What Weight are you using?

Mindi

Cathlete
Last night was "leg" night and I'm back into my 'building strength' mode so I did MIS legs and LOADED my barbell. I had nearly 70lbs on that baby and my legs were royally shaking when I got done. For the dumbell lunges, I used 25s..

So I got curious about what everyone else does weight-wise when they work out?

What do you use?
 
Tomorrow is when the REAL soreness sets in..today I'm semi-mobile. LOL

Remember tho I'm the one who got FRIED on PH last weekend and I think that day I had about 30lbs on the barbell and in some of the upper body work? I couldn't even FINISH w/10lb dumbells!!! HUMILIATION to the max on that one.

:)
 
I've never been able to go above 40# cos I can't get the barbell off my shoulders, sometimes I would find myself sliding it off and letting it fall to the floor. I don't use it very much anymore as I find it bothersome. I feel I can go heavier with free weights and I'm not thinking, "get this thing off my shoulders". That's great that you can go that heavy, you must be pretty strong! I can go heavier at the gym on the machines, so when I want a change that's what I do.
 
You are one strong lady! :) I use 40#'s and that's plenty for me!I can use 20# dumb bells with lunges. Keep Strong - Susan
 
My problem is getting the weight safely over my head. The most I can load is 60# and safely get it over my head for lower body work. If I had another method of getting it over my head, I could squat more weight. I think 60# is my limit for static lunges though. I shake like crazy getting them out at 60#. And 20#db is the heaviest I've used so far. I wobble a bit too much when I use 25#db for front and back lunges. I can handle them for static lunges, but not moving lunges.
And we are talking heavy, slower training like MIS and PS.
For endurance work I toggle around 45# maybe 50# if I'm feeling "buff" that day! But usually 45# is my endurance limit, and 15#db for the lunges.



Donna
Fitness~It's a journey, not a race!
 
Well I've topped out at 70, like said above, I won't be able to lift any more over my head unless I get a squat rack or join a gym and work out there. I hate the thought of a gym! But I do love being strong! After this six weeks, then I gotta get to work on endurance..I have pretty much none, as I found out doing PH last Sat!
 
The most I seem to be able to get over my head at this point is 50 lb, and I can do slow and heavy legs with this much, not sure about MIS (WAY more reps!). Does anyone here use a weighted vest, and if so, can you reccomend a brand? I would like to get one, then I could keep the barbell at 40-50 (safer to get up) but add weights slowly to the vest.

Christine
 
I decided that I can't safely lift more than 45# over my head (shoulder stress issues), so I combine a 45# barbell with a 19# (supposed to go to 20#, but I can't see where the other weights go!) weight vest, for a total of 64#. I have begun to sub using my Rockit ( hybrid leg press/squat machine from Soloflex) for squats, and on that I work through sets of 120#, 150# and 170#.
 
Good idea on the vest. How about adding ankle weights? Are they safe to use for legwork and how much weight can you get on each ankle?
 
Ankle weights

While ankle weights will add resistance to floor work like donkey kicks and side leg lifts (though for the latter, it's better to put a weight above the knee to take stress off the knee joint), they won't add much if any resistance to standing work like squats and lunges. Even if they would, I think they'd put more stress on the knee joint than they would aid in developing the muscle. An alternative would be to use a weight belt (I have a set of 10# Ironwear ankle weights that can be strapped together to make up to a 20# weight belt). Then you would be putting weight in an area that would add resistance to sqauts and lunges.
 
Hi Mindi! I can safely use 58#s no more than that. When I was in the gym using the Smith machine I could easily squat 90#s w/no problem. I think we're all going to have to invest in a squat rack some day;-) Best, Kathy

PS: Are you doing BodyRX?
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-09-03 AT 05:50PM (Est)[/font][p]Yup I am KathyH, does it show? :)
 
((((OMG)))) :eek:!! All you ladies are awesome! I can't believe how much weight you can all lift! I feel so wimpy. I can't even usually lift as much as Cathe can in MIS. This the only strength tape that I have of hers. For the legs section of MIS, I always keep my weight at 25 lbs for the barbell. For the db's, I stay at 8#. For the rest of MIS, I usually stay around 10 lbs with my dumbells (sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more). But I can never exceed 15 lbs. From experience, is this around where everyone else started off?? Will I ever be able to lift more??? I'm wondering just how much the weight I can lift has to do with my size. I'm 5'1 and about 101 lbs.
Thoughts anyone???

Marisa
 
On the plb tape I topped out at 90 pounds on squats I can get that over my head but will have to use my bench as a squat rack the next time I go up.lunges barbell on 68 and dumbell 25.
Back-bent over rows is 90 on pub tape- 68 any other time 25 dumbell rows all the time.chest-58 all the time 25 on dumbells press and flys.
tricep 15 lying and extentions are 20 and (25 on pub).shoulders-20 side lats 15 front raise and 25 over head.
 
Marisa,
Don't get discouraged! It takes a while to build up to heavier weights, and I'm sure that many people here use lighter weights than some of the posters that have already written in. When I was at the very very beginning of weight training, I started with 25# squats, but I built up to doing 150# in the weight room over the course of a year or so. The important thing isn't how much you're lifting, but if you are using good form (it's easier to lift heavier if you "cheat", but it's also apt to lead to injury and get you into bad habits that will be even more hazardous once you go up in weight). Just be sure to compare your progress to what YOU are doing now. PH especially is tough! I started all of the exercises with lighter weights than what Cathe uses, and now I can do heavier on most exercises.
 
What Kathryn said goes double for me Shelia! "bows down" :)

Marisa, when I started out? 3lb dumbells were TOUGH for me to handle..takes time and love of the burn. :)
 
For some strange reason I can not lift heavy when I do a Cathe tape, but I can free squat 135lbs 20+ times at the gym. My best ever was 225 for 8 reps. I can not understand why I can go heavy with Cathe.
 

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