Strength training has me overwhelmed!

rissavai
rissavai Posts: 18 Member
edited January 2016 in Motivation and Support
Hi!
So I am a female 5'4 and 202lbs. I started my "weight loss journey" if you will in September of 2015 at 213lbs. Took me almost 5 months to get into a groove with my cardio. Finding out what works and what doesn't. I am a very detailed and scheduled oriented person. I like have a written plan to follow. So for cardio I found that I really like HIIT workouts on my treadmill. I enjoy doing 1 minute sprinting to 2 minute rest. I'll do that for 20-30 minutes or I like Adrian Bryant's 10 minute HIIT workout from YouTube. I try to do that twice for a total of 20 minutes. So I got that down. But I always wanted to get into weight lifting. I really enjoy it the times in the past I've done it. But I just can't wrap my head around how to do it properly and for weight loss. There is so much information out there that it's overwhelming. Right now I have just been dabbling around with my husband's weights and bench. I've tried doing videos from YouTube but again, am not sure how I should be scheduling these workouts.
Basically if anyone had a schedule they follow weekly that also incorporates cardio I would really appreciate some guidance or if you could share your schedule with me I'd be even more grateful!
Thanks!

Replies

  • rachelcaero
    rachelcaero Posts: 3 Member
    :) Add me!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Heya :) It's great that you are starting to weight train now. Many people wait until they are close to goal and have already lost so much muscle, and almost everyone regrets waiting.

    So what you want to do is focus on heavy, compound lifts. You don't need much "assistance" work, which isolates smaller muscle groups and is usually done in the 12ish rep range. You want the squat, deadlift, overhead press, and bench press to be your foundation.

    I recommend the program Strong Lifts 5x5. The site online explains the whole program and has videos. There is also an app you can use on your phone that tells you what and how much to lift each workout. Since you really like routine I think this will be a great fit for you. This is THE beginner weight lifting program (along with some others such as Starting Strength, New Rules of Lifting for Women...)

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