# What's Your Definition of Heavy?.?.?



## BrotherIron (Dec 3, 2020)

All this talk about getting older and not lifting heavy made me wonder... what's your definition of "heavy".  

Is it a set number like 300lbs, 400lbs, 500lbs OR a multiple of your bodyweight, 1.5x bodyweight, 2x bodyweight, 2.5x bodyweight?


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## JAXNY (Dec 3, 2020)

There is no number imo..
It would all depend on an individuals physical capabilities. How heavy can you lift at an older age without injuring yourself or worsening an injury. 
Lift as heavy as you can up until that point. That will be your new heavy. 
It might not be as heavy as you use to lift but its heavy for your current physical condition at your older age. 
I always go heavy. I push myself to my limit. But as time passes that limit gets a little less.


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## Bro Bundy (Dec 3, 2020)

Everyone that goes heavy gets hurt and is out of the this game .Its not good
for longevity


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## JuiceTrain (Dec 3, 2020)

Anything that keeps you under 3-4reps imo


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## BrotherIron (Dec 3, 2020)

JAXNY said:


> There is no number imo..
> It would all depend on an individuals physical capabilities. How heavy can you lift at an older age without injuring yourself or worsening an injury.
> Lift as heavy as you can up until that point. That will be your new heavy.
> It might not be as heavy as you use to lift but its heavy for your current physical condition at your older age.
> I always go heavy. I push myself to my limit. But as time passes that limit gets a little less.



That's a very good point.  As we get older our "heavy" changes.  What was once easy may become heavy and what was heavy may no longer be in our grasp.



JuiceTrain said:


> Anything that keeps you under 3-4reps imo



A coach of mine used to say... if you can rep out the weight it ain heavy.


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## Jin (Dec 3, 2020)

Half of what you lift?


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## tinymk (Dec 3, 2020)

Heavy is up to the individual and where he is at on that given day.   I always said if you can rep it, it is not heavy also if it causes you to be nervous.  Big weight approach requires an athlete performance to be successful.


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## stonetag (Dec 3, 2020)

To define heavy didn't come in one day for me, it was a slow lead up to where I stand today. Trial and error. Pain and soreness equaling the error part. The hardest person to convince, unfortunately, was myself that age was playing a huge part in "heavy".


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## Sicwun88 (Dec 3, 2020)

Going heavy for me means,
Working with weight I can only get 2-4 reps
Then adding weight even if it's 2 & half pounds and getting 1 rep!


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## BrotherJ (Dec 3, 2020)

It's all relative to the individual and what their limits are, bio-mechanics, weight/height etc...i.e. Stefi Cohen squatting 495lbs at 120lbs is a ****ing feat


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## CJ (Dec 3, 2020)

When the DBs don't have colors. :32 (20):


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## Adrenolin (Dec 3, 2020)

Hot, cold, skinny, fat, short, tall, small, big, light, heavy.... it's always going to be relative to the individual. 

That said even particular days can change what I determine to be heavy.


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## ken Sass (Dec 4, 2020)

heavy is heavy at 60 it keeps getting to be less weight lol


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## Uncle manny (Dec 4, 2020)

I’d say 5 reps and under, maybe even say rpe 8,9,10. However it is subjective to the individual like stated above. 

Talked with my friend earlier today about this. His cardiologist told him to “cut the heavy lifting shit out” my buddy is only 33, been lifting since he was 20, smaller, fit kinda guy trains for aesthetics and enjoyment. Gets tendinitis like we all do and some aches here and there. And his idea of heavy is 4-6 reps which he doesnt do too often. I said Wtf is your cardiologist to tell you that? Does he lift? “No he runs and said cardio vascular health is more important after 30” I said wow what an idiot. My friend does cardio 3-5x a week. I told him don’t let any one put dumb ideas in your head and then you go and limit yourself. Listen to your own damn body you wanna go heavy, do so just program it properly and keep on with the same cardio you do. Some doctors out there can be plain stupid when it comes to training and nutrition.


