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Putting Together the Right Measures: How Much Weight Should a Person Lift? |
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Written by Matt Lindsay
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You are in the corner of the gym, minding your own business and doing your exercise routine. From a far corner, you hear a loud grunt. You look over to see the big guy bench lifting with several rounds, black weights on both sides of the bar. Of course, he is the one that everyone wants to be like; right? Not necessarily! In fact, he may be doing the entire thing wrong. If you want to make sure that you aren't in this same position, you will want to figure out exactly how much weight a person should lift.
Before deciding on how many weights to put on each end of the bar, you will want to assess what your goals are. This will make a difference in how much you decide to lift with your daily routine. If you want to loose weight and fat, there will be a different equation to follow. The second goal that you may have might be to gain muscle size. Depending on your desires, you will want to make sure you pick the right calculations.
No matter what your goals, the most important thing to keep in mind with strength training and weight is that it is not the amount of weight you challenge yourself with. This is only a small addition to what you are doing. More importantly is the resistance that comes from the weight. Even if you decide to lift a bar bell with no weights, it can be effective. As long as you feel some resistance, you are working your muscles effectively.
Beyond this, you can focus on your goals for weight lifting. You can determine how much weight a person should lift by using specific formulas. For weight loss, you want to keep a weight that is 40% to 60% of your reps. For example, if you can do leg presses at 100 pounds, you will want a weight loss program that does 40 or 60 pounds each time you work on this machine.
Not only will you want to calculate this, but you will also want to keep track of how much you are lifting total. Typically, you will want to do a series of either two or three sets. Each set will include a number of how many times you lift the weights, known as a repetition, or rep. An average for this is to lift 8-15 reps for two or three sets. This is known as medium level weight lifting, and is best used for focus on weight loss.
If you are focusing on gaining muscle, you will simply increase these numbers. Your weight should be at a 60-80% weight of your reps. You will also want to do more repetitions and possibly more sets. However, when you are doing this, make sure that you listen to what is best for your body and don't overwork any specific area.
The best way to make sure that you are lifting the right amount of weight is to make sure that your body isn't hurting. You should become familiar with the different types of pain associated with strength training. Some of it is because the muscles are being pushed into more strength. However, too much weight can cause them to become fatigued and will cause other parts of your body to become fatigued. It is always better to lift too little of the weight and work up to lifting more, instead of causing your muscles to be fatigued and injured.
Making sure that you lift the right amount of weight is a matter of knowing what your goals for strength training are and listening to your body to reach these goals. By continuously working with weight training and making sure you know what your body needs, you will easily be able to achieve your strength training goals.
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