What Does Lifting Heavy Imply for Girls? A No-BS Information to Getting Stronger

“Raise heavy shit.”

It’s greater than a slogan—it’s a name to arms. A problem. A permission slip. And for a lot of ladies, it’s the lacking piece of their coaching.

For generations, we’ve been fed a watered-down model of strength: tiny pink dumbbells, infinite reps, and exercises which might be solely “value it” in the event that they depart us sweaty, sore, and exhausted.

It’s time to alter that. It’s time for workouts that make us stronger and extra empowered.

To do this, we have to lift heavy just a few instances per week. So let’s break down what that truly means—and why it issues a lot.

What’s Energy Coaching?

First, let’s speak phrases.

Resistance coaching is a basic time period used to explain train that makes your muscular tissues work in opposition to a weight or pressure to construct muscular power, endurance, and dimension. This resistance can come out of your physique weight, free weights (like barbells, kettlebells, and dumbbells), weight machines, cable machines, or resistance bands.

Energy coaching is a kind of resistance coaching the place the purpose is to extend the power of your muscular tissues. It often entails lifting heavy weights for fewer repetitions (round 1-5 reps per set), with longer relaxation durations in between units, so you may maintain lifting heavy. Coaching to extend power is basically about depth – lifting as heavy as potential for just a few reps whereas sustaining correct kind.

Hypertrophy coaching is a kind of resistance coaching the place the purpose is to extend the dimension of your muscular tissues and your muscle mass. It usually entails extra reasonable weights and better repetitions (round 6-12 reps per set), with shorter relaxation durations in between units. The important thing to hypertrophy coaching is extra about quantity – doing extra work (units/reps/complete weight) in every exercise.

Whereas each power and hypertrophy coaching will end in muscle progress and power positive factors, the emphasis is totally different. Hypertrophy coaching results in better will increase in muscle dimension, whereas power coaching leads to bigger power positive factors.

Your particular person objectives decide which method or mixture of those approaches is healthier for you.

Usually talking, if you happen to’re trying to construct muscle mass and “seem like you raise”, hypertrophy coaching could also be extra appropriate for you.

In the event you’re aiming to enhance useful power and energy, then strength training may be the best way so that you can go.

Coaching Energy vs. Hypertrophy: What’s the Distinction?

Let’s break it down:

• Energy coaching = lifting heavy weights for fewer reps (1–6), with longer relaxation between units. Objective: get stronger.
• Hypertrophy coaching = reasonably heavy weights for reasonable reps (6–12), shorter relaxation. Objective: enhance muscle dimension.

Each approaches construct muscle and power so a mixture of each is good. And sure, ladies ought to do each.

The Science of Adaptation

Energy is your physique’s response to a particular problem or stimulus—one which requires extra muscle fiber recruitment for much less repetitions. Your muscular tissues adapt to that particular stimulus by recruiting extra muscle fibers in order that the subsequent time, the identical problem feels simpler.

Within the first 6–8 weeks of coaching, most of your positive factors come from neural variations—your nervous system studying the right way to recruit your muscular tissues extra effectively. Muscle achieve (hypertrophy) tends to lag behind, nevertheless it comes with constant effort.

Progressive Overload: The Key to Development

Progressive overload means you step by step enhance the load, quantity (units/reps), or depth of your coaching over time. That’s what tells your physique, “Hey, if you’d like me to degree up once more, you could up the problem and provides me a cause to get stronger.”

That is the rationale why you may get superior beginner positive factors from a exercise or exercise plan nevertheless it stops working after 4–8 weeks. Your physique adapts rapidly. With out development, you plateau. However that’s only a signal that you could change one thing up – quantity, depth, frequency – to maintain seeing progress. However the magic by no means stops if you happen to keep constant and intentional.

What Does “Lifting Heavy” Even Imply?

An important factor to know is that the time period “heavy weights” is relative. It means no matter weight is heavy for you. There isn’t a magic quantity you could hit to be deemed as lifting heavy.

For instance, you don’t have to be squatting 2x your body weight to reap the power positive factors out of your lifting. It merely a matter of making use of sufficient stimulus to your physique that your physique is pressured to adapt. That’s how power is constructed—your physique step by step builds the “circuitry” wanted to make it really feel simpler to do the subsequent time you raise that very same weight.

