[GinnyT]

What do you guys consider "heavy"? Is it a percentage of your body weight? How do you set goals for strength building? Do you ever stop trying to go heavier?

[tikanique]

Lifting heavy is different for everybody. For instance, Mel can squat 300#, Ilene 115# and I can squat a whopping 35#. I am not lifting as heavy as they are but with the amount that I am lifting-for my strength level, I get to total muscle failure - which means that I have worked the muscle to the point that I can NOT do one more repetition. Some people will do 3 sets w/12-15 repetitions, others will do more or less. I do 4 sets - 12 reps, but find that by set 3, I can't get past 10 reps. That is a good thing. As for your second question, I am too far down on the weight rack to even think about not trying to lift heavier. My current goal is to be able to squat 100# by summer's end, but I know that once I achieve that, I will just change the goal and keep going higher.

[3fcuser1058250]

Lifting to failure or heavy is so different for everyone, just like Tik said. It's extremely gradual too and not a body percentage thing I don't think, I've never read that anyways. Also heavy for you will not be heavy for me, and what's heavy for me will not be heavy for Mel ... Make sense?

When do you stop going heavy? Well your body and joints will tell you that its time to stop. Sometimes you just don't want to go that high anyways and/or you change up your routine because of boredom. I know I can go higher than 115#, I have done it, but I could never have done it yesterday without hurting myself because I had changed my routine a while back and hadn't squated in a very long time, it would take me a month or more to get back up to where I was.

It's all relative I guess...

[JEC]

It's basically comes down to personal strength so yes it is somehthing that you have to figure out yourself. Lifting heavy takes real exertion though compared to lifting light which is where you barely exert yourself. After a heavy set you NEED the rest period to recover and psych yourself up for the next set!

JC

[Mel]

"Do you ever stop trying to go heavier?"

I think Tik, Ilene, and JC summed up what "going heavy" means, but I want to add to the second question. It depends on your goals and what you want your body to look like. When I worked my way up to my now infamous 305# squat, my quads and hamstrings became proportionately too large for the rest of my body, especially because my calves refuse to get bigger. So I've lightened up and increased repetitions on quad exercises. (Don't scream- this is bodybuilding heresy!) The result is a leaner look for me. I seem to be able to build quad muscle indefinitely. However, that hasn't proven true for the rest of my body, so I'm still increasing weight on just about everything else. My muscle don't seem to be getting any bigger anywhere else except maybe my pecs and back, but they haven't reached my personal "too big" point yet.

When I was squatting heavy, I did feel like I was approaching the load limit for my joints. I think I'm 1/2" shorter

Mel

[GinnyT]

Thanks for the replies!