Weights, body workouts, routine

Hey there,

I'm new to using weights, and my body (for workouts) instead of just cardio. I'm not new to weightosss (or attempting to) but I always just did cardio.
I lost 60 pounds, gained 20 back recently, and still have plenty to go. But I want to try a new approach, and broaden my techniques. I want to use my body more as I've been told this is a big contribution to weightloss.
That all being said, I've realized the gym is not where I'm comfy. Other people intimidate me, I give up easily. So I made my spare bedroom into a home gym where I can be the most comfortable. I have a cardio machine, and went out of my comfort zone and bought dumbbells, a bench, kettlebell, etc.
My issue is that I don't know where to start.
I don't know what a good routine is, I don't know if you should do arms one day, legs another, or a full body workout each day. I have been doing research and there are so many mixed things on what you should and shouldn't do. And I know everyone is different, but I just want to not gas out, get bored, or hurt myself.
What worked for you? Opinions on where to start I guess is what I'm looking for. I'm just getting overwhelmed doing research and looking for some honest responses for someone plus size.

Replies

Retroguy2000

Welcome to the iron club! Yeah the information overload can be overwhelming at first.

I recommend Jonni Shreve on YT for form guides.

Are your db's adjustable, and how heavy do they go? Is the bench FID, i.e. does multiple incline angles, and maybe decline too?

The best split is the one that works for your schedule and your recovery. e.g. for myself, what works for me is an asynchronous split of about an hour every other day. Day 1 for chest and back, finish with shoulder lateral raise. Day 3 for legs and shoulder press, finish with arms. Day 5 same as day 1.

Your preferred split will probably be different, especially if you want to focus on certain parts, to do those maybe three times per week instead of twice. There are many options. You might want to do half an hour most days, or do a full body workout every three days that takes longer. Etc. etc. Generally, legs need more days of rest than chest and back, and arms and calves don't need much rest.

You should target a weekly volume of 10-12 working sets per muscle group preferably in two or three sessions, not incl warmup sets. Target 10-15 reps. Focus on compounds. The working sets should be about 2 reps from failure, so you need to know where that failure is. Most people under-estimate that.

Track your progress. I use Google Sheets. Make progress.

Examples of exercises to look up:

Legs:
Goblet squat if your db or kb is heavy enough to be challenging.
Reverse lunge with one or two db's.
Bulgarian split squat with one or two db's for more challenge.
Romanian deadlift with two db's.
Lying hamstring curl if your bench does decline.

Chest:
Chest press. Treat 15 degrees bench as flat, 45 degrees as incline.
Floor fly's.

Back:
Chest supported row, you'll need the bench at 15 or 30 degrees. If you can get a good stretch at 15 do that, but you'll probably need 30.
One arm bent over row.
Pullover, if your db or kb is heavy enough.

Shoulders:
Seated or standing shoulder press. Seated is better at nearly vertical, not vertical.
Lateral raises.

ashbee03

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Welcome to the iron club! Yeah the information overload can be overwhelming at first.

I recommend Jonni Shreve on YT for form guides.

Are your db's adjustable, and how heavy do they go? Is the bench FID, i.e. does multiple incline angles, and maybe decline too?

The best split is the one that works for your schedule and your recovery. e.g. for myself, what works for me is an asynchronous split of about an hour every other day. Day 1 for chest and back, finish with shoulder lateral raise. Day 3 for legs and shoulder press, finish with arms. Day 5 same as day 1.

Your preferred split will probably be different, especially if you want to focus on certain parts, to do those maybe three times per week instead of twice. There are many options. You might want to do half an hour most days, or do a full body workout every three days that takes longer. Etc. etc. Generally, legs need more days of rest than chest and back, and arms and calves don't need much rest.

You should target a weekly volume of 10-12 working sets per muscle group preferably in two or three sessions, not incl warmup sets. Target 10-15 reps. Focus on compounds. The working sets should be about 2 reps from failure, so you need to know where that failure is. Most people under-estimate that.

Track your progress. I use Google Sheets. Make progress.

