Strength training when what?

akb2006

I am near the begginging of my weight loss journy and have got cardio down pretty well. When should i start strength training and what should i do? I want to end up looking fit not just a thinner version of my old self. I really need to tone down my upper arms, thighs and belly but i need help all over!

luv2ash

You can do strength training at any point you feel up to it.

May I suggest ChaLEAN Extreme by Beacbody- the makers of P90X. Its basically a strength training boot camp.

jenlhugg

Oxygen magazine has a lot of good toning exercises for women. I check them out at the library and they also have a pretty good selection on their online magazine.

tiffsNEWlife

I would say, pretty much any time. When I did this previously (lost 25 pounds) I had access to a gym. They had a machine sort of like the BowFlex. I did about 15 minutes or so on this. It works all my upper body muscles. If you don't have access to a gym or can't go, try some free weights. They are a couple of bucks at walmart of Target and just start doing some presses or biscept curls. Any little bit helps!

Goal_Seeker_1988

I'd start now. Why wait? Hit the gym and lift some weights or get resistant bands and workout with them.

derbygirl90

I really like the strength workouts that Women's Health Magazine has on their wesite. When doing strength I try to avoid the weight machines and go for moves that hit more than one muscle group.

Each week I find 6 new exercises. I'll do the first three follwed by jump roping for a minute then repeat up to four times. Then do the same with the next three exercises. Hope that makes sense.

I just try to recycle the exercises once I've gotten them down and worked on it for a few weeks so that I keep things fresh, don't get bored and don't end up working the same muscles all the time.

Good luck!

JeanK56

No time like the present to start.

mkrafick

Wow. It's pretty cool that as a female you are not afraid of strength training. My wife and my friends who are female are in the "no way no how" mindset as it pertains to strength training.

I yo-yo'ed in my wight A LOT until I finally resigned myself into strength training - my trainer who I see once a week finally beat it into me to strength train more and do cardio less. The drawback is, the weight falls off a little slower until about day 90, but after that your body kicks into high gear and starts to shred weight. And because of the strength training building some lean muscle, the weight takes a lot longer to come back on. I took a month off for injury and actually continued to lose weight instead of gain it.

I go to the gym 3x a week for 1 hour. I usually do 30-40 minutes strength training and 20-30 minutes of cardio (in that order). My trainer was showing me studies where doing cardio after strength training actually was more productive. I'm there no more than an hour. Then I try to sneak in one odd day of just cardio.

If you have a gym and are a little nervous - stick to the machines until you are comfortable with free weights. It will also help you hold your form.

If you don't want the gym, there is a lot you can do with exercise balls, resistance bands, and free-weights at home.

If you need exercise help, like getting a routine - there are a lot of workout planners online. Just do a search.

Good luck!

carl1738

You should start weight training as soon as possible, to prevent yourself from losing muscle as well as fat. The average person loses one pound of muscle for every three pounds of fat that they lose. This can result in a much lower metabolism and make it harder to lose weight in the future. Strength training can prevent this muscle loss and help with fat loss in the future. One warning, however. When you first start a strength training program, you may notice a weight gain of a couple of pounds. This is normal. Your muscles are just holding onto a little bit of extra water to help repair themselves because they may not be used to the new workload. This only lasts for a couple of weeks, so don't panic and think you're gaining weight. Also don't worry that you're going to bulk up and look like a man. Women tend to gain muscle a lot slower than men do because of their much lower testosterone levels.

TheNewJessieMae

I want muscles too. I don't want to look like a stick. I want to be define and lean. There is a big dif between that and bulky. Naturally women don't normally tend to get bulky anyhow unless taking testosterone. I want to be cut!!

akb2006

I do have a gym membership sorry I should have posted that. I don't get there a ton because of my 2 year old (she wants to go swimming everytime we go and throws a huge fit) but I can always leave dh at home. Or take turns with him. I am 235 now roughly so thats why I was wondering if I should wait till I get closer to the 200 mark. What are some good excersizes for flab under the arms and thighs?

mkrafick

For your arms, specifically underneath - read up on the net "Tricep extentions". You will see all sorts of variations from freeweights, to resistance bands, to machines. I would reccomend also doing some sort of "Bicep Curl" also.

As for the legs, lunges and squats works a lot of key leg muscles from your butt to your knee. I wouldn't target a specific area so much on legs, work the whole thing. Then add on "Calf Raises".

But if you hit the gym, I suggest working the whole body - because if you build more muscle overall, the more calories you burn sitting. So building leg mucle, abs, or back muscle, will also help you burn fat in your problem area's.

I go 3x a week and work something like this:
- (Day 1) Chest, Triceps, Shoulders (ex: Incline Bench Press [Machine], Tricep Ext, Lat Raise)
- (Day 2) Back, Biceps, and Abs (ex: Lat Pulldown [Macine], Bicep Curl [Machine], Crunches)
- (Day 3) Legs (Leg Press [Machine], Leg Curl [Machine], Calf Raise)
- (Day 4, If I can fit in) 1-2mi Walk around neighborhood, or Cardio at Gym.

I don't spend longer than an hour at the gym - I do 30 minutes weights and switch to 30 minutes cardio. Start small, do a single exercise (3 Sets of 12) for each area. After 3 weeks, move to 2 exercises per area. What I have listed above is something similar to what I started out with. Stay light at first, at the very begining you shouldn't be straining at the first set, should be feeling it second set, and not really complete the third. You should be a little sore the next day or two.

As for when to start, I was roughly 238lb (now 199). If you are unsure if it will cause you harm, talk to your doctor before you start. I saw him and explained I was about to start dieting and exercise - we talked about safe calorie intake and he had me do a heart stress test just to be sure (because of my history).

But you don't necessarily need to wait to a specific weight.