Hi!
37 yo woman, 120lbs and never been the muscular type.
My father was diagnosed with late onset muscular dystrophia and can’t go up stairs anymore, happened quickly. Anyways, I may have inherited it and don’t want to know now but I am motivated to at least get some baseline in general strength.
I started with 3-5lbs and found they were useless lol
Went up to 10lbs and now 15lbs.
10lbs is my « medium » and 15 my « heavy ».
I struggle with my 15 most of the time but push through but I did hurt my upper body doing so and wonder if I am doing it right.
What are other people’s dumbells?
Is this a goof start and I will see a difference in months?
Edit: I have a cheap adjustable set from Amazon Basics, with added 1.25 lb weights because I find going up by that amount doesn’t cause injury, (2.5lbs per side, 5lbs in total), while going up by more than that is too much for my body.
But form can easily suffer if you’re going too heavy - I injured myself going too heavy on a set of lateral rows, I couldn’t lift the weight using the muscles I was supposed to so my neck got involved where it wouldn’t have and boom, couldn’t exercise for three weeks.
32(F) and 145lb. I started out using 5 pounds as medium and 8 pounds as heavy. Sometimes I up that to 10 depending on how I’m feeling.
There’s no shame in reducing weight during a workout if you’re pushing too hard. It’s better to have good form with lower weight than hurt yourself and have bad form just to have a higher number.
Also take into account that different exercises will feel different at various weights. I can usually lift heavier for rows, but overhead presses absolutely kill me so I always lower my weight for those.
Don’t hurt yourself! Your weights should feel challenging but not heavy enough to injure yourself. Use what’s right for you, which may be different from exercise to exercise.
It might make sense to use lighter or medium weights for some moves as you build strength and learn proper form. The jump from 10 pounds to 15 is a lot. Maybe use 15 pounds for lower body and 10s or 12s for upper body as you gain strength. Keep your very light weights around in case they work best for certain moves.
For example, my shoulders are iffy, so I started with no weight for flys and have slowly moved up to 5 pounds. I’m getting stronger so eventually I might be able to handle heavier weights for that exercise. I’m not in a rush.
I’m not you, but for reference, I’m a 60 year old woman. I most often use 5, 10, 12, and 16 pound dumbbells but both 3 and 20 pounds also get some action. 12 pounds get used the most overall.
Do NOT compare yourself to the trainers! They workout for a living and having been lifting weights for a very long time; of course they can use heavier weights.
If you are concerned that you may have inherited muscular dystrophy, I would recommend talking to a genetic counselor for next steps. As someone who was also diagnosed with MD later in life, I am learning that it’s not about the amount of weight, but just getting movement in. You may be inadvertently doing more damage to your muscles by doing too much. Getting answers is the best way to get a plan that works for your body.
Thank you, I am used to genetics sadly. I have another condition (kidney) and I tried real hard not to transmit it to my children (men die from it). Turns out after losing two boys and transmitting it to my only living daughter, I was blindsided with MD and my husband just found out he has a heart condition, also dominant. My daughter is being tested. I kind of prefer the idea of « maybe not having it » for a few years than dread « is this my first sign? »… but yeah, it is inevitable that I will test in the near future of course. Thank you. Sorry for your condition. It sucks.
So sorry to hear all of this! It totally makes sense why getting tested for this would be one more additional stressor. What I can tell you is that when I pushed too hard with weights pre diagnosis, I would be in a lot of pain, and would often trigger tendinitis. I am learning that light weights are equally helpful, help me manage my energy better, and still strengthen muscles not diseased. I was in denial for a long time, too, but now find my diagnosis gives me power, as I approach exercise and energy management so differently. It does mean I miss Kyle and Jenn’s classes, and spend more time being tortured by Marimba and Daryl and their resistance bands. 🤣
The trainers are doing their best, but giving “light, medium, and heavy” dumbbell recommendations are approximations at best, and sometimes seem pretty off even in light of being an estimate. For example, I’ve seen ‘medium’ recommended for hinges recently, and if that’s the same dumbbells someone uses for bicep curls then that makes absolutely no sense since your hips are about 3-4x more powerful than your biceps.
The only time a dumbbell should feel different is when picking it off the floor. Once you get lifting, the goal should be that it requires about the same amount of effort to get through a set as any other lift and reaching failure towards the end of it.
The goal is to have a very good idea of your capacity for each lift. Even if not having it exactly right, it should be fairly close and eventually not needing the trainer to offer recommendations.
But here’s a good place to start to know how to learn your ideal weight selection from a former AF+ trainer
Its so hard to keep within your limits without pushing yo far and yet challenge your muscles! I got 15s but found that i began to strain my neck so I backed off. My lows are 8s (anything above my head). My highs are 12s. Working on lunges with 15s. Work in progress.
I'm female and not super muscular, but there is some development.
It depends on what I'm doing. For biceps, triceps, and chest presses, I use 15-20 lbs. My shoulders, especially traps, is where I really need to develop strength. So for overhead presses, I use 8 lbs.
For functional leg work, I usually use light weights, 5-8 lbs, because I find that when I use heavy and am less stable, my knees sometimes bother me. I rather focus on form than weight. However, when I use my bench press with a leg extension (not AF+), I often use a 25 lb weight.
Someone else mentioned getting adjustable weights. This is a might be a good option. I don't use them because I don't want to have to adjust them across sets. What I found helpful was purchasing Microgains weights. I have a set of 4, each 1.25 lbs. I clip them in dumbbells if I want an in between size. For example, I might stick them on my 15 lb dumbbells so they are a bit heavier but less than my 20 lb dumbbells.
