Like many women, I spent years only utilizing 25 pound or lighter dumbbells. I was told that it really wasn’t necessary to go above 25 pounds unless I wanted to become bulky. The key instead was to increase the number of set/reps. It wasn’t unheard of for me to do 30-40 reps of a given exercise. I’ve always been a naturally strong person, but I was misled to believe that quantity was more important than reaching for bigger weights.
After my youngest child was born, I was eager to get back to working out without all the restrictions that pregnancy placed on me. No more sticking to a lower heart rate, which had led to significantly lighter weights at the very least end of my pregnancy. My trainer was also excited to get to see what I could actually do when not pregnant. I had found out I was pregnant within weeks of working with her, but she knew that I was a distance runner and an ex-rugby player. Both of things involve a considerable amount of strength and stamina. I will never forget the first time she handed me 30 pound dumbbells. I was a little surprised and explained that I didn’t really want to start looking like a bodybuilder. She seemed shocked when I explained that I had always been encouraged to not lift anything over a 25 pound dumbbell. I would never really get any stronger if I didn’t increase my weights over time. Now I always try to do a full set (at least 10-12 reps) with a heavy weight before I insist we go lighter, and I’m proud to say that at least 8-9 times out of 10 I can complete that easily.
Those are 55 pound dumbbells that I’m using for farmer walks. I had a bodybuilder give me a fist bump when I returned them to the weight racks. We had actually been aiming to do the 50 pound dumbbells, but when I picked them up I knew that I could go heavier. I did three rounds of these and could definitely go even heavier as my grip becomes stronger. And all my worries about getting too bulky were completely unfounded, if anything I’ve noticed that I’m losing inches as I increase my weights.