Please help me get started with weights.

desireeorozco859

Ok, so I need to drop 18 more pounds or so before I really start lifting weights to tone myself. As of now I do a couple of reps of weights mostly for arms, combined with boxing a heavy bag. 5-6 times a week. I do cardio everyday.so once I'm down to my weight, how much lifting should I do? How many reps etc??? Any tips are appreciated.

Rusty740

First of all well done to recognize the value of lifting. You won't regret it. Start as soon as you can.

Are you able to join a gym or is this an 'at home' thing?

cwolfman13

You ideally don't wait until you've lost the weight to "tone up"...you should lift while dieting to preserve the muscle you have...muscle is really hard to build.

You should find an established program that ideally focuses on compound movements that work your entire body...just focusing on arms is going to do about nothing.

There are tons of beginner programs out there...maybe check out New Rules of Lifting for Women...it's a decent program and the read is good for women not familiar with lifting as it tells you what you're doing and why and dispels a lot of myths that women hold about lifting...Strong Curves is another good one. If you want to focus on optimal strength gains look into traditional strength programs like Starting Strength or Strong Lifts 5x5.

HealthierRayne

There is no reason why you have to wait before you hit the weights. Weight training will help you lose weight, since the more muscle mass you have the more calories your body will burn naturally at a resting state.

I would suggest looking into some of the plans on Bodybuilding.com as they have a lot of videos that show you have to do the exercises and they have structured plans that give you certain exercises for different days. They even have printable calendars you can follow. (For beginners all the way to people training for a competition)

desireeorozco859

Ok, thanks:-) I just, really wouldn't want to t

desireeorozco859

Ok, thanks:-) I just, really wouldn't want to turn what, I have now into muscle. Lol and when I look online there is sooooo many different things I'll investigate further and pick one. How many times a week for weights is ideal?

sardelsa

Start lifting now.

Your fat won't turn into muscle, what will happen is that lifting will help preserve the muscle you have.. so your body composition will be improved as you lose weight.

Follow one of the programs mentioned above, it will give you a schedule and how often to lift.. typical beginner full body programs are 3-4x per week.

Rusty740

Here's the basics for you really quick.
3 times per week full body program will be best for you. Stonglifts or Strongcurves is a great place to start. Google them.

You will start with just an empty bar and add 2.5 lbs or 5 lbs about every week. Do not worry if the weight feels too light, you want to learn the proper form first, then as the weights get heavy, you will be in a good spot.

These programs are focused on getting stronger muscles, not getting bigger muscles, there's a difference. The basic difference is that when you are training for strength you lift heavy, heavy weights a few, around 3-5 reps per set. When you train for getting bigger muscles, you train with medium-heavy weights for more sets, around 8-12 or so. Getting bigger muscles is called hypertrophy. It's what bodybuilders try for, strength is what powerlifters go for. Most people want to look like a bodybuilder more than a powerlifter, but it's important to know that the basic lifts are the same, it's just how you do them.

You will eventually need to know what the maximum weight is you can lift for each exercise, it's an estimate, you don't actually try it. This is called your 1RM (1-Repitition Maximum). As you progress on Stronglifts or Strongcurves you will get to a point where the weight gets really hard to do 5 times. At this point you can go to Dr. Google and use a calculator to find out what your estimated 1RM is. Approximate is ok.

Once you finally have your 1RM, or you are comfortable guessing, you can switch to doing more hypertrophy training. It's where you do more reps and lower the weights, but you still want to get within 3 or so reps of failure (failure of where your form starts to break down, not where you just can't lift the thing no matter how you contort your body)

Now you are about 3 months into this lifting thing. You can stay on the same 5x5 program that is based on strength increase, do the same exercises and reduce the weights to 60% of your 1RM. 60% is important, because it's approximately the minimum you can lift to make any improvements at all. You'll want to increase the reps so that with 60% you can do 8-12 reps per set and you'll still do 4 or 5 sets, but no more. Diminishing returns after about 5 sets of the same exercise per workout. Once you've switched to 60% you still need to do progressive overload. For many people it will be to do 8 reps one workout then increase the reps during the next workouts until you get to 12 with the same weight, then drop down to 8 again and increase the weight a small 2.5 or 5 lbs and do it again.

There is a rough number of sets per week that you need to do and you will have to find out over time what they are for you. The number is between the minimum that will get you any growth at all, and the maximum that you just can't recover from by the time the next workout comes along and you fail at it. There's a happy range in there and it is different for each muscle group and for each person actually too. In general, the bigger muscle groups like legs can take more sets and the small ones can take less. A really rough guide is that the bigger groups need about 60-120 reps per week (organize them however you like) and the smaller muscles need about 30-60 reps per week.

Your basic compound free weight exercises will always be the core of your workouts. They are:
Squats
Deadlifts
Overhead Press
Bent Over Rows
Chin/Pull ups
Bench Press

and a few others.

Off you go!

middlehaitch

And.....
Here is a helpful list of programmes.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Cheers, h.

dufresne21

Start lifting now. As you build more muscle you'll burn more calories doing nothing. It requires more energy to maintain the muscle so it helps you lose faster.
I'm a fan of Oxygen Magazine. Check online. They have nice workouts for all abilities. Plus they include circuits with weights so you'll work out more efficiently.
Again don't wait! Plus you'll love the rush of endorphins you get when you're done

canadianlbs

desireeorozco859 wrote: »

Ok, thanks:-) I just, really wouldn't want to turn what, I have now into muscle.

if your body manages to turn your '18 pounds left' into muscle for you in anything even remotely resembling the foreseeable future, call me because we need to arrange some kind of swap.

someone else can quote the reputable rate-of-growth info for women. i'll just say it's really really unlikely your body is going to sneak-load you with 18 pounds of the stuff without you having plenty of time to notice and get yourself out of the way if that's not the path that you want.