How Much Weight Should I Lift?

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How Much Weight Should I Lift? It’s a perfectly good question, but the answer is going to vary. In fact, there are a number of variables that should be taken into account. When you take these variables into account it will allow you to customize your training program to ensure you’re using the right weight every time. For those of you not interested in details of How Much Weight Should I lift... here’s the short answer: You should always lift as much weight as you can for the number of repetitions targeted by an exercise without compromising form but that creates a burn for the last 4-5 reps or 10-15 seconds if timed. If you aren’t doing this, you’re only getting a fraction of your workout’s potential.

So let’s get into the answer of How Much Weight Should I Lift? Ultimately the independent variable isn’t the weight you are lifting, it is about the reps or time you are doing the exercise. So how do you figure out how much weight to lift, for the time or reps to get the best results? In exercise we know that failure is not an option, but with figuring out How Much Weight Should I Lift, failure can actually be good. This means if you never fail during a set, you never know how much weight you should lift when doing an exercise. So when you first start out and at least every 30 days it is good to create failure on an exercise. This lets you know what weights to use, and that you’re pushing to your limits. This is important to achieve your results whether your goal is to lose or gain weight.

HOW MUCH WEIGHT SHOULD I LIFT?

Now let’s take a look at how the failure set is the answer to How Much Weight Should I Lift. This should be done with a few rules in mind so you don’t injure yourself. To begin you want to start with enough weight to barely reach the targeted repetitions or time. If you can just finish with maintaining form, then you found your weight. If you cannot, then you need to adjust it back just a bit. Repeat this process through every exercise in your workout.

Whether your goal is to gain mass, lose weight, or just get strong or ripped, taking a deeper look at How Much Weight I Should Lift will allow you to have the knowledge for the greatest results.

Most weight training exercises target a certain number of repetitions for each set or a certain amount of time. If you are using reps, the number might stay constant over the course of a workout or change depending on the exercise. If you are using time, the reps will vary based on the exercise. Either way, having an understanding of why this is being asked of you will help you get the most out of your workout program and determine the weight you should be lifting.

Here is a brief physiology lesson. This will help you understand how doing a failure test every 4-6 weeks will help as you train your body differently. It will help you understand why you will constantly need to change the amount of weight you’re using to get the most out of each workout.

A quick rundown of Weight Training Physiology to understand the question ofHow Much Weight Should I Lift:

• Hypertrophy Workouts: These workouts rev up the metabolism and are the quickest means to change your ratio of muscle and fat. Whether your goal is to lose or gain weight, beginning with a workout program that focuses on hypertrophy will change your metabolism, which in turn is body transformation. This will create a fat burn and added lean muscle with strength, which accelerates fat loss.

• Muscle Mass Workouts: This style of workout is going to combine low reps (or little time) with very high weights. This will produce larger muscles, which in turn increases the capacity for strength. The catch is, the strength does not come with size. To create the strength the larger muscles have to be trained to be efficient. This is done with programs that provide eccentric (negative) forces, and plyometric (explosive) forces.

• Muscular Endurance Workouts: This is exercise that lasts longer than a minute or over 15 repetitions. Endurance workouts target the glycolytic energy system, where both glycogen and oxygen are used when doing the exercise. This creates muscular endurance, which means you are increasing the muscle’s ability to perform for a longer duration. This style of training is best done when it is in conjunction with hypertrophy training.

So the questions about How Much Weight Should I Lift will have a different answers depending on what style of workouts you are doing. With that said, keep in mind that the best exercise programs for overall health, weight loss or maintenance, and muscular gains utilize all styles of exercise within one program. This will create the greatest results and benefits from your exercise.

When you start a new program be sure to go through the entire exercise program and do a failure test on each exercise to know where you need to start. This will help you get the greatest benefits from the weight you are lifting and the workouts you are doing.

