How much to lift?

How much should you lift?  Good question.  To gain muscle you must work your muscle.  That means if something is really easy and you could literally do hundreds of repetitions, then it's not heavy enough.  Do you want to get stronger?  If so that means building muscle.  I for one love being strong and I love to push and challenge myself.  But, I know that there is a limit to everything so I'm not going to lift crazy amounts of weights. 

Be daring, you can lift much more than you think you can.  But form is so very important in lifting.  You can hurt yourself by lifting heavy and not using good form.  You can also go to the gym and spend hours there doing nothing if you don't lift correctly.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Good form, full range and weight do wonders.  As far as how much weight, that is tough to answer because everyone is different.  Start light, you can always add more weight the next trip to the gym.  Something may feel light to begin with but two days after the gym you may be dying. 

The whole idea around lifting is to get stronger, every day tasks are so much easier when you are strong.  Building muscle is working those muscles; but you build your muscles before you get heavier.  This helps to protect your joints; no muscle and you will get joint damage by lifting heavy.  You must build the muscles around your joints; build them slowly and properly.  Having muscle allows you to do things that others may not, especially as we age.  When I do go heavy, the number of repetitions is way down.  Maybe even one rep is all that I can get out but it is all stepping stones to getting stronger.  Next time I might get two or three out.

Lifting weights will build muscle but, you must eat nutrient rich food as well.  You can spend hours upon hours at the gym lifting and exercising but if you are not fueling your body with the food it needs to build muscle then you are wasting your time.  Plus you are taxing your body and actually doing more bad than good. 

I cannot say enough about building muscle and how it feels when you move.  Just every day life movements are made so much easier when you've got muscle; and I don't mean big giant muscle, just strong muscles.  Day to day movements, going up stairs, hoping out of the back of your truck, climbing a ladder or lifting the end of the sofa can seem literally impossible until you gain muscle, then it's easy peasy.  Go lift.