#132: Should You Be Lifting Heavy? What Midlife Women Need to Know

Feeling confused about what “lifting heavy” really means?

Social media is full of advice — one post says women in midlife must lift heavy. The next warns us not to. So… what’s the truth?

In this episode, I get personal and real about a question I hear all the time: How heavy do I actually need to lift?

I walk you through the three biggest factors that influence how much weight you should be using — and spoiler: it’s not about keeping up with what you see on Instagram.

You’ll hear:

• Why it’s not useful to compare your strength to someone else’s (including mine!)
• The difference your background and history with strength training can make
• The role of genetics, body fat percentage, and lifestyle choices in how your results show up
• My recommendation for when to go up in weights

Enjoy the show!

Transcript

#132: How Heavy Do You Need to Lift?

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Lynn, your host, and I'm a certified menopause fitness coach. And today we're gonna talk about. How heavy do you actually need to be lifting? And this topic came to me because of a question and an issue that I see so many times, and that is women who are following influencers or even following me.

And they asked me, Hey, how heavy are you lifting there? You know, in, in my various videos and. I guess the thing that I really, the message that I really wanna get across is that please don't compare yourself to somebody else when you're thinking about lifting, because we are all so very, very different.

 we have different training histories, we have different genetics and. Also [00:01:00] what we're doing, we have different lives, right? So even if you did exactly what I do, for example, you wouldn't end up with exactly the results that I have.

now, if you're following me on social media, for example, you should know that my history is that I was an athlete, like from childhood. Okay? I was a ballerina until about age 14, 15. Then I started to do team sports, played field hockey, lacrosse, and soccer. Uh, at a varsity level in high school, and then division one lacrosse in college where I had strength coaches.

When I went to college, I started strength training right away. So I have the history, my body has the history of, I have done strength training with progressive overload in my. Late teens, early twenties, and actually all the way up until my, my first child was [00:02:00] born. So I had a good amount of time where I already built muscle.

And that has relevance because if you have been strong in your twenties, if you have done strength training, then there are changes that happen to your muscles, which make it easier for you. To get back your strength later in life. It's muscle memory. They're not sure a hundred percent exactly how it works, but this is a phenomenon.

And then I have, really studied how to strength train effectively and efficiently, and I have applied those in my own strength training. I also have been training for four years now, so I started when I was 49. I'm 54 now, and pretty much four days a week, sometimes three days a week, but really, really consistently, always applying progressive overload.

I [00:03:00] also hit my protein goals. I focus on sleep. , I mean, for sure there are things that I can still improve, but if you are comparing yourself to me like where I am today and you don't have that same history, then. It's, you know, you're going to feel like, oh my God, I'm, I'm not anything compared to Lynn, and, and I don't want you to feel that way.

I do share my videos because I wanna inspire you that even at age 54 you can do these things. I mean, I took a huge break from. Strength training and then built back into it. And for sure when I was in my twenties, I had never done a pull up before. So that is something I am super proud of, that I've been able to do that now at age 54, but that has been the result of years of strengthening my body, doing the progressive overload strength training.

[00:04:00] Now, a second aspect of this is genetics. So I was in the gym. Two days ago and, , watching this one woman who really had a nice physique, okay, she had. Clear muscle definition. She looked like she's strong, she looks like she works out. And so of course, you know, yeah, I shouldn't, but I'm like comparing myself thinking, wow, you know, I wonder what she's doing.

I mean, we all do that, right? I wonder what she's doing and I'm watching her, and she is not even lifting the same. Weights as I'm lifting, she's lifting far less, but her genetics are such that her muscles just pop more than mine do. Plus she had a lower body fat percentage than I do. And I don't know whether.

You know, she's naturally just at a lower body [00:05:00] fat percentage, or if she is somebody who consciously is keeping herself at a lower body fat percentage, and I know I could keep myself at a lower body fat percentage, but right now that's not my most important goal, you know, to be shredded because it takes a lot of effort and discipline, for me to stay at a lower weight than I am now.

 And it's summer and I want my gin and tonics and I wanna be able to eat ice cream. You know, all these things. I'm making conscious choices, but so even though she was lifting a lot less than I am her, you know, if you put a side by side, you might say, wow, she's getting better results than Lynn is.

But actually it's genetics and diet that are probably the biggest, difference there. 'cause I'm definitely stronger than she is. But you know, I have, I, I call them finished genetics. Uh, if you've ever been to Finland, you know people here, they look [00:06:00] you, you know, fairly healthy because our eating is at a totally different level than in the states.

