Weight lifting questions.

AdrianasMombieED

Post and run. Will be back on in the morning to respond back. Just wanted to do this now before I forget lol(:
This will be my first time ever lifting weights and I just wanted to ask a few questions. (I'll be looking up info about weight lifting as well, just wanted to see how this works for everyone)

I'll be getting a 105lb weight set within a month. I don't want to be "bulky," I'd like to look, ahh, not sure how to explain this, but I'd like to look lean without muscle being visible unless I flex. I'm 5'3, I went from 220lbs to 165lbs since early December, with extra skin in the arm/stomach/leg area due to pregnancy and 85lbs of weight gain. While weight lifting, I'll be doing Insanity, then p90x when Ive finished Insanity ,along with 10-20 minutes on the elliptical everyday. But here are my questions:

1. When you first started, how much could you lift? (i know it all depends on everyone's strength, was just curious).
2. How much time did it take you to lift 50-100lbs+ if you started low? (Im a weakling! lol. So, also curious).
3. How long did you lift for each amount of weight before you moved onto more weights?
4. How many minutes a day did you lift to get where you are now?
5. How many times a week do you weight lift?
6. I hear alot of people use protein shakes while weightlifting, are they really necessary? (Im sure you think this is a dumb question, so I'm sorry lol).
7. I'm interested in doing squats while lifting, should I do something else along with it?

I'm not even sure if these online calculators for finding out your body fat percentage is accurate, but it told me I had a 40% and I'd like to get down to the healthy 21-33% like recommended.

I'm sorry if my questions are common sense to everyone, but, I'm still reading up on the subject before I officially get into it. lol.
Even before and after photos are 100% welcome. Would love to see all of your transformations!(:

Thank you in advance for reading and responding.
Hope everyone has a good night

Fullsterkur_woman

You can't get bulky! You just don't have the hormones for it. Having said that, if you're going to lift weights, why not try to become as strong as possible? I want to be as capable as I can be! Also, weight lifting is crucial for women as we age, both for bone density and for preserving lean mass. I personally think it's MORE important for women to lift heavy than it is for men!

I'm not sure if you're going to be able to achieve the look you want without surgery, since you likely have loose skin after that great weight loss. "Lean" is generally something that is achieved by diet.

So here are my answers to your questions.

1. How much could I lift on which lift? When I started strength training I was using 3, 5, and 8 pound dumbbells in Joyce Vedral's "Bottoms Up" workout.
2. I got pretty good at lifting 3, 5, and 8 pound dumbbells doing this. You can lift 8 pounds 24/7 and never become able to lift 100 pounds. Again, it depends on what lift you're talking about. I could deadlift about 100 pounds the first time I worked with a trainer, I can now lift a 100 pound atlas stone to my waist from the floor, but I can't bench or squat 100 pounds right now and I'll probably never curl 100 pounds (at least, not in each hand)! One thing I have learned is that it's probably best not to compare yourself with others, though. I have to avoid that myself. The only yardstick for me is how I compare with me...
3. In my most recent program, I went up in weight as soon as I could do three sets of 15 reps. I hate doing it that way and I made very slow progress. I'm hoping for heavier weights with fewer reps from my next trainer.
4. I usually lift 4-5 times a week, and it takes between 35-60 minutes per session.
5. 4-5 times per week.
6. Protein shakes are only necessary if you do not get enough protein from the food you eat. You should try to get as much as possible from your food. I shoot for one gram per pound of body weight every day. This means 185 grams for me, which is difficult to get with food sometimes and stay under my calorie limit. If I ate a little more Greek yogurt and fat-free cheese I could probably do it.
7. *Please do squats*! I wish I could do more of them (back squats), but my body is too injured for them right now so I do hack squats using a machine. Check out stronglifts 5x5 for a simple program to get started with and you can make pretty fast progress, assuming a good diet and adequate sleep for recovery.

(I felt the need to add that I did *not* get injured lifting heavy. I got injured by having a crappy desk job where I am forced to sit unnaturally without moving for hours at a time. They call it the slow death by chair.)

Body fat changes are nice, but I think it's better to focus on getting stronger and building that muscle and bone mass for when you get older. I'm about 35% myself, and I'll get where I want to be eventually, but I'd rather focus on being able to perform things rather than some arbitrary data point that doesn't have any direct relevance as to how useful I can be as a person.

When I was 137 pounds and 23% body fat, I promise you I was not a better person than I am now. And it turns out I was mentally more fragile. Now I understand more about who I am, what works best for me, and I'm mentally more *agile*. A much better place to be.

Rather than waiting to understand everything and read everything before you get into it, it might be cool just to start picking things up and putting them down. You can still read up on everything while you're doing that. And next month you'll wish you'd started today.

If you insist on reading something first, may I suggest this? http://www.stumptuous.com/the-less-thinking-more-doing-starter-program

Hope it helps!