Examples of exercises to look up:

Legs:
Goblet squat if your db or kb is heavy enough to be challenging.
Reverse lunge with one or two db's.
Bulgarian split squat with one or two db's for more challenge.
Romanian deadlift with two db's.
Lying hamstring curl if your bench does decline.

Chest:
Chest press. Treat 15 degrees bench as flat, 45 degrees as incline.
Floor fly's.

Back:
Chest supported row, you'll need the bench at 15 or 30 degrees. If you can get a good stretch at 15 do that, but you'll probably need 30.
One arm bent over row.
Pullover, if your db or kb is heavy enough.

Shoulders:
Seated or standing shoulder press. Seated is better at nearly vertical, not vertical.
Lateral raises.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply !
I got the bowflex adjustable weights. And my bench sits right up or does a decline or lies flat.
Will definitely look into those! And thanks - k wasn’t sure if certain areas needed more rest or not or if they could be worked everyday. Going to give it a go and see what works for me. I will try to rotate areas worked and I’ll give that YT a watch. I am worried and don’t want to end up looking too muscular I think that’s why I have veered away from weights. I have a lot of weight left to lose before that would even happen.. but I wanna see if it helps.

themommie

Sounds like you r off to a good start. The best plan is the one you will stick to consistency is key. I started off by watching YouTube shorts on weight lifting and incorporating a lot of the basics like skull crushers, bicep curls, overhead tricep extensions, hip thrusts, Romanian deadfifts, squats, lunges, chest flys, ex. I started off with doing just a few with light weight to get my form down and get familiar with the weights, then I increased my weight and reps as I went along and kept adding in more exercises until I had a routine. I do upper body one day lower the next , then upper body, then lower body I do weights 5 days a week and take the weekend off. I have only been doing it for almost 4 months but I am seeing results. I too set up my spare bedroom and don’t worry about getting too muscular very few people can build muscle like that unless they r really trying too like doing competition weight lifting

Retroguy2000

Yeah, nobody ends up looking like a bodybuilder by accident, especially women.

AnnPT77

ashbee03 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Welcome to the iron club! Yeah the information overload can be overwhelming at first.

I recommend Jonni Shreve on YT for form guides.

Are your db's adjustable, and how heavy do they go? Is the bench FID, i.e. does multiple incline angles, and maybe decline too?

The best split is the one that works for your schedule and your recovery. e.g. for myself, what works for me is an asynchronous split of about an hour every other day. Day 1 for chest and back, finish with shoulder lateral raise. Day 3 for legs and shoulder press, finish with arms. Day 5 same as day 1.

Your preferred split will probably be different, especially if you want to focus on certain parts, to do those maybe three times per week instead of twice. There are many options. You might want to do half an hour most days, or do a full body workout every three days that takes longer. Etc. etc. Generally, legs need more days of rest than chest and back, and arms and calves don't need much rest.

You should target a weekly volume of 10-12 working sets per muscle group preferably in two or three sessions, not incl warmup sets. Target 10-15 reps. Focus on compounds. The working sets should be about 2 reps from failure, so you need to know where that failure is. Most people under-estimate that.

Track your progress. I use Google Sheets. Make progress.

Examples of exercises to look up:

Legs:
Goblet squat if your db or kb is heavy enough to be challenging.
Reverse lunge with one or two db's.
Bulgarian split squat with one or two db's for more challenge.
Romanian deadlift with two db's.
Lying hamstring curl if your bench does decline.

Chest:
Chest press. Treat 15 degrees bench as flat, 45 degrees as incline.
Floor fly's.

Back:
Chest supported row, you'll need the bench at 15 or 30 degrees. If you can get a good stretch at 15 do that, but you'll probably need 30.
One arm bent over row.
Pullover, if your db or kb is heavy enough.

Shoulders:
Seated or standing shoulder press. Seated is better at nearly vertical, not vertical.
Lateral raises.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply !
I got the bowflex adjustable weights. And my bench sits right up or does a decline or lies flat.
Will definitely look into those! And thanks - k wasn’t sure if certain areas needed more rest or not or if they could be worked everyday. Going to give it a go and see what works for me. I will try to rotate areas worked and I’ll give that YT a watch. I am worried and don’t want to end up looking too muscular I think that’s why I have veered away from weights. I have a lot of weight left to lose before that would even happen.. but I wanna see if it helps.