No matter which of the above styles you’re targeting during your workout, it’s only effective if you have run the failure tests and are pushing your body to those limits. If the last few reps or seconds  are difficult while still maintaining proper form, you are good. If not, simply adjust. Of course you will have days that failure happens when you are working out. That is okay, you are still on track. When this happens you may need to evaluate whether you adjusted your weights too high, or perhaps you need to add some supplements to help your body perform and recover better.

Knowing the answer to the question of How Much Weight Should I Lift, ultimately will bring you greater results.

Best Supplements for Muscle Gain

How many of you are challenged with muscle gain from working out? At 45, I've noticed it can be more challenging. Most of us know the "basic" supplements but did you know there are "other" supplements that can help you gain muscle?

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Are Carbohydrates Bad?

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Are Carbohydrates Bad? They make you fat right? Come on it must be true, you read articles about it all the time. So they must make you fat…right?

Here is the deal. There is one small problem, carbohydrates are very important. In fact, carbohydrates (especially the right kind) are essential to your body. They aid in muscle growth, providing energy, as well as providing your body many other benefits. So, Are Carbohydrates Bad? The answer is NO!

Now let’s be real. Lumping all carbs together into one category is like saying all quarterbacks who play in the NFL will be just like Joe Montana. It would be absurd to call all carbs bad when vegetables and fruits are also carbohydrates. With that said, I would have a hard time believing that you would think that a nutrition plan attempting to completely purge carbohydrates would be a good idea. I have a feeling you are a pretty smart cookie (oh, that would be a bad carb). So to suggest that all carbs are evil, is just plain nonsense.

Let’s take a step back and take a hard look at reality, compared to personal preference. I need to ask you a question. Are you willing to wipe the slate clean and start fresh with the truth about carbohydrates? I am going to assume you said yes, either way I am going to give you the facts.

Are Carbohydrates Bad?

 Are Carbohydrates Bad? Will bread and grains make you fat? Uh, NO! Blanket statements just don’t work. The “don’t eat carbs” or “Carbohydrates are Bad” statements are just that, Blanket Statements. Statements like these just confuse the general public. The reason people get confused, is that most don’t have a nutrition background or truly understand what qualifies as a carbohydrate. 95% of us look at food as simply that, FOOD. All blanket statements have done is cause people to adjust their diets in a way that keeps their bodies from functioning properly. This is why many people have been going out of their way to avoid certain foods, like bread, rice or potatoes. When in fact, these foods can have a place in a balanced nutrition plan and can play a role in helping you lose weight or gain lean muscle.

Now you know that carbs as a whole are not bad, BUT there are certain types of carbs that are not good for your body. Generally, these types of carbs will make you feel bloated and tired. These types of carbs often contain processed sugars, corn syrup, or are white flour based foods, and the list can go one with all the other processed crap available. If you cannot grow it, or it doesn’t come from minimally processed whole grains, it is not good. Yep, simple as that.

It comes down to the food manufactures like to confuse people. If they can get the general public to buy into what they are saying about a particular food, macronutrient, or diet, they make money and lots of it.

So back to the question at hand… Are Carbohydrates Bad?

NO, but all of us could gain a better understanding to guide our eating habits. Eating vegetables and fruit, as well as high quality, high fiber grains are an important part of healthy nutrition. If you truly want a balanced healthy nutrition plan that will aid in weight loss or muscle gains you really need to have at least 100 to 200 grams per day depending on your daily level of physical activity and exercise.

The overall message is, you cannot consume bucket-loads of refined low quality carbohydrates and chase them down with and extra-large soda and say, “well they said carbs aren’t bad”. I know you are smarter than the average bear and understand that you need to choose your carbohydrates wisely to have a healthy nutrition plan. It is about eating more good foods such as lean proteins, colorful vegetables, a variety of fruits, high-fiber grains, healthy fats, and cutting out the highly processed garbage such as candy, soda, sugar-loaded foods, poor quality breads, and boatloads of pasta.

