Husband bought me a gym set. How do I start?

kendragetshealthy

Good morning! Last night my husband surprised me by bringing home a Golds Gym XRS30 home gym set. I have been wanting to start doing weight training to supplement my cardio. I have NEVER lifted weights or done anything like this in my life, so I am just totally unsure where to start.

I googled to try to find a routine to start off, but I just don't see anything. Can anyone help me with a 30-45 minute routine I can do three times a week? I do zumba and walking and want to add this to my regimen.

There is a poster included that shows a ton of different things to do, what muscles are worked, etc., but I don't know how many reps, which ones to do, how much weight, or anything like that. I have no clue .

I know some people say just get a squat bar and free weights, etc., but I am a complete beginner, and have this set (he is putting it together right now). Any help would be wonderful! Thanks in advance...

DavPul

google stronglifts

PunkinSpice79

Congratulations on the weights!

tatasmagik

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

Congrats!

MyChocolateDiet

Wow congratulations on the weight set! What a great husband you have. Wish you would give tips to all those ladies saying their husband's are sabotaging their efforts. Congratulations also on your husband. He is the "anti-sabotage". To your husband :drinker: and your new workout routine and your new body! You're gonna look great as soon as you get brave from watching all those videos or reading all those instructions google leads you to. You can do it. You got this! :flowerforyou:

Unknown

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SuperSexyDork

Is this what it looks like?



If so, I have no idea what to recommend.

tomcornhole

You have a wonderful husband.

Since you are just starting with strength training, anything you do will help. I would keep things very simple to start. Do a full body workout, i.e. work everything in one training session. Explore your capabilities on each exercise to determine what weight you can complete 3 sets of 10 reps. It should be hard to do the last set of any exercise. Then just make the rounds around the machine. Looking at it, I would recommend the following:

1. Bench press 3x10
2. Lat Pull down 3x10
3. Leg extension 3x10
4. Seated row 3x10

That should get you started. Then you can add a tricep push down if the lat pull down bar will allow that. And then some arm curls but it looks like you will need to do them single arm.

Do this 3x a week and see how it goes. Every week, you should strive to increase the weight for each exercise. Even if that means your reps go down, just spend time working back up to 3x10. Once you can do 3x10 on an exercise, add more weight and start again. As a newbie, you should see quick gains.

Enjoy the ride!

Tom

Soccermavrick

I am sure that the MFP Community can come up with a number of suggestions, though I need to google that particular piece of equipment. MPF has some great links. Plus there is Bodybuilding.com which might help too.

As far as weight start light and work up. (Going hard or heavy too quickly is a good way to injury yourself. I know I have a few times.) Eventually as you do over a month or so of course your strength will increase.

When deciding on Reps that depends on YOUR personal goals. Are you going for Strength and Bulk, building lean muscle, or fitness. Strength and Bulk 4 to 8 reps, Building Muscle 7 to 12 Reps, Fitness normally 15 to 25 Reps. Now everybody's body response a little different, so this is more of a general rule. And since you sound like you are supplementing your cardio, I am going to presume that you are in the fitness category.

MercenaryNoetic26

Pretty nifty! Does your husband lift? Or he just bought it for you with no intention of using himself? Just wondering because my man showed me all the basics.

Eta: You can do what tomcornhole suggested. You can prob get other attachments for more variety. Since your man bought you this, USE it daily and he'll buy you other **** like a power rack, barbells, dumbbells, bench.... he needs to see his investment in use

DavPul

Is this what it looks like?



If so, I have no idea what to recommend.

Oh. Well, ignore my previous suggestion because SL won't work here. I'm pretty sure a setup like that comes with a manual that has routines and exercise descriptions. Would be best to follow that for now as the rest of us won't be familiar with what that particular machine can do

danofthedead1979

as a general rule, if you can do 10 reps with no problems, then try the next weight up, if when you get to a weight where you slightly struggle to do 10, then thats the level you need to work on, and when this becomes easy then move up to the next weight, and so on....

i would get some kettlebells aswell, that kit is great, but you are limited on what you can do. there are endless workouts you can do with free weights, and you can incorporate free weights into your aerobic workout aswell to make it harder.

