Lifting at home (newbie question)

scubaemma

Hi, this is my first post here so please be gentle :-)

If you need any info about me, I'm a 34 year old female, have lost just over 10kg, currently weigh around 73kg and would like to weigh around 65kg. I'm a Brit but live in Brisbane, Australia (married to an Aussie) and I'm a Detective, so I work shift work.

After reading a fair bit on here I think I need to start lifting. Currently my exercise includes cycling to work, doing some Insanity workouts at home, and doing some running (up to 10k so far). I've seen several people mention the New Rules of Lifting For Women, but I've got a question. I don't belong to a gym so need to be able to do my strength/lifting at home. My husband has got some basic dumbbells, but is that enough? I haven't got room for a full bench/chest press type thing, and I haven't got a barbell (only dumbbells).

Will I be able to use the NRLFW book with just dumbbells? If not, what should I buy that I can use at home? Would Kettle bells be a good option? How heavy would the weights need to be if I can just use dumbbells?

Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, I've just never done any lifting before! But I'm keen to start :-)
Thanks in advance for any help.

pastryari

Some lifts can be done with dumbbells (see here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/902569-barbell-routines-when-you-only-have-dumbbells ).

If you're willing to invest, I'd really recommend buying a barbell weight set + squat rack.

As far as how heavy of weights, that's really up to the individual. What might be heavy for one person could be extremely light for another. With most lifting programs being done with a barbell, the suggested weight to begin with is an empty barbell which is 45lbs.

I myself do Stronglifts 5x5 so I'm not too familiar with the NROLFW program guidelines.

scubaemma

Thanks for your reply. I'd certainly consider buying a barbell weight set (what's a squat rack?) if I need to, and if I can clear enough room in my spare bedroom for it!

pastryari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_cage

https://www.google.com/search?q=squat+rack&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=6RkDUoHXLOOZiALksYHIDg&biw=1366&bih=667&sei=6xkDUtfxIYSiyAHn-oGwDA

pastryari

Check out the information in this group.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress

Here's a clip from one thread in the group that may help you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/850719-strength-training-the-basics

So, I thought I would do a thread on the basics of strength training. It is not intended to be comprehensive, nor is it intended to imply that one form of exercise is better than another. It is purely intended to help those get familiar with the basic concepts and terminology of strength training.

What is strength training?

Well, it is intended to make you strong…yep, pretty obvious. However, there are a few terms that are used interchangeably in everyday use but they really have slightly different meanings such as resistance training and weight training. I will be using the generic term of strength training here to encompass them.

Strength training is a means of stimulating the development and improvement of muscle strength by increasing the ability to resist force through the use of, inter alia, free weights, machines and your own body weight. Strength training is primarily an anaerobic activity.


Benefits of strength training.

When properly performed, strength training can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health, including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength, increased bone density, increased metabolism, improved body composition and generally making you feel like a badass.


Compound and isolation lifts

Compound lifts utilize more than one joint and as such work several muscle groups at once. For example, squats require the use of the hip, knee and ankle joints. It works a host of muscle groups but primarily glutes, quads and core.

An isolation exercise is one where the movement uses only one joint, such as leg extensions.

Both have their place, however, due to the fact that you are using a number of muscle groups for compound lifts, these often form the foundation of a majority of lifting programs.


Rep ranges

Different rep ranges cause a different type of stress on the body and it reacts differently to each.

The lower rep range (1 – 5) causes neurological adaptations, which is your body developing its ability to activate muscle fibers by increasing the frequency of neural impulses sent to the brain as well as improving intra- and inter-muscle coordination. Basically it makes you stronger but does has a lesser impact to your muscle mass.

The mid rep range (6 – 12) the impact is more on the metabolic and cellular level where you gain muscle mass but strength gains are not as significant as you would get in the lower rep ranges. This is the general rep range for hypertrophy, or mass gains.

The higher rep ranges (13+) stimulate muscle endurance primarily with only a small amount of hypertrophy and very little strength and as such is not considered strength training in the strict sense of the word.

Note, that there is no hard and fast line between the effects of the above, but rather a continuum. Also, the number of sets plays into how much is strength v hypertrophy v endurance. For example, you can do 5 sets of 6 reps for a total of 30 lifts, or you can do 10 sets of 3 lifts for a total of 30 lifts. If you do them to an equivalent level of failure, the time under tension will be the same. The number of sets does not automatically turn it from strength to hypertrophy due to the rest periods between sets, but it does have a bearing on where in the continuum the routine lies.

