How Much Weight You Should Lift | For Women Over 40

Below are my show notes for the video above:

HOW MUCH WEIGHT SHOULD YOU LIFT?

IT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU ARE ON YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY AND FROM THERE PICKING THE DUMBBELL THAT WILL GIVE YOUR MUSCLES SOME FEEDBACK.

YOU SEE, YOU NEED TO LIFT HEAVY ENOUGH TO STIMULATE CHANGE IN THE MUSCLE. WHEN YOU DO YOU CREATE TINY MICROSCOPIC TEARS TO THE MUSCLE TISSUE AND FOR THE NEXT 24-48 HOURS THE BODY REPAIRS THAT TISSUE SO IT’S STRONGER AND DENSER.

SO, WHAT IS THE RIGHT WEIGHT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN.

THAT ALSO DEPENDS ON YOUR REP RANGE & GOALS FOR YOUR WORKOUTS.

QUICK SIDE NOTE: A “Rep” stands for “repetition” and defines one complete motion of an exercise.

And one “set” is a consecutive number of reps without stopping.

SO, 2 SETS OF 15 SQUATS MEANS 15 SQUATS, A REST, AND THEN ANOTHER 15 SQUATS.

WHEN YOU LIFT AT A HIGHER REP COUNT, 12-20+ REPS, YOU ARE WORKING MUSCLE ENDURANCE. AND BECAUSE OF THE HIGHER REP RANGE YOU OBVIOUSLY YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO LIFT HEAVY AMOUNTS OF WEIGHT.

I LOVE HIGH REPS AND LOW LOADS FOR BEGINNERS. THIS HELPS A NEW PERSON WORK ON THEIR FORM, GET AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THEY ARE TRAINING, WHILE STILL GIVING THEM RESULTS.

FOR INT/ADV PEOPLE WHEN ENDURANCE TRAINING I RECOMMEND THAT YOU DECREASE THE REST TIME BETWEEN YOUR SETS. MAKE IT MORE CHALLENGING FOR YOURSELF.

MOST OF MY YOUTUBE WORKOUTS ARE ENDURANCE-FOCUSED WORKOUTS BECAUSE IT’S THE EASIEST WAY FOR WOMEN TRAIN AT HOME. YOU DON’T NEED A LOT OF DIFFERENT SIZED DUMBBELLS, FORM IS EASIER TO GET (HANDY IF YOU DON’T HAVE A MIRROR IN FRONT OF YOU), AND YOU DON’T NEED A SPOTTER.

ENDURANCE TRAINING GREAT FOR PEOPLE WHO ENJOY SPORTS LIKE RUNNING, CYCLING, AND EVEN HIKING.

NOW ANOTHER COMMON GOAL WITH STRENGTH TRAINING IS TO WORK ON MUSCLE STRENGTH. IF BUILDING MUSCLE SIZE IS YOUR GOAL THEN THE RECOMMENDED REP RANGE IS BETWEEN 6-12 REPS USING A WEIGHT THAT WILL GIVE YOU FEEDBACK.

WHAT SORT OF FEEDBACK? BURNING MUSCLES FEEDBACK. A GOOD RULE OF THUMB IS YOU SHOULD FEEL SOME BURN IN THE MUSCLE, WHICH IS LACTIC ACID, ABOUT 75% INTO THE SET. SO… IF YOU’RE REP COUNT IS 12, BY ABOUT REP 8 YOU SHOULD BE FEELING IT.

THIS TYPE OF STRENGTH WORK, LOWER REPS/HIGHER WEIGHT, IS ALSO GREAT FOR PEOPLE WITH ARTHRITIS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT DOING A TON OF REPS AND THEREFORE DO NOT HAVE AS MUCH WEAR AND TEAR ON THE JOINT. 

THIS IS ALSO A GREAT WAY TO TRAIN TO BREAKTHROUGH ANY EXERCISE PLATEAUS. NOW YOU MAY SAY TO ME “BUT PJ, I’M A WOMAN I DON’T WANT BIG BULKY MUSCLES, SO THIS TYPE OF TRAINING ISN’T FOR ME’.

AT WHICH POINT I WILL EXPLAIN TO YOU THAT women have about 15-20% less concentration of testosterone in our bodies than men do. Without that extra testosterone, we ladies simply can’t build the big muscles. We biologically are unable to DO SO.

BUT WITH THIS LOWER REPS/HIGHER WEIGHT TRAINING WHAT WE WILL BE DOING IS BURNING MORE CALORIES – BECAUSE THE MORE LEAN MUSCLE TISSUE WE HAVE THE GREATER OUR METABOLISM IS AND THEREFORE THE MORE CALORIES WE’LL BURN THROUGHOUT THE DAY. YOU’LL ALSO BE INCREASING YOUR BONE DENSITY, AND YOU’LL BE SHAPING YOUR BODY, NOT MAKING IT BIGGER. TRAINER’S PROMISE.

FOR EACH REP RANGE/GOAL KEEPING YOUR FORM IS ESSENTIAL. ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE OF US OVER 40. NIGGLY LITTLE PAIN CAN TURN AND REAR IT’S UGLY HEAD REALLY QUICKLY THE OLDER WE GET. WATCH MY VIDEO FROM LAST WEEK ON WORKING OUT WITH PAIN FOR MORE DETAILS ON WHAT TO DO WITH THAT.

DIFFERENT MUSCLES CAN TAKE DIFFERENT LOADS TOO. THIS IS WHY QUITE OFTEN YOU’LL HEAR ME SAY ON THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL: GRAB A PAIR OF LIGHT, MOD & HEAVY DUMBBELLS.

BECAUSE WHAT IS HEAVY FOR YOUR SHOULDERS WILL BE TOO LIGHT FOR YOUR LEGS. AGAIN, WHATEVER YOU ARE LIFTING, FOR WHATEVER MUSCLE GROUP, BY ¾ QUARTERS OF THE WAY IN YOU SHOULD FEEL THE MUSCLE WORKING.

IN THE END THOUGH… DON’T OVERTHINK THIS.

YOUR GOAL SHOULD BE TO GET STRONGER WITH EACH WORKOUT. SO WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU ARE LIFTING AND NEXT TIME SEE IF YOU CAN DO MORE.

IF YOU WANT A STEP-BY-STEP FITNESS PROGRAM FOR THE OVER 40 BODY CHECK OUT MY FEARLESS & OVER 40 PROGRAM. ALL YOU NEED ARE SOME DUMBBELLS AND THE DESIRE TO GET FITTER. CHECK OUT THE LINK BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS ON HOW THIS PLAN CAN HELP YOU.

NOW… I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW HOW MANY PAIRS OF DUMBBELLS YOU OWN? IS IT LIKE ME, MORE THAN PAIRS OF SHOES I OWN.

THANKS FOR WATCHING IF YOU ENJOYED THIS VIDEO I WOULD APPRECIATE A THUMBS UP, AND IF YOU’RE NEW TO THE CHANNEL CLICK THE SUBSCRIBE BUTTON & NOTIFICATION BELL SO I CAN GET MORE AWESOME CONTENT TO YOU.