Newbie to Strength Training?

healthyhappyconfidence

I regularly do cardio, but I am not knowledgeable enough about strength training to plan a workout.

What sort of exercises would be appropriate for a 5'2" 19-year old girl? And how often? The more specific the exercise (reps, equipment) the better.

(I am an active swimmer/occasional runner and I believe I could only bench press the bar last time I tried :ohwell: )

loriemn

Have you looked at bodybuilding.com? awesome site, lots of really good information.

Lleldiranne

Another good resource is New Rules of Lifting For Women. It's a book that talks about the lifts and such. Also look into Starting Strength or Strong Lifts, both books that help in setting up a good program.


Ideally you want something that will give you full body workouts using compound moves. Bench press, dead lift, and squat are the "big three" compound moves that will engage multiple muscle throughout your body. Follow the programs, they're pretty good.

You may also consider looking into a weight training class at a local community college. You'll get lots of instruction and access to the equipment (or, if you're already a college student, look there ) These aren't body builder classes, just courses for the average person wanting to build strength and increase health.

WhoHa42

Compound movements are your friend

If you've never done any weight training I'd start with full body 3x a week and move on from there

Not gonna write out a whole program but hit each muscle once with multi-joint movements (compound) if possible and try to hit 8-12 reps for about 3 sets.

Squats, overhead press, deadlifts, lunges, romanian deadlifts, bench press, close-grip bench press, rows, and pull ups are all good compound movements.

Klax22

I found the book, "Thinner, Leaner, Stronger" by Michael Matthews to be extremely helpful. He helps you set up a diet plan and gives you a whole year of weightlifting routines to follow. I've lost fat and gained muscle and definitely see changes in my body definition. I highly recommend it.

healthyhappyconfidence

Thanks for the input!

ge105

Try stronglifts 5x5- its free and an easy place to start:

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

rileysowner

I will also say that Stronglifts 5x5 is likely the best place to start. It will lay a solid foundation for future lifting. The number of lifts to learn the form of is small, so it is easy to learn them so you can focus on the form of the exercise since that is vitally important as bad form in lifting will lead to injuries.

kschlap

I think that no matter what you do you should remember that strength training on any program isn't going to make you big and bulky. I know a lot of girls who get scared off of weight training programs because they believe this myth. You won't get bigger like guys do from lifting weights. Though you should definitely become more lean. Overall, I think that your first couple of weeks should be concentrated on doing very low weight lifts and building the full range of motion for each lift. Just getting used to the program and getting used to the motions. Then you can move on to a more challenging weight.

I didn't want to post a full program because without a description of what you're trying to achieve it's very difficult to guess at what would be best for you.