reps, sets, free weights? help.

[Deleted User] · August 2010

Sooo I'm hitting the gym pretty hardcore, but seeing little results, I know my diet is good, I eat 1500-1700 a day depending on activities. I'm not looking for diet tips though, I'm curious how many reps/sets I should be doing? i am looking to tone up. I do cardio anywhere from 20-60 minutes depending on whether I'm doing weights or not.

I am also wondering whether Is houold be using the weight machines or free weights??

mp375 · August 2010

I suggest free weights. For women looking to tone you should be doing 12-15 reps using a weight that makes the last 3 reps pretty tough. Hope this helps!

raynes · August 2010

Check out the book New Rules of Lifting for Women (link). This book has seriously changed my life. It lays out a 6 month program of exercises and provides a schedule for sets and reps as well as providing excellent exercise instruction.

Another one to look at is The Female Body Breakthrough. I've read it, and plan on doing it when I finish New Rules, but I can't speak exactly to how the program works.

Check out these sites for other workout plan ideas:
http://www.stumptuous.com/category/training/workout_ideas
http://stronglifts.com/strength-training-for-women/ (the 5x5 program here looks good)

Free weights are much better than machines, since you need to engage more muscles to stabilize yourself.

As for how much weight you would be doing, it should be challenging. You should be able to complete your set with good form (good form is key), but probably not 2 or 3 more good form reps.

The key to building muscle definition is progressive overload, ie, constantly increasing the weight you're using. So once you get to the point where you can easily complete your sets with a certain weight, increase it. You will not get bulky.

cdream05 · August 2010

Raynes... What month are you in in the workout plan? What kind of results? I am interested in getting the book!

Do you do cardio as well or mostly lifting?

raynes · August 2010

I'm on Stage 7 (the last stage) but I did skip Stage 6, as the book says you can if you're more interested in fat loss than strength gains. I started in the middle of January, so I'm a little behind, but that's ok. I do well with just 2 lifts a week.

Most of the stages include HIIT or a metabolic finisher, and that's all the "cardio" I do. Keep in mind though, that a strenuous lifting session gets your heart rate up as much (if not more) than "cardio". Steady state cardio is pretty well useless, but it all depends on your goals.

The book talks about ways to include other things (like running, or yoga/pilates) into the program.

I really recommend that you at least read the book. It totally changed the way I look at both food and exercise, and I think I'm a much healthier person for it.

raynes · August 2010

Oh, for results, check the Progess page of my blog. At my last check I'm down nearly 13 inchs and 9 lbs of fat (or 4% body fat). My strength gains are quite noticable too. Especially when play fighting with my H.

[Deleted User] · August 2010

So typically I do 2-4 sets of 13-20 reps each, I do heavier lifing, so much so the last set is pretty brutal. ?

raynes · August 2010

That sounds pretty good. Maybe experiment with adding in some low rep sets with heavier weights too (like, 6-8 reps for a few sets).

[Deleted User] · August 2010

that sounds great!! thanks so much!!!!

reps, sets, free weights? help.

Re: reps, sets, free weights? help.

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