Newish to weight lifting - advice?

Marchmallow
Marchmallow Posts: 124 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello! I've always stuck with cardio, but I've had a couple of sessions with a fitness instructor that have encouraged me to get more into lifting. Currently I do a chest press (2 sets of 12, 10kg), a leg press (2 sets of 12, 25kg), tricep pull down (2/12, 5kg), squats on a balance ball with dumbell curls (2/12, 6kg) and lat pull downs (2/12, 15kg). I do this routine about 3 times per week mixed in with my running. I'm seeing good results with my fat loss, but I'm interested in upping my strength training. Any ideas? Should I drink protein shakes afterwards? What's a good amount of protein to drink? My gym sells two types, a big shake with 53g of protein and a smaller one with 25g.

Any advice or tips would be great, I'd love to improve my body shape and definition through lifting. :)

Replies

  • ryno0618
    ryno0618 Posts: 361
    If you enjoy reading get the book New Rules of Lifting for Women. Easy read and has some excellent advice and workout programs within the book. I've read the book for men and the abs book and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

    Have a protein shake post workout if you are struggling to hit your protein amount on mfp. mfp is set pretty low so don't be afraid to up your protein intake some, especially with strength training. good luck!
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    New Rules is a good book, the nutritional info is a little questionable and I'm not a huge fan of the ever changing routine. I prefer StrongLifts 5x5.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

    You don't need to have a protein shake after workouts, but it is important to make sure you are getting enough protein throughout the day. You should be eating about 1gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. You can do this with food alone or with a combination of food and shakes. I try to do it with food but if at the end of the day I'm low, I have a shake.
  • Marchmallow
    Marchmallow Posts: 124 Member
    Thanks for the replies! I had a look at that link about Stronglifts 5x5, but I'm such a lifting noob that I'm not even sure what some of the things on there mean. Plus, I'm in England so we use metric weights rather than lbs, but I think that a Kg is roughly 2lbs. What's a dead weight? Are these things all available in most gyms? My gym seems pretty solid on most fronts, so I'll have a wander deeper into the machines section tomorrow and maybe ask some of their names so that I can pinpoint some in the program you showed me! :o)

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