So, in summary:
1 – 5 reps = strength
6 – 12 reps = hypertrophy
12+ = endurance

So, the appropriate rep ranges really depend on your goals as well as your overall lifting program. Most ‘standard’ programs focus on the upper end of the strength range so benefits of both strength and some hypertrophy are gained.


Some tips:

- Form is of importance all the time. Do not push to increase weights if your form is not good.

- Warm up your muscles before lifting by doing a short amount of cardio (less than 10 minutes). Stretching is not required and should not be done ‘cold’ in any event.

- When you get to lifting heavier weights, with the compound lifts, make sure you do sufficient warm up sets.

- If you want to do cardio in the same session, do it after lifting.

- Put the ‘big’ lifts (heavier strength range compounds) at the beginning of your session.

TwoPointZero

Will I be able to use the NRLFW book with just dumbbells? If not, what should I buy that I can use at home?

One suggestion I would make is to buy some minimal weights and just _try_ working out at home a bit first. I always found the relative lack of ventilation in a residential setting completely untenable (even for weights, much less cardio), and if you share that opinion, buying a bunch of stuff might end up being a big waste of money . . .

Good luck!

scubaemma

Thanks heaps for all of that info, I really appreciate it. I'll have a good read through :-)

gmallan

Here's a link to a strength training program that uses all dumbells from sumptuous.

http://www.stumptuous.com/workout-6

Might help to get you started until you get more equiptment

pastryari

Thanks heaps for all of that info, I really appreciate it. I'll have a good read through :-)

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

gwmccull

I think it's worth trying it at home with the weights you already have. I can't think of any lift that you couldn't do using dumbbells. It would just require a slight modification from the barbell version. Also, you are unlikely to have dumbbells that are heavy enough for some of the bigger lifts (for example, dead lifting 200lbs is pretty attainable but you're unlikely to see 100lb dumbbells in a home weight set). If your dumbbells aren't heavy enough, you could substitute volume for weight.

Lately I've been on a kettlebell kick. They're a lot of fun and you could do those exercises with a dumbbell, although it throws off the balance somewhat.

k9hrd

Bump. This is what I have been looking for too!

hannahjames295

Bumping, thank you :flowerforyou:

scubaemma

Okay so I've realised I definitely need to invest in some equipment if I'm going to be doing this at home (which I will have to).
I'm just trying to work out what I need to buy?

A barbell (does it need to be Olympic size?)
A squat rack for the barbell
Weights to go on it (some are sold with 50kg of weights and some with 100kg or more - which should I get?)
An adjustable seat/bench thing

And will also try and get hold of a Swiss ball and some kind of 'step'.

I'm hoping I can use my husbands old dumbbells.

Is this right? Any thoughts?
Thanks, Emma

MsEndomorph

For various reasons I did the first phase of the program without using any barbell at all. NROLFW gives multiple versions of every exercise, so is hasn't been a big deal at all. I did dumbell squats, deadlifts, rows...no big.

I do prefer a barbell, but I had a lot of form work to do with my trainer before I was let loose on the racks

gmallan

Okay so I've realised I definitely need to invest in some equipment if I'm going to be doing this at home (which I will have to).
I'm just trying to work out what I need to buy?

A barbell (does it need to be Olympic size?)
A squat rack for the barbell
Weights to go on it (some are sold with 50kg of weights and some with 100kg or more - which should I get?)
An adjustable seat/bench thing

And will also try and get hold of a Swiss ball and some kind of 'step'.

I'm hoping I can use my husbands old dumbbells.

Is this right? Any thoughts?
Thanks, Emma

- Doesn't need to be olympic size but definitely a plus if you can afford it and you'll probably end up wanting one if you get serious about lifting.
- Make sure your squat rack has adjustable safety rails especially if you're going to be lifting without a spotter or buddy.
- 50kgs would be okay to begin with (an olympic bar weighs 20 so you'll have 70 total) but if you keep going you'll definitely need more at some point (for me 120kgs or 2x body weight deadlift is a goal) so 100 would be better.

scubaemma

Thanks for that, that's really helpful.

Mjandjt

Bump for great info...thanks!

DankaCibulka

bump