How Much Weight Should I be lifting?

[Lil_Doc84]

I have a question for the personal trainers on this page. I am 5'1 and 105 lbs. How much weight should I be lifting? I normally lift 10-12 lb weights for 12 reps and three sets. I am petite but more of a mesomorph than an ectomorph. What sort of program should I be doing? i am 25 years old and starting to notice a decline in muscle tone in the back of my legs. I used to be a sprinter in school so this is unusual for me. Any suggestions?

[EVO-PT]

I have a question for the personal trainers on this page. I am 5'1 and 105 lbs. How much weight should I be lifting? I normally lift 10-12 lb weights for 12 reps and three sets. I am petite but more of a mesomorph than an ectomorph. What sort of program should I be doing? i am 25 years old and starting to notice a decline in muscle tone in the back of my legs. I used to be a sprinter in school so this is unusual for me. Any suggestions?

How much weight you should be lifting for what?????? bench, squat, dead???? - work these out i.e have a testing day 1rm and it will be much easier to build your program and %'s.

There is no such thing as tone - if your not seeing as much "tone" then your either putting on weight (fat) or dropping muscle.

[Lasharm]

I have a question for the personal trainers on this page. I am 5'1 and 105 lbs. How much weight should I be lifting? I normally lift 10-12 lb weights for 12 reps and three sets. I am petite but more of a mesomorph than an ectomorph. What sort of program should I be doing? i am 25 years old and starting to notice a decline in muscle tone in the back of my legs. I used to be a sprinter in school so this is unusual for me. Any suggestions?

More info is needed to help you...

[KyleAaron]

You should lift a weight which challenges you.

People vary a lot in the weights they can move when they first get into a gym. An experienced trainer can make a rough guess, but the usual way is simply to begin the person with the bar or lightest weight, get them to do the movement, if they obviously find it easy, up the weight. When the person's form starts to break down because they find the weight hard, the last weight they did is the right one for them to start on. This is the weight that'll challenge them.

As a beginner to weight training, just begin with the bar or lightest weight, and aim at 3 sets of (for example) 6-8 reps. If you can do 3 sets of 6 reps, in the next session aim at 3x7. If you can do that, in your next session 3x8. Once you've done 3x8, add weight to the exercise and drop back to 3x6, and so on.

Rest for 1 minute between sets.

Lift three times a week.

There exists a continuum of exercises, the more technically difficult ones are for younger, fitter or more bodily aware people, the easier ones are for older less fit less bodily aware people. At 25 you are young, and as a former sprinter you will be bodily aware. We don't know about your current fitness. So I say that most likely you will do well with barbell exercises like squat, bench press and deadlift.

Thus,
3 times a week, with a full clear day in between,
5 minutes on the elliptical or skipping to warm up
squat 3x 6-8; add 10lbs each time you go up
bench press 3x6-8; add 5lbs each time you go up
deadlift 3x 6-8; add 15lbs each time you go up
after workout, stretch for 5-10 minutes

allowing 1 minute for loading the bar and the set itself, and 1 minute's rest, the weights part of the workout should take you 20 minutes. Add in the warmup and stretching, and it's 30 minutes in all. That's all a beginner needs.

on 3 of the rest days do 30 minutes of light-moderate (not heavy) cardio; improved cardio fitness helps with lifting (especially recovery between sets) and recovery from it.

With weight training, at some point you will stall. You'll be in there (for example) trying to deadlift 150lbs 3x8 and manage only 8,7,5. This is where you must remember why we call it progressive weight training. You must always progress. That means more, more or more - in each workout, more weight than last time, or more reps than last time or more sets than last time.

So if you got 8,7,5, no worries. In your next workout try for 8,8,8 again. Suppose you got 8,7,6 - that's more reps than last time, so you're progressing, good. But suppose you only manage 8,7,5 a second time. Well, you are not doing more weight, or more reps, so you must do more sets - add a fourth set, even if you only get 3 reps.

Eventually you make the 8,8,8 and away you go. You made 150lbs 8,8,8, so in the next session you can make it 165lbs and try for 6,6,6.

Best of luck.

[flexapeal]

I have a question for the personal trainers on this page. I am 5'1 and 105 lbs. How much weight should I be lifting? I normally lift 10-12 lb weights for 12 reps and three sets. I am petite but more of a mesomorph than an ectomorph. What sort of program should I be doing? i am 25 years old and starting to notice a decline in muscle tone in the back of my legs. I used to be a sprinter in school so this is unusual for me. Any suggestions?

More info is required....... what exercises are you doing with the 10-12lbs?

[infernooo]

Nice reply Kyle - my only addition would be to throw in an exercise for the back and possibly shoulders... while the shoulders will get some action from the bench press, I would still add barbell row for upper back, lats and biceps and shoulder press for the shoulders and triceps.

[caseykaldal]

You should be lifting as much weight as possible.


Cheers,

Casey Kaldal


http://www.AdviceForPersonalTrainers.com
Online resource dedicated to the success of fitness professionals. Topics ranging from health and nutrition to fitness marketing, courses, salaries and job opportunities.

[KyleAaron]

Nice reply Kyle - my only addition would be to throw in an exercise for the back and possibly shoulders... while the shoulders will get some action from the bench press

Deadlift done properly will strengthen the shoulders generally. When you lift off the ground, the force travels from your hands up through your arms, through your shoulders, to your scapula, down your back, through your hips and knees and into your feet. People have deadlifted 900lbs, that's 450lbs per arm.

