10-10-12, 07:09 AM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: wisconsin
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I personally love weights with my cardio as a way to up my heartrate. This would be metabolic training and/or circuits. I find circuits give me some toning benefit, too. I'm not a fan of high reps "toning" workouts that involve 3 lb weights. They bore me to tears and do nothing for my body particularly. I do use 3 lbs for rear delt raises, but that's about it. I am not a really strong person (even after all this time working out with weights). I'm stronger than I was, but I do get use out of my 5, 8, 10, 12, and 15 lb dumbells a lot for strength work. For me curling a 15 lb dumbell for biceps is lifting really heavy! I can use 20 lbs for single arm rows. When I was doing STS I managed to increase my strength some, but I lost the gains a month or so after stopping. I like to lift, but I love my cardio (first love!). I tend to me a moderate lifter/moderate reps with some circuits and cardio based kettelbell work because it's what I enjoy doing. Horizontal Conditioning taught me I could build strength with body weight as well.
I think it depends on the workout your asking about. There are so many variations on this AWT thing. I love metabolic and Hiit workouts that incorporate weights to increase the cardio output, I love circuits that alternate cardio with weights (like Paul Katami's ASAP Hollywood Bootcamp 4x4) when I want cardio but some strength (but I'll use between 5-12 pounds, not 3). It all depends on what you mean by heavy lifting, too because that varies on the individual. My body looks better the more strength work I do...but I need my cardio! I might look even better if I went really heavy with no more than 8 reps to fatigue but I found in Meso 3 of STS that bored me just as much as high reps with 3lbs does, I'm afraid. It's a compromise between what works for me and what I enjoy enough to keep doing. The extreme ends of both types of lifting are not enjoyable to me.
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Colleen |
10-10-12, 08:55 AM | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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I'm a lot like Colleen/Eyefit. I prefer to do circuit training almost on a daily basis because of the cardio component and just because it's fun. Still, I'm quite toned & solid. No flab. I know from experience I'd have much more pronounced muscle definition if I lost 10-12 lbs, lifted heavy and avoided plateaus with periodization. I did that for a long time years ago. However, I'm not sure those long, targeted workouts enhanced my life in any meaningful way and am not even sure the aesthetic results were all that appealing. It was good for me psychologically because I looked tough on the outside at a time I didn't feel particularly tough. It empowered me. That's about it. I didn't find the workouts "fun" the way I do circuit training.
Also, I agree with Gina/Lucky Star that Firm workouts probably can't be characterized as true high rep. (I can't stand high rep!) The old Anna Benson Firms (Tough Tape, Maximum Body Shaping, Classic Vol. 4, etc.) are well designed. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that Anna was doing some form of metabolic training & incorporating yoga moves into her AWT workouts long before anyone else in the industry was. I'm only now recognizing how far ahead of her time Anna Benson truly was. |
10-10-12, 09:34 AM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: A helluva town
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Yes she really was! For instance, when I do the floorwork from Volume 1 I'm struck by how similar some of the leg positioning is to barre 'pretzel' exercises. She really hit the lower body from all angles, in a way that no one else did at that time (and for years afterward too).
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~ Gina ~ "Remain cheerful, for nothing destructive can pierce through the solid wall of cheerfulness." ~Sri Chinmoy "We are so fortunate that we get to exercise!" ~Erin O'Brien |
10-10-12, 10:52 AM | ||
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: IL
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10-10-12, 10:55 AM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA
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FYI...this same routine is on her Body Rock DVD as well.
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--Julie Surely a person of sense would submit to anything, like exercise, so as to obtain a well functioning mind and a pleasant, happy life. --Socrates |
Tags |
awt, dumbbell size, high rep, high reps, peripheral heart action |
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