Youtube is a decent source of info.

MummyHungry

I use FitnessBliss to create workouts for my home gym...I can't remember if there was an option for your type of gym when I went through the setup, but it might have it. http://my.fitnessbliss.com/fbo/home.seam?cid=1280189

kendragetshealthy

You have a wonderful husband.

Since you are just starting with strength training, anything you do will help. I would keep things very simple to start. Do a full body workout, i.e. work everything in one training session. Explore your capabilities on each exercise to determine what weight you can complete 3 sets of 10 reps. It should be hard to do the last set of any exercise. Then just make the rounds around the machine. Looking at it, I would recommend the following:

1. Bench press 3x10
2. Lat Pull down 3x10
3. Leg extension 3x10
4. Seated row 3x10

That should get you started. Then you can add a tricep push down if the lat pull down bar will allow that. And then some arm curls but it looks like you will need to do them single arm.

Do this 3x a week and see how it goes. Every week, you should strive to increase the weight for each exercise. Even if that means your reps go down, just spend time working back up to 3x10. Once you can do 3x10 on an exercise, add more weight and start again. As a newbie, you should see quick gains.

Enjoy the ride!

Tom

This is absolutely perfect, Tom! Thanks so much! I appreciate everyone's input, and yes my husband is the best! I am very blessed .

Okay I am going to start today with this stuff. Once I get comfortable I am going to step it up. Yes, that pic posted above is the set . Yall rock. Thank you!

kendragetshealthy

I am sure that the MFP Community can come up with a number of suggestions, though I need to google that particular piece of equipment. MPF has some great links. Plus there is Bodybuilding.com which might help too.

As far as weight start light and work up. (Going hard or heavy too quickly is a good way to injury yourself. I know I have a few times.) Eventually as you do over a month or so of course your strength will increase.

When deciding on Reps that depends on YOUR personal goals. Are you going for Strength and Bulk, building lean muscle, or fitness. Strength and Bulk 4 to 8 reps, Building Muscle 7 to 12 Reps, Fitness normally 15 to 25 Reps. Now everybody's body response a little different, so this is more of a general rule. And since you sound like you are supplementing your cardio, I am going to presume that you are in the fitness category.

This is great- thank you!

kendragetshealthy

PS My husband used to lift all the time. He is very "built"... I am pretty sure he will start it up again too . His job is very physical so he is not really interested in doing too much when he gets home, but with this sitting right here he may get interested again.

kendragetshealthy

I am sure that the MFP Community can come up with a number of suggestions, though I need to google that particular piece of equipment. MPF has some great links. Plus there is Bodybuilding.com which might help too.

As far as weight start light and work up. (Going hard or heavy too quickly is a good way to injury yourself. I know I have a few times.) Eventually as you do over a month or so of course your strength will increase.

When deciding on Reps that depends on YOUR personal goals. Are you going for Strength and Bulk, building lean muscle, or fitness. Strength and Bulk 4 to 8 reps, Building Muscle 7 to 12 Reps, Fitness normally 15 to 25 Reps. Now everybody's body response a little different, so this is more of a general rule. And since you sound like you are supplementing your cardio, I am going to presume that you are in the fitness category.

Yes- fitness... I want to lose more weight- about 45 to go. I also want to build lean muscle but I think I'll take the fitness route for now. Thank you so much!

Richie2shoes

It looks like you have a low cable attachment, so along with what Tom suggested, I would recommend adding in Bicep curls, standing leg curls, hip abduction and adduction exercises.

darrensurrey

What Tom said is pretty good. I'd have recommended similar. Only question is how you would do a seated row. I can't visualise it.

Perhaps a supported bent over row with that lower handle and also upright rows to work the shoulders.

You can step it up when you've used the entire stack.

Richie2shoes

There's a low pulley attachment underneath the leg extension. The seated row is done by sitting on the floor in front of the machine and using that pulley.

kendragetshealthy

Yes there is the low pulley. We played with that yesterday so I think I know what you mean .... Perfect thank you!

ShaneOZ

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