New Rules of Lifting for Women ?'s and other ?'s

Jolie1971

Hi! I am new to this group after deciding that this is what I am hoping my body needs. I am getting frustrated as I have been, like many of you, around this same weight since mid-January.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I can eat my treats if I want (within reason) because of upping my calories. I haven't exercised for 3 days as I just came down with a cold and am tired and achy and have a sore throat. So hope to get my energy back and get on track with my workouts

I reserved a copy of this book as I was inspired by people's transformations with weight lifting. My question is :

I do Jillian's NMTZ with 5 lb weights 4 to 5 times a week and like to walk at a fast pace. I do not have access to a gym except for our local high school's weight room and would have to go there with my husband and drag our 2 kids with. Do you have any advice for me? Could I buy higher pound free weights and see the results? Probably not I am guessing. Just not sure how to start this.

Thanks for all your advice! I am hoping to get to my goal sometime this summer. It is just taking me longer than I thought...

31prvrbs

Welcome to the group!

There's no reason why you can't start right where you are. You can always make *any* strength training exercise more challenging by increasing the weight. I started off the same as you and many others on MFP w/Jillian. I slowly progressed through all of her vids, then bought heavier weights and did them again, lol. I would recommend maybe slowly adding other weight training DVDs to your arsenal as well, so that you have a good variety, but can still lift heavy at home. I workout exclusively from home (mainly to DVDs), so it can definitely be done without the gym.

For starters, you can increase weights w/NMTZ (awesome workout, btw), and don't be afraid to go heavy, even if it means you need to pause the DVD for longer rests, or stop a few reps early. You can use the DVD as a jumping off point for lifting heavier, but since most of her workouts are of a circuit nature, it becomes harder to get the muscle building effect w/o proper rest times in between exercises. Once you've mastered the DVDs that you do have, w/higher weights, and have done them every way imaginable, lol, check out sites like collagevideo.com for more strength training DVDs (there are clips and reviews of every DVD, ever, lol). I prefer weight workout DVDs by Cathe Friedrich (cathe.com). Or try some at home free workout sites like bodyrock.tv.

~Kiki

Jolie1971

Thanks so much for your help! I think I will start out by getting heavier weights and check out some new DVD's. I am looking forward to see how this goes!