How Much Before You Look Like You Lift?

Training
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I’ve been lifting very consistently since this past October (6 months) and have made a bit of progress. I’m liking how my arms are looking - not ripped, but they are getting more definition and you can see a hint of my triceps! :slight_smile:

My muscles are getting hard, but I’m wondering how long and how heavy you have to lift to really see the muscle. I know a lot of it has to do with fat % also, but that can’t be the only factor (or is it?). I had a goal to compete in a local comp this coming October, but got a little surprise and am now 14 weeks pregnant. Sigh…

I know that I don’t lift nearly as heavy as most of you do, but I do up my weights every week or two. Is there a point that you say - hey - I can see muscle without flexing?

Don’t laugh -
I currently bench 80lbs ( don’t know what any of my 1 rep max’s are) and squat 95lbs. I do 5 sets of 5 reps for nearly everything. I can only do 3 pullups right now. :frowning:

Any advice on adding muscle? I just read an article that said more reps for legs helped make them bigger faster, instead of just heavy weight and low reps. What do you think? How heavy were you lifting when you started looking the way you wanted to?

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Hypertrophy training would be best…right now it sounds like you are lifting for strength and there is nothing wrong with that…but if it’s muscle AND strength you seek, why not stick with the 5x5 for the BIG lifts, and do a 4x10-12 set/rep scheme for the accessory stuff? :slight_smile: HTH!!

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oh ya, and congrats on your “surprise!”

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Thanks so much! So continue doing my squats and deadlifts as heavy as I can and then do say extensions and curls at higher reps?? Cool!! Thanks so much - I wonder if anyone has ever done a competitions 8 months pregnant?? hehehe… just kidding. Kind of.

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Ya, something like that! :slight_smile:

For example(sample training session I had a couple weeks ago:

Squats 5x5
Leg Press-4x10
Reverse Lunge-4x10
Single leg DL- 3x12
Adductor machine- 3x10
Hyper extensions- 3x12
planks/reverse crunches- 3x10(super setted)

Kind of high volume, but I like it! :stuck_out_tongue:

You get the idea…you can even switch up the bigger lifts every once in awhile to higher reps…or instead of bench, switch to db bench for higher reps…stuff like that.

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Oooh. I’m sore just looking at it. :slight_smile: Thanks so much for the help - I’m going to start working more lifts in!

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[quote]colleend78 wrote:
Oooh. I’m sore just looking at it. :slight_smile: Thanks so much for the help - I’m going to start working more lifts in![/quote]

If you are pregnant I would not push to make PR’s and I would take it easy in the gym. Take care of that little one inside. When I was pregnant I limited how heavy I lifted and the Dr. also said to limit the time laying down(benching, flys, etc). Just my 2 cents, oh and congrats on the news.

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[quote]colleend78 wrote:

My muscles are getting hard, but I’m wondering how long and how heavy you have to lift to really see the muscle. I know a lot of it has to do with fat % also, but that can’t be the only factor (or is it?). [/quote]

Well. . .yes it is. . .you can’t see muscle if there’s a thick layer of fat over it. Seeing muscles (no matter how big or small they are) is all about leanness.

But when you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t try to be that lean, IMO. Just be active and healthy and enjoy yourself.

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For example, check out the pics of Gus before and after losing fat. He had lifted for years in the Before pics, but you could barely tell.

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