By juliet
•
September 3, 2026
As the schools go back and the weather takes a dramatic turn, there is no doubt that Autumn has invited herself along. If you need any more convincing, apparently Tesco has got Christmas foods on display. Bonkers! SUE SUE SUE - I'm sorry for those who thought I had finally lost the plot (and GREAT to see two of you laughing as much as me) as I managed to squeeze that into a class online yesterday. Still making me laugh out loud. If you havent yet seen Ann Droid on Iplayer, do yourself a favour and settle in. It has got to be one of the daftest, funniest things I have seen in a very long time, and having started to use Chat Gbt a lot more, it is uncannily accurate. I met one of our fabulous online friends for coffee this week and every time we drifted into more serious subjects, we just kept coming back to quoting lines from the series like a couple of daft kids. A great tonic if you need a bit of a lift. And so to weights... It can be really overwhelming. I saw a post recently online that said "I feel more peer pressure in my 50's to eat protein and lift weights than I ever did in my teens to take drugs"! You can't go too far without being bombarded with podcasts, documentaries, magazine articles and radio interviews all promoting the need for a healthier lifestyle and how to achieve it but it can seem too much and very confusing. We recognise that Pilates is excellent but on its own, is not enough. The ideal blend is to practise Pilates, lift weights and then also bring in your walking or running or cycling or tennis. A bit of everything really. We have already discussed the "WHY" element of lifting weights and if you are still unsure, scroll back a few weeks as I have written a few posts on this but there is no denying the many ways it helps us and I regularly get comments on where in your day to day lives you see the benefits. I LOVE this! However, we are still not sure about how heavy to go so let's try and break this down and make it easier to understand . “Heavy” is personal—it means a weight that challenges you, not a particular number on a dumbbell. As a beginner, start light enough to learn the movement and stay in control. If you’re aiming for 8–12 repetitions, the final few should feel noticeably harder, but you should still be able to complete them without swinging, rushing or changing your posture. Aim to finish feeling you could manage another two good repetitions if you had to. If you reach 12 and feel you could easily do several more, try the next small increase in weight. If you can’t reach eight without losing technique, choose something lighter. Different exercises will need different weights, so one pair of dumbbells won’t suit everything. Take time to find your starting point—there’s no rush to lift heavier, and muscle effort should never mean pushing through pain. When you are more experienced and feel more confident, you are aiming to really dig deep to finish the last couple of reps. Typically we use 8 - 12 as a guide. If you are swinging the weights about, rushing the movement or feel you could do more, you are not lifting heavy enough. If you can't maintain an appropriate posture, are holding your breath or using momentum to lift the weight, it is too heavy.
