Home Weight Lifting Setup

violet976

I'm completely new to weight lifting. So far my exercise routine has been very mild - a few mile uphill walk daily, some bicycling, beginner dvds. My overall goal is not to lose weight but to tone up. I'd prefer to gain weight, but as I've been very inactive the past 10 years many of my previously firm areas have turned, well, jiggly.

I'm honestly not sure where to begin, but I definitely want to incorporate weights and work out at home. My reading so far seems to point in the direction of at least a weight bench, but I'd like to get opinions to make sure I'm buying the right starting point.

I can currently do under 10 or so standard pushups with good form, not a single pull up, and have trouble with squats/lunges due to some knee pains. Would something like this be the proper starting point for me, or should I be looking for something else?
http://medford.craigslist.org/spo/4566437535.html

Ideally, my target zones are my butt and thighs, but I certainly wouldn't mind a little toning up everywhere else as well.

katro111

Since StrongLifts is a squat-dominant program, you might want to get a squat rack and a separate bench or look into getting a power rack and a separate bench.

violet976

I'm actually not doing the 5x5 program but wasn't sure where else to post this question. I'll look to see if I can find a better group to post this to.

*** MODS: I'm moving this question to a more applicable group - please feel free to delete it. Thanks ***

Leadfoot_Lewis

and have trouble with squats/lunges due to some knee pains.

Why do you have knee pain - old injury, bad form, ? I would be hesitate to suggest throwing a barbell on your back if you can't even do an unweighted lunge or squat.

If you're really interested in learning to weightlift get the book Starting Strength and read it cover to cover. It is an excellent book that goes in detail on all the big lifts - Deadlift, Squat, Bench, Overhead Press, Power Cleans, etc. Good form on these lifts is critical. Equipment wise a good quality barbell, weight plates, bench, and power or squat rack is what you really need.

violet976

I believe the knee pains are from quite a few falls I've taken over the years (slipping in rain/ice). My knees don't bother me under normal circumstances, but the last time I tried to do some exercise videos they were focused on a very large number of squats/lunges/jumping and my knees just couldn't keep up. While I can do a smaller number of squats, I do believe I need to perfect my form without weights and wasn't even considering doing weighted squats at this time.

My thought was that could use the bench setup for exercises other than weighted squats. The one I bought has two barbells, dumbbells, and a lot of weights ranging from 1 pound up to 25 pounds. I set it up last night and tried a few exercises to try and see what weight levels I'm comfortable with. At the moment I'm very weak. Working off a 5x5 routine, I was comfortable with 20 pounds and was still comfortable at the end of the set, so I'm assuming I'll keep incrementing weight while I work on form/stability and get used to holding the bar. Judging off the leg extension portion of the bench, somewhere around 50 pounds is my comfort zone and I'm not sure I could do a 5x5 set yet for much more than 50 pounds. I'm not sure if the leg extension is even part of the program, but I was curious to see how weak my legs were.

Thank you for the book recommendation. I'll definitely get my hands on that. At the moment I'm reading up on form, watching YT videos so I can really see what I'm striving for, and will definitely be practicing form before I dive into the weights.