Surely 450lbs of force should dislocate your shoulder? Why doesn't it? Because the posterior deltoids, the rotator cuff muscles etc pull the humerus in, the rhomboids retract the scapula, and so on. Deadlifts properly performed, beginning with a light weight and progressing to heavier weights, will strengthen the shoulders generally.

One person I train has hypermobile joints, meaning that her ligaments are looser than normal. So her muscles try to do the work of her ligaments, giving her pain in hip and shoulder. Her rotator cuffs are always playing up, the supraspinatus being impinged upon. She spent a couple of years doing the gym-given 10-18 exercise workout, and pain was always around. She has spent a month deadlifting - or rather, doing low rack pulls, she began on 30kg and is up to 50kg, when she gets to 60kg we'll drop the safeties and it'll be a proper deadlift - and things have improved for her considerably. Why? Because her shoulders are getting stronger, particularly posteriorly.

And it's very common for people I've trained to have the office hunch, giving them weak and long rhomboids, etc. Where they have the bodily awareness, I begin them with deadlifts or rack pulls. The less bodily aware ones begin with cable rows, the medium ones get one-armed dumbell rows.

I would still add barbell row for upper back, lats and biceps and shoulder press for the shoulders and triceps.

I would not. Once you say, "but what about muscle X?" and add in one or two exercises, there's muscles Y and Z, then A and B - it's endless. We end up with 15 or so exercises.

A beginner needs to keep things simple, and to be consistent in their efforts. Lifting weights is a skill, doing a squat or deadlift properly is a skill. It's best to keep the number of lifts to a minimum. This lets the lifter focus on them, see quick progress and be encouraged by that progress, and stick to their workout, be consistent.

Remember that something like 90% of new gym members bail in the first three months. And modern gyms tend to prescribe 10-18 exercises per workout, give them a brief showthrough and then leave them to it. So the person is overwhelmed, spreads their effort among lots of exercises, sees not much results and gives up.

Consistent effort over time gets results. Keeping exercises to a minimum number helps effort be consistent.

Not that I expect Lil_Doc84 to be back to respond anyway, the ones who post in the PT subforum for advice are almost always drivebys...

[infernooo]

Deadlift done properly will strengthen the shoulders generally. When you lift off the ground, the force travels from your hands up through your arms, through your shoulders, to your scapula, down your back, through your hips and knees and into your feet. People have deadlifted 900lbs, that's 450lbs per arm.

Surely 450lbs of force should dislocate your shoulder? Why doesn't it? Because the posterior deltoids, the rotator cuff muscles etc pull the humerus in, the rhomboids retract the scapula, and so on. Deadlifts properly performed, beginning with a light weight and progressing to heavier weights, will strengthen the shoulders generally.

One person I train has hypermobile joints, meaning that her ligaments are looser than normal. So her muscles try to do the work of her ligaments, giving her pain in hip and shoulder. Her rotator cuffs are always playing up, the supraspinatus being impinged upon. She spent a couple of years doing the gym-given 10-18 exercise workout, and pain was always around. She has spent a month deadlifting - or rather, doing low rack pulls, she began on 30kg and is up to 50kg, when she gets to 60kg we'll drop the safeties and it'll be a proper deadlift - and things have improved for her considerably. Why? Because her shoulders are getting stronger, particularly posteriorly.

Whilst I agree that deadlifts will help with shoulders, a push press or shoulder press is a great exercise to futher strengthen the delts and a great compound exercise for anyone.

And it's very common for people I've trained to have the office hunch, giving them weak and long rhomboids, etc. Where they have the bodily awareness, I begin them with deadlifts or rack pulls. The less bodily aware ones begin with cable rows, the medium ones get one-armed dumbell rows.

Exactly, another reason to do avoid neglecting the back (rhomboids, lats, teres maj/min etc).

I would not. Once you say, "but what about muscle X?" and add in one or two exercises, there's muscles Y and Z, then A and B - it's endless. We end up with 15 or so exercises.

Yes but that is taking things to the extreme, I am talking about neglecting one of the biggest muscle groups in the body (more specifically, the lats and nearby muscles).

Remember that something like 90% of new gym members bail in the first three months. And modern gyms tend to prescribe 10-18 exercises per workout, give them a brief showthrough and then leave them to it. So the person is overwhelmed, spreads their effort among lots of exercises, sees not much results and gives up.

Consistent effort over time gets results. Keeping exercises to a minimum number helps effort be consistent.

Agreed, but I think adding 2 more exercises is not really going to make the difference between make or break, and at least I would know he is directly working all of the major muscle groups.

Not that I expect Lil_Doc84 to be back to respond anyway, the ones who post in the PT subforum for advice are almost always drivebys...

LOL, agree completely with this... never seem to get thank you's either do we?

[askthetrainer]

I have a question for the personal trainers on this page. I am 5'1 and 105 lbs. How much weight should I be lifting? I normally lift 10-12 lb weights for 12 reps and three sets. I am petite but more of a mesomorph than an ectomorph. What sort of program should I be doing? i am 25 years old and starting to notice a decline in muscle tone in the back of my legs. I used to be a sprinter in school so this is unusual for me. Any suggestions?

This is the most impossible question for personal trainers to answer often times...

Let me just say the #amount of weight you lift is completely insignificant to the effort you put in to your lifting...