Novice Weight Lifting Question

Dr_Fishbowl

Hello I'm a weight lifting novice and I was wondering if some can tell me If i'm doing this wrong. I do my weight lifting exercises in a circuit with reps of 10x10x8x6 progressively getting lower but I was wondering if I would be better serve to do all the sets of a particular exercise back to back. So oppose from going from ten barbell rows to ten squats, I would be better served doing all my rows at once (reps of 10x10x8x6) instead of moving on to the rest of the exercises after 10 reps and then repeating the circuit four times, thanks in advance.

I placed bellow what I have been doing for the past month once a week. I am 5'9 currently at a 168 pounds and am trying to get down to 150-155, don't know if that is relevant information or not but it is here now if need be.

Push Ups
Crunches
Dips
Deadlifts-50 lbs Barbell
Barbell Row- 50 lbs Barbell
Barbell Curl- 50 lbs Barbell
Barbell Calf Raise-50 lbs Barbell
Squat- 50 lbs Barbell
Kickouts- 10 lbs Dumbbells
Lunges- 10 lbs Dumbbells
Butterfly- 10 lbs Dumbbells
Situps
Burpees- 60 Seconds of at end of first round
High Knees- 60 Seconds at end of second round
Plank- 60 Seconds at end of third round
Jumping Jacks- 60 Seconds at end of fourth round

rybo

There's nothing wrong with circuit training, it's a good way to get a lot done in short time. That said, you're much better off following an established plan rather than making one up yourself. I would suggest a 3x per week full body strength program, consisting of compound movements and progressively heavier weights. If you still want to do a circuit on occasion, that's fine, I wouldn't necessarily stick with the one your listed though

Dr_Fishbowl

Yeah It's kind of a hodgepodge of exercise I saw online, I only have the barbell and dumbbells. Would you be able to run after one of the programs your suggesting? I willing to wake up thirty minutes earlier to get some weights in but I feel like I probably still need to be doing cardio 4x a week at least until i'm down to the 150's. As of right now I run Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri, and do weights on Wednesday.

rybo

You shouldn't put off lifting weights until you reach a certain weight. You will be much farther ahead if you lift from the start. Nothing wrong with running, but more running doesn't mean more or faster weight loss. Lifting weights will help you retain more muscle

lovetolose17

This is a post that was helpful for me. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308750/so-you-want-to-start-lifting-great/p1.

I used to lift more in a circuit, but now I do one exercise at a time. I find my muscles get more fatigued that way, which makes me think it is more effective in building muscle. (I have no idea if that is true.) I do sometimes try to do bursts of cardio during the rest times just to keep my heart rate up.

nowine4me

You do all that stuff just once a week? Def look at a program like SC or SL5x5 and train 3x a week and run on alternate days if time is limited.

Chieflrg

Dr_Fishbowl wrote: »

Yeah It's kind of a hodgepodge of exercise I saw online, I only have the barbell and dumbbells. Would you be able to run after one of the programs your suggesting? I willing to wake up thirty minutes earlier to get some weights in but I feel like I probably still need to be doing cardio 4x a week at least until i'm down to the 150's. As of right now I run Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri, and do weights on Wednesday.

Lifting only once a week is better than nothing, but you won't get noticable results and surely won't be progressive for any length of time.

Since you are will to wake up 30 minutes earlier why not find a gym with a decent amount of free weights and at the very least workout twice but preferably 3x a week.

Also no reason to be a certain body weight to lift. Probably the biggest mistake I see on this site is people thinking lifting will get less results than cardio while in fact it's the exact opposite.

Dr_Fishbowl

I'd have to wake up probably another 90 minutes earlier to make it out to an actual gym, so not really in the cards, (although if I wanted it bad enough i'd go after work) I am thinking about dropping 3-5 hundred dollars on some basic gym equipment, so if anyone has any suggestions to what the bare necessitates are for such a thing i'd be glad to hear it.

azazel833

A bench and a set of heavy adjustable dumbbells

SezxyStef

Dr_Fishbowl wrote: »

I'd have to wake up probably another 90 minutes earlier to make it out to an actual gym, so not really in the cards, (although if I wanted it bad enough i'd go after work) I am thinking about dropping 3-5 hundred dollars on some basic gym equipment, so if anyone has any suggestions to what the bare necessitates are for such a thing i'd be glad to hear it.

I lift at home and I Have the following equipment:

1. Deadlift bar
2. BP/OHP/SQuat bar (DL bar has 90lbs on it all the time)
3. bench
4. homemade squat rack for safety (google them cost less than 50 to build)
5. plates which I purchase randomly when I can. I have about 350lbs I think...I just got rid of those old concrete filled things. 35 x2 25x4 10x4 7.5x4 5x6 2.5x4
6. pads on the floor
7. chalk
8. collars for bars some weighted for micro increases.

ETA: I have a few random dumbells, and my bench has accessories and I have a curl bar but none of those are "have to haves"