need to start building muscle

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sexymamadraeger
sexymamadraeger Posts: 239 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm 41 and I have a back that acts up with sciatica on occasion. I need to start building muscle but nothing too strenuous. Any suggestions? I hit my 100 pound weight loss goal today! Feeling sooooooo good. I have lots of loose skin and I need to build some muscle to help it out I think.

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  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
    edited July 2017
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    A good strength program for the over-40 crowd is New Rules of Lifting for Life. Or hire a good personal trainer and get a customized program. :+1:
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
    edited July 2017
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    Start StrongLifts 5x5. Get the app too. Great for beginners.

    BTW, strength training will probably help your back in the long run. Building supporting muscle will probably help alleviate the pressure causing your sciatica.
  • Rammer123
    Rammer123 Posts: 679 Member
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    Are you doing stretching for your sciatica?
  • VeronicaA76
    VeronicaA76 Posts: 1,116 Member
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    sexymamadraeger wrote: »
    I'm 41 and I have a back that acts up with sciatica on occasion. I need to start building muscle but nothing too strenuous. Any suggestions? I hit my 100 pound weight loss goal today! Feeling sooooooo good. I have lots of loose skin and I need to build some muscle to help it out I think.

    I'm 40 and two years ago I weighed a good 300-350lbs. I am down to 188lbs. Nothing too strenuous??? Sadly, it has to be strenuous in order to build muscle. I was doing light weight workouts for almost 6 months and got nowhere. I hired a trainer, he upped ALL the weights and intensity, and a miracle happened: I started losing a lot of fat, built muscle and all my saggy skin started to tighten up. So yeah, you do have to get out of your weight comfort zone. On the bright side, weight lifting will help tighten skin A LOT: I can actually wear those cute little bralettes that do nothing for support again.
    I would start with a notebook. First you write down each part of your body: back, legs, arms, chest etc. Then under each of those body parts, write down each muscle group such as for arms: bicep, tricep, forearms. Once you have each muscle group, look up 3-4 exercises for each muscle and write them down. Now as a beginner, do "full body" workouts 3-4 times a week. Start at the top and work your way down. Do about 7-10 different exercises per workout session, picking one exercise per muscle group. You won't be able to hit every muscle in one day so those will be the muscles you hit on day 3 (2nd exercise day), and so on. Start with 3 sets of 10 at a comfortable weight, write it down!!! The next week do the same routine but see if you can go up in the amount of weight you're lifting. Such as on week one you do 3lb dumbbell overhead presses, try for 5lbs the next week. Do this for a good 4 weeks so your body gets used to working out. Readjust your workout plan after week 4. This is when most people go to what is known as a 6-day split. Where you double up on each part and do them twice a week. To know if you are lifting a proper weight you should feel slightly sore the next day, but no pain. If you are unsure of how to preform an exercise, there are 1000's of tutorials online. Also, make sure to eat something 30 minutes before you work out.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
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    I also like stronglifts 5x5. Start light, learn proper form, add weight. It's great for beginners because there are only 5 lifts to learn. You can Google it to get the schedule or download the app.
  • sexymamadraeger
    sexymamadraeger Posts: 239 Member
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    Thanks for the advice you guys! I'll do some googling. I used to do the Total Gym with my husband and loved it. Then I got too motivated and overdid it. I was in pain with sciatica for days after that. It's the squats that got me. So it sounds like I need to get back into a routine and just be careful. Personal trainer would be a good idea in the beginning at least. I'm sooooooo glad to hear the loose skin can go away with weight lifting. Boy, that's motivation! The skin on my upper legs and arms is pretty bad right now. It does go away slowly over months but I'd like to speed up the process.
  • Colectable93
    Colectable93 Posts: 38 Member
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    So I am just starting to lose weight, lost approx 21 pds in two months, and I am doing aqua workouts 4 days a week, slowing seeing my muscle come up and my fat go down and inches changing. But I would really like to firm as I go, so doing the stronglifts 5x5 for beginners will help do that? I would like to do that in addition to my aqua workouts

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