To think some women could lift heavier in the gym?

[Ilostallthepens]

I go to a strength training class a few times a week. It’s almost always all women, class size is about 15. I’m not especially strong or experienced at lifting weights but I notice I’m always lifting the heaviest (sometimes by a long way) than every other person there. I’m also working to my maximum capacity for the 8-12 reps we’re doing. I’m huffing and puffing and sweating doing bicep curls with an 8kg dumbbell in each hand and I look over and the woman next to me is lifting a couple of 2kg dumbbells with no visible effort at all. I see this in a lot of the women there. They don’t seem to push themselves to their limit or even that close to it. I’m talking about women a similar age to myself that have been going to the gym for at least as long as me. I get some people may not want to push themselves to their max effort for whatever reason, eg. an injury, but I’m seeing lots of women seemingly not putting in half the amount of effort that they seem capable of and over a long period of time. So this makes me think the reason must be they don’t believe they are capable of lifting heavier, or they don’t want to lift to their max ability for some reason. Why do you think this is? Have you experienced this? Do you not work to max capacity in the gym? If not, why not?

@lljkk It means ‘1 rep max’- so it is the heaviest weight you can possibly lift for just one repetition, for any given exercise. Obviously most people don’t just do one repetition of each exercise when they are doing weight training, but it’s a useful measure of your pure strength for different muscle groups/exercises as it can be used to estimate suitable weights for your workout.

So as an example, say a person can do 1 rep of a deadlift with 70kg. 70kg is their 1RM for deadlift.

The text you quoted suggests a warm up consisting of 2 sets of deadlifts at 50-70% (doesn’t say how many reps but I assume that info was in the text). So you would calculate 50-70% of your 1RPM (70kg) which gives a range of 35-49kg for the deadlift weight for the warm-up.

Really? I have 2 teen girls and they are not like that at all. They both perform in their respective sports at a very high level. I think the attitude you mention is more of a personality thing than a societal thing TBH.
I despise running. Not because society has told me to be uncompetitive, but because I’ve tried it many many times (I used to work in a team where you only ‘fit in’ if you banged on about running and PBs all the time 🙄), and never found it anything except mind numbingly dull.

And this is why I go to classes and just have people tell me what to do. As soon as going to gym involves yet another thing that involves having to make my brain work, I switch off. Same as nutrition: anything involving weighing and macros and whatever, I'm done.

Re park run. Surely it depends where it is? I can do 5k in28 minutes on a good day on the flat. No way in hell could I do that on my park run course! The muddy hills total me.

Yep @Octomingo- classes are great for people who don’t want to have to think about the science and maths side of things. You can assume that whoever put the class together has already thought about all that!

I don’t understand either. A read of the actual research paper includes: HiRIT was superior to CON for bone mass, FN geometry, and physical function compared with a low-intensity home exercise program serving as a positive control. In essence a very closely controlled, close supervised (1:8 ratio) deadlift, overhead lifts and squats programme twice a week was better for bone health than low intensity at home twice weekly15mins lunges and stretches. The study design looks ok, albeit a small group and I think it could have done more on the confounding factors impact - but I think my reading is at odds with notthisrecord summary. And I have no idea what ‘big barbell ‘ conspiracy is either 🤷‍♀️. Would love to hear more about that!

So I weigh 60kg and if I deadlift I can lift say 80kg for 10 reps in a row. But load the bar with 120kg I can lift it once. If I want to lift again I’d need to take a break. So 120kg is my 1RM.

In that passage, it’s pretty clear they mean “1 Repetition maximum “. That is, the highest amount of weight you can lift for 1 rep only.

The “maximum” refers to the weight not the number of reps.

My one rep max in a deadlift is 107.5 kilos (I’m aiming to get to at least 110kilos soon). I can’t do more than one at a time, whereas I can pretty reliably pull 3-5 reps at 90 kilos without a break.

80% of my 1RM is 86 kilos.

I’m 67 and weigh 70 kilos - I’m hoping for strong bones and doing burpees into my 90s

Thanks @Waitingfordoggo .... so next question is... you wrote the heaviest weight you can possibly lift for just one repetition ... what does "possibly mean". What if you "possibly" lift it but then your back goes out a few minutes later probably as a result of the heavy lift (my back has gone out after lifting things). How does anyone find the safe "possible" kg? I also wondered, Does "possibly" mean holding it up for a certain number of seconds?

I personally also have a history of tendonitis everywhere so would be reluctant to push-lift-pull harder than is what I know is comfortable, I don't think it would be safe for me to find out what is "possible" except maybe by very small increments over months or years.

