Good level of weights for active 40s woman?

[ajarintennessee]

I’m a typical schedule maxed out busy full time working mum of 3 young kids. I went to the gym yesterday and think I need some goals to work towards in exercise- I don’t know what’s good and what’s minimal. Most weeks I do 1x body pump class, 1 x 10k run, 1x reformer Pilates. My midweek lunch run at work has dropped off as was busy then I went on holiday and lost fitness and it’s a fast pace for me, but hopefully I can add it back. I’d like to get to the gym more often / work out at home more often, but there’s a really big washing pile and a messy house and work in the morning….
so, If you’re fit but not intense or daily doing weights,
how many full push ups can you do?
what would you call a good but not exciting weight level for leg press? Squats? Bench press? Shoulder press? Can you do a pull up?
what else should I be benchmarking?
thanks!!

oh can we be friends?! It sounds like you’re doing great! I have similar issues fitting in anything for myself around 2 kids and full time fairly hectic job. I started body pump once a week but the class at my local gym seems to get cancelled fairly frequently. I swim twice a week with the kids lessons and have just booked my first reformer class booked next week but it’s a separate venue so costs on top of my gym membership.. I’ve signed up for 3 classes then will see whether to keep it as a regular thing.

i’d love to be able to pop into the gym for 30 mins but I don’t know where to start / feel too intimidated to be honest.

At body pump I keep it quite conservative weight wise - usually only 3.5kg per side because it’s so fast paced and my class attendance so sporadic I’m worried about hurting myself if I go any bigger.

I cannot do a pull up nor a press up. I just think it’s beyond my body’s limits! You probably don’t want to be friends with me for that!!!

Have a look at symmetricstrength.com

You can put in your current numbers and get an analysis of your strenghts and weaknesses, or just look at the Strength Standards page to give you an idea of what to aim for.

I’d love to, but… do you have time for friends? 😆 the gym should have someone walk you around and show you how the machines work and how to use them. I just use basic ones- leg press, shoulder press, chest press, adductor,abductor,lat pull down, the supported pull up one. I’m off to look at @MagpiePi s link.

There is some serious weightlifting on that site :o I found a similar one as well and will do a compare later. It looks like i’ll be setting myself some novice level standards.

Don’t get intimidated by the numbers!
You’ll probably progress quickly to start with, which is really satisfying, and then be caught by the bug and want to start putting in some serious work 😉

I’d recommend getting a PT to show you how to lift free weights properly. You get far more benefits than with machines as you have to use stabilising muscles.

Just get started. There isn’t a weight. It’s different for everyone and should continue to go up as you get stronger.

It also depends on what you train. I’m a powerlifter so I can squat, bench and deadlift loads, but can’t do a pull up for example.

It’s better IMO to be proud of what you can do rather than having numbers in mind. I was very proud when I could squat the 25kg dumbbell, also very proud when I squatted 100kg. It’s not about the weight it’s about being proud of your progress whatever that is for you. If you have to have numbers then set yourself a goal which is a bit more than you can do now rather than comparing to others.

I would get a PT for a few session to show you a good form for deadlift, squats, RDLs and maybe some dumbbell exercises. Just get them to show you how to use the weights section and you can go from there with how much to put on the bar. It shouldn’t be easy.. but also shouldn’t be so hard you are straining to lift, and feeling all kinds of pulling.

i agree with you @RayKray There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what you can do, but it’s also good to see how far you could realistically go.

It depends what your focus is and what you're trying to achieve. If you want to build muscle and "bulk up" then you need be lifting heavier and less reps. My main focus is running so my weights sessions are more for basic strength and injury prevention, and not so heavy that I end up with DOMS for 3 days and can't run!! I have no desire to deadlift as heavy as possible.

I had a look at that link and found a similar one and they really seem to be targeting weightlifters- people who work out a lot! I am a beginner/ novice on both of them. I dont know if that tells me what I can feasibly aim for? I haven’t got time for that honestly. I have zero morning time as I’m up late every night and my dh leaves before 6, so I solo get 3 children to nursery and school and then I go to work. So it’s all in evenings along with all of our washing and tidying and homework and prep for school and admin and organising. I have volunteer parent roles as does dh , and our school age kids do sport all weekend.

