When people say they lift heavy, how heavy do they mean?

[CharlotteSometimes1]

I’ve seen it written a few times and I’m curious to know what kind of weight is considered heavy. I do strength training and am probably somewhere in the middle of my class in terms of strength, there are definitely women lifting much heavier (and lighter)than I am. I’m just in it for fitness.

Deadlift 70kg, Hip Thrust 100 kg, Squats 80kg, Bench 30kg, Push Press 22.5 kg

https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/hip-thrust/lb#:~:text=The%20average%20Hip%20Thrust%20weight,compared%20to%20the%20general%20population.

I find this website quite useful for measuring myself against the average. I got a single arm deadlift (plates loaded onto a farmers carry strap) of 65kg and felt like the strongest woman on the planet, it was a challenge my gym were holding for the month to win a t-shirt of all things 🫣

This is impossible to answer without knowing how many reps you do.
If these are 1RM I lift heavier than you. If these are 4 X 12 then you're heavier than me in squats and thrust.

I lift way lighter than that but I do 3 x 10 reps each time. Lifting heavy means heavy for you. You should feel like you're working hard, breathing heavy, heart rate raised. And aiming to lift even heavier over time

What is this obsession with hip thrusts? Are they having a moment on TikTok or something? I have been wondering this lately.

In my gym you see loads of women doing really quite heavy hip thrusts whom I do not see squatting or deadlifting. Why?

On what constitutes heavy, I agree with @NewNameNigel that the number of reps also matters.

Assuming 1RM, for a woman 1 x bodyweight squat, 1.5 x bodyweight deadlift and 0.5 x bodyweight bench means is where I start to take myself seriously.

It also depends on mindset, do you own the kit and/or compete and that sort of thing.

I do heavy hip thrusts but not squats because I have an old knee injury that I don't want to put more pressure on 😊

I love hip thrusts, mainly because my PT of four years does and the enthusiasm passed to me.

Heavy is dependent on your personal situation.

I can squat 100kg (8-10 reps), RDL 100kg (8-10 reps), deadlifts 120kg (2-3 reps), hip thrust 160kg (5-8 reps), bench press 50kg (2-3kg). But my pull ups are awful!

This article is old but a reasonable discussion.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090101082041/gubernatrix.co.uk:80/2008/12/strength-standards-for-women/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20090101082041/gubernatrix.co.uk:80/2008/12/strength-standards-for-women/

I do agree that hip thrusts are fun. I wondered why they are having a moment.

I've been on 6 months of hip thrusts without squats or deadlifts due to a back injury (fully approved by my physio), they are one of the few lower body exercises I can do at the moment.

So it may be that, or you may be right and it's some sort of TikTok thing promising a Kardashian arse..

I've been lifting for years and never come across that website before, it's so interesting!

Thank you for sharing

All squats are not the same. 80kg quarter squat is not heavy. In globo gyms I very rarely see anyone squatting to below parallel. In my view, that is not a legitimate rep, and people would be better off lowering the weight, working on mobility and getting full range of motion.

I would say anything over 90kg back squat to full depth is relatively heavy, as is 100kg+ deadlift and an overhead jerk of 60kg+.

I would say I lift moderately heavy, but have friends who can clean and jerk 100kg and back squat 150kg so I’m a weak as a kitten in comparison.

Heavy is what feels heavy for you. That's it. When you start what is heavy is lighter than when you progress. I'm a powerlifter, everyone is welcome at comp to lift what feels heavy to them. It's you against the bar.

If you want to know what people do lift to see what you could aspire to you can look at comp results. Different ages, sexes and weight classes will lift different amounts. Powerlifters also train technique so they can maximise their lifts so with a bit of experience will be able to lift more than an average gym goer who doesn't zone in on technique

In my gym you see loads of women doing really quite heavy hip thrusts whom I do not see squatting or deadlifting. Why?

"Building the booty" - it' daft if you don't also do the compound all-body lifts: squats & deadlifts. And hip thrusts aren't particularly functional, whereas a squat is a really functional move.

I lift heavy - particularly for my age (a week off 65). DL 1RM of 100kilos, but my training weight is somewhere between 75 and 90 kilos depending on how I'm feeling; squat 1RM is 67.5 - I failed at 70 kilos in that I didn't get to competition depth by a couple of inches, but I have actually squatted it. I don't bench much but a 1RM of 40 kilos, and 45 for an overhead press (with a bit of a push). Lat pull down training at around 50 kilos (5 reps, 5 sets).

I can pull over 200 kilos on the sled & have dragged almost 400 kilos. I lift heavy - it's great being so strong!

The strength standards are useful but for me lifting heavy means training at the strength end of things = ie low reps, heavy weights, long rests.

Think it also depends how experienced you are - my rep range is lower than when I started as I can handle myself more now. I usually train in the 3-5 or 5-10 range. If I go up to 15 or 20, it is a finisher for endurance and cardio not strength.

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-correct-number-of-reps-per-set-in-the-gym/

In general, I think by lifting heavy, people mean lifting to build strength as the main aim and focus, not using weights to build endurance, bit of strength and conditioning (eg body pump type classes).

