Has Anybody Heard of This or Tried It?

[Anne]

I read an article on the net about lifting weights. It basically promoted lifting once a week but lifting the max ammount that you can.

It said that you do this to work your muscles to the max and it builds more strength and muscle because they work harder to repair themselves.

And as a result because your muscles are working harder your metabolism goes up and you burn more fat.

Just curious if anyone has heard this and if anyone has done it? I need more muscle but don't want to look like a manly man. LOL No female body builder look for me please :D

~Anne

[bigkat]

Most everyone I know that does weight training will say to rest 24-48 hours between sessions for the same muscle group. I've sometimes had to lift only once per week when things got real busy, but that was pretty much to maintain my strength rather than get stronger. Right now, I try and do 4 total weight lifting workouts per week, so I hit each major muscle group twice per week. A lot of people do full body workouts 3 times per week, that's a good idea too.
As for lifting the max amount, it depends what you mean. If you mean maxing by lifting the heaviest weight that you can lift one time, then that's probably not a good idea (good possibility of injuries with little upside). But if you're talking about maximum intensity, then that is a very good idea and it's something that you should slowly work towards as you master the lifting techniques. I try and go max intensity at every weight lifting workout.
By the way, I had a coach who had been coaching many years and has taught many weight training classes and he's talked to many women who wanted to make sure that they didn't get too big, but he's only met one who actually got to where they thought that they were too big.

[UberHouseWife]

My best friend does strength training twice a week with free weights, she enjoys it a lot! She gets informal strength training of sorts on a daily basis though... she works on a ranch, training horses, moving hay bales, etc...

[Multimom]

The standard among the weight lifting community is this:

To bulk up: Use heavy weight and few repetitions.

To tone and strengthen:

Use light weights with lots of repetitions and gradually increase your weight (adding weight only about once per week to increase strength).


Either way, you should use VERY SLOW, VERY CONTROLLED MOTIONS BOTH DIRECTIONS.

For example on the bench press.

Push up slowly while breathing in.
Release slowly while exhaleing.


Yes when I was young I was into weights and lifting. It made me feel strong and confident.

Now at 41 I feel well..... flabby.

Also lets quickly dispel the myth that muscle not maintained becomes fat.

Muscle tissue cannot convert into fat.

The muscle may become soft after lack of use, a mild form of atrophy, but it does NOT turn into fat.


Any other questions????

[Bluejo]

Just curious if anyone has heard this and if anyone has done it? I need more muscle but don't want to look like a manly man. LOL No female body builder look for me please

I was in the same frame of mind! However there is nothing to worry about. Gaining muscle is not the same as looking like a lady on the cover of muscle magazines - they exercise for insane hours, every day, eat special diets, and so forth. They are focused on bodybuilding. For most other people it would just never happen. Our primary focus is not muscle contests, right? Even men who are fit and lift weights normally do not look like Mr Universe.

The really fit women I know lift weights, run a lot, eat healthily and have a healthy, normal layer of fat covering all their muscle and would never be mistaken for bodybuilders. Actresses, maybe, but not bodybuilders. ;)