my exercise guru! i think you'd appreciate this story. so i've been following your regime with hiit and lifting heavier weights for lower reps. anyway i've been doing this for about a month now, and really doing it (like consistently doing it 3x a week for the past 2 weeks). i've noticed some results already and my arms are definitely starting to look more tone and have a bit more definition.
anyway so today i'm working out and this trainer comes up to me and says that he's going to show me how to work out "properly." he says that he sees me in the gym frequently and noticed that i use heavy weights and that if i need to tone i should use lighter weights and do less reps, or else i'm going to bulk up. i try to explain to him that since i'm a girl, i would have to make a concerted effort to do this, since genetically it's harder for women to bulk up in the same way men do. but he says he's been training women for 23 years. i then tell him how my friend (you) are a trainer and recommended using heavier weights/lower reps. which he totally dismissed.
it was so frustrating b/c he just wouldn't let me be and insisted that he knew better. i wanted to tell him to leave me alone, but i'm totally non-confrontational. the thing is i've done the lighter weights/more reps route before, and used to take strength training classes 3x a week, and it didn't really make much difference in terms of my overall definition. it was really frustrating to put in so much effort, and see so little result. plus when i looked around the class none of the "regulars" were in really great shape. at all.
I'm not Jen - but how annoying!! I hate it when people insist they are right like that. Just ignore him - or tell him you are getting results now versus before with his plan.
I cannot stress enough how little pt's know. I generally dismiss what 99% of them say. To be a pt, all they need to do is take some stupid test on what the muscles are and how to find a heart rate. Most, I really do believe 99% do not know anything about effective training. I hate to blow my own horn, but I do not base what I know on what Shape magazine says this month. Science and personal experince base my knowledge. And it's really common sense that lifting lights weights will be less effective than lifting heavy weights. Even if the two were equals (which they are not) think about it this way; you can lift a weight light 50 times and be in the gym for 2 hours, or I can lift my heavy weight 6 times and be out in 30 minutes. Which one? Anyhow guys at the gym always try to tell me what to do too. I just look at them, shake my head as say "Nope, not gonna work on me, I know what I'm doing." They usually leave me alone. If I weren't so nice, I'd point to their pot belly's and my abs and leave it up to them to decide if they should be giving me advice.
There are many different ways to do this. Change it up every few weeks. For example, right now I'm on a four day split. I don't want to ruin my June article so I'm only telling you a little bit now!
Day 1: 3 sets of 5 reps (very heavy weights, you should struggle to do this)
Day 2: 10 sets of 2 reps (VERY VERY heavy weights)
Day 3: 3 sets of 5 reps (again but different moves)
Day 4: 1 set of 50 reps (the ONLY time I endorse high rep work is with this program)
Science and personal experince base my knowledge. And it's really common sense that lifting lights weights will be less effective than lifting heavy weights. Even if the two were equals (which they are not) think about it this way; you can lift a weight light 50 times and be in the gym for 2 hours, or I can lift my heavy weight 6 times and be out in 30 minutes. Which one?
Jen and Honey,
I am so glad you guys posted this. For the past couple of years i've been lifting a pair of 5lb weights (10 lbs total) and I could fly right through the exercises and do tons of reps, but it was so boring! So this week I went to target and bought a pair of 8lb weights (16 lb total) and it is so much more fun 'cause it's challenging and the workout takes less time.