To my mind, "heavy" is a weight you can lift safely and with decent form for maybe 3 reps, possibly 5 at the outside. Over time you want to be able to increase that weight, although you don't want to be doing pure strength training blocks all the time imho. Some periods of lighter weight and higher reps are beneficial.

This is slightly off topic, but since there are all these weights people here can you advise if you have experience of doing a Body Pump (i.e. high rep) group fitness class and how it compared to lifting in the gym (I am thinking of switching from class to lifting on my own).

There's different types of lifting too so there's not one answer. Main difference is you get to be by yourself and don't have to try and keep pace with anyone else. I love lifting but I'd not enjoy a class as I don't like classes. In terms of the lifting itself it can be higher reps and lighter, more like body pump. Or lower reps and heavier. Can be really form focused, or not so form focused like body pump. You could be learning a skill like in weightlifting or powerlifting, or just using it as a means to get stronger/bigger muscles.

I sometimes do a Pump class for fun, if it's a good instructor & music, and some gym friends are doing the class.

But they're totally different @monstrousindecision Pump classes are aerobic/cardio - high fast reps with light weights.

I do the accessory moves I don't really do much with my PT - mostly arm stuff such as flies and curls, and overhead press/clean & and push press. But mostly the Pump class weights don't even reach the weight of a proper bar bell ! (15 or 20 kilos).

And it's just as well, unless you get a good instructor & participants willing to take on corrections to their form. Any heavier back squats than, say, 15 kilos given some of the bad form & lack of technique I've seen in Pump classes and people would be injuring themselves.

Some people seem to think an instructor correcting their technique is an insult - it's not, it helps you get better!

I found BodyPump great for motivation and fun, getting started with the movements, and will say a class or two a week is the single thing I’ve done that notably changed my body shape the fastest. However I also find one reaches a plateau of strength you’re unlikely to break through with that style of training only.

Lifting heavy for fewer reps on one’s own in the gym is more technique focused. I’d recommend getting some instruction in order to learn the lifts correctly. The pattern of motivation to train is different. However I think overall lifting heavy takes you further on the strength journey. I started out with BodyPump but don’t think I’d get that much from going back to it now.

I think by 'lift heavy' it doesn't mean you have to be a beast, but generally people mean not those 2kg weights you get in Lidl or on the back of a peloton.
The first time I ever tried, without coaching or any training I could deadlift lift 95kg and bench 45. But never got much higher (120kg/50kg)
Ive seen some people only manage 35k deadlift to begin then progress to 95k. It's all relative.

Deadlift 70kg, Hip Thrust 100 kg, Squats 80kg, Bench 30kg, Push Press 22.5 kg

That's a good squatting weight OP!

Max I ever squatted was 56kg. Weighing about 55kg at the time. Deadlifting 72kg and benching about 38kg. Pressing about 35kg. I struggle with squats. Power clean was about 37kg.

I tend to get out of it due to work and illness (recently flu fucked me up). Now I'm back to 50kg squatting and today I felt my back tweak and had to lower it to 45kg. Sometimes I have bad days where I feel weak. Back early in the year I was fighting for my life so I've worked hard to get back lifting gradually.

My deadlift is also back down to about 58kg. I work back up again slowly. It's finding the time. Love it though.

I don't know what a hip thrust is. Is it like Romanian deadlift? I used to pull up too but need to get back into good habits. Illness is a bitch. DH said it's my mind that holds me back from lifting heavier.

It’s all relative. What’s heavy is what’s heavy for you. There’s absolutely no point in comparing yourself to other people, unless you compete of course. You should concentrate on improving and that doesn’t always mean more weight. Slowing down the movement, tempo and pause reps are all legitimate ways of increasing effort without loading more weight.

'Slowing down the movement, tempo and pause reps are all legitimate ways of increasing effort without loading more weight'

Very wise advice. It's not all about the number of kgs

I went back to the gym this morning after 2 weeks off with illness. I reduced my weight, my sets and my reps, and it still felt damn heavy! I felt like I had done a full workout, so that's what 'heavy' was for me today. In a couple of weeks time, 'heavy' will have changed again for me

As others have said, it's relative. Some of the lifters here are pretty good, but without context of their own weight it doesn't really mean much. Weight lifts weight, that's why you have weight classes.

This is exactly what I think is usually meant by ‘lifting heavy’. Lifting weights of which you can only do a small number of reps, as opposed to using weights for muscular endurance- light weights and lots of reps (Bodypump for example).

I’m sorry for taking so long to come back. This has made for some interesting reading, so thanks for all the replies. I’m not attempting to get into competitive lifting, I just starting in attempt to age well ( in my 50s around 65kilos) In the beginning I couldn’t even lift an empty (15kilo) bar so I’m proud of myself for making any improvement. I did wonder if lifting heavy meant a specific range, so thanks for all the info. We really mix things up, so one week will all be about 5 x sets of 10 and the next well do x 10 increasing the weight until we’re only lifting x 3 but much heavier.

I didn’t know hip thrusts were on trend 😂. I bet it’s a Kardashian thing, I only know that for some reason I find them easier. Back Squats are probably my favourite, I put the bench behind me and aim to get low enough to hit the bench with my bum. We don’t do bench so much, which is probably why that’s my worst, but again I couldn’t even lift the bar in the beginning so I’m still pleased with where I’m at now.