There's a lot less processed foods. And even the stuff you buy in the grocery stores that is processed foods is not as processed. I don't know how else to describe it, but in any case, you know, when you see people here, like they just don't look as muscular. I remember when I was growing up and coming here in the summers, um, I would always be like, wow, these people just, you know, they just look kind of, I don't know, softer.

Because even if you're strong, your muscles aren't the kind that bulge. And I guess that's partly in the genes here. Finland is such a small population and we are actually very, I guess, inbred. We have been studied like our genetic pool for that very reason. I think, 'cause we're up in the north of Europe and have been fairly isolated in this cold climate.

Of course, nowadays it's really becoming a melting pot of all kinds of people. But, [00:07:00] but anyway, so. So I am kind of, I think, a typical fin in the sense that even if you train, you don't have this very, like, muscular look to you or, or lean toned look to you. So, yeah, so when you're thinking about how heavy you need to lift, then don't start comparing yourself to other people and thinking like, okay, if I can lift as much as her, you know, or I should be lifting as much as her.

What you should be thinking about is your own journey, right? Each of us has our unique body, our unique history, our unique life situation as far as sleep and nutrition and stress and all those things, and the unique amount of time that we have to devote to this. So, get started on your journey and start working with weights that challenge you.

So I've actually posted recently a [00:08:00] lot of. Uh, post on Instagram about, you know, what is lifting heavy? It is always individual. So for me, lifting heavy, for example, in hyper extensions, when I started it was body weight. You know, I did that machine with just my body weight, and then when that was under control, I'd learned how to do it properly, engage my glutes, use my hamstrings, not my lower back so much.

Then I started loading it and first with like five kilos, then adding another five kilos, adding another two and a half kilos, and you know, it's been years of just progressively overloading that that has gotten me to being strong. So you need to start where you are at and the beauty of strength training is that you absolutely start where you are. And there's no rush to, start competing with some of those people who have been lifting [00:09:00] years longer than you. in fact, if you progress too quickly, faster than your body is ready to, then you risk injury.

Now I feel like when I am teaching people and people who are in my programs, I kind of have two camps of women, the ones who are too afraid to start increasing their weights. So if you identify as somebody who's like, oh, I don't know if I wanna increase my weights yet, I don't know if I'm ready to increase my weights.

My rule of thumb is that if you've been doing the same weight and you've hit the top of your rep range for. Two sessions at least of that exercise. Then go ahead and go up in weights and just go up a small amount, whatever the next increment is. And sometimes that next increment might actually be too much.

And then, there are some tricks to deal with that. So just be aware that just because the [00:10:00] machine goes up in 10 pound increments doesn't mean that that's the right increment for you. Maybe you can only go up in five pound increments, in which case maybe you hang a plate on the machines. Pin or something like that. Or if your dumbbells go up in too large of an increment, for example, for bicep curls, then maybe you buy some, fractional plates that you can clip on to the dumbbell so that you can increase your weight and. Then, you know, just start working from there. It's okay to make slow progress.

That is absolutely fine. And actually in your first year of strength training, I would say slow progress is probably the best kind of progress because things like your joints and your ligaments, your tendons, your bones, your grip strength, all those things need to catch up with your muscles.

And [00:11:00] now if I'm talking to the women who are like, yes, I wanna live to heavy, you know. Please. Yes, I am one of you. Absolutely. I want to lift heavy and I love to push myself and I love that feeling of accomplishment when you can, go up in weights or do a couple more reps, but remember technique.

Be really a stickler about technique. That's what's going to keep you safe. And when you notice any kind of little twinge like in your elbow or your wrist or whatever, a niggle, don't ignore that. Okay? Because they tend to become chronic. So then just ease up a little. As long as you are making progress over the course of a month, you are golden.

Okay? So we don't need to be like rushing too, too, too fast. All right, so I think that was what I wanted to say about lifting heavy and how heavy you need [00:12:00] to be lifting. The point is to challenge your muscles over time and it doesn't need to be some enormous, huge challenge. Your heavy will get heavier as you get stronger, and yeah, I would say slow and steady.

Consistent progress. That is how you are going to achieve the best results. Because remember, we're not doing this just for a few weeks. We're gonna be doing this for decades. So just enjoy the journey.

So I hope this helped some of you who might be struggling with, how heavy should I lift? Am I lifting heavy enough? What should I be aiming for? Remember, it's so, so, so individual. Please don't compare yourself with somebody else. Like, where should I be? 'cause each of us really has a whole different story.

And what you need to be doing is focusing on strengthening your own body and your own progress. [00:13:00] Over the weeks, months, years, and decades ahead. And with that, I wish you a wonderful rest of the week and happy training.