How heavy should I lift for strength?

Question

I am rather petite, don't really have extra body fat (I'm around 108lbs, give or take), and I would like to seriously begin to lift weights... my goal is to be strong; not "toned," and not "bodybuilder"... I am aiming for actual strength itself.

Other than my lifelong target of being healthy, I am considering the military, and am setting out to aim for the mens' physical fitness requirements (including acing the elusive pullups), as I don't believe in the modified requirements for women (it truly should all be equal).

I am looking into gyms and CrossFit... but my largest desire is to acquire the strength in a realistic, natural way that will actually assist me. Bodyweight and calisthenic exercises are of interest, among other things.

I currently own barbells, and am looking into dumbbells... but, to be honest, I am unsure of the weight I should be lifting. I understand, for strength, it is best to lift heavy with low reps... however, do you have any suggestions?

Adjustable dumbbells, in my opinion, wouldn't be ideal-- but I cannot have 20 sets lying around my house, at the moment. The adjustable ones range from 5 to 52lbs, and then another from 10 to 90lbs.

Would that be adequate? Should I look into something else entirely?

Thank you for reading, and I appreciate any insight, knowledge, and advice you offer.

MyNameIsJonas · Accepted Answer

Crossfit is your best bet. Crossfit is heavy influence by military (active and retired) and its concept its to get you functionally strong in all aspects of your body. If you have a box (crossfit gym) close to you and you can afford it, use it.

There are vasty different ideologies when we talk about exercise... This is going to be a factor with your answers here. Bodybuilders for instance look to sculpt and build a muscle but not necessarily be functionally strong... Power lifters generally don't care about looks just heaviest squat, deadlift and bench press and screw everything else... Strong men put on as much mass as possible in order to drag cars, flip tires, and pick up atlas stones over their backs... Olympic lifters concentrate on Snatch, clean, and press movements. Then we have swimmers, runners, bikers... I do a bit of everything to get the best of both worlds. Crossfit as well incorporates all aspects and as thus far is my favorite ideology of exercise.

Weight being used: Generally you want to use a weight that is around 75% to 80% of your max and do either 4 or 5 sets of 5-8 reps for strength gain... If you can do above 8 reps up the weight. Wait at least a minute to two minutes between sets. Aside from strength training if you want to improve your body for military application you do not actually want to be a hulking muscle man/woman. WIth that excess muscle it will fatigue quicker when trying to accomplish over 50 push ups for instance. You may be able to bench 250lbs but that bulk is only good for low reps heavy weight. This has to do with the muscle fiber your building... You can of course find a balance and build on it. I for example bench about 300lbs and can do 75 push ups. This took a lot of time and cross training between bench press, calisthenics, various push up routines, push ups on medicine balls and all sorts of other exercises to build a body that has lean muscle for pushing power. I know a lot of guys that can bench 350lbs or more yet cannot do over 25 to 30 push ups - just a word to the wise. Build functional not bulking if your going into military. That is why its important to incorporate body weight exercise, cardio, and calisthenic.

just_tired · Accepted Answer

There's so much to say so I'm just going to say few basic things and then give a link to my favorite YouTube strength coach who is one of the smartest guys I know of considering strength training.

In order to gain strength you need to first of all have a good basic strength and knowledge of the exercise. You can't go doing heavy lifts if you are new to the exercise. So form is your number one priority. After all that you need to start lifting heavy with low reps and long rest. Which means 3 times 4:s, 5 times 2:s, 6 times 1:s etc. Your main exercise should be a big compound exercise like dead lift, squat, bench press, power clean etc and then you have 2-3 supporting exercises for that certain lift. As for how heavy? As heavy as you can do all the planned reps.

Then of course you need to divide your muscles into certain days like push, pull and lower body for example, you need to train all your muscles in a balanced manner, eat well, drink lots of water, sleep well etc.

Now here's the link. Check his videos, take notes. There's probably some free exercise plans and tips. Good luck! link

pascal_climbs · Accepted Answer

Warm up and then determine your 1 rep max, that is the weight you can move one time for that muscle group. For strength train at 60 to 80% of that weight. You should be able to do 8-10 reps.

christy1350 · Accepted Answer

you should try pyramid weight lifting .. that is what I do and I have a lot more lean muscle

NotJustAnotherGuy · Answer

First and foremost, where you been all my life?

Secondly, you're talking about the bowflex dumbbells and the powerblocks-- I've looked these two over myself back in January when home gym shopping and decided to pass them up. Instead I got the ironmasters dumbbell set. They're sturdy, they don't cling or clang when you shake them which makes them on par with hexagonal dumbbells-- except 1/5 the price and 1/20 the space. The weight ranges from 5lb to 75lb per dumbbell and if you ever need to you can upgrade the locking mechanism and get your dumbbells up to 125lb per dumbbell. They're sturdy, look professional (unlike powerblocks which are embarrassingly alien like) and they come with a compact stand.

You should also look into the ironmasters superbench. This thing is awesome. I currently have the chin-up bar extension, ab crunch extension, dip extension and leg extension. It's a great investment that'll give you all the variety of an actual gym in a very compact space.

If you're aiming for strength primarily, start Stronglifts 5x5. Or Starting Strength. Both are renown lifting regimes for beginners.

I don't know how deep your purse is, but my home gym is $1,500 and offers everything any lifter needs--- Ironmasters bundle pack (dumbbells/superbench/extensions), squat rack, spotter stands (so I can lift safely without a training partner), a barbell + 300lbs of plates, a dip belt, and a weight stand. All this fits in a 10x10 area (can be squished into 5x5 when not in use).

Gawesome · Answer

IMO, I'd avoid crossfit...it's intense and fast pace but the chances of injury increases with the sloppy lifting and the pace of it.

I'm not expert on weight training (I did weight train for a brief period of time...but got lazy again :/ ) but dumbbells are a great investment for a home gym and you can pretty much do everything with it if you want. Barbells are great. Bench presses, squats, and deadlifts are the 3 big ones which targets most of the muscles and are the big strength builders in your upper and lower body. The adjustable ones are more than enough. If you're going for strength, aim for ~15reps per set and adjust your initial weights accordingly. Don't forget body weight strength training. Pushups, pullups, chinups, squats, etc. P90X is good for strength training as well.

palek · Answer

At 108 pounds, you need to be very careful. If you attempt lifting more than 50 pounds, you'll cause yourself to have a massive fecal blowout saturating everyone within 10 feet with your watery stools.

blackkid2 · Answer

The correct answer: "You need to speak to a physician. Then you need an assessment by a personal trainer or someone qualified to do as such."

We know nothing about you. You have indicated no history of exercise.

Anonymous · Answer

It depends upon your strength. Perhaps, this week you can lift around  20, then next week, you can add about 5. Then that increases as you obtain more strength.

Anonymous · Answer

It depends on how much you can lift. Lifting really heavy weight, with low reps builds strength. Lifting light weight, with high reps builds endurance.

funkadelic5 · Answer

If you can't lift it more than 10 times in a row, it's good for strength.

Anonymous · Answer

15 Pounds is a great start, then you can work your way up.

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