Good advice from Retro, as is his usual.

Just a comment from me, as (unlike him) a woman myself.

The bolded is not at all likely to be a problem.

I don't know what your definition of "too muscular" is, because preferences vary. But I don't think you should worry.

Here's why: Women who look very muscular (by pretty much anyone's definition) have worked really hard and patiently over a long period of time to reach that point. It's a huge understatement to say it doesn't happen overnight! You won't wake up "bulky" one morning.

The implication is that you can work at it quite diligently, pay attention to how your body evolves, and reach a look YOU like. At that point, you can think about changing up your routine to maintain that desired look.

On top of that, women bodybuilders - to achieve the bodybuilder look - cut down to very low, possibly even unhealthfully low body fat levels before a competition. They do that so the muscles show in the way they want for the event. Generally, their competition look isn't the way they appear in day-to-day life most of the time. Women tend to have an all-body layer of subcutaneous fat that smooths out appearance of muscles. That's true even of healthy, fit, strong women. That (body fat level) is another factor you can manage for yourself to get the appearance you personally prefer.

You may find that at certain times, like right after a workout, you look more pumped or muscular temporarily. Or, you may find that if you've been cutting calories for a while, you may have somewhat lowered glycogen levels (so slightly lower whole body water retention) that appears similar to lower body fat. With experience, you'll come to understand how the return to maintenance calories replenishes glycogen/water, and how that smoothing effect looks and behaves different from the subcutaneous fat smoothing effect. Keep in mind that if you reach a point of looking a little more defined, you have choices about body fat level, too. (Putting it more bluntly, sometimes gaining a few pounds is a good idea, once we wrap our minds around the idea that more pounds is A-OK when we have more muscle, so a particular number on the scale isn't the right thing to chase for best appearance.)

Anecdote: I'm an (older) rower, and have spent time close to a big university's women's very successful rowing team. Trust me, those women are seriously strong. I watched their weight workout, and they're doing legs with multiple plates that look like freight train wheels, I swear, and similar challenge to whole body. When I see them get out of a boat after a race, they look very defined and muscular. On one occasion, I saw them that way in the morning, then at a banquet in the evening in their pretty, body-conforming, spaghetti-strap kind of party dresses. After those few hours the pump had subsided. They looked gorgeous, like the most inspirational so-called fitness influencers if not better: Still strong and healthy, but not quite as defined.

Final comment: Many or most women find their appearance improves with more muscularity. You might enjoy some of this thread, if you haven't already seen it:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p1

Don't worry! You're in charge. You can find the look YOU like, with patient persistence. On top of that, as I'm sure you're discovering, strength is useful in daily life, and lifelong strength will set you up for higher quality of life as you age. It's good stuff!

nossmf

Welcome to the brotherhood/sisterhood of iron!

This thread contains a variety of structured programs you can follow, which include saying which exercises to perform, what order to do them, how often per week and how many times in a single exercise session.

This thread contains a variety of ideas to help keep your progress continuing when you find your current plan or equipment available are holding you back. As a home gym trainee, these ideas will be especially relevant to you, but not until after you've been lifting for a bit and are looking to take it up a notch.

ashbee03

Thank you so much everyone you eased my worries and I feel silly for worrying about that haha. 🤣

A lot of helpful tips! I’m excited to grow and learn about it and see/feel the changes!

nossmf

You're welcome, and please do not kick yourself for worrying. Everyone when preparing for something new has a degree of uncertainty inside. The difference comes in whether you (generic) are the type of person who does nothing to address the worry, or take steps to learn (internet research, asking in forums, etc) and through learning leave the worry behind. Doing nothing and keeping the worry is silly; you ( @ashbee03 ) did something, you learned, you feel better, that's smart.

Hobartlemagne

Generally, you can work abs and calves everyday

ashbee03

Okay awesome! So it is good to do certain muscle groups on different days.
Thanks for all the responses. I'm learning slowly but surely!