Help with my dumbbell Routine

Advaya

I was doing Strong Lifts 5x5 by right now the gym I have only has a smith machine, so I'm find it difficult to follow. Eventually I"ll join another gym but its not an option right now (I live in a very rural area with the next closet gym being nearly an hour away.. this one is free in a church basement and I can bring my 7 month old baby with me. I'm a broke single mama!)..

So I'm considering doing this routine instead : http://www.stumptuous.com/workout-6

day 1 – lower body

dumbbell squat
3 x 10 – 15
dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift
3 x 10 – 15
single-legged calf raise
3 x 10-15
Swiss ball crunches
3 x 8-10


day 2 – upper body
one-arm row
3 x 10-15
lying dumbbell press
3 x 10-15
standing overhead dumbbell press
3 x 10-15
lower back exercise of choice (I'll probably do a dumbbell deadlift here, but I'm open to suggestions)
3 x 10-15


Now my question is.. I'm on week two of SL 5x5 and I'm at the 45lb/50lb weights. I have no idea where to start with dumbbells. The dumbbells at this church go up to at least 125 so I have a decent amount of time to work with them ... but obviously I'm going to be starting at a lower weight than I'm doing in SL because of the fact the barbell distributes weight so differently.

So lets say I start with 10 lbs.. that seems reasonable??.... how do I know when to progress? It's easy with SL because each time you add 5 lbs.. should I do that with a dumbbell routine? Go 10 / 15 / 20...?

I'm sorry if this is a silly question, lol. I'm just really excited to be strength training at all and I'm making the best out of the situation I have (free gym and all) but would love critique on either the routine (recommendations for a better one, etc) or just general help with how to progress.

Thanks !

ana3067

I would take out the isolation exercises for now until you figure out where you need more work (the calf raises and crunches - if you want to do abs, try something compound like jack-knife sit-up), and just... pick up some weighs and see what you can do Also, if your goal is to maintain muscle while eating at a deficit then keep up with a strength rep range (4-6 reps) as you will not be putting on muscle while in a deficit... so training for hypertrophy right now is kind of pointless.

Also, you know when to progress when the lifting becomes easy. I do not agree with the StrongLifts program about adding 5lbs every week, because in reality you should be adding a bit when the load becomes too easy, which may not be on a weekly basis. I do compound lifts using a strength rep scheme and increase only when I am able to do all of my sets for 5 reps, and can do it pretty easily. That's when I know it's time to increase the weight.

So I do upper and lower as well, my split looks like this:

Upper:
Bench press (with dumbbells, barbells don't work well for my elbow)
Shoulder press
Bent-over rows or lat pull down
Upright row, lateral raise (my only isolation exercise), or dumbbell raise - this is not necessary, these just work the lateral delts (side of the shoulders) better than shoulder presses.

Lower:
Squats
Lunges (not necessary, they just work my butt and legs differently than squats for me)
Deadlifts (these are a LOWER body exercise, do them instead of the calf raise or something)
Jack-knife sit-up

I also do warm ups before hand. Dynamic warm ups to help my joints, and then warm up sets for each muscle group. I will do 3-4 sets, depending on how heavy the weight is. For 4 sets I'll do 65, 75, 85, and 95% of my working set weight for 5, 4/3, 3, 2 sets. But then for a lighter exercise I might do like 60%, 75%, 95%. Been sticking to the 4 set one though. Works well for me so far, although some people respond better to 1-2 warm ups at a light weight for more (or the same) reps. Depends on your body I guess!

What else.. stretch at the end. And there are a few deadlift variations, so try a few out and see what works best for you. For me, I do a cross between romanian and traditional. I need to bend my legs a bit, but I do not start out as bent as you do in a traditional deadlift. The moderate bent knee helps with my back though, although I don't bend my legs as much as I"m lowering the barbell.

Advaya

Wow thank you for the very thorough response! I really appreciate it. Your routine seems great... I wasn't sure about isolation exercises. I know SL is pretty much compound, but this routine I wasn't sure if it was or not (I'm a total newbie). I really prefer whole body over a split routine, but I'm looking for something I can follow easy enough. Jefit.com has a full body dumbbell routine but its 10 exercises and seems like I wouldn't be able to stick to it but its here if anyone wants to see if its a better fit: http://www.jefit.com/routines/workout-routine-database.php?id=19974

I'm definitely not trying to add muscle, (and know I wouldn't in a deficit anyway). I'm just maintain what I have. For exercise, I plan to pretty much run (I LOVE RUNNING) and strength train. I do enjoy hiking and walking and could easily do that every day of the week but don't count it! So far I've really enjoyed strength training but in a different way and really want a routine I can stick with.

DavPul

So lets say I start with 10 lbs.. that seems reasonable??.... how do I know when to progress? It's easy with SL because each time you add 5 lbs.. should I do that with a dumbbell routine? Go 10 / 15 / 20...?

Thanks !

your main questions seem to be where to start and how to recognize when it's time to raise the weight.

1. start somewhere reasonable. i'm not going to say start with 10's or 20's or any specific number. for starters, you'll be much stronger on the squats than the presses so to say use 10 pounds for both would be silly. pick a weight that seems well within your range for completing the reps with good form ***and then use 5 pounds less than that****.

2. when you're able to complete all of the sets and reps with the current weight make a note (you are tracking with an app or a notepad, right?) to advance the next time you do that exercise. so if you're using 15 pounds on your lying press and you can finish the 3rd set of 10 with good form, use 17s or 20s the next week.

Advaya

Yes, I keep track with an app on my phone.. and thanks. Thats really true about the difference between a squat and a press, I didn't think about that! Makes total sense though.

nerdymathgrrl

I'm doing something similar to Stronglifts with dumbbells currently, but I'm alternating push/pull. I do strength training Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with ABA week 1 and BAB week 2. This is my routine (all exercises are 5 sets of 5 reps):

Workout A (Push):
1) Goblet Squats (I just started doing these, and have found them more effective than regular dumbbell squats.)
2) Bench Press
3) Overhead Press

Workout B (Pull):
1) Deadlifts (I believe I do a combination version--I bend my knees enough to keep my back straight, lift the weights from the floor, straighten my knees when the weights are about halfway up my shins, pull up the rest of the way and then thrust my hips out slightly and squeeze the glutes.)
2) Bent-over Row
3) Upright Row

I tried to design a balanced routine for myself--I've got a quad-dominant exercise, a hamstring-dominant exercise, a horizontal push, a horizontal pull, a vertical push, and a vertical pull. (I did a lot of research!) If you were doing Stronglifts successfully, then I wouldn't think you'd need much, if any, isolation work yet. At the right weights, I feel my core, calves and arms working! It will take some trial and error to figure out what weights to start with. You'll probably be able to increase weights more quickly on squats and deadlifts than the others, but you'll know when the right time is. I'm progressing more quickly with sets of fewer reps, and I increase weight when it becomes relatively easy to get all my sets done. Best of luck! :-)