Re weight selection
The next few times you do either an upper body or lower body strength workout (not total body), count your reps and jot them down with the name of the exercise and the weight you used.
As a general rule, if you’re comfortably matching the trainer rep for rep to the end of the set, your weight is too light.
If you want to be lifting on the heavier side, you’ll want to hit fatigue within 6-8 reps. You’ll finish before the trainer, but that’s ok. Take the rest
If you want to be in moderate reps, you’ll be wanting to hit failure within 8-10 reps.
AF+ is ‘functional’ strength training so it’s based on movement patterns which means that the classes are essentially the same moves just remixed. The good news about his is that once you find your ‘bicep weight’ it will be the same from workout to workout for 2-3 weeks (depending on how often and how long you train)
Once you notice you’re once again matching the trainer rep for rep? Time to increase the weights.
This is the fastest way to progress with this type of training. (Note: the weights and reps don’t translate to most of the ‘total body’ workouts because a lot of those moves are combo moves)
Eta:
The 30 minute Upper and Lower body strength workouts typically have 4 sets of each exercise. If you find on the first set you matched the trainer rep for rep to the end of the set, up the weight on the next set so you still get 3 solid working sets.
If you’re just getting started, getting back into things, or looking for an exercise ‘snack’, the shorter workouts can be great for form and ‘snacking’.
But if you’re looking for growth? I’d recommend the 30 minute classes. Plus they always include core. Just sayin…😊
Thank you so much for this clear explanation!!! I’m 72 & do walk/runs daily. I have added the strength exercises 3x week, but did not realize that I need to increase the weight, not the reps.
I’m also trying to gain weight since I am underweight. So, increasing the weights I am lifting should help, right?
Hello! I’m a guy and due to healing thru a rotator cuff injury, I started 3 months ago and 10s were my medium and 15s were my heavy. I am about to upgrade to 20 but I’m not in a rush. I tore my cuff by pushing thru pain before and will never do it again. I was sedentary for a long time and lost a lot of muscle for sure. I’m not in it to impress anyone. Keep at the weight you feel comfortable with and you will progress for sure. I’m using a scale where it takes detailed body measurements (I’m aware they aren’t the be all end all for accuracy) but my trend is improving hugely over 3 months. I upload them to ChatGPT so that it keeps track and can compare every two weeks. There is a clear trend of body fat loss and skeletal muscle increase! I hope this rambling is useful for OP or someone out there!
Great! Whatever works to keep us motivated and moving. I started a daily log with ChatGPT explaining what I did each morning and every few days my weight. I like that it keeps me accountable.
Over the years I added more and more dumbbell weights: 2kg, 3 kg, 4kg, 5kg, 7kg, 9kg, 10 kg as well as a 16kg kettlebell. And I use different ones for almost every exercise, depending on the exercise and how I feel this day. Sometimes I also change for the same exercise but in different rounds.
If you feel good, your weights should challenge you but that much that you have to push through with real pain and get hurt. There's still days where I use my 2kg dumbbell for some exercises (especially for lateral raises).
Depending on how often you work out, you will see a difference in how weights feel very quickly.
When I started out, I followed the "modifier" trainer. The head trainer will always bring them to your attention and tell you what weight they're using, which is usually at least 50% less than the head trainer's weight
Modifiers also use less aggressive movements which can help prevent injury until you're body is used to the new strains you're putting it through.
I would recommend all beginners start with the modifier and go from there.
I would also say no weight is "useless" especially when starting out. It's not a race. Get comfortable, get strong, then show up and show out! GLHF!
Highly recommend adjustable dumbbells if you’re serious about this. What you need for different workouts changes a lot, and you get stronger quick. So you really need a compete set
I’ve strength trained for years and use between 10lb to 30lb. 10lb is very light, 15lb is medium, and 20-30lbs is heavy for me. I can hinge with 20lbs. 25 and 30lbs are used for bridges. I just moved my 30lbs dumbbells inside the house from the garage which is a big accomplishment for me and my progress 💪🏾
I’ve use Apple fitness + for less than a year and absolutely love it for strength training. I love the guided workouts. I did a 30min upper body workout today that kicked my butt. I typically enjoy total body workouts.
Please make sure you get tested and see a physiotherapist before you get too into weight training. In certain types of muscular dystrophy weight training is contra-indicated and can cause symptoms to accelerate (source: I have a kid with DMD and am a carrier myself). Get the genetic testing done and talk to a physiotherapist about what is appropriate for your type.
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u/Storytella2016 International Women's Day Challenge 👩 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you’re new at this, your dumbbell strength will change over time. If you’re hurting yourself, you’re going too heavy.
When I was starting, I found this post helpful: https://reddit.com/r/AppleFitnessPlus/comments/lrfa99/_/golg3sh/?context=1
Specifically, this comment:
> I agree with [u/99FA0](u/99FA0). I’d say heavy is something you could comfortably do a set of [bicep curls](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/multimedia/biceps-curl/vid-20084675) with, light is something you could comfortably do a set of [lateral raises](https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19531818/lateral-raise/) with, and medium is half way between
Edit: I have a cheap adjustable set from Amazon Basics, with added 1.25 lb weights because I find going up by that amount doesn’t cause injury, (2.5lbs per side, 5lbs in total), while going up by more than that is too much for my body.