As I Suspected: You Do Not Need High Weight To Bulk/tone

[ouroborous 519]

That may be true for many women, but I am not the norm. I do bulk up a lot! That said it's mostly significant with what I'm eating, which if it's a lot of beef or pork along with lots of weight lifting, I absolutely do build up more than other women do.

That said I wouldn't know if actual heaviness would have anything to do with it. I never typically go over 15 Lbs, more it could be the amount of time I'm doing it. I don't really even lift weights at all, and much prefer calisthenics type of workouts to muscle tone (weight resistance). I also only do this about 3x per week and never 2 days in a row. But, as of Monday I will be doing the highly intense Insanity workout routine which calls to be done 6 days per week. We'll see how that fares.

Again, I am NOT in the majority though! I just wanted to put that out there, and maybe even find out if I am all alone on that boat. LOL!!

Ok... I just read your post again and I realize I'm speaking in FAVOR of your research, not against it. Very good!!!

Yeah, I'd wager that the majority of your routine goes towards aerobic workout/burning calories. You sound like you're predisposed towards bulk (probably higher testosterone than average for women; it's not a horrible thing, actually!), so you've probably self-tuned your workout away from challenging your muscles to exhaustion/failure, and more towards doing cardio work.

As I said, whatever works for your body is a good choice, but if you want to strengthen/bulk up specific muscle groups (which it sounds like you do NOT want to do), the weight/reps balance is less important than challenging the specific muscle to exhaustion.

[sleeve 4 me 910]

That's awesome. I am so weak in the upper body, and everyone keeps pushing me to do high weights with low reps. However, it really is hard for me and I just don't enjoy working out that way. This gives me a lot of hope that I can still look toned with weights I can manage and high reps. Thank you so much!

I am like you wishes! I'm glad to hear this as well...for my arms I'm keeping the same weight but upping the reps yayyyy!

[Lissa 2,631]

I am like you wishes! I'm glad to hear this as well...for my arms I'm keeping the same weight but upping the reps yayyyy!

I actually just bought a set of weights that includes 3, 5, and 8 lb weights, plus I have a smaller 3 lb set that I keep on my desk. I work from home, so I have a good bit of time where I'm just in front of the computer. After months of carving out time to "work out", I finally decided it would be a good idea to just use the weights at my desk while I'm stuck waiting on a download or a print session to finish. In just two weeks, I'm really seeing results from that idea! I still have batwings and probably will have them forever, but I can see improvement! That has inspired me to do more, like looking up chair exercises on You Tube and incorporating them into my routine.

One thing I don't see mentioned much is that stretching really helps as well. I've been working on getting a good stretching routine going and I feel more limber already.

[favoredone 590]

I've put away my excuses and a co-worker of mine (who's trying to decide which surgery to have) will start going to the gym after work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday... Then my bootcamp class starts next Monday... Pray my strength!!!

[ouroborous 519]

I actually just bought a set of weights that includes 3, 5, and 8 lb weights, plus I have a smaller 3 lb set that I keep on my desk. I work from home, so I have a good bit of time where I'm just in front of the computer. After months of carving out time to "work out", I finally decided it would be a good idea to just use the weights at my desk while I'm stuck waiting on a download or a print session to finish. In just two weeks, I'm really seeing results from that idea! I still have batwings and probably will have them forever, but I can see improvement! That has inspired me to do more, like looking up chair exercises on You Tube and incorporating them into my routine.

One thing I don't see mentioned much is that stretching really helps as well. I've been working on getting a good stretching routine going and I feel more limber already.

I am a HUGE fan of stretching, especially as I get older. Yoga is basically just "extended stretching," and I'm finding that it really helps my sore lower back and hips!