Stuck with light lifting, and a newbie, help me please.

rahmyers

Okay since last year i've lost 82 lbs and gotten in better shape. My doctors have commented that my fitness health is pretty good. At 5'5 and 3/4 128 lbs I've gone far and now I want to replace my soft squshie leftovers with more firm parts. Lol okay I can't get the belly to go, my arms could use improvement etc... Also the illness I have destroys muscle, and so I need to build mine up and keep it up.
I can out do the wii fit trainer on the situps and i've topped out on the lunges, squats, etc.. I want to start lifting weights and consulted my doctor and was okayed for light weight lifting, but that's it because of an illness I have. Ps I'm cash poor and cannot afford to go buy a gym membership or a whole weight set. I have access to 2-5lb hand weights milk jugs and a strongish bar I rescued from the shop. I belive the 5 lb weights offer some resistance, but as for the milk jugsfilled with water, I can lift them, bench press, for along time before I get a little tired. So my questions are:
1) what exactly is light weight lifting lb wise?
2) what exactly should I be doing, deadlifts, bench presses etc...? I'm up for trying most any thing.
3) how often? Before I was doing cardio and strength training 3- 5x a week depending on my health.
4) Ive heard diffrent things about this Should I maintain calorires or what? Some say eat more, but i've still got some soft squishie parts so i'm not sure.
5) please don't say the new rules of lifting for women because from what I've read it's about lifting heavy and so doesn't seem to apply. I don't have the money to put on a book that won't help.

Help please!!!!:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: I'd appreciate any help!!!

bizco

If you can do a move or a lift, whatever it is, more than 10 times in one set, it's a light weight.

The only way to build muscle is to lift progressively heavier weights, and proper diet of course. Your illness prevents you from lifting heavy so I would ask your doctor how you should proceed.

Check your local library for books on strength training, it's free. Or Amazon's used books are cheap.

Barberini

This might be worth looking at, as a starting point at least:

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/your-body-is-a-barbell-no-dumbbells-no-barbells-no-problem/

Good luck!

Yogi_Carl

This might be worth looking at, as a starting point at least:

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/your-body-is-a-barbell-no-dumbbells-no-barbells-no-problem/

Good luck!

This link is excellent - thank you nicole :-)