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## John Ziegler (Dec 4, 2020)

heavy would be barely being able to push or pull a weight properly more than twice


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## Adrenolin (Dec 4, 2020)

John Ziegler said:


> heavy would be barely being able to push or pull a weight properly more than twice



After 20 reps of 315 on bench, the weight becomes very "heavy"


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## Seeker (Dec 4, 2020)

Try carrying a baby grand piano on your back down a flight of stairs. That's fuking heavy


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## Adrenolin (Dec 4, 2020)

Seeker said:


> Try carrying a baby grand piano on your back down a flight of stairs. That's fuking heavy



I know the feels.  Used to work for a moving company in college.  Those assholes called me for all the pianos, weight sets, safes, gun safes, commercial server racks etc


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## John Ziegler (Dec 4, 2020)

Adrenolin said:


> After 20 reps of 315 on bench, the weight becomes very "heavy"



in 1987 my dad at 220lbs has a documented 800.0 kg/1760.0 lb total in USPF single ply master "heavy"


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## Adrenolin (Dec 4, 2020)

John Ziegler said:


> in 1987 my dad at 220lbs has a documented 800.0 kg/1760.0 lb total in USPF single ply master "heavy"


Cool, that's strong! Do you compete as well?

I've only competed raw,  but never totaled all 3 lifts in a given weight class. 

475@235 for bench (10yrs ago in 2010 partially tore my left pec hittin a triple in training with 515@272)

675@272 squat
725@272 dead

But now with a broken L4 and herniated discs (from a triple digit speed car accident) as well as prior pec injury I don't go higher than 315 on bench,  or 405 on squats/deads.


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## John Ziegler (Dec 4, 2020)

Adrenolin said:


> Cool, that's strong! Do you compete as well?
> 
> I've only competed raw,  but never totaled all 3 lifts in a given weight class.
> 
> ...



me no I have not, my best bench was 315 for 6 reps


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## DOOM (Dec 4, 2020)

Lifting “Heavy” is being strong enough that you don’t need to brag about it!


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## John Ziegler (Dec 4, 2020)

A torn pec is what ended dads career

he had been benching at the gym then was hanging out talking to some dudes for like 45 minutes 

then (at 45 years old & cold) attempts to push 525 on the benchpress

said you could hear the tear like someone was ripping apart an old rag

got it repaired 2 days later but was only able to train down after that


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## ELIMINATOR (Dec 13, 2020)

90%+ of my one rep max I consider "heavy".


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## Rot-Iron66 (Dec 14, 2020)

When youre doing sets of 3, and the 3rd rep is a grind/battle.


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## Puff2Tuff (Jul 16, 2021)

JAXNY said:


> There is no number imo..
> It would all depend on an individuals physical capabilities. How heavy can you lift at an older age without injuring yourself or worsening an injury.
> Lift as heavy as you can up until that point. That will be your new heavy.
> It might not be as heavy as you use to lift but its heavy for your current physical condition at your older age.
> I always go heavy. I push myself to my limit. But as time passes that limit gets a little less.


I agree, It's not worth injury to go heavy if your present condition doesn't allow it. A group of us were training to get our names on the wall at our gym, females get quite competitive and we had one slip a disc (she had previous back injuries and shouldn't have been lifting that heavy to begin with in my opinion). Honestly I would love to lift what my PR's are right now but I physically can't since I've been out of the gym for a while. I am not a big person im about 5'4 if that, my new heavy is a really sad low number ha.


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## snake (Jul 16, 2021)

JuiceTrain said:


> Anything that keeps you under 3-4reps imo


^^This^^

And what I use to be able to do.


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## chandy (Jul 16, 2021)

JuiceTrain said:


> Anything that keeps you under 3-4reps imo


this was the first thing that came to my mind as well. it all depends on the person and their personal strength

for the specific weights i feel like some people could use goals. like you always heard as a kid about how benching 315 was a big deal and was generally considered really "heavy" and lots of people's goal to hit.


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## supreme666leader (Jul 16, 2021)

For me its anything that will make me stop and look at what the guy is going to do at the gym like if he has 3 plates on the bench or even 2 plates and a 25 (275) or doing something with dbs over 100. Usually its just high school kids so its boring, they struggle to barely do one rep or help each other with heavy weights, did go to another gym and there was a guy who looked kinda big but more like a bouncer so couldnt really tell if he would be strong but was benching 315 for like 11-12 like nothing so that was cool.

it all depends on who you ask but to me
db shoulder press - anything over 85s is strong
db bench - anything over 100
deadlifts - anything over 3 plates but im bad at these maybe others would say 4 plates


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## OldeBull1 (Jul 16, 2021)

I think you also have to consider total volume. I might do a heavy set on a fairly light day. A 5 rep max in itself might not be heavy, but 5 sets of it is.


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## BrotherIron (Jul 16, 2021)

If it doesn't make you nervous... then it's not heavy.


