Ask James Fitness Questions!

[navane]

Originally Posted by CutiePie2000

What magazines that says "It doesn't matter" are these articles published in?

Military and firefighting fitness articles.

If it's Oxygen or Muscle & Fitness, those are pretty good.

I guess I selected correctly.

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the effect you're referring to is less important for lower-weight "circuit"-style training that most women employ (as it is primarily based on slower/less efficient ATP replenishing) and/or can be somewhat offset with more time in between sets, right? Although since navane is going to the "next level" these may well be completely obviated.

Hrm...I'm not even sure what is considered lower or higher weight for women. For example, among many things, I use 15lb barbells for chest press (more if on the machine), 40lb seated row and 60lb lat pull down. I do 2 sets of 16 reps along with cardio, crunches, stretching, etc, etc. I often see women in there with the 5lb weights and I wonder what it's accomplishing.....though, I don't know if 15lbs is really anything to brag about either.

.....Kelly

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by navane

Hrm...I'm not even sure what is considered lower or higher weight for women. For example, among many things, I use 15lb barbells for chest press (more if on the machine), 40lb seated row and 60lb lat pull down. I do 2 sets of 16 reps along with cardio, crunches, stretching, etc, etc. I often see women in there with the 5lb weights and I wonder what it's accomplishing.....though, I don't know if 15lbs is really anything to brag about either.

.....Kelly

With the amount of reps you're doing, I would consider those lower weights.

As far as the amount of weight people are using - for some people, if that's the only way they can use correct form and pace in lifting (i.e. not bouncing the weights up and down like a mad person), then that's fine. If, however, they're just bouncing the weights all around, and there's no resistance or effort, then they probably should be trying slightly heavier weights.

Then again, it all depends on how you feel (or, if you're working with a licensed, experienced personal trainer, what they think you should be doing).

[AGDee]

And it depends on your goals. A very good friend of mine who is orthopedic surgeon suggested, since I am doing a high protein/low carb thing and need to increase my metabolism that I should use the highest weights I can and lift to failure, even if it's only 8 reps. By "lift to failure", he means do reps until until you can't do them anymore, your muscles are incapable of doing one more. He said it's a quick way to build muscle fast and increase your metabolism. His thoughts were that if you're doing as many as 30 reps of something, you're not using enough weight. By doing it this way, you are creating microscopic tears in the muscle. You release Growth Hormone to repair those tears and, that greatly increases your metabolism. I have used this method over a period of time twice now and it seems to be what works best for me. You cannot do weights like that every day. In fact, he said I absolutely have to wait at least 48 hours between weight workouts to do it this way.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by AGDee

And it depends on your goals.

Exactly, and I'm a good example of how that could change. Before I started law school, I was lifting mainly for strength and building "quality" weight. I was pretty thin and had really low body fat (around 7-8%), so I was doing the high weight/low rep workout pretty frequently.

Now, after three years off from working out, I'm trying to cut down on the excess fat, so I've moved to doing more reps and more cardio. Many of the exercises are the same, but I've changed the way I do them.

Like AGDee said, it's dependent on your individual goals and where you want to go with your overall health.