weights

[hellosunshine]

as part of my winter training ive been told to do "light weights with lots of reps"..........so,how can you tell if the weight is light/too light etc etc AND why not weights that make you strain more?is it the basis that we need muscle but not too much bulk????

[lph]

as part of my winter training ive been told to do "light weights with lots of reps"..........so,how can you tell if the weight is light/too light etc etc AND why not weights that make you strain more?is it the basis that we need muscle but not too much bulk????

Well, I'm hardly an expert on this, but I'm a climber and have asked around for my own weight training, and what I've been told is as follows:

You should always "train until failure". That is, lift those dang things until you just can't lift them one more time, and do a total of 3 sets with a minute of two of rest between each.

Given that you're training til failure, you adjust the weights according to the effect you want. Light weights = lots of reps (20+) = endurance and little bulk. Doesn't build much pure strength, though. Very heavy weights = very few reps (2-4) = max strength, and, they claim, not much extra bulk. Tricky if your technique isn't perfect. And then the middle range (5-15 reps) builds most bulk.

Take with a grain of salt

[tattiefritter]

as part of my winter training ive been told to do "light weights with lots of reps"..........so,how can you tell if the weight is light/too light etc etc AND why not weights that make you strain more?is it the basis that we need muscle but not too much bulk????

I wonder about this myself as being female its very very difficult to build muscle bulk no matter how heavy you lift, in fact its actually difficult for most males. When I can be bothered doing weights I lift quite heavy for low reps as I want strength (why else would I lift weights?).

For a good discussion of women and weight training without the bull, have a look at http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php it'll amuse as well as inspire you and probably answer most questions you have.

[Dogmama]

Ditto that website. Krista has some good advice.

Do NOT lift to failure. Your last rep (lift) should be difficult but the form should still be excellent and you should feel like you could have lifted once or twice more. If you get sloppy, you can get hurt. Remember that muscles build faster than tendons & ligaments. People will often get joint problems because they are lifting too heavy in the beginning.

If they want high reps, that usually means 15. I personally lift like that only on my light, recovery days. Other than that, I lift between 6 - 12 reps depending on the day. For example, one day I might lift 6 reps and 4 sets, the next day 10 reps and 5 sets, etc. At 15 reps, I'd probably lift 2-3 sets. I pre-plan all of this, so I know exactly what I'm doing when I hit the gym.

[lph]

Hey, good site! "Mistressing the pullup", cool. Like I said, take my "advice" with a grain, or maybe a handful of salt. I never have the guts to really lift to failure anyway.

Re: adding bulk - I agree, doesn't happen easily. It took a while, but years of rock climbing have finally put some pretty impressive biceps on me. Which most of the time I love, but come party time and slinky sleeveless dresses I try to refrain from crossing my arms. Just looks too weird

[indysteel]

I just met with a trainer at the Y to build a cycling-specific resistance training program. He essentially said what lph and Dogmama have already said. High reps/low weight build muscle endurance, while low reps/higher weights build strength. I'm doing the latter right now with my lower body because of my fitness goals, but I will probably incorporate some endurance resistance training too, especially as next season approaches. Neither program is supposed to build a huge amount of bulk, but I expect to see some modest changes in the size of my legs. When I finally graduated to heavier weights in my upper body routine, my muscle size did increase a bit. I'm actually using lower weights again because I don't really want bigger arms.

Kate

[tattiefritter]

Climbing is definitely good as overall body conditioning. I do a bit of climbing, mainly indoor these days - I find bouldering and trying to climb the overhanging routes to be a good workout. When I'm climbing regularly I don't tend to worry about weights so much. I also have fairly decent biceps from climbing (and forearms like Popeye) but I have a nice layer of lard covering them so it doesn't look too weird on me.

I would also second the advice about looking after your tendons and ligaments they take a long time to heal. I was getting right back into weights a few months ago but had to stop because I got tendonitis in my elbow which seemed to hurt no matter what lift I did. It also affected climbing and riding - road riding more than MTB. The tendonitis was not actually caused by lifting weights but when I was learning to pull manuals on my mountain bike! I was doing it wrong and doing something really silly with my right arm and ended up hurting it. It is still not quite right and I hurt it in May.