Comments on: Happy 2010, now go and empower yourself!

By: Doreen

Doreen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:59:21 +0000

Thanks Maik it is a great encouragement:)

By: Maik

Maik — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:43:21 +0000

Hi Doreen,
thanks for writing, we hope you enjoy the blog. Lifting heavy vs lifting light is very individual, a powerlifter might consider 1-2 reps heavy, whereas a rower will not go below 6 reps.
As a rule of thumb, try to get between 8-12 reps. If you can do more than 12 ( in good form) it is time to increase the weight in order to challenge your body. You should strive to increase the weights every 1-2 weeks.
Don’t be so concerened with calories burned during exercsie. It is impossible to tell, since we have different needs on different days ( sleep patters, stress, hormonal levels all influence this). Even if you could determine the number of calories, you wouldnt know if they came from sstored fat, glycogen or muscle.
So just focus on getting good and callenging workouts, track your intake and everything else will follow.
Hope this helps
Maik

By: Doreen

Doreen — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:59:16 +0000

Hi Maik and Scott
can you please tell what the difference is between “heavy weights” and light weights” at the gym? on the shape up software there is each of these types to choose for my exercise. is ‘heavy’ based on what I can do or is it based on the ‘heaviness’ of the weights? for example if 3 Kilos is my top limit of what i can lift is that ‘heavy’ or is the 20kilo weight that I can’t imagine lifting “heavy” – this is for the purpose of knowing how many Kcals I burn in a weight training session.
Thanks for your help
Doreen