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

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[quote=Anonymous]I'm in my 40s, fit, but looking to add muscle mass (or at least stem the loss of existing muscle). I know I need to "lift heavy" but I mostly workout at home. Curious what this means to people. I'm 5'4 and naturally slim -- narrow shoulders and hips, have hovered between 115 and 120 most of my adult life.

I have 5 and 8lb weights I use in workouts a lot. I've tried 10 lb weights and am trying to work to incorporate them more even though at the moment, I'm somewhat limited in what I can do with them (nothing overhead, mostly using them for rows and to add weight to squats and other lower body work). This doesn't sound that "heavy" to me but it's what I'm capable of right now. Even the 8 lb weights can be tough if I'm working overhead.

I do a lot of bodyweight exercises, though -- planks, pushups, and am working on getting pull-ups (right now can only do negatives but I used to be able to do them and I think I can get them back with some diligence). Does that count as "lifting heavy"? I'll be honest and say that planks and pushups are hard for me and I do sometimes take them at an elevated surface or drop my knees in order to maintain good form.

Anyway, I know I have work to do and am willing to do, just wondering what a realistic goal is for me. My DH said I should be looking to work up to 20-25 lb hand weights and that seriously sounds impossible to me. But he weighs 180 and as a man just has a lot more muscle mass in his upper body than I do, even without putting as much effort in. Is that a realistic goal or does "lifting heavy" for someone my size mean more like 12-15lb per side (so 24-30 total)?[/quote]

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