Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you need to lift heavy for 8-12 reps. If you can get to 12 reps pretty easily you're not lifting heavy enough. Those last couple of reps should be really difficult to complete. Do 3 sets. Do compound movements such as squats and RDL's that work more then one muscle at a time. That is really all you need to know.

See, I disagree with training to failure when it comes to full body exercises like squats, especially for women over 30. You don't ever want to be struggling and tired when you're shifting weight on your spine and kneecaps. That's how injuries happen, especially slow chronic injuries that creep up over time. I once gave myself a nasty concussion doing a lying dumbbell shoulder press. My left arm gave out on the final rep of a challenging workout, and an 18 lb dumbbell slammed into my eyebrow. Ever since then I only shift weights I can completely and easily control for the entire session, and I've still experienced great strength gains this way.

PP here. I am sharing what works for me as a postmenopausal woman. I am absolutely seeing tremendous gains in terms of sculpting my muscles with doing exactly what I've written. Do whatever works for you.

Anonymous wrote:OP you need to lift heavy for 8-12 reps. If you can get to 12 reps pretty easily you're not lifting heavy enough. Those last couple of reps should be really difficult to complete. Do 3 sets. Do compound movements such as squats and RDL's that work more then one muscle at a time. That is really all you need to know.

See, I disagree with training to failure when it comes to full body exercises like squats, especially for women over 30. You don't ever want to be struggling and tired when you're shifting weight on your spine and kneecaps. That's how injuries happen, especially slow chronic injuries that creep up over time. I once gave myself a nasty concussion doing a lying dumbbell shoulder press. My left arm gave out on the final rep of a challenging workout, and an 18 lb dumbbell slammed into my eyebrow. Ever since then I only shift weights I can completely and easily control for the entire session, and I've still experienced great strength gains this way.

Anonymous wrote:I can’t remember where I saw this. Help me figure out what I read or where I read it.

Something like “do 20 reps at X lower weight. Once you can do it without quitting, move up to the next weight”

This may not even be the right advice, which is why I want to look it up again.

Something about how you make lifting gains. Starting small. An approach to knowing when to level up.

I wrote something along those lines in this thread a couple weeks ago. People had a lot of great advice, and the whole thread is an informative read. But the gist is that you start with whatever weight you can do 3 sets of 8 reps easily and comfortably, and move up 5 lbs when you're able to do 10 reps just as easily. Don't forget to eat enough according to a BMR calculator, or your muscles will never grow!

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/0/1161732.page#26145958

OP you need to lift heavy for 8-12 reps. If you can get to 12 reps pretty easily you're not lifting heavy enough. Those last couple of reps should be really difficult to complete. Do 3 sets. Do compound movements such as squats and RDL's that work more then one muscle at a time. That is really all you need to know.

I'm no expert, but the anecdotal stuff I've heard and a couple of times from training videos was something like 6-8 for mass and 9-11 for lean. (I might have the terminology wrong.)

But, basically, if you want to get bigger, do something more like 6 reps. If you want to gain strength but not necessarily bulk up, you're looking for more like 10.

Also, just re-read 16:53, I think he or she knows more than me!

*When I was powerlifting. …

*within that range…

I agree with PP. 20 reps is probably too much. Most people who lift for strength are in the 3-10 reps per set range. Neighing that range, I wouldn’t overthink it. What I was powerlifting, I’d do 3-5 sets of 3-5 really heavy reps with very long rests, but it took a very long time and — because I was stupid — I accumulated some injuries. I now tend to lift in the 5-10 rep range, and I tend to work up to 10 reps at a weight, then increase weight and drop to 5 reps. Since my weight increases are small, this builds in a bit of a deload because I do 5 reps for a couple of workouts even if I can for more. I suck at taking deload weeks (again, I’m stupid) so this helps keep me healthy.

20 reps is too high to really make gains but overall if you want to get stronger you need to progressively overload your muscles. No matter the rep range that last 2 reps should always be challenging/you should be making an ugly face.
As to when to increase weight, if you are aiming for 8-10 reps and can easily do 10 reps for 3 sets then you should increase the weight to a weight where you can only get 8 reps. Stay with that weight until you can do 10 reps and then increase again and so on.

I can’t remember where I saw this. Help me figure out what I read or where I read it.

Something like “do 20 reps at X lower weight. Once you can do it without quitting, move up to the next weight”

This may not even be the right advice, which is why I want to look it up again.

Something about how you make lifting gains. Starting small. An approach to knowing when to level up.