Another important factor is choosing the correct portions of the carbs you consume. This can be as important as the kind of carbs you choose to eat. Grain and fruit carbohydrates should be smaller portions than vegetable carbs. If you need assistance with nutrition, portion sizes, and proper balance of carbs, proteins, and fats you may want to check out the 21 Day Fix on Beachbody On Demand. It has an amazing nutrition plan that creates the perfect balance of nutrients and portions. If you struggle with cutting out the crap, you definitely want to take a look at adding a total nutrition shake like Shakeology.

When it’s all said and done, if you are eating healthy and choosing wisely 85-90 percent of the time your body will be happy, you will have energy, and you will lose weight, gain muscle or maintain depending on your goals. You now know the truth to the question “Are Carbohydrates Bad?”

Daily Protein Requirements for Men and Women

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What are the Daily Protein Requirements for Men and Women? The average man in the United States consumes about 100 grams of protein per day, while the average woman takes in approximately 70 grams, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The amount of protein you need daily really is dependent on your gender and activity level, as well as your goals because this determines your total caloric intake which has an effect on the amount of protein you need to consume.

Daily Protein Requirements for Men and Women

The Institute of Health and Nutrition finding is that for general health, men should get around 56 grams of protein per day and that women should get around 46 grams. It is also important to know that the human body cannot properly utilize more than 20 grams of protein in one consumption. Therefore the grams should be spread out throughout the day in smaller doses. When consuming protein it needs to be of higher quality to ensure that you are getting the nine essential amino acids that are needed but your body cannot produce on its own. Meat, fish and poultry provide all of the amino acids, but if you are a vegetarian, you can combine foods, such as rice and beans, or whole-grain bread and peanut butter, to get a complete array of amino acids.Shakeology which is a total nutrition shake, will also provide all the nutrients you need from the protein to the amino acids. Including this shake in your daily nutrition will help you reach your protein needs without overloading the body with hard to digest animal proteins.

It is also recommended that 10 to 30 percent of your total calories comes from protein. This guideline is general and is dependent on goals. Example: 1,800 calories per day, 180 to 540 of those calories should be from protein. Each gram of protein is 4 calories. This would put your consumption at 45 to 135 grams of protein. This proves why it is dependent on gender, activity level, and personal goals.

Most People Get Too Much Protein
To avoid weight gain, water retention and extra wear and tear on your digestive system, do not take in more protein than recommended. Your body will only use the protein it needs and can process at one time. If you are consuming more than your body needs you will either store it as excess fat or eliminate it. Therefore consuming too much at one time is bad for your body and a waste of money.

Eating large amounts of meat and animal protein each day can be especially unhealthy and hard on the body. Animal products should be eaten in moderation. Plant-based proteins, such as beans, whole grains and legumes are choices that keep the protein levels where you want them and provide a lot of other nutrients. Of course eating a variety of protein sources ensures your body balanced nutrition with all the essential amino acids and prevents it from being bogged down when there is too much of one food item.

Best Result with Your Protein Consumption
Most people don’t realize this, but the muscle gains and recovery do not come from just protein. You need to have a balanced proportion of proteins with complex carbohydrates for your body to actually assimilate the protein for muscle gains and recovery. Therefore you need to consume protein in small amounts, keeping the total grams in one sitting to no more than 20, and include carbohydrates that will optimize protein utilization. This is why we mention plant-based protein sources, as they provide both protein and carbohydrates.

If you are looking at supplements for help getting good protein and carbohydrates you want to use something that is natural and does not have additives or artificial sugars and ingredients. Two of the best sources of high quality supplements are the superfood shake Shakeology, and Beachbody’s Recharge and Recover Protein from their Performance Nutrition Line. These products are clean, high quality protein sources that are perfectly balanced with carbohydrates for optimal assimilation of the protein and super nutrient dense carbohydrates to aid in the process of muscle gain and recovery. When you are providing your body the proper macronutrient quantities, you will get the greatest results. Too much or too little will keep you from having the gains and results you are looking to obtain.

With the knowledge of protein requirements and overall balanced nutrition, great things will happen for you.