[Day 5] You Got To Lift!
The past few days I’ve thrown a lot at you. So today we are going to take it easy. Okay maybe my interpretation of easy is different than yours. We aren’t going to sit around and 
talk about our feelings we are going to hit the weights!!!
Now I’m going to make a sweeping statement. If this is not you AWESOME if this you consider this an intervention! If you want to get the tight, tone, buff, ripped body of your dreams you must lift!!!
Now when I say lift, I’m not talking light weight I’m talking lifting weight so that the last 2-3 reps are hard with good form. If you are a Mom consider how heavy your baby was when they were born 7-10 pounds. Now let’s add a baby carrier we up to maybe 20” So stop reaching for the 3 pound weights.
How you build muscle is to cause micro tears in your muscle fibers, when these muscle fibers repair you have muscle growth. To cause these tears you must lift heavy to tax your muscles. Now you will feel sore some days, but I don’t want you to be so sore that you are unable to lift your arms over your head or get out of your chair. I do however want you to kick your own tushy!!
I’m myth busting right now. Lifting heavy weights will not make you bulky!!! Us ladies don’t have enough testosterone.
Read this great article in Women’s Health
Today’s challenge:
- If you don’t lift how will you incorporate lifting into your fitness routine ( will you take a strength training class, hire a trainer for 1 session or start to lift on your own) Add in some of these. They don’t require any weights and can be done anywhere. Add strength exercises to your routine — pushups, pullups, squats, lunges. I’ve included a free workout at the bottom of this blog.
- If you do lift how long have you been doing that workout’ If it’s been more than 4-6 weeks it’s time to change it up. For those taking this challenge for just $5.00 I’ll write you a workout based on your needs. If you are interested just send me an email. Be sure to put I need a workout in subject line. Try adding the following to your workout compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, dips, chinups, overhead presses and rows.
- Give this workout a try and let us know how you did. Click the words “thank you” to get the workout ThankYou
Don’t forget Leave a comment below. Write a facebook post on the Fabulous Fit Squad. If you have a personal blog, write a blog post. Make sure you link back to the site so we can cheer you on and hold you accountable.
Just joining now” Don’t worry you can catch up.
Day 1 — Intro the challenge
Day 2 — Getting your mind straight
Day 3 — Goal setting
Day 4 — What’s on your plate
Stay tuned.. tomorrow I will talk about cardio.
Do you have an article on understanding when to do low or high reps and the time between each exercise. I usually take 30 second breaks and then get right into the next rep. Is it also okay to take a four exercise block and do each exercise and then repeat two more times. (example, squats, lunges, leg press and leg extensions then repeat 2xs) I can lift all day long but I am looking for more knowledge to help me make the right choices in the short time I have in the gym.
Lifting 4x’s/week! 🙂 No pink weights for me!
I know you want a simple answer to a complex question. There are some many theories out there regarding strength training. Personally, if you are short on time I’m not a fan of “resting between sets” I recommending couple different exercises together so I’m moving from one exercise to the next vs. focusing on 1 exercise rest and then moving on. Ex. I’m doing bent over rows and moving on to lunges and back to bent over rows, etc. Make sense?
If you are short on time, I’d focus on full body exercises versus body part splits so that you are hitting as many muscle groups as possible on a regular basis.
You would do push exercises one day and pull exercise the next day.
As for rep counts the key is to keep your body always guessing. You can change the rep count every 4-6 weeks. For muscle growth you’ll do 3+ sets of low and heavy reps. General health 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps. Endurance 1-3 reps 10-12 reps. Please remember YOU MUST change your workout every 4-6 weeks.
I hope that answers your question.
@jenn I wouldn’t expect any less from you =)
Yes I does help. Thank you very much.
@michele glad I can help
I am going to try and lift 3 times a week and take 1 Zumba class and 1 Bodypump class (lifting in this class, with some movement – lots of squats). During my lifting I will add some strength training in. I will also try your workout that you provided.
@Christine –let’s turn that “try” into “will” now if 3 times is hard for you right now, then re-evaluate and come up with a number of times you can workout.