable of a lot more. Think about lifting your kids, I imagine you carried them up a flight of stairs until they were at least 40lbs