All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

[Sweet Strudel]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Michelley....

I use 7.5lb weights for the Overhead Press and the Lateral Raise. For the Bent Over Row, Bicep Curl and French Press I use 12.5lb weights. I do 3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise.

I think for the next challenge I'm going to up my weight to 10lb and 15lb weights respectively.

So, can someone clarify....toning should be lighter weights with more sets/reps and muscle building weight heavier weights and less sets/reps?

I'm not really interested in have burley looking arms, rather I would like toned arms with a bit of muscle definition.

[Mickkey]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

I'm with you there Kathy. I don't want bulky arms. I want toned arms.

[JulieB]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Thanks all, for your responses. I might buy some 10s & 12s. The French press is getting easy with the 8lb.
Julieb, kudos on the 15, but I KNOW I can't do that! YET!! Might try the "to failure", but if I up the weights I'll be lucky to make my reps/sets, haha.

This is an individual thing - I've always been pretty strong (plus I've been working out regularly for a year now). I don't compare myself to anyone else - I am proud of myself when I am able to do the exercises properly with a higher weight - I am competing with myself This challenge is good for me - It makes me do the work consistently, plus most of my other exercise is mostly legs/core - not much arms/shoulders. I hadn't done weights in a while when we started, and was surprised how little I could lift compared to what I could do when I was lifting consistently last year.

[TheGunShow]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Toning is kind of a nonsense term, because you don't actually "tone" anything. You can only lose fat and gain muscle, and lifting weights helps you do both, by burning calories and promoting muscle growth. You wont become Arnold for two reasons:
1.) You get huge by eating huge, not lifting weights; lifting just determines how much of your weight is muscle (lean) vs. fat. By huge I mean purposefully upping your caloric and carbohydrate intake to much more than you need.
2.) Women can't gain muscle at anywhere near the rate of men, no matter how hard they lift, unless they are on steroids. The production of testosterone gives men 60% more muscular growth potential. We, as women, have a cap on muscle mass. Consider this: Getting huge muscles doesn't just happen to men, forget women. Genetically you are predisposed against ever getting large without the help of chemistry. Do not worry about big weights making you big. They will build muscle, which will burn fat faster, help with cellulite, increase bone density, give you 'shape' and fix flabby arms better than anything else.

Back to "toning", there is a visual difference in the growth and appearance of type I and type II muscle fibers, being slow twitch and fast twitch fibers respectively. (If you've seen these terms on supplements such as creatine, this is what they're talking about). Fast twitch fibers are larger because they store more water, more ATP, have a greater capacity for quickly breaking down glucose to form ATP, and can use that ATP more quickly. They allow the muscles to contract faster with more force. These muscles work with high amounts of power for small amounts of time, like half an hour. Then the ATP stores are depleted and the muscles need to rest. Fast twitch muscles are what we use for weight lifting as long as we are not doing 100 reps with 2-3lb Barbie weights. Muscle growth built during low-resistance cardio is generally slow switch. Slow twitch fibers use ATP slowly but efficiently and are thus fatigue resistant for longer periods of time. For example, marathon runners need more slow twitch and sprint runners need more fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers are very thin compared to fast twitch, and allow the marathon runner to go for hours on end.
Let's compare pictures!

Here is a sprinter champion:


Here is a marathon runner champion:


I don't know about you, but I would rather be like the women on top, who are also a great example of not getting Arnold-huge. Those sprinters have trained their entire lives to sprint in the Olympics. They probably trained for hours every day lifting weights we couldn't get off the ground. And they're big, but they're not huge, and it's their jobs to have muscle. If these women aren't huge, we're not going to be huge.

Anyway, I know that was kind of ranty but there are all these bogus myths put out mostly by women's health magazines that have zero basis in scientific fact (also like "spot reduction," "turning fat into muscle", "max reps on light weights" for fat burn) and somebody has to speak for science.

[Farley]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

I got my new weights the other day, and I am doing:

Lateral Raise 3 sets of 10 reps @ 18 lbs

Bicep Curl 4 sets 12 reps -- 30, 30, 18, 18

Overhead Press 3 sets 12 reps 30, 18, 18

Chest Press 4 sets, 12 reps: 30, 30, 30, 18

Bend over rows, 4 sets, 12 reps 30

French Press, 3 sets 15 reps 30

Skull crusher 3 sets 12 reps, 30, 18, 18

I prefer doing more reps with less weight. I like to be able to complete at least 12 reps per set. I *should* be struggling to complete the last rep. With a lower weight, you are more likely to do the exercise correctly, working the target muscle groups. If your weight is out of the ideal range for you, your struggling will probably result in you doing the exercise incorrectly and not necessairily working the target muscle groups. You're also more likely to injure yourself working with weights you can only complete 5 reps with. Just my 2cp.

