[daniela]

Originally Posted by sacha

Here are some general standards for strength (ranging from a female at your weight who has never touched a weight but can be taught to do an exercise with proper form to an elite athlete such as a weightlifter competing in the Olympics or national competitions)

http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLi...hStandards.htm

Thank you for the link, very cool! Just checked it out and I'm doing pretty good for the novice level. Need to work on my squat and bench, press & deads looking good. I don't do cleans might need to work those in somewhere. What day? Legs?

Sorry not trying to hijack your thread Belezura Actually I haven't been on here in a while but this really caught my eye today. mmm might need to read up more in the Weight and Resistance Training forum.

[sacha]

Originally Posted by daniela

Thanks sacha Agreed on your statement too. You should lift as heavy as "you" can. It's all dependent on your goals but I see so many women lifting such light weights when I know they can lug around a 35lb tub of kitty litter or a case of water or a 1yr old baby....all heavier then a 5lb dumbbell

I sometimes feel like I'm on a mission to prove women are not going to look like the hulk by lifting or lifting "heavy" for that matter. I'm truly in love with lifting and I couldn't be happier with the results I'm seeing and I want to share that info and get other women to embrace weight training

It is sooo true that people are generally misinformed about women and weight training (just scroll through pages on this forum and you'll see, "I don't want to get bulky"). It's a long hard road to convince them otherwise!

Grocery bags, lugging around a vacuum, carrying a toddler all day - ALL weigh more than the pink dumbbells.

STEP AWAY FROM THE PINK DUMBBELLS!

[sacha]

Power cleans are a full body power exercise, your legs may be sore, but your traps will be killing you.

[pintobean]

Wow!! I'm looking at the amazing pictures and absorbing all the information given here. I hope some day I'll look as great as y'all . I still have a long way to fit land. Thanks belezura for posting this question and thanks Sacha, Daniela and all you wonderful girls for great information and support.

[daniela]

Originally Posted by sacha

It is sooo true that people are generally misinformed about women and weight training (just scroll through pages on this forum and you'll see, "I don't want to get bulky"). It's a long hard road to convince them otherwise!

Grocery bags, lugging around a vacuum, carrying a toddler all day - ALL weigh more than the pink dumbbells.

STEP AWAY FROM THE PINK DUMBBELLS!

LOL awesome! You look fantastic BTW not at all like the hulk Just to toot my own horn here's a new progress pic. Warning I am in my underwear, it's not too revealing but I wanted to give you all a heads up if you are at work.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com//i...YS0jH1137.jpeg

I do have to admit that I do feel more self conscious at the gym now then when I was 240. I like the muscles that are starting to show (thankfully so does my husband) but I feel like I get more looks. I don't know if it's because some other men/women think it's too much muscle. I'm trying to not care what others think because I like it and that's all that should matter.

This body image stuff is tough sometimes huh?

[daniela]

Originally Posted by sacha

Power cleans are a full body power exercise, your legs may be sore, but your traps will be killing you.

Thanks for the warning hehe, got to look at that video so I can learn the proper form.

[belezura]

wow... I think I learned more in this threat about weight lifting than in months doing it.
I always try lift heavy (well, as heavy as I can) so I can see results. I never thought I would bulk from training.
I wasn’t doing deadlifts though. And a quick search online show me I NEED to start doing it since it is very effective.
Thank you again for all the info!!!

[borntobefine]

It all depends on your genetics. I build muscles easily. When I started working out again after 2 weeks of cardio - 45 mins daily and 3 times per week for 2 weeks of weight training you could see clearly defined biceps and quads.
If you are prone to muscles then weith training at least 3 days of week and half hour or so of cardio will not hurt you at all. If your body takes a long time to show definition and you have a lot of fat ramp up the cardio.
It all is about the look you want. A lot of studies contradict each other. Take what can help and ignore the rest.

[belezura]

I have one more question for you guys:

I noticed lately that when I work hard (usually when the weight is high) I can feel my heart beating jumps.
So is it possible that we work some cardio during weight training?

[daniela]

Originally Posted by belezura

I have one more question for you guys:

I noticed lately that when I work hard (usually when the weight is high) I can feel my heart beating jump.
So is it possible that we work some cardio during weight training?

Absolutely! When I do deadlifts, squats, pullups just to name a few my heart rate can get as high as 180 BPM! That's how high my HR is when I sprint! On my leg day I can burn almost as many calories as I would of doing an hour of cardio.

There are lots of ways you can mix things up with weights to also get a cardio workout