Weight Lifting Women!!! Help

Hi Everyone!

I had gastric bypass July 2012 and am down about 110lbs... Yay me!

I started at the gym about two months after surgery with water aerobics, fun but not very strenuous. I then tried the treadmill and the recumbent bike and the upright bike...BORING! Then in December I started weight lifting... LOVE IT!!!!

I work out at the YMCA down the street from my day job and have been really good about going two days a week. I do 20 different exercises, 15 on the machines and 5 free weight exercises. I've tried to switch it up to trick my body. I do 6-8 weeks of 3 sets of 12 at a specific weight, then 6-8 weeks of an upwards pyramid, i set of 15 specific weight 1 set of 12 plus 5 pounds and 1 set of 9 plus 5 pounds... then I do the 3 sets of 12 again, then a reverse pyramid 1 set of 9 at the highest weigh, 1 set of 12 5 pounds less, 1 set of 15 at 5 pounds less. This has been working. I have seen some real definition considering I have some loose skin.... (don't we all)

Anyway my question, I am looking to spice it up some more, anybody got some tips tricks for women and lifting... I want to be strong, not so worried about my weight now, just building muscles.

I don't do cardio at the gym, I have 3 dogs at home and get my cardio walking them...

 

So anyone have some fun tips for me, please reply... all suggestions welcome.

Is there any other women out there that love lifting?

Look forward to the responses

 

 

I do a LOT of lifting with my trainer.  We do something different all the time:

deck of cards - assign an exercise to each type of card (diamonds = chest press, hearts = weighted squats... whatever type body work you are doing for the day) and do that number of reps.

Every Minute On the Minute -  I LOVE this routine!  Do a certain number of reps for 2 exercises (low reps - like 8 weighted reverse lunges, 5 deadlifts) and then finish the minute with cardio - jump rope, box jump, etc.  No matter where you are when the minute ends, you start over.  We do 15 minutes.

Just go through and look at my posts in this forum for ideas on what I do with my trainer... I have a great time and great arms (with big flappy wings lol )

I'm working on calisthenics and have a pair of kettlebells. I just want to say kudos to you!

If you want to build strength you need to do less reps at higher weight.  

Do you do the compound lifts (squat, bench press, deadlift)?   Last year I was training to learn how to powerlift.  We wouldn't do that many exercises but it would do something like this:

Bench press day

Probably 7 or 8 sets of progressively heavy sets.  Start with a warm up set of just the bar and then gradually add weight and do 2 or 3 reps.  There are a lot of different methods for building progressive strength.  Then we would do floor presses, another 7 to 8 sets of those with only a few reps at a time.  Then to exhaust the chest muscles we would do something like 3 sets of 20 reps of dumbbell presses.  Then we would do some accessory work like on the triceps...skullcrushers, kickbacks or pulldowns.

And then something centered around the main lift each day.  That would be training around 3 days a week.  If you are really serious you may want to "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippletoe.  My coach used Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 method which you can read about too.  

If you just want to get stronger in general without doing these main lifts, just concentrate on doing more sets but with low reps and higher weight.  Lifting at high reps with lower weight builds endurance more than strength.

Good luck.  I too love lifting and cannot wait to get back to the gym (although I am kinda scared to see how much strength I've lost.)  Before i had surgery I was bench 140, deadlifting 230, and squatted 180 I think.  So I will be starting over but very excited to progress and also need to read up on how to fuel for this kind of muscle growth.

Happy Lifting!!!!

I have a trainer so things are mixed up and tailored for me. But I also got a book "Womens Health Big Book of Exercises". Has all the stuff the trainer does with me and more. Plus progressions, so you start at a lower level and progress up to bigger and better things. The explanations, pictures and info are all clear and pretty much exactly what my trainer tells me, so I'm happy to have it and will use it forever. It's got a lifetime of stuff in there for me. Dumbbells, core strengthening, warmups, etc. Try it or something similar out! I first checked it out of the library so i could check it out for free before I decided I love it and bought it. I put a smiley face sticker on each exercise I accomplish :)