[2BME]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Kathy, I think the only way you would get burly arms is if you ate a specific diet and did lots more lifting than what you are doing with a lot of different exercises and much higher weights. Just my opinion.

I think the "toning" thing references when you do enough reps with the "lighter" weights for it to qualify as cardio. You are burning calories and that would be more calories than you would burn with regular cardio, like fast walking, because you are engaging more muscle tissue. I think the higher weights and lifting to failure (barley getting that last rep out) concentrates on the muscle and working it specifically will build strength as opposed to just giving it a prolonged lighter workload.

Women who have very pronounced guns have to spend hours and hours and work very hard to get that way. Women just don't have the testosterone to keep that "pumped" up look. Female body builders look super ripped, but they have 4% body fat for competitions and pictures. Any woman you see with very pronounced muscleture.... she has a low body fat percentage. I don't know about you, but that is NOT something I feel I will need to worry about. These are just my thoughts. I am not a professional trainer or weight lifter.

[JulieB]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

...Any woman you see with very pronounced muscleture.... she has a low body fat percentage. I don't know about you, but that is NOT something I feel I will need to worry about. ...

I'm with you there - I have no fear that my muscles are going to "show" when I am just walking around doing daily stuff. I'll be lucky if I can get them to show at all

[2BME]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

WEEK 4/4!!!!

2bme 3/4
sweet strudel 1/4
TheGunShow 1/3
scaleskl 0/3
mickkey 1/4
julieb 1/3
Farley 2/4
michelley 1/3
mommajen 0/4
quiltkat 0/3
morning glory 0/3
velcro cat 0/3

[JulieB]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

WEEK 4/4!!!!

2bme 3/4
sweet strudel 1/4
TheGunShow 1/3
scaleskl 0/3
mickkey 1/4
julieb 2/3
Farley 2/4
michelley 1/3
mommajen 0/4
quiltkat 0/3
morning glory 0/3
velcro cat 0/3

[michelley]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Yay!!! I'm so glad we've had this discussion!! I'm learning so much!!!

WEEK 4/4!!!!

2bme 3/4
sweet strudel 1/4
TheGunShow 1/3
scaleskl 0/3
mickkey 1/4
julieb 2/3
Farley 2/4
michelley 2/3
mommajen 0/4
quiltkat 0/3
morning glory 0/3
velcro cat 0/3

[2BME]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Yay!!! I'm so glad we've had this discussion!! I'm learning so much!!!

Me too!!!! I love everyone in our little challenge! We are some awesome peeps!

We are going to run a second one of these. I hope you join us for that one! The more the merrier!

[Mickkey]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge




Hey Farley, what is the Skull Crusher?


WEEK 4/4!!!!

2bme 3/4
sweet strudel 1/4
TheGunShow 1/3
scaleskl 0/3
mickkey 2/4
julieb 2/3
Farley 2/4
michelley 2/3
mommajen 0/4
quiltkat 0/3
morning glory 0/3
velcro cat 0/3

[Sweet Strudel]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

Thanks everyone for clearing this weight lifting muscle/toning issue up for me. I am going to continue on with what I have been doing and up my weights for the next challenge.

Just so ya'll know. My pictures will be late as my photographer (daughter) is away until next weekend. I'll still post them though, for sure!


WEEK 4/4!!!!

2bme 3/4
sweet strudel 2/4
TheGunShow 1/3
scaleskl 0/3
mickkey 2/4
julieb 2/3
Farley 2/4
michelley 2/3
mommajen 0/4
quiltkat 0/3
morning glory 0/3
velcro cat 0/3

[Farley]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

How to Do the Skullcrusher Triceps Extension - The Skullcrusher Weight Training Exercise for Triceps

I do this exercise with a single dumbbell, but it can be performed with two, with a barbell, or with an easy curl barbell.

[Farley]

Re: All Guns Blazing - Photo Challenge

WEEK 4/4!!!!

2bme 3/4
sweet strudel 2/4
TheGunShow 1/3
scaleskl 0/3
mickkey 2/4
julieb 2/3
Farley 3/4
michelley 2/3
mommajen 0/4
quiltkat 0/3
morning glory 0/3
velcro cat 0/3