Weight Training - Lifting weights

[Joby1970]

This is a thread for anyone interested in lifting weights ...

For the record I managed 55KG bench press this week.
I go to a local authority gym & have a couple of kettlebells at home & some 20kg dumbells.

Joby- I will join on you on this as I am interested in starting. My arms are pretty toned already and I wouldn't want them any bigger, so would be interested in what I can do to avoid that.

Thanks for starting this Joby and congrats again on the huge bench press. I have never benched but was doing alternating dumbbells chest press last night and was struggling to do my 4 sets of 8 with 14kg dbs, not a chance a could bench 55kg based on that!

Do any of you have any specific aims? Mine is to be able to do unassisted chin ups by the end of the year, and to that aim I am currently trying to drop some body fat as I figure the lighter I am the easier it should be . Good workout last night, can feel the DOMS starting to kick in now.

Do you mind me asking what you thought of the NROL for Women book Joby (I think it was you that said you'd read it)?

notyummy, according to the tape measure my arms have only got smaller since I started training but I now have far more definition than before. They do tend to look bigger immediately post workout but this to be expected and doesn't last long. There are meant to be different rep ranges that you can work in depending on what you are aiming for, so endurance is high rep (12-15), strength is low rep (4-6) and hypertophy (gaining muscle mass) is somewhere in the middle from what I can remember. I alternate my workouts every few weeks to I work across all of the different ranges. I wouldn't worry too much as muscle is hard to build and easy to lose so if you see your body changing in a way you are not happy with you will be able to change it.

Notyummy - Lostgirl is the real guru on all this.

Lostgirl - I quite liked the book. Haven't yet got round to doing the circuits properly tho - need to work oput how to fit it into my other exercise. Also I have been told I need to do more cardio.

My current aim is a body "similar" to Jessica Ennis. She does a thing called cross training & can deadlift 100KG!

I just really want to be able to lift heavieer & heavier stuff - but any woman you speak to in RL says ..but you'll get to muscular! drives me potty

I am going to join this thread....

Inspired by lostgirl ventured into free weights area although only picked up 12.5kg bar.... fine for bench press, dead-row, squats and lunges (set of 10 of each). Didn't try dead-lift, will try with 15kg bar next time....

I would like to be able to do real press ups!
I would like some definition in my arms.
And I am training for triathlon, so anything that helps with strength for that is good (esp arms for front crawl).

And reduce my body fat down from 25%.

foreverondiet There is an article by Rachel Cosgrove regarding weights and triathlon training which you might find interesting here.

If you want to be able to do real press ups then don't do them on your knees, always do them on your hands and feet but start on an incline so your hands are resting on a bench or something. If there is a smith machine at your gym then this is about all this piece of equipment is good for as well. Once you can do a couple of set then lower the incline so your hands are closer to the floor. This way you are slowly adding transferring more weight onto your upper body, therefore gradually increasing the weight you can push. It won't be long before you can do them off the floor.

Joby, I would love to have a body like Jessica Ellis. Why have you been advised to do more cardio, and what type? I thought you already did quite a bit with your boxercise etc.

LostGirl - When I do boxfit my trainer says that he can tell I'm struggling on the longer boxing/sparring sessions where you are hitting the pads hard & fast - he says that I need to do pure cardio in addition to my weights etc. & to be fair I do much prefer the stations that involve resistance exercise than the cardio bits.

Foreveronadiet - I cannot imagine EVER being able to do a triathlon - I do go swimming once a fortnight but can't imagine doing it outside!

Have you been doing any HIIT Joby?

Yes I use the Tabata method (which I assume is just a specific HIIT technique) and it can work wonders on cardio abilities if you use it with sprints or cross trainer. It HURTS though....

Not a specific HIIT - but I have to do intervals on the treadmill as cannot keep up a consistant pace anyway.

So on the treadmill do you run until you have to stop and walk and then go back to a run after a rest or do you follow a 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off type pattern. What sort of speeds do you go at?

Rowing machines can be great for interval sessions. The concept II rowers generally have little games on them that are based on interval training. Short and sweet, but tough and effective.

I run til I have to stop & then walk. I'll look for the games on the rower - but I think ours might be a bit old

Joby1970 - do you mean 55Kg is your 1RM for bench press?

