Weight lifting / increasing muscle mass for WLI weight loss and maintenance

[MeridaBrave]

Inspired by another thread, this is for those of us who are weight training for WLI maintenance or weight loss, or those who want support and handholding getting started with weight training

@KrankyKumquat just wondering, can you do them on the floor but on your knees?

Yes. It feels like my elbows just lock when there's my full weight on them

@ShrankLastWinter weirdly comforting to know I'm not the only one 😅

how about negatives? What really helped me to get from knee push ups to full ones was pushing up on knees, then straightening legs and lowering in full position.

It’s practice as you need good upper body strength. I can do around 40 full press ups. I don’t think it’s the “female anatomy. But I had to work at it.

Start on knees with back parallel to the floor. Once you can manage 10 that way, straighten your body so you are still on knees. Again no point in trying a full press up until you can do 10 that way. Practice many times a day (and eat enough protein for muscle growth).

Will try this next - thank you!

Actually 5.5kg of muscle is a massive amount. Most people don’t realise how slow muscle growth is.

truly huge amount. I doubt you really lost that much as some of it will be connective tissue, glycogen or fat within muscle.

Oh that’s neat, I’ll also try that.

I’ve been practising with my hands on a bench too to make it a bit more achievable.

My DH and sons can just do them, which is annoying.

@ShrankLastWinter according to my Renpho scales, I've lost 2stone in muscle mass ie 12 kilos!!! It's a wonder I can get out of bed 😅.

My OH is also annoyingly good at them, is 10 years older than me, and does no exercise, besides bimbles with the dog. He also refuses my advice about his elbows flaring.

Does anyone else feel somewhat overwhelmed by just how much you have to do tmjist to stand still as you get older? I mean I do heavy lifting, with a pt once a week, then I do body pump, with fairly heavy weights once a week, largely because dd likes going together and frankly anything an 18 year old will do with you you do, then I do reformer twice a week because otherwise I a) can’t touch my toes and b) things go twang when I try and pick up and put down heavy stuff, then I have a 50% hit rate of making a spin classes once a week to try and do something for cardio…which means slow progression everything but nothing you’d really want to drop! I know an extra heavy session would be good but with ft work, and single parenting 3 dcs it ain’t going to happen!

Also find it depressing that having lost 20kg, my body pump squat weight is literally only 5 kg heavier than body weight squats were when I started!

I don’t have time to read the whole thread, but here are some suggestions for YouTube trainers I have found extremely useful for weight training with dumbbells:

Heather Robertson
Growingannanas
Caroline Girvan (pretty hardcore - not for complete novices)

To weight train effectively and minimise risk of injury, you need a solid core/strong abs. Try these… also on YouTube:

Rebecca Louise - best abs
Caroline Girvan - Braced core and abs

Plus the Bowflex 3-minute plank which is extremely effective, especially if you do it every day. Do whatever you can and work yourself up to 2 or 3 minutes. It may take 2 months or more but it’s totally worth it.

@Morereadingthanposting I know what you mean, train to stay the same. But the alternative would be to be an old frail person though. I teach Bodypump and I have a regular woman in her 80s - she looks and more importantly moves like someone half her age. Now that's goals.

Bodypump squat is limited by what you can lift over your head. I’m currently using 34.3kg (the bar is 2.3kg so that’s a 10 a 5 and a 1 on each side). I push myself to increase the weight whenever the instructor says it’s a shorter track or a lower track. I’m getting to the point that it’s hard to lift the bar. I hope to move up soon by changing the 1kg plates for 2.5kg. But bodypump isn’t a good measure of strength. Better to try squatting in the gym witn a rack.

Well, sort of. If you lose weight without strength training and enough protein, then muscle can make up about 40% of the weight you lose. For me that would have been nearly 14kg. Whereas with only pretty moderate strength training, it was 5.5kg or 16%. Someone training more could minimize it more, but I needed to spend a lot of time on flexibility and physio rehab stuff. Only really going for it on the strength side now I’ve worked up enough basic strength and enough bendiness not to hurt myself.

I’m now at BMI 23.5 with 25% body fat and 48kg of muscle, which isn’t bad for a nearly 50 year old desk-based academic. Plenty of wobbly zones to tighten up, though. And I do want to manage those chin ups.

