Sets, Reps & Weight - How Much?

 

Helloooooo Fitness Friday!

It's the perpetual question, "How much should I lift?"

More sets, or reps in a set, or higher weight, or higher sets?

Before we go any further, I want to declare to the universe, and particularly all the ladies out there: LADIES! YOU SHOULD BE LIFTING TOO! I'll get into the metabolism & looking great in tank tops another day. The term "Lifting" does not apply to just your upper body. You can train to lift when you're doing those squats for your booty!

Let's break it down into two groups: Those that want to focus on building muscle & strength, and those that want to focus on "toning" and endurance. 

If you want to focus on the first group, you're going to use higher weight and lower reps: Usually 5-8, but no more than 10 reps.

If you're in the latter group, you want to focus on lower weight, but higher reps, typically 12-15.

Theoretically you can have as many sets as you want, but 3 or 4 sets is normal for example purposes. 

I never had upper body strength as a dancer, and hated my wimpy arms. When I was able to be physically active again & started going to the gym, I wanted to do all the things I never did & work on getting the arms I always wanted. The past year, but more so the past six months, has been a wonderful journey for me in that aspect. About a week ago I decided I wanted to try flipping it & going for more endurance than strength for a bit.

Here's what a typical circuit might have looked like for me one lunchtime workout, when focusing on strength:

Chest Press / Incline Press: 8-10 Reps of 70lbs x 3 sets

Lat Pulldown: 10 Reps of 70lbs x 3 sets

Lateral Raise (Shoulder) 8-10 Reps of 30lbs x 3

If I were to do these tomorrow, my focus currently being on endurance, it may look like this:

Chest Press: 12-15 Reps of 50lbs x 3

Lat Pulldown: 12-15 Reps of 50lbs x3

Lateral Raise: 12-15 Reps of 20lbs x3

Generally, I like the rule of, "If you can get to 15 reps easily, the weight is too low."

Also, if all you can lift is 3-5lbs, that's fine too. A couple years ago my arms would get sore just lifting my laptop from my bed to my nightstand. We're all at different places in our lives, with different goals & different paths we must take to get there. The important thing is we try & we do what we can. 

If you are going for strength, you absolutely want to do each set to failure. If you find you're hitting 10 reps, or even 8, the weight is too low. Many people only do 4-6 reps when their work is focused on strength. Then there are the power lifters that go for a 1 rep max, but I'll leave that area of expertise to the pros.

Speaking of pros, I hope to have one of my pros on my blog within the next couple weeks! I don't want to jinx it so that's all I'll say for now.

Have a great weekend and get out there and LIFT! :) 

Samantha Marie