@SurferRona : the bits of the article I understood were the statistics: ANOVA adjusting for age & something else at baseline. The raw endpoint results were not statistically significant for almost all outcomes and only significantly different in the adjusted (ANOVA) results for a few of many outcomes looked at ... The point of an RCT design is they shouldn't have to adjust for those baseline differences though. Understanding all that makes me cynical about whether anything was proven.

Stacy Sims advocates a couple of SIIT sessions - sprint interval intensity training, as well as resistance training and jumping.

If you’re interested she does a lot of free stuff on her YouTube channel and in various podcasts.

Interestingly I’ve been training with a PT who gives me this mix of lifting and metabolic conditioning for almost 10 years. I’m 67 and in the shape of my life. And injury free as well as much less prone to viral infections

Clearly you have to learn technique before attempting a 120kg deadlift! It took me 3 years of regular lifting generally at the 5-8 rep range, starting with 30kg.

@lljkk I guess if you’re worried about injury or technique, don’t attempt to find your 1RPM. Your example re experiencing pain immediately afterwards would most likely be due to poor technique. I wouldn’t count it as a 1RM if I was in pain straight afterwards!

You could also find an estimate of your 1RM by other means. eg do 10 deadlifts to failure (or 8 or 12 or whatever) and then use an online calculator to calculate the 1RM.

don't think it would be safe for me to find out what is "possible" except maybe by very small increments over months or years.

That’s pretty much the definition of weight training!

This is exactly why I'd hate to go to a gym when there's nosy parkers like you snoppy around and being so judgemental.

I run six times a week. I go to ‘heavy’ body pump twice weekly. I could lift heavier at that class but I don’t because running is my priority. I don’t want to lose time recovering from DOMS because I’ve overdone it at the gym. I’m still getting stronger and gradually increasing weight. It’s changing my body for the better.

I agree with others that it’s none of your business but just offering a perspective on why people might be doing this.

I honestly find this bizarre!

Just because some people don't like lifting weights and some people have got injured doing it doesn't mean there are no benefits for anybody.

I found the comment about the physio saying just do a bit of walking also a bit hard to believe. I work at a company with a large musculoskeletal workforce and nobody is going to give that advice unless walking is all someone can manage, in which case it's obviously better than retiring to the couch. But the physios I know would all say walking isn't enough to maintain optimal strength, flexibility and bone density.

My mum has only ever done walking and yoga due to her belief about women looking too muscular if they lift (she makes comments about how I look too). Her strength has dropped off a cliff in her 70s and she's a keen gardener and struggling to do the things she wants to. Her physio suggested doing some strength work and she just won't. I even showed her Train with Joan on Instagram, and she said it was just "silly at her age". Sigh.

This woman only started strength training in her 60s
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1243257087989204

🙄

I read in the paper about a woman who was deadlifting 70kg in her 70s which was hugely inspiring, I would like to be doing that in 30 years' time.

I get you op. All these comments ‘maybe they don’t want to bulk just to tone’ ‘maybe they just want wellbeing’ are part of the problem. I wish all these posters really understood that long term good health is supported by lifting weights to the strain point and pretty much none of these women are ever going to bulk up by trying to lift more, they’d have to change lifestyle completely and work their butts off to bulk up, and lifting more will get them not bulk but the tone and health they aspire to.
I do body pump and circuit and try to do the exercises with as much weights as I can and am jealous of the women who lift more, but tell myself they have more time than I do. I’m not even remotely bulking up, more realistically I’m probably thinning down a bit just toned as well.

Body pump is not cardio. You have to lift much lighter than you would for max strength training but you can still lift as much as you can a manage for the set. I usually can’t quite finish one set or drop weights, often feel muscle soreness the day or two afterwards, and I also run, which is an entirely different workout.

they’d have to change lifestyle completely and work their butts off to bulk up

Yes I keep thinking about some friends of mine who do (amateur) competitive bodybuilding. They need put incredible amounts of work in trying to gain muscle - how they wish that they could 'bulk up' by simply lifting 3 kilo weights instead of 2 😁

I do both Bodypump and heavy weights in the gym. Bodypump is lighter and much faster than weights hence its cardio. The fatigue is more like cardio exhaustion rather than “to muscle failure”. Yes it’s different to running (where i also get muscle soreness) but it’s cardio nonetheless - my heart rate is way higher in bodypump than when I am lifting heavy (lifting heavy barely raises heart rate). Also in bodypump despite squatting with circa 35kg (ie half what I’d do with a rack) it’s not true muscle failure at the end of the track. Same bench - I do 22.3kg (ie 10kg each side) up and down for 5 mins. Heart rate way higher than my 5x5 50kg in the gym using a rack. That is why it’s cardio.

My relative does powerlifting and his heart rate most definitely increases during the lift! It is also most definitely weight lifting not cardio.