Better to lift heavy and not finish reps or lift light and finish all reps?

[medieval7]

Hi, everyone. Admittedly, I take a rather haphazard approach to my fitness, but I'm not overweight and I'm fit and toned. Plus I'm 50, but I'm pleased with how I look, even though I'd like more definition in my upper arms. Shoulder work I still find difficult. For instance, it's only recently I was able to finally complete one (albeit shaky) pike. With weights, I've read that women should approach it like a man (i.e., they lift more poundage than they think they can) because then we'd make more progress and build muscle fiber faster. What do you all think about this?

Should I try this to make more progress? What about the let-down feelings I get when I can't continue with reps?


Susanne

 

[kathryn]

Hi Susanne!
Weight training is probably the only area where failure is a good thing! But that's hard to get used to, especially when working out with videos that have a specific rep count (that YOU want to make, too!). (That's one of the reasons I like P90X workouts: you determine your own rep count on most moves).

Ideally, you will choose a weight that allows you to complete all reps, with the last 2 or 3 being tough, and being unable to do more with good form. That doesn't have to happen on every set, but at least on the last set.

If you are fairly new to weight training, though (it's not clear from your post how much you have done, or exactly how 'haphazard' your training has been), you might want to back off a bit from that, as you get used to using correct form.

And congratulations on a pike! Cathe and crew make them look easy, but they are tough!