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## PZT (Jul 16, 2021)

heavy causes me to see glitter


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## MrBafner (Jul 16, 2021)

Heavy to me is the weight I push on the day to get me to failure within my standard rep range for that workout.

Not every session goes to failure, but most do.

Years ago we would do 1 rep max and then workout at 70% of that weight. To many the 1 rep max would be what they think is heavy, to me, doing 10 reps with the 70%.


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## 69nites (Jul 16, 2021)

Heavy is relative. For me, heavy sets are triples or less, medium sets are 5-8, and light are 10+


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## Trendkill (Jul 16, 2021)

tinymk said:


> Heavy is up to the individual and where he is at on that given day.   I always said if you can rep it, it is not heavy also if it causes you to be nervous.  Big weight approach requires an athlete performance to be successful.


This is spot on for me.  If it makes me nervous then its heavy.  I've always felt this way and it helps me to focus even more on big lifts.


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## Skullcrusher (Jul 16, 2021)

I just do what I can do which is not much for many of you young whipper snappers.

A lot of great points already made like it depends on age, rpe, etc.

Also depends upon which lift you're doing.


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## supreme666leader (Jul 16, 2021)

I get scared on shoulder day that ill fail db press


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## Thewall (Jul 20, 2021)

Heavy for me is a phase (3-4 weeks)when I am constantly hitting in the 5 and  under rep range close to failure. Doing it once in a while is okay , but when it is cumulative over time it wears on me.


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## IsaacRobertson (Jul 20, 2021)

BrotherIron said:


> All this talk about getting older and not lifting heavy made me wonder... what's your definition of "heavy".
> 
> Is it a set number like 300lbs, 400lbs, 500lbs OR a multiple of your bodyweight, 1.5x bodyweight, 2x bodyweight, 2.5x bodyweight?


Hi, mate. This really varies from individual to individual. Only you know this because it will depend on your lifting capacity. It's true that there is a maximum weight for each body.


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## eazy (Jul 20, 2021)

IsaacRobertson said:


> varies from individual to individual


what is your definition?


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## BRICKS (Jul 21, 2021)

It's all relative.  Heavy compared to what? Other men in general? The rest of you guys?  Bodybuilders my size.  Men my age? Powerlifters? For some of these the answer is I always train heavy AF, for some of these not so much.

Therefore, it's relativity to you is all that matters.


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## IsaacRobertson (Jul 21, 2021)

eazy said:


> what is your definition?


If you can't get a rep or two out of it, it's too heavy for me. By performing the correct actions to the last feasible rep, you may establish the correct weight. Let's assume you wanted to do three sets of bench press with a rep range of 7-10, and you got 12 reps on the first set. This implies you'll have to up the weight the next time. If you got less, then reduce the weight.


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## Trump (Jul 21, 2021)

IsaacRobertson said:


> If you can't get a rep or two out of it, it's too heavy for me. By performing the correct actions to the last feasible rep, you may establish the correct weight. Let's assume you wanted to do three sets of bench press with a rep range of 7-10, and you got 12 reps on the first set. This implies you'll have to up the weight the next time. If you got less, then reduce the weight.


If your aiming for rep range 7-10 and got 12 I would assume you can’t count


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## BrotherIron (Jul 21, 2021)

IsaacRobertson said:


> Hi, mate. This really varies from individual to individual. Only you know this because it will depend on your lifting capacity. It's true that there is a maximum weight for each body.



I realize that everyone's definition of "heavy" may be different.  The question I posed is... what is your definition of heavy?

I've stated in more than 1 post what my interoperation of the word "heavy" means to me.  I want to know what everyone else thought.


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## eazy (Jul 21, 2021)

once I can't hit it for a triple, it's heavy.


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## IsaacRobertson (Jul 22, 2021)

BrotherIron said:


> I realize that everyone's definition of "heavy" may be different.  The question I posed is... what is your definition of heavy?
> 
> I've stated in more than 1 post what my interoperation of the word "heavy" means to me.  I want to know what everyone else thought.


If you can't get a rep or two out of it, it's too heavy for me. By performing the correct actions to the last feasible rep, you may establish the correct weight. Let's assume you wanted to do three sets of bench press with a rep range of 7-10, and you've realized you can actually do 12 reps on the first set. This implies you'll have to up the weight the next time. If you got less, then reduce the weight.


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## IsaacRobertson (Jul 22, 2021)

Trump said:


> If your aiming for rep range 7-10 and got 12 I would assume you can’t count


I stand corrected, man. I meant if you realized you can actually do 12.


