“Lift heavy shit.”
It’s greater than a slogan—it’s a name to arms. A problem. A permission slip. And for a lot of girls, it’s the lacking piece of their coaching.
For generations, we’ve been fed a watered-down model of power: tiny pink dumbbells, limitless reps, and exercises which might be solely “worth it” in the event that they depart us sweaty, sore, and exhausted.
It’s time to alter that. It’s time for exercises that make us stronger and extra empowered.
To try this, we have to elevate heavy a couple of occasions per week. So let’s break down what that really means—and why it issues a lot.
What is Strength Training?
First, let’s speak phrases.
Resistance coaching is a normal time period used to explain train that makes your muscle groups work in opposition to a weight or pressure to construct muscular power, endurance, and measurement. This resistance can come out of your physique weight, free weights (like barbells, kettlebells, and dumbbells), weight machines, cable machines, or resistance bands.
Strength coaching is a sort of resistance coaching the place the aim is to extend the power of your muscle groups. It often includes lifting heavy weights for fewer repetitions (round 1-5 reps per set), with longer relaxation durations in between units, so you may hold lifting heavy. Training to extend power is essentially about depth – lifting as heavy as potential for a couple of reps whereas sustaining correct type.
Hypertrophy coaching is a sort of resistance coaching the place the aim is to extend the measurement of your muscle groups and your muscle mass. It sometimes includes extra reasonable weights and better repetitions (round 6-12 reps per set), with shorter relaxation durations in between units. The key to hypertrophy coaching is extra about quantity – doing extra work (units/reps/whole weight) in every exercise.
While each power and hypertrophy coaching will lead to muscle development and power beneficial properties, the emphasis is completely different. Hypertrophy coaching results in larger will increase in muscle measurement, whereas power coaching leads to bigger power beneficial properties.
Your particular person targets decide which method or mixture of those approaches is best for you.
Generally talking, in case you’re trying to construct muscle mass and “look like you lift”, hypertrophy coaching could also be extra appropriate for you.
If you’re aiming to enhance useful power and energy, then power coaching is likely to be the way in which so that you can go.
Training Strength vs. Hypertrophy: What’s the Difference?
Let’s break it down:
- Strength coaching = lifting heavy weights for fewer reps (1–6), with longer relaxation between units. Goal: get stronger.
- Hypertrophy coaching = reasonably heavy weights for reasonable reps (6–12), shorter relaxation. Goal: improve muscle measurement.
Both approaches construct muscle and power so a mixture of each is right. And sure, girls ought to do each.
The Science of Adaptation
Strength is your physique’s response to a selected problem or stimulus—one which requires extra muscle fiber recruitment for much less repetitions. Your muscle groups adapt to that particular stimulus by recruiting extra muscle fibers in order that the subsequent time, the identical problem feels simpler.
In the primary 6–8 weeks of coaching, most of your beneficial properties come from neural diversifications—your nervous system studying the best way to recruit your muscle groups extra effectively. Muscle acquire (hypertrophy) tends to lag behind, nevertheless it comes with constant effort.
Progressive Overload: The Key to Growth
Progressive overload means you progressively improve the burden, quantity (units/reps), or depth of your coaching over time. That’s what tells your physique, “Hey, if you want me to level up again, you need to up the challenge and give me a reason to get stronger.”
This is the explanation why you may get superior beginner beneficial properties from a exercise or exercise plan nevertheless it stops working after 4–8 weeks. Your physique adapts shortly. Without development, you plateau. But that’s only a signal that it’s essential to change one thing up – quantity, depth, frequency – to maintain seeing progress. But the magic by no means stops in case you keep constant and intentional.
What Does “Lifting Heavy” Even Mean?
The most vital factor to know is that the time period “heavy weights” is relative. It means no matter weight is heavy for you. There isn’t any magic quantity it’s essential to hit to be deemed as lifting heavy.
For instance, you don’t have to be squatting 2x your body weight to reap the power beneficial properties 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 progressively builds the “circuitry” wanted to make it really feel simpler to do the subsequent time you elevate that very same weight.
But 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 a variety of power beneficial properties on the desk once we do our power coaching exercises.
So how do you be sure to’re lifting sufficient?
Many weight lifting coaches and private trainers will prescribe the burden for use as a share of the lifters 1-rep max (or the utmost quantity the lifter can elevate for that resistance coaching train for only one rep). Most newbies to weight coaching is not going to have established their 1-rep max and that’s utterly superb—establishing a 1-rep max shouldn’t be one thing it’s essential to do as a beginner to weight lifting and even as an intermediate or superior lifter who isn’t competing.
So as a substitute, I like to recommend utilizing your personal expertise of the trouble as proven within the graphic under.
In the RPE scale graphic, you’ll see two numbers that are each based mostly in your subjective expertise when weight coaching—they’re Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Reps In Reserve (RIR).
RPE refers to how onerous (on a scale from 1 -10, 1 being a chunk of cake and 10 being completely maxed TF out) the burden coaching train – with the burden you’ve chosen for the prescribed variety of reps – feels to you.
RIR refers back to the variety of reps you would do AFTER you’ve completed the prescribed variety of reps for the burden you’ve chosen for that individual weight coaching train. In different phrases, it’s the variety of reps you left “in the tank” if you completed your set.
Lifting heavy is often an RPE of 8+ with not more than 2 RIR.
Therefore, to get most power beneficial properties, I’d suggest doing 3-5 units of 3-6 reps in 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.
Additionally, you need to take 90seconds to three minutes relaxation between units. This ensures that you simply’re in a position to hit these reps throughout your whole units so that you’re getting the fitting stimulus to maintain making power beneficial properties.
NOTE: If your aim is power (or hypertrophy) DO NOT spend your relaxation breaks between units doing burpees. This 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 Matters
- In girls, 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 each day actions with larger ease and transfer about our lives independently.
- Subjecting our bones to extra compressive forces – like holding weights whereas shifting – will increase bone density and reduces the danger of fractures from falls.
- It improves stability, coordination, and joint stability—all important for ageing nicely and avoiding damage.
- More muscle = higher blood sugar management, improved metabolism, and fewer visceral (deep belly) fats.
- Strength coaching helps coronary heart well being and vascular perform.
- It’s nice for psychological well being by decreasing stress, enhancing temper, and rising shallowness.
- And lastly? Being robust is enjoyable as hell.
TLDR: Signs You’re Not Lifting Heavy Enough
- All of your units for all workouts are for 8-12 reps. (Start 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 “this is hard” face in your final 1–2 reps of every set. (You gotta work for them beneficial properties, lady!)
- You don’t want 90 seconds to three minutes of relaxation between units to totally get better and do it once more. (Earn that relaxation and get stronger sooner!)
The Bottom Line
- Lifting heavy = difficult your self within the 1–6 rep vary (with some hypertrophy work too)
- If it feels simple, it’s too mild.
- Two days every week is the candy spot.
- Rest is required—not optionally available.
- Strength is the aim. Heavy is the way you get there.
Still Not Sure Where to Start?
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So go elevate some heavy shit. You need to really feel robust. —Alison