Try this either on cross trainer, bike or rower (low resistance to begin with unless you want to be hospitalised...!) It also works for running outside, but not really good on a treadmill because you require to change speed radically so often.

20 seconds maximum (eye popping) effort at top speed.
10 seconds v slow recovery.
Repeat 8 times, so 4 minutes in total.
Do NOT do it at the beginning of a session, as you will struggle to do anything meaningful afterwards. It is a killer. The first 2 or 3 reps dont feel too bad, but it builds so by the end you should be dying....

Libra "do you mean 55Kg is your 1RM for bench press?
" pardon - do not understand

Notyummy .. the PT had me doing similar last sunday - 30 secs v fast, 30 secs slow - for 5 mins on both the xtrainer & the bike

Joby 1RM means your 1 rep maximum i.e. the maximum weight that can be lifted for one repetition with perfect technique.
It's a useful figure to know as you can then use that figure to work out what weight you should be bench pressing depending on the training objective. i.e if you are strength training and your 1RM for bench press is 55kg then you should be looking at 1-5 reps, 2-6 sets and the weight would be approx 46Kg (85% or higher of your 1RM).

I've never been able to work out my 1RM's as I have no one to spot me and the idea of being trapped under a bar whilst no one notices is not appealing! It does make it much harder whenever I start a new programme though to work out what weight I should be using for each exercise, a lot of trial and error and what feels like a wasted workout.

Tweaked my shoulder the other night whilst doing push presses so having a few days rest and getting lots of foam rolling in.

notyummy tabatas kill don't they? It's amazing how long 4 minutes can feel like!

Lostgirl is right, if you do fancy trying to find your 1RM ONLY do it if you have an (experienced) spotter and do some trial reps first to warm up. LG won't a member of staff help you at the gym?

Unfortunately not, there is only one member of staff on at a time and they are normally doing inductions if they are in the gym at all. Really need to find a new gym, I was told the other day that I can no longer use the box meant for step ups to actually do step ups anymore as someone fell off it the other day. The stepbox is now only to be used for storage... Good point about warm up sets, I'm sure the reason I've hurt my shoulder is because I didn't do enough warm up sets and went too heavy too quickly [idiot]

Thanks for the info ref 1RM. I have never done this, so may give it a try at the YMCA gym I go to sometimes....there are a lot of serious weight trainers there whom I think would spot me if I asked nicely! Am slightly wary of the staff as a lot of them are 'gym pastors' who are there to talk to you about God whilst you work out. Fine if that is what you are there for....but not my bag!!

'Gym pastors' ipods are a blessing in the gym for numerous reasons! The staff at my gym just don't seem to know much at all. When I had my induction the member of staff had no intention of showing me the weights and told me he would just show me the cardio machines as weights would make me bulk up . It is such a shame that most gyms are simply about getting as many people in as possible and doing as little as possible so they can't be sued, rather than actually filling the gyms with good pieces of equipment and knowledgeable staff who can really show you how to train properly.

Lostgirl - I feel for you re the people in your gym - mt Personal Trainer spotted me but I'm sure if I asked one of the other trainers in the gym would (& that's in a local authority one) - have you asked them where you are meant to do step ups?

Gym pastors - Jesus who needs that!!

re the 1RM - I was just seeing how heavy I could go so we started at 20kg & worked up. 55Kg was as far as I felt I could do it without grunting like I was in labour!

Grunting like your in labour goes with the territory I'm afraid. You should see the faces I pull, thankfully I am oblivious to the noises I make as my ipod means at least I can't hear them

Apparently if we have to do step ups then we should use the treadmill . The fact that this is only about 8 inches high rather than 18 inches high makes it pretty unsuitable, never mind that they are the most used piece of equipment in the gym.

How on earth are you supposed to do step-ups safely on a treadmill? That sounds like one of the most dangerous pieces of advice I have EVER heard.

Oh no it gets worse, the other suggestion was to use the steps on the assisted dip/pull up machine... Yes, the steps which are about 3 inches by 6 inches... This is meant to be a safer option than using a large wooden purpose built for weight training step...

unbelievable - can you complain