Advice for exercise program

Hubby has been exercising since he was 14 years old. In my basement (his man cave) we have a treadmill, free weights (numerous) a Bowflex machine, exercise bike with comfy seat, rowing like machine with pullies, and all kinds of exercise bands. He does his thing and has been successful staying the same size he was when we met 49 years ago. He cannot prescribe for me. And the gyms in our area a super expensive for advice (I am shocked). So anyone out there have a simple exercise program (by reps) on whatever to TONE the body. My weight IS COMING OFF. i AM VERY PROUD AND HAPPY but I want to do something slowly and carefully so I don't have hanging flab.... back of arms and belly which has taken lots of surgery long ago (C- sections --- early technique with big scars)

Any advice would be appreciated. And love to have new friend who is in the know for exercise.

I am a senior, dance every evening, and because of heredity and genes and all that good stuff you would never guess my age if you saw me.

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I'm going to suggest the Start Bodyweight basic routine: http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html

    This is a full body routine. I think it would be a good way for you to ease into things because it starts you at at three sets of four reps. Each workout, you will add one rep to one set. Example:

    Workout 1: Set 1 = 4 reps, Set 2 = 4 reps, Set 3 = 4 reps
    Workout 2: Set 1 = 5 reps, Set 2 = 4 reps, Set 3 = 4 reps
    Workout 3: Set 1 = 5 reps, Set 2 = 5 reps, Set 3 = 4 reps
    Workout 4: Set 1 = 5 reps, Set 2 = 5 reps, Set 3 = 5 reps
    Workout 5: Set 1 = 6 reps, Set 2 = 5 reps, Set 3 = 5 reps

    And so on and so forth until you get to 8 reps for all three sets, at which point you move to the next progression. You can view all of the progressions by clicking on his links and reading through all of the info.

    If you don't have a way to do the pull up progressions, or if you just aren't comfortable with them, I would try one arm dumbbell rows. They aren't completely equal but rows are really good for your shoulders and back. They are one of my favorite things to do. This is a good demo video for those: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gOYkpfT9Hc For those, start with a comfortable weight. Don't worry about whether it's too light because you want to get your technique right at first so if that means starting with 7 or 8 pounds, it's fine. As for reps, I'd just start with 3 sets of 8 and then I'd add a rep on each set every workout. Once you can do 10 reps (theoretically this would be the third workout but it's okay if you don't do it right away) I'd increase the weight. To be honest, though, everybody is going to say something different about reps so it's okay to experiment a bit with those.