raising weights

[nightowl81]

I know alot of women here are up to 20lbs+ dumbbells. How did you work up to so heavy? How long did it take you to get there? How often did you raise your weights? I did Pyramid Upper Body the other day and my arms were turning to jello on 3-5-8s (dont laugh) I would like to work myself up to atleast 12lb-15lb dumbbells comfortably. I see how heavy Cathe and the crew are lifting in 4DS; wow..I can't believe they can handle all those exercises and that many reps. I'm not going to be getting arms like Cathe on 8lb dumbbells.

Whats the best way to work on my strength in my upper body? Any tips and suggestions? The workouts I mentioned are endurance, so would I still gain strength with them? Would P90x or Slow and Heavy type workouts help ?

 

[Carol_is_fit]

I have found the best way to be able to increase my weights is by making sure my pre, peri and post workout nutrition is optimal. I also push myself to lift heavier each week, but I'm careful not to push to the point of actual pain. It takes a long time, and everyone is different. Sorry I can't be more specific. It's such an individualized process.

Carol

 

[teddy16410]

I know alot of women here are up to 20lbs+ dumbbells. How did you work up to so heavy? How long did it take you to get there? How often did you raise your weights? I did Pyramid Upper Body the other day and my arms were turning to jello on 3-5-8s (dont laugh) I would like to work myself up to atleast 12lb-15lb dumbbells comfortably. I see how heavy Cathe and the crew are lifting in 4DS; wow..I can't believe they can handle all those exercises and that many reps. I'm not going to be getting arms like Cathe on 8lb dumbbells.

Whats the best way to work on my strength in my upper body? Any tips and suggestions? The workouts I mentioned are endurance, so would I still gain strength with them? Would P90x or Slow and Heavy type workouts help ?

P90X has you lift in the range of what you want to accomplish....Tony is great about reminding you of that in each workout. 8-10 reps 0r 12 - 15 reps

STS will actually walk us through the 3 full phases of training with the meso cycles and the % of 1RM to use in each of those meso cycles.

To increase strength I found the BEST way for me was to ALWAYS log the weight you lift & note the reps (P90X was wonderful for that) ... The next week when you do the same workout (or same exercise) you reference the log first and then up your weight load a bit. If you add even 1/4 of a pound each time you do the exercise you will soon be lifting much heavier than you currently are. The muscle must constantly be challenged.

So....
You used 3,5,8's for one of your PUB exercises...This week try increasing the weight by 1 # and see if you can squeek out the reps...If not- do as many as you can with the heavier weightload and finish your reps with a lighter weight... Thats why so many of us love platemates and weighted gloves - you can add weight incrementally vs a full 1-5 #s

On a side note.... If you havent posted your question in Open Discussion you may want to do so to get more info from the great minds in Cathe-land.

Good Luck!!

 

[lioness]

I agree with Carol. It's an individual thing. I did a workout with a friend and he just handed me weights that were heavier than what I previously worked out with. I was able to handle the weights so I just started pushing myself to go heavier from then on. I realized that I wasn't pushing myself and just sticking with the same weights.

Now when I feel that I can go heavier, I just pick up the heavier weights. If I can't finish the reps with that weight, I'll drop back down but next time, I just add another rep with the heavier weight until I can do all of them with that weight.

 

[kathryn]

I think the key to increasing weights is finding the optimum workout/rest ratio. After you have worked out with weights for a month or so, make sure to lift as heavy as you safely can for each exercise. The last 2-3 reps should be hard, but doable, but you shoudn't be able to do one more rep with good form.

Try to increase the amount of weight you use for each exercise on a regular basis. You might do the first set of an exercise with a heavier weight, for example (and perhaps fewer reps if necessary---when working out in a gym, and not following someone on DVD, one often works within a rep range, like 8-12. You start out using the weight that brings you to failure at 8 reps, then increase reps as you can, until you can do 12 reps for two workouts in a row. Then you increase the weight to one that you can only use for 8 reps, and work back up again---this is a standard protocol used in bodybuilding).

The Pyramids are more endurance workouts (especially with the short rests between sets--I always add longer breaks when doing PLB). One way to be able to lift heavier with these workouts is to add a longer break between sets (not TOO long, just enough for some added recovery).

P90X would be excellent, IMO (it's my favorite overall program, so far...along with several other Tony Horton workouts).

I agree with Teddy that it's important to write down how much weight you used on an exercise, as well as notes like "could go up" or "HEAVY!" or whatever will cue you to go up in weight next time or stay the same. I've been doing this for years (since I started weight training in grad school--and I still have those notebooks where I can read what I lifted back then).

