5/19    Exercise advice sought:  If I am just trying to tone up a little
        can I do something like 400-500 curls with 10lbs dumbells or will
        that little weight not do anything?  Better to do half as many
        with 20lbs?  I am a small stature person.
        \_ Hi, small stature person!
        \_ If you want to bulk up, do enough weight so that you can just
           barely do 3 sets of 12. If you just want toning, take yoga.
           \_ 2nded.  You'll get results more quickly this way, and at 20lbs
              you need not fear of turning into that enormous guy at the gym
              with hairy shoulders.  Just make sure your form is good if
              you're just starting off w/ weights.
           \_ tone != bulk.  If you want tone and definition, you do want more
              reps with lower weight.  Try 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps.  More reps
              per set if you like.
              \_ That is why I asked if 400x10lbs or 200x20lbs would be
                 better.
                 \_ You should never need to do 400 or even 200 reps (I hope
                    you're just giving exagerrated numbers for effect). The
                    above poster is right... find a weight where you can just
                    barely do 20 or even 25 reps and work from there. Oh, and
                    something that gets lost in the equation of toning/bulking:
                    diet. You can have the perfect workouts, with the ideal
                    weights, sets, reps, exercises, form, etc., but it won't
                    that the hard way (yes, I've been improvement once I cut
                    down on the french fries)
                    make a difference until you start eating right. I learned
                    that the hard way (yes, I've seen improvement after I cut
                    out the fast food)
        \_ Don't listen to these people who haven't tried it!  I would
           recommend 800-1000 curls with 5 lbs, I have had very
           effective results with that.  Try it for yourself!
           \_ Sounds like a recipie for tendonitis.  Curls, like most
              weight work, isolates a particular muscle group.  Unlike
              exercizes that impact a larger number of muscles, weight
              work is not suitable for rep counts.  There is debate over
              whether the 30-rep sets are safe.  Even the high-rep clique
              at the gym would agree that 800 is crazy.
           \- I dont claim to have a particularly sane exercise program
              but some comments: 1. first i think doing a few hundred
              curls of low weight should be ok. it is probably like using
              a rowing machine for 20-30 min. 2. if you goal is tone and
              general fitness with a low target and without joining a gym
              or buying pricey equipment, then i'd just run like 3miles
              3-4 times a week. that moves large muscles unlike the curl
              program and will probably burn more calories and get your
              mtabolism up and your fat level down. if you ear a reasonable
              mtabolism up and your fat level down. if you eat a reasonable
              amount of protein, it is easy to bulk up arms for men. legs
              are a lot more work. --psb
              \_ The problem is that with any serious weight and crazy high
                 repetitions, it's very possible to give yourself a RSI.  This
                 is especially true if you have no idea what you're doing and
                 have little or no idea of good form.  This is a very hard
                 lesson to learn by injuring yourself.
        \_ Isometrics, son.  It's all about isometrics.
        \_ I don't think you ever need to worry about bulking up
           unintentionally.  If it was that easy to get big, you wouldn't
           see people spending 24x7 in the gym, drinking protein shakes,
           taking supplements, and reading muscle magazines.  Start with
           a standard excercise routine which you can find in any excercise
           book or web page and if you notice yourself getting "too big",
           cut back on the weight and increase your reps/sets by 15%. -emin
        \_ Here's a question. Why do any of this? Simply to look better? I
           can think of a dozen kinds of exercise that will keep you in shape
           and certainly sound more enjoyable than endless reps in a gym or
           some room in one's house. I suppose I need to give partha credit for
           hinting at the same point. I swim about a mile a day and I'll bet,
           if nothing else, I have more interesting things to look at. :)
           \- i sort of got addicted to swimming for a while and was swimming
              maybe 10-12 miles a week. i dont think swimming gets you very
              far unless you have a lot of discipline [i.e. you do the
              equivalent of running intervals] or you combine with weights.
              if you do the equivalent of a slow jog in the pool, it doesnt
              get you very far. if i am totally out of shape then i start
              my aerobic conditioning by swimming, since it's hard to get
              motvated to run if you cant even run 2 miles. but otherwise
              swimming alone to me is like exercise bike or walking ... for
              old people or people who for some other reason, e.g. 50lbs
              overweight, cant run or something like that. --psb