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## BrotherIron (Jul 22, 2021)

Trump said:


> If your aiming for rep range 7-10 and got 12 I would assume you can’t count



I would assume it's not heavy but then again... if you got 7-10 it isn't heavy either.


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## CJ (Jul 23, 2021)

Putting the weight plates away after your set. For some unknown reason, those suns'a'bitches get HEAVY then!


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## BRICKS (Jul 24, 2021)

CJ275 said:


> Putting the weight plates away after your set. For some unknown reason, those suns'a'bitches get HEAVY then!


Or putting that first set of 45s on for the day. Amazing how much lighter they get after a couple sets in.


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## Skullcrusher (Aug 28, 2021)

I started out only being able to lift 50 lbs, even on bench press. It was pathetic.

After a year, I considered anything 100 lbs or over to be a heavy lift.

Now days, I consider anything over 200 lbs to be a heavy lift.

In the future, I'm sure that it will change to 300 and then eventually 400.


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## Worf (Nov 3, 2021)

BrotherIron said:


> All this talk about getting older and not lifting heavy made me wonder... what's your definition of "heavy".
> 
> Is it a set number like 300lbs, 400lbs, 500lbs OR a multiple of your bodyweight, 1.5x bodyweight, 2x bodyweight, 2.5x bodyweight?


90% 1RM


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## lifter6973 (Nov 3, 2021)

Your mom


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## Btcowboy (Nov 3, 2021)

Worf said:


> 90% 1RM


This everyones strength is different so a good general answer would 90% of persons 1 rep max


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## Yano (Nov 3, 2021)

90% or above some ones 1RM is heavy , if thats 100 or 600 for that person , that's fucking heavy. For me personally I gota get the head rush , like a near max dead lift and ya set it down and sounds sort of turn into a buzz and the room fades away a bit and you can hear your heart beat in your head for a few seconds .... thats when I know it was heavy.


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## Btcowboy (Nov 3, 2021)

Yano said:


> 90% or above some ones 1RM is heavy , if thats 100 or 600 for that person , that's fucking heavy. For me personally I gota get the head rush , like a near max dead lift and ya set it down and sounds sort of turn into a buzz and the room fades away a bit and you can hear your heart beat in your head for a few seconds .... thats when I know it was heavy.


Yeah have had room spin a bit on DL, got a nose bleed on a squat


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## The Phoenix (Nov 3, 2021)

Heavy is in the mind of the weight-holder.


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## Powerlifter_500 (Nov 3, 2021)

IMHO. 1,800lbs or you don't lift heavy. Lol. Or roughly a 600+ squat, 400+ bench and 700+ dead. 

If you're talking outside of the powerlifting world those numbers drop significantly. Lol. Probably a 400+ squat, 300+ bench and 500+ deadlift is considered heavy to the average Joe.


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## SFGiants (Nov 3, 2021)

If I can't get her feet off the ground, then the bitch is heavy!


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## TomJ (Nov 3, 2021)

There's no lb value to "heavy" I call 'heavy" as whatever is between 1-3 reps at 100% effort

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk


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## The Phoenix (Nov 3, 2021)

TomJ said:


> There's no lb value to "heavy" I call 'heavy" as whatever is between 1-3 reps at 100% effort
> 
> Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk


Good measure and proportionate across all platforms.


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## The Phoenix (Nov 3, 2021)

My trainer has had me parallel my training with joint strengthening exercises and tight movement, geared more toward powerlifting forms in our training, has enabled to strengthen my joints and hit those reps even after i realize how fncking heavy the weight is but your enforce proper form and technique to crush it.


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## PZT (Nov 3, 2021)

Im lifting 160 lbs. dumbbells tonight and thats heavy because it may dislocate my shoulder or tear my pec.


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## PZT (Nov 3, 2021)

but serious I think the rep ranges aren't a indicator of heavy either. Rather say that new school RPE shit is a better measure


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## Worf (Nov 3, 2021)

Btcowboy said:


> This everyones strength is different so a good general answer would 90% of persons 1 rep max


For most it equates to about a 3Rm. I’d say that is heavy


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## SharkMaster (Nov 3, 2021)

You would like to stay at your 85 % max of your max. If you tip over you can easily hurt yourself. Try new pr every now and then.


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## SharkMaster (Nov 3, 2021)

PZT said:


> but serious I think the rep ranges aren't a indicator of heavy either. Rather say that new school RPE shit is a better measure


I mean they probably think intensity which is a whole noter level


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