I am curious as to how much weights all you experienced ladies are lifting. I want to see how much I have to build upto! At what point of time do you decide that you have become strong enough and do not plan to increase weights?

I am exercising again after an hiatus of 3 years (had a baby, demanding job etc. etc. ) and I found the advice posted by Meg on starting weights to be very applicable for me. I am 36 years old, weigh 150lbs and am 5 ft 3in

Back rows: 10#
Chest press: 8#
Shoulder press: 5 or 8#
Bicep curls: 8#
Triceps: 5#

I do not have the bandwidth to go to a gym right now and am lifting free weights at home. I have weights ranging from 3#s to 10#s and I am wondering if should get some more!

I would love to hear from you on your current weights for the exercises listed above and more exercises if possible.

Thanks
Lal

Well, I am by no means as experienced or as strong as some of those who will be posting but I did start out like you so here goes.....
I have been lifting for a year, do it ALL at home with dumbbells and barbells, and bought new stuff as I needed it. I found a set of adjustable dumbbells that I could use my weight plates on and that has saved me a ton of money. It depends on the type of training I am doing, but for straight sets where I try to hit failure around 8 reps, here are the numbers for the dumbbells.

Back rows: 38#
Chest press: 25#
Shoulder press: 15#
Bicep curls: 15#
Triceps: Not sure which exercise you are wanting to know about but I will use my number for kickbacks as they are my weakest tricep exercise and for those I can do 8#

I hope that helps.

Keep these things in mind as you gather answers from this thread:

1. Strength is relative to body size. Comparing the lifts of someone 5'2" ~155lbs to the weights lifted by someone who is 5'5" 190lbs is like comparing apples to oranges.

2. Your initial gains are going to be very rapid because much of your early progress to going to be neurological in nature and not just muscular. Your body is going to learn to and be more efficient in recruiting the muscle fibers that you already have. Your nervous system will also become less inhibited, that is it will be more willing to send a stronger signal to your muscle as it becomes aware that you can lift heavier weight without harm. These neurological gains come quicker than actual muscle growth. Therefore, someone who has been training for even 6 months may seem way ahead of you, but you will close the gap quicker than you may think.

3. You did not ask to specify whether these weights are for 1 rep max (how much you can lift for 1 rep) or for multiple reps and if for multiple reps, how many reps. If your typical routing is doing sets of 10-12 reps and your weights are based on that, looking at the answer of someone who is giving you information based on a 1RM or even a 6-8 rep scheme is like comparing apples to oranges once again.

4. The only comparison that really matters is how much you lifted this workout to how much you lifted the previous time you did the similar workout.

How much do you have to build up to and when should you stop increasing weight? Those answers are very specific to the individual IMHO. My answers would be that you only need to strive to improve on your prior workouts, no standard that you have to work up to. You lift to the best of YOUR ability with the body you were given to work with. When to stop? I'll stop when I feel the benefits gained from extra strength are outweighed by potential injury risks. For instance, I seldom do overhead presses and when I do, they are light-weight because I feel the risk to my shoulders outweighs the benefits. This is right for me. It is not right for everyone. However, I feel I can still go heavier (much heavier) on my squats before I need to slow down.

Speaking of squats, you didn't list a weight for those. You are squatting aren't you? Nothing builds overall strength faster than squatting.

I'm also wondering how many reps you are doing.

Right now, I have a range of weights from 5 to 20 lbs. I need to convince DH to go buy me some 25 lb weights soon or something because for bigger muscles 20 lbs isn't doing it.

It is really an individual thing though so if you are doing 10-15 reps with 10 lb dumbbells with good form, then I'd say you need some bigger weights. If you are struggling doing 15 reps with 10 lb dumbbells, then I would say you are where you need to be right now.

Also, you might want to look into some adjustable dumbbells. For women upper body, sometimes a leap in 5 lbs can be a bit too large and dumbbells tend to go in 5s.

There are so many variables in the answer to your question. After you have been lifting for a few months (and I think you do need to buy some heavier weights!) you initial strength gains will taper off without concerted effort to increase the weight. After a while (years?) you may find that you don't want to increase the weight. You also need to assess your goals. What do you want to look like? Why are you training? Strength? Hypertrophy? Overall athleticism? To complement weight control? Are you doing a full body workout with two sets per exercise or are you doing a split and going to failure or near failure on four or five sets?

Personally, I couldn't amass enough equipment to do an effective leg or back workout in my home for my goals and strength levels. I have dumbbells up to 35 pounds at home, a bench, a ball and an olympic bar...but no squat rack or power cage. But my goals are somewhere between a non-competing bodybuilder and a powerlifter, which is not everyone's cup of tea!

You can also use the weights that you have and combine them with some imaginitive bodyweight training. I no longer bench press due to injuries to my forearms- but I do lots of varieties of pushups- decline, explosive, one legged, one-legged decline, weighted, etc. Works the same muscles, doesn't require much equipment, and doesn't require a spotter.

There are also ways to make an exercise harder with the same weight- sitting, standing, sitting on a stability ball, sitting with one leg up, standing on one leg, standing on balance discs...all these factor into how "difficult" a particular weight is for the same person. It takes more energy and uses more core muscles to do a set of rows while balancing on one bent leg, then do the second set while balanceing on the other leg. You may need to use a slightly lighter weight, but the overall work performed is greater.

As Depalma said, what is important is that your workout the best that you can do. Comparing it to someone else's is pointless- I'm smaller than you, but I've been lifting seriously for a zillion years. If I compared myslf to someone who was training specifically for power, it would make no sense either.

Mel

From beginner to beginner...

I have never been disappointed getting heavier weights. If you think you need them you probably do so I think you should go for it.

I am at the point where I need something heavier too.

Also to ditto what Mel said about body weight exercises. Push ups pull ups (or my version of pull ups which resembles hanging) etc. Squats lunges One legged squats (!!!).

That said I feel like I'm getting a reward when I get something heavier its very exciting to get the feeling that you will have to do some real work to move the weight.

And setting new goals nd accomplishing them is very rewarding.

Thanks for your replies. I am doing 10-12 reps and am aiming for strengh and toning.

The reason I asked this question is that even when I used to lift weights at a gym earlier (about 3 years ago) it did not seem like I got much benefit. Perhaps I was not pushing myself enough. I really want to do better this time and wanted to get some data. Of course I do see the point about my previous weight being the best guage.

I also plan to add more exercises such as squats which I have not been doing till now.

Hi, once upon a time I also lifted and I'm getting back into it. A couple threads talked about The Body Sculpting Bible for Women, so I picked it up. It's a good reference and it helps me quite a bit.

Welcome and good luck!