I always write out what exercises I'm going to be doing (if I don't have it written down already somewhere, I just 'preview' the workout by chaptering through it) and decide what weights to use. Once you get to know what your body can do, you can pretty much determine what weights you'll be able to use (though some endurance workouts, like Jari Love's, are deceptive!).

 

[meowracer]

I guess my first question is which part of PUB do you use the 3-5-8 on? Second thing - have you heard of Pace Weights? They are magnets in .5lb increments that you add to your weights to gradually increase the amount you are able to life. The important thing is that you are working at it, and wanting to improve, and are not going all crazy and lifting something that you can't and then getting hurt! So way to go so far! Just keep it up, follow the other advice of eating right for your workouts, and you may want to look into the Pace Weights. I think it is paceweights.com

 

[maddiesmum]

I think meowracer makes a good point. If you re using 3/5/8/5/3 on the shoulder exercises, this is just fine!

The thing to remember about PUB is that it is a very fast paced endurance workout, not a strength workout, although you will make strength gains if you are new to the workout. To lift heavier, you need to have longer rests in between sets and lower reps, as Kathryn suggests. I can lift much heavier weights on S+H than I can on PUB. Not a surprise. This is why I often do my own thing, so I can take the rest time I need to ensure I continue to make progress with weights.

I find that drop sets also help to build up the poundage. This, you will have to do on your own because Cathe has no DVDs that follow this method. You target each muscle group with 2 or 3 exercises. You might start bench press with 50 pounds on the barbell and only be able to crank out 6 reps. Great! You immediately drop the bar to 45 pounds and crank out maybe 8-10 reps. Immediately drop again to 40 and crank out maybe 12-15 reps. This is what I do. I continue all the way down to 25 pounds, decreasing the weight, amping up the number of reps but not usually going beyond 20 reps, not much gains from that. Once I hit 25 pounds, I switch to endurance mode and crank out faster single reps, interspersed with half reps/low ends as Cathe uses on many of her endurance DVDs like CTX upper. remember though, that with drop sets, there are no real sets and therefore no real rests between pound loads. You only rest for the time it takes to take plates off the bar, or pick up the lower size of dumbells. Note also that platemates are very useful for gradually increasing your loads.

Each time that I do this type of workout for the upper body, which, as an ectomorph, is where I have trouble increasing the poundage, I can gradually increase the number of reps I can manage at 50 pounds. Once I can hit 10-12 reps at that weight,I'll increase my starter weight for drop sets with bench press for chest.

I do this for each upper body muscle group, spread out over 2 different days of the week, once every 2 weeks. It exhausts each muscle group and helps me make strength gains.

Clare

 

[pebblesus]

Great advice on here! Hope it helps you.. heres a little from my personal struggle with this..

I had this same issue.. my progress was painfully slow.. then I did some research and experimenting..
Diet and proper nutrition is over 70% of your results.

I finally broke through my "plateau" (if you will) when I decided to start "strength" training (instead of just hypertrophy).
I track all my exercises, sets, reps and weights.

Find a weight you can do for X amount of reps. Each set do X reps, with whatever rest you need to be able to recover enough to do those reps again. When they become easy and you feel you can do more on the last two sets, increase.

For example..
Squats: I picked a weight I could do 6 reps. with 1 minute rest I did them (sometimes requiring a rest pause method). After a few workouts I was able to get to 8 reps, so then I knew I had built enough strength to move up in weight, and back down to 6 reps again.

Another option to try would be to pick a challenging weight and do the first set to failure. Pick a rest time and stick with it. Go to failure on each set that follows. If the weight you picked was challenging enough, you shouldn't be able to do the same amount of reps throughout all the sets.

another example..
Shoulder presses with barbell: I started these with (X) weight. The first time I did as many reps as I could (it was 10). I rested 45 seconds then did it again til failure. The reps were 10-8-7-7-6.
Next time I will increase 5 lbs and do it again and see how many reps I get, with the same 45 second rest. My goal would be to do 8 reps and I would contunue with this weight until I accomplished this.

My point is that you have to test your abilities and figure out your limits. Use them as starting points. If you dont know what you want to accomplish it will be hard. My goal was to get more reps with a given weight over a couple workouts, increase the weight and work up to the same amount of reps with same rest.
Your goal can be similar if you want it to be. (sorry, I wanted to include some working examples to make is easier to apply-- hope it helps hehe).

Ways of tracking progress:
Same weight / shorter rest
Heavier weight / same rest

I would pick one of those that you think you'd prefer to use and use it to plan out a routine.
Keep a log so that you know the weights you used, the reps you were able to do and the rest you used in between (if you use the second option above).

Make sure you're getting your nutrition down and at least your weight in proteinn (more if you're looking for more muscle).

Sorry its long, but I know how confusing it can be to figure this out-- so I hope I havent confused you more :T Good luck!