I do have a powerlifter in the family, young adult male, and I know how much he trains!! I know how to do free weights, but am not getting to the gym regularly on top of my other exercise. I squat 20kg at body pump and have been quite proud of getting up to that.

I would like to be stronger, so I need to get to the gym not body pump for that, but also I just need to do more pushups , core and pull ups at home- I can do a couple of half pull ups 🤪 I don’t have a particular interest in bulking, and zero time for special diets. My strength goals are really just 1. A healthy level of strong, 2. Toned, which will definitely be achieved with 1 , and 3. supporting running. I would like to run more and in 4 or 5 years when we don’t need a parent at home/with kids every second of the day, do another half marathon.

I'm always tight for time when i go to the gym as I tend to go in a morning before work. Work smarter not harder! I tend to do supersets of 2 or 3 exercises on the same piece of equipment with minimal rest between each until i've done a full set. As I don't lift heavy to fail that works fine.
This morning this took me 30minutes (3 sets of 8-12reps on each):
Lat pull down machine
Leg curl machine
Leg extension machine
Tricep extensions & face pull as a pair on the cable machine
Barbell bench press & bent over row as a pair
Bulgarian split leg squats & Barbell squats as a pair

can you explain more about supersets of 2 or 3 exercises on the same equipment until you’ve done a set? I’ve pretty much always done 3 sets of 8-12 reps when doing weights.

it's 3 sets of 8-12 reps but do one exercise followed by the other and then rest. So i tend to do things that use the same piece of equipment or "complimentary exercises" e.g. a push and a pull type move. You can do the same with bodyweight stuff as well.

I think squatting 20 kg at pump is really good well done! I agree with pp, especially with what you do I don’t think I’d aim for a weight target, rather just keep progressing/adding weight gradually etc.

As you get more time back you can do more again ☺️

So you've got a pull-up bar at home?

Given you are short of time, I'd cut the machines, and do calisthenics, either at home or in the gym. Big compound exercises:

Pull ups (using bands, holds and negatives as needed) for back
Chin ups (ditto) for biceps
Push ups - chest and triceps depending on hand placement (diamond hands for tris, or can do bench dips)
Pike push ups (shoulders)
Hollow body holds and hanging knee/leg raises for core
Upper body done!

You can use stairs/steps for hands and feet to vary difficulty of push ups and if at the gym you can use a barbell set at waist height or bit higher for inverted rows and bodyweight bicep curls.

Have a google for more details on any of this and look at eg Meghan Calloway on insta for pull up tips, or search for threads on here.

If you want to get stronger you need decent rests and many fewer reps than body pump.

Machines are fine, but they do isolate muscles (hence popularity with body builders tho you won't bulk without trying and training very specific sets and reps for that) and it is more time-consuming that way, and means you need to make sure you aren't missing anything out as well.

Early-40s here.

Since I turned 40, I've been setting myself a weights goal every six months.
My first goal was being able to do 8 full press-ups.
My second was squatting (8 reps) my own body weight.
My third is deadlifting (8 reps) my own body weight.
Once I've achieved that, I might see whether five pull-ups is do-able.

It's a good way to keep my gym on track and give myself something to aim for.

What about getting some 6kg or 8kg or 10kg dumbbells to keep at home for doing various arm and shoulder exercises? For upper body workouts on days you dont have time for the gym. You can also do dips using the bottom of your couch to hit the back of the arms too. With a lesser weight you can also do side arm raises. And you can then use the weights for doing split squats, rdls etc

These are great, although I have to google pike push ups and hollow body holds.
i have a removable pull up bar on a door frame, but what happens is I put it up, a few days later my 6 & 9yos are swinging on it, dh takes it down (it does feel unsafe like the 9yo could dislodge it and fal) a month later I put it up again, rinse and repeat. So it’s not quite a permanent fixture…

😀yes I had one of those, not great! I've now got a pull up bar permanently fixed to the wall outside.....if you think cali might work for you it could be worth getting....or there are calisthenics parks in more and more local parks and estates now - often next to children's playgrounds....

I’m early 40’s and learnt a lot from doing the Caroline Girvan beginner programme. I’d love to do more of her stuff but don’t have and hour that many of her workouts are. I just do 30 mins a couple of times a week based on exercised I learnt from the beginner programme