48kg is very impressive - mine wasn’t even that when I did a dexa - although it’s generally over 50kg on the various BIA scales.

Yes - it’s a balance - I didn’t lose any muscle (per the BIA scales) but that was with an insane amount of weight lifting, accept not possible for most people. I guess the main thing is to be aware of the risk and look to gradually gain some of the muscle back over time .

I think I’m an example of the answer to ‘is it worth starting doing some weight training?’ being YES!

Any is much better than none.

Yes - any is better than none - very true.

Oh wow, my dream is to do a pull up/chin up! But I feel like one day I will. I start every session with a few sets of assisted pull ups or chin ups (alternating).

Separately, I’m going to try one some additional core work on my ‘off’ gym days (thanks for the YT trainers PP recommended above) as this is a definite weak area for me. It’s also my ‘finisher’ and when I’m short of time the final core exercise tends to get sacrificed.

I know, I squat much heavier in the gym, it’s just a chastening reflection that when I started wlis I was squatting nearly as much without adding any weights, and it still doesn’t feel easy! I usually try for three heavy sets each session shifting which body part they are, two lighter recovery ones and th rest my “average” weight at the time as so many people I see in pump just seem to plateau at a point where I wonder how much they really get out of it. I’d rather eg go heavy for back and lighter for shoulders or vice verse than muddle along mid weight in both, I usually lose at least one set to spending it correcting dd’s form as well…. My last pull up was just before I got pregnant last time and youngest is now eight. I’ve never been able to pull up at over 60 kg but scales this morning said 59 so am thinking it feels like a good goal to train for again! Even if it takes a while….

I want to be that 80 year old in thirty years’ time! I think it’s retraining my mentality from goal orientated (run this race in this time, play team sport at certain level etc) to longevity and maintenance mentality. I’m finding it a little hard to do- you have to chose more micro goals rather than exciting big hairy targets. I know it’s the right thing to do, and eg Pilates is really important, it’s just not the same buzz if you see what I mean?

I get the squats issue in BP - my current challenge is that I can't put another kilo on, as it won't fit on the bar. But going up extra 2.5 straight away is too much.

For participants I always offer that if they want to try more weight for squats but are worried they can't get the bar off later, I can always help. But has to be a manageable class size for that so I can keep an eye on everyone.

At some points you have to jump up by 1.5kg on both sides ie 3kg in total, but yes after 35kg the jumps are bigger as you run out of space on the bar.

I’m not there yet - using a 10,5 and 1 on each side so can swap the 1’s for 2.5kg plates. But yes after that (35kg) the next stop is 40kg. but 35 is really 37.3kg so that’s a lot to clean and press overhead.

You obviously have different bp bars- ours have essentially no weight but oodles of room- I’ve never seen anyone run out of room on them. I keep reading about the new body pump heavy classes coming, which I’d love but can’t find anywhere that offers them. I use the local council gym so 40 to a class which rather precludes hands on help ( also why I make sure I coach dd on good form to stop her hurting herself) On the flip side she is en pointe to help me with my bar post squats if needed

I do body pump heavy when I can, but it's unfortunately at a time where I frequently have a meeting to attend. I really like it.

I also went to my first lift club class and liked it. I think there were only 10 in the class. It will take some figuring out what weights to go for I think for different moves. I obviously want heavier than Body Pump. The instructor wasn't much help, as he suggested starting weights that were far too easy/light. We quickly added more weight though to find what worked. He did at least help in relation to posture/stance so I was glad of the feedback to know I was doing it properly (once corrected)

Ooo can I join please?
Have been training with a PT for about 20 months now - I am 50 and perimenopausal, and was 35lbs heavier then. Started Monjaro in October - have about another 11lbs to loose.
I definitely have more muscle in legs and arms - my bum is very flat too now though.
Planning to up my gym sessions and really try to progress with lifting. It’s just very slow. The WLIs have made me really exhausted and dizzy at times.
Focused on protein, fibre, and mostly no alcohol.
Feeling tonnes better since losing the weight but am still wanting to feel stronger!
Oh have discovered a love of boxing training too. So all in all much healthier than I have been in previous decades!