Q&A: this is really bugging me about weight lifting please help me?
Question by unclenothingchristmas: this is really bugging me about weight lifting please help me?
hi there im 17, and have been lifting weights for awhile im more focused on getting muscle definition, but im confused about getting it, do i lift till failure with light weights or what? and i always wondered can i work out the same muscle twice a week? i know i need to burn fat and i do cardio pretty often i just need help on how often i need to lift and how much ect… whoever can help me out id appreciate it thank you
Best answer:
Answer by Betty B
Muscle definition usually means “toning” for women and “bulking” for men.
Toning is getting a nice hint of a curve (instead of skinny arms that look like boring sticks) and bulking is really noticing the muscles even without having to flex them.
At 17, you would heal pretty fast and could weight train every other day but everybody is different so listen to your body as your healing speed would be influenced by your overall health, your sleeping habit, your diet and how hard you pushed yourself. As a general rule, resume lifting weights as soon as the soreness is gone (you stretch and flex and if you don’t feel soreness, you go at it again).
Can you work out the same muscle twice a week? More like 3 times a week if you’re 17 and once every 5 days if you’re 50, so you’ll need twice as many workouts/month if you’re younger because you heal faster.
You need at least a day or two of rest between weight training sessions (in your 20s and younger).
Note: People would need two or three days (in their 30s), three or four days (in their 40s), four or five days (in their 50s)…and so on. The older they get, the longer they would have to wait for DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) so they can repair stronger and not interfere with their healing.
You do not get stronger while just doing weight training, you get stronger doing weight training AND eating healthy (lots of carbs for the exercising as it is anaerobic and fat burning shuts down, and lots of protein for the repairing stronger) AND pushing yourself just a little bit beyond your strength, feel the burn, so you damage your muscle fiber and THEN you have to rest to repair stronger, providing that you rest long enough between sessions, but not too long or you’d lose your brand new extra muscle mass in a couple of days after the soreness is gone (muscle mass is a “use it or lose it” system as well as a “you need more, you’ll get more” system). If you do it right, you should be able to add a couple of reps each session, for the same physical effort, until you need to add more weights and lower the reps.
Listen to your body. Go gentle at first so you get an idea of your body’s capability and from there, you can go up (in weights, reps or frequency) until you reach a comfortable level of progression that fits YOU. Some people like to push harder, get more soreness, but then, they need more days to heal. Others don’t push so hard, get mild soreness, heal faster and have to do it more often.
The whole process has a lot to do about your pain threshold and also your schedule…some people push themselves harder (and need more time to heal) because they cannot exercise often.
At 17, you have another issue to consider…your growth plates (until you reach the age of 21) which are more fragile than ligaments (growth plates are for growth, not strength) so do not go all younger Schwarzenegger mode on gym weight machines. Tearing a ligament is bad and painful but getting a growth plate fracture is worse.
To answer your question specifically, you should lift to failure (that last rep you could do while still keeping good form). How much weight is irrelevant as long as you progress with whatever weight you’re dealing with.
Women like me, just wanting strength and toning only need one set, from 8 to 12 reps using small weights. Basically, if I cannot do 8 reps the weight is too heavy and if I can do more than 12/15 reps, the weight is too light so I can add more weight and go back down to 8 reps. Women doing several sets would get the same results with only one set to failure (according to research and my personal experience) cutting their workout time considerably.
Teenage boys like you (after considering the issue of your growth plates), use heavier weights and even gym weight machines which much higher weight increments. My sons your age used 10, 15, 20lbs dumbbells (then they had to use gym weight machines) while I’m using a combination of dumbbells and wrist/ankle weights to allow for half a pound to 1 pound increment. I cannot use my gym weight machines with 5 pounds increments. Even teenage boys like you sometimes have to go up to time consuming 25, 30, even 50 reps before being able to switch back down to the next higher weight and 8 reps while dealing with a 5lbs increment.
For bulking (for guys), you’ll need several sets, like doing 12 reps with the weight you can handle to failure then lowering reps and adding weight. Then you repeat sets, adding more weight but having to lower the reps…it’s somehow a masochistic idea but effective to bulk up. You can see grunting bodybuilders handling their 5th set doing 4 reps of some super heavy weight (the fanatic will go down to 2 reps barely being able to lift something twice).
What do you think? Answer below!
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