However a 2017 research discovered that most individuals select weights for his or her power coaching workouts which might be too mild to maximise power. That implies that many people are leaving plenty of power positive factors on the desk once we do our power coaching exercises.

So how do you ensure you’re lifting sufficient?

Many weight lifting coaches and private trainers will prescribe the load for use as a proportion of the lifters 1-rep max (or the utmost quantity the lifter can raise for that resistance coaching train for just one rep). Most inexperienced persons to weight coaching won’t have established their 1-rep max and that’s utterly high quality—establishing a 1-rep max will not be one thing you could do as a beginner to weight lifting and even as an intermediate or superior lifter who isn’t competing.

So as an alternative, I like to recommend utilizing your individual expertise of the hassle as proven within the graphic under.

Within the RPE scale graphic, you’ll see two numbers that are each primarily based in your subjective expertise when weight coaching—they’re Price of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Reps In Reserve (RIR).

RPE refers to how laborious (on a scale from 1 -10, 1 being a chunk of cake and 10 being completely maxed TF out) the load coaching train – with the load you’ve chosen for the prescribed variety of reps – feels to you.

RIR refers back to the variety of reps you possibly can do AFTER you’ve completed the prescribed variety of reps for the load you’ve chosen for that specific weight coaching train. In different phrases, it’s the variety of reps you left “within the tank” once you completed your set.

Lifting heavy is often an RPE of 8+ with not more than 2 RIR.

Subsequently, to get most power positive factors, I’d suggest doing 3-5 units of 3-6 reps to your lifts with use a weight that’s difficult sufficient to make every set an 8-10 out of 10 RPE with 0-2 RIR for every set.

Moreover, you need to take 90seconds to three minutes relaxation between units. This ensures that you just’re in a position to hit these reps throughout your entire units so that you’re getting the fitting stimulus to maintain making power positive factors.

NOTE: In case your purpose is power (or hypertrophy) DO NOT spend your relaxation breaks between units doing burpees. That is power coaching, not a bootcamp. You’re not right here to burn energy—you’re right here to construct power.

Why Lifting Heavy Shit Issues

• In ladies, muscle mass naturally begins to say no after age 30—by about 8% per decade. Lifting heavy (and consuming sufficient protein) can sluggish and even reverse this.
• Muscle power is what permits us to carry out day by day actions with better ease and transfer about our lives independently.
• Subjecting our bones to extra compressive forces – like holding weights whereas transferring – will increase bone density and reduces the chance of fractures from falls.
• It improves steadiness, coordination, and joint stability—all important for growing old properly and avoiding damage.
• Extra muscle = higher blood sugar management, improved metabolism, and fewer visceral (deep belly) fats.
• Energy coaching helps coronary heart well being and vascular perform.
• It’s nice for psychological well being by decreasing stress, bettering temper, and growing shallowness.
• And at last? Being robust is enjoyable as hell.

TLDR: Indicators You’re Not Lifting Heavy Sufficient

• Your entire units for all workouts are for 8-12 reps. (Begin your exercise with compound strikes like squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows in units of 3-6 reps to construct extra power!)
• You end your set and will simply do one other 3, 5, 8, or 12 extra reps. (Time so as to add some weight, child!)
• You’re not making the “that is laborious” face in your final 1–2 reps of every set. (You gotta work for them positive factors, woman!)
• You don’t want 90 seconds to three minutes of relaxation between units to completely get well and do it once more. (Earn that relaxation and get stronger sooner!)

The Backside Line

• Lifting heavy = difficult your self within the 1–6 rep vary (with some hypertrophy work too)
• If it feels straightforward, it’s too mild.
• Two days per week is the candy spot.
• Relaxation is required—not non-compulsory.
• Energy is the purpose. Heavy is the way you get there.

Nonetheless Not Positive The place to Begin?

That’s the place we are available.

LIMITLESS is my group teaching program for ladies who wish to practice sensible, get robust, and construct a physique that lasts. 👉 Join the LIMITLESS waitlist

Desire a extra personalised plan? Apply for 1:1 teaching at Miles To Go Athletics. We’ll provide help to raise heavy, get well properly, and really feel highly effective. 👉 Apply for 1:1 coaching

So go raise some heavy shit. You need to really feel robust. —Alison