I happened to turn on the TV yesterday afternoon while I was prepping chicken for dinner and I caught Gwyneth Paltrow on the Oprah Show, talking about how hard she worked -- and still does work -- to get herself back in shape after giving birth. I had to put down the knife and watch as footage rolled of Gwyneth's workout; she was sweating hard as her trainer, Tracy Anderson, put her through a workout that looked deceptively easy.
But my ears really perked up when I heard Tracy say this: No woman should ever lift more than three pounds.
Umm, MizFit ...where are you?
I haven't used three-pound weights since, I don't know, 1987. Seriously, if I told my trainer that I wasn't going to lift more than three pounds, she'd have laughed me right out of that gym. But I admit I'm intrigued by Tracy's approach. I researched her DVDs and I'm thinking about ordering some, just to give her method a try. After all, it works for Gwyneth and Madonna, right?
As with many things, there's more than one way to get results, for sure. And in the interest of changing up my workout, I'm willing to give Tracy's method a try. Besides, three pounds will be a nice break from those 15's I've been using.
Charlotte did an experiment on this a while back. She also had some thoughts about it here:
http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/03/work-out-with-madonna.html
Generally, the assumption is you can get a good workout from it, but its time consuming because you do a lot of reps.
Keep us posted on how it goes if you dive into it.
Posted by: SeaBreeze | September 18, 2008 at 08:31 AM
Wow, 3 lbs. Yeah, that's different!
Posted by: Girl on Top | September 18, 2008 at 09:04 AM
I think mixing it up is a good thing. If I feel like doing low weight/high reps one day, I'll do that. A few days later, I may do heavy weight/low reps. What I HATE is when people say "Never" do this or that. There are very few absolutes when it comes to working out, IMHO. And most of those absolutes have to do with correct form or staying healthy/preventing injury.
Posted by: Alyssa | September 18, 2008 at 10:22 AM
I do admit, I actually have 3 lbs weights. The only other weights I have are 8 lbs.
Be that as it may, I think its stupid to claim that women shouldn't lift any more than that. I say, lift as much as you can and be proud of it! And most definitely agree with Alyssa.
Posted by: Sagan | September 18, 2008 at 01:07 PM
So true, everybody. Absolutes never serve us well.
Mixing it up? Now that's always a good thing.
Posted by: Dara Chadwick | September 19, 2008 at 06:31 AM