Ben, what is that body fat testing device you recommend. How does it work? How accurate is it? All this talk about muscle "tone" and "definition" makes me think & wonder about real honest to goodness muscle. You know, the dense tissue that makes the scale weight go high per dress size?

I like doing weightless because I can feel I'm working the thighs and quads but I don't want to build them. Believe me, they are looking really slim but muscular from the high resistance StairMaster I'm doing. Plus, snow-shoeing and hiking work them, too. I like my leg size and shape at the moment, so I was just doing this for firmness.

Believe me, Ben, I do heavy weights for upper body .

I would like to know this as well.

We need videos to confirm that upper body workout.

I bet snow shoeing is radical leg work, Kate.

So I started the weights tonight - here is what I did:

I used 8lb dumbbells for all (don't laugh :P) and did 3 sets of 8 reps each

Goblet squats
Romanian dumbbell deadlifts
Arnold presses
One arm rows
Dumbbell press
Ball crunches (no weight)

There's no way I can do a negative chin yet - can anyone suggest something else (for a beginner)?

I was going just fine until the crunches. I did them ok but almost immediately after the third set I got massive cramping. I guess those muscles are all screaming from having to actually move. It's been about 20 mins and they are still massively tight and in 'threatening to cramp at any moment' mode. Maybe it's a little early for crunches? I'm pretty terrified at the thought of trying them again on Wednesday.

Anyway, the rest of the exercises went fine, seems a little easy actually - didn't take very long. I went and dug out my 'The New Rules of Lifting' book by Alwyn Cosgrove (forgot I had even bought that), I've dusted it off and will be reading it shortly.

It's great that you are starting, MM. I don't work abs directly much, but I prefer standing crunches using a broomstick.

I'm glad to see you utilizing weights. When I first started weightlifting back in 2004 (yeah, it's been just about 6 years for me!) I could barely do 5 lbs. You will get stronger over time.

Omron HBF-306C Fat Loss Monitor It's fairly accurate, not DXA accurate, but it's way more information than just knowing scale weight. My goal for clients is to make sure that muscle mass stays even or goes up as body fat goes down. I don't give a tinker's dam what the scale weight is. As long as they're getting stronger and dress sizes and waist sizes are improving, we're all happy... after I help them break the Addiction of the Scale.

Muscle is heavier/denser than fat so a more muscular woman can look very spectacularly thin and still have a fairly high scale weight. On the other hand, I've worked with chronic dieters who have great scale weight, but the body fat analyzer reports that's there's nothing but skin and flab holding them together with hardly a bit of muscle anywhere... a recipe for the disaster of sarcopenia. Plus, the scale weight folks look flabby since they are. The triceps folds that flap in the wind, etc. Not good.

A cheap bodyfat analyzer helps bring reality to this process.

Don't confuse using high loads with hypertrophy training. Building size and building strength are separate goals requiring different training methods. If you are using high loads and low reps (2-6) your hypertrophy response will be minimal while your overall strength will increase considerably. Watch some top level skaters, gymnasts or dancers in the weight room and you'll see some incredibly high loads, short sets and limited exercises. Squats, deadlifts, cleans and out of there. And these are ladies you'd never think "strength athlete" when you look at their legs. Very trim and feminine but also explosively powerful to execute their sport.

Kim Goss wrote a great article about this:
Eight Myths About Weight Training for Women

Absolutely Ben! Kate this is what i was talking with you about before on the other forum. I was training my legs, and will go back to training them with really heavy loads, and at the time, my aim was to keep them as light as possible, but as strong as possible for handbalancing, lower body weight and mass equaled toppling.
But now ive got some other things im working on too im letting my legs get bigger too, striking the balance between various goals.

Indeed, thank you David.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
Kiley Allosso - BFS Female High School Athlete of the Year 2007

Sport: Field hockey

Weight room achievements:
Power Clean - 150
Bench Press - 130
Squat - 235
Deadlift - 260

Here's number 5 getting pregame instructions from her coach:

Likelihood of getting mistaken for a guy because of her powerful muscles - 0%. Kiley looks like a normal girl. No bulging muscles anywhere. But look at those lifting numbers! She's very strong!

The most powerful muscles in the body are worked by the squat, deadlift and power clean. There are no substitutes for these movements. You can choose to do them or not. But leaving them out of your routine on the grounds of not wanting unneeded bulk is not a valid excuse.

Excellent post, Ben! Thanks for the inspiration.

You make a good argument, Ben.

I would love to get my body fat tested using that device. I could order it myself. Maybe I should ask the gym trainers if they do it. There are two private trainers at my gym.

The Omron fat tester is only $27. A good investment in tracking your body composition. It has 9 user memories so you can go in on it with several friends and get the price even lower. All the testers are slightly different so it is important to test consistently. Same device, same time of day, same time after eating of about two hours is good. I recommend once or twice per month tops to prevent obsessive testing behavior. Daily testing just leads to obsessing over hydration levels rather than actual body fat changes.

As for the arguments about training women vs men, I generally agree with Coach Rippetoe on most things and he's absolutely right when he says, "There is never an absolute answer to everything, except of course that you have to do your squats." I would add deadlifts to that and power cleans are optional for non-athletes. But squats and deadlifts are the basis of any solid program for anyone able bodied from 9 to 90.

I read through most of the 200 or so reviews on Amazon and most were very positive. It seemed the negative reviewers were not using it properly. I think I might order it. Do you think it is better than callipers? I think I would mess those up.

I posted today's workout in my journal.

I spoke to one of the trainers. He will do a body fat analysis for me, using the electric current! I just have to schedule an appointment.