Lifting question

ashlensmomma

Everyone keeps telling me I should add in some lifting into my exercise. My question is what can I do at home? What weights do I need to get and what routine should I do? I'm really interested in starting this.

ashlensmomma

Anyone?

Sarauk2sf

What equipment do you currently have?

ashlensmomma

I don't really have anything for that. I have no idea what to get. I have two 5 lb dumbbells lol No idea how to even get started!

Ghkffb56

I would just go to a gym.. but:) if not try getting a

barbell or a E-Z Curl Bar - you can do lots with these... LOTS >:D



http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/workout/exercise.html <-- go downd ands press on w/e body part you are working out.. helps alot ^^

Esoterria

If you have the money for it, I would go to a sports store and buy the heaviest dumbbells you can lift. I got some 6kg ones...but whatever you can lift is good. Stay away from the super light ones...they don't do anything.

Then you can do a whole range of exercises with them. I do bench press, squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, rows, and shoulder presses. Shoulder presses might be a bit harder than all the other exercises, but just do them for less reps :-)

I currently do them for about 15 reps each, but I started off with only 10.

IronSmasher

Marklauren.com has ideas.

Sarauk2sf

I would suggest getting a good dumbbell set, a pull up bar and a stability ball. A weight bench would also be a great idea.

You can do body weight exercises but the above will just make your routine more flexible imo.

You should try to do a full body workout 3 x a week if possible that hits all the major muscle groups.

While I am a fan of the big compound lifts, I am also a believer that you need to work your way up to them and there are a bunch of exercises that are similar that are also a bit easier to make sure of your form.

So, I would suggest a workout that includes:

- legs: squats and lunges - these can be done with body weight only and made harder by doing one legged ones like pistol squats and bulgarian split squats as well as adding weight by holding dumbbells

- chest/bicep/tricep: push ups if you do not have weights (difficulty can be increased by elevating the legs and you can make them more tricep centric by narrowing your hand width). Also, you can do chin ups if you have a pull up bar (start with negatives where you start at the top and lower yourself as slowly as possible). If you have weights you can do a bench press (either using a weight bench if you have one or a stability ball if not). If you have weights, skullcrushers are decent tricep exercises.

- back: rows (using dumbbells and pull-ups (negatives as with the chin ups)

- shoulders:dumbbell overhead press

- abs: hanging leg raises using the pull up bar arm band thingies that you can attach to the pull up bar if you get one (do not do thousands of crunches or anything - stick to one ab exercise only – however abs you can actually go up to about 20 reps )

Doo 3 - 5 sets, depending on time. Start with 15 reps at as high a weight as you can do where it is hard to complete but you maintain form (or as many as you can do) for the first few weeks to get your form down, then for a few more weeks, drop the reps to about 10 - 12 and up the weights, then go to 8 - 10 reps and up the weights. I would usually suggest dropping the reps down to strength range for compound lifts which is 3 - 5 reps but this may not be beneficial with an at home dumbbell set up.

The above are only a few suggestions of what you can do, there are hundreds of others for each muscle group.

heidimaggott78

Bump

meerkat70

there's a lot you can do with bodyweight only. do a Google.

Yogi_Carl

Sara's post is excellent and pretty much what I do at home. Your own body, plus a few affordable additions, is the only gymn you need. Body resistance workouts are just fantastic!