Tips for starting serious strength training

Topsking2010

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Sarauk2sf

Here's a list of exercises I do (I did not design the workout, I just do it). I don't do all these every day but I do most muscle groups every day, some weeks some splits but not often. You can search most of these exercises on youtube.

The routine I do consists of weight lifting first and cardio second, but I still do cardio (mainly running). I change up everything all the time. My running is sometimes long easy runs, sometimes HIIT, sometimes shorter medium pace runs. My weight routine changes each day, each week, Circuits, Intermittent Super Sets, Fibonacci Pyramids, X-sets, Progress Venus Pyramids, and some splits, constantly changing it up, everything a variety of Strength, Hypertrophy, and Endurance.

Legs; In addition to Deadlift's, Stiff Leg Dead Lifts, Sumo Dead Lifts and Squats I do Bulgarian Split Squats, Lunges, Reverse lunges, Curtsey lunges, Step Ups, Crossover Bench Step Ups, One legged Deadlifts (T-Bend), Lunge Matrix, Bowler Squat, One Legged Get Ups, Bower Squat and Calf Raise, Bowler Squat + Stiff Leg Deadlift, Curtsey Lunge + Dumbbell Squat, T-Bend + Y-Squat, Reverse Lunge & Step Up, Curtsey Lunge + Step Up, Y-squat, Narrow Stance Squat

For upper body I do Standing Shoulder Press, Standing Dumbell Curls, Lying Tricep extension, Pullovers, Bent Barbell Row, Standing lateral Raise, Standing front Raise, Curl and Press, Shoulder Press + Curl, Dips, Lying Tricep Extensions + Flyes, Venus Raise (a type of snatch), Bent Row + Standing Lateral Raise, Pullovers, Pushup + Dips, Standing Dumbbell curls + Overhead Tricep Extension, Bent Lateral Raise + Pullovers, One Arm Dumbbell row, Flyes + Pushups, Seated Curl & Tate Press, Seated Curls + Overhead Tricep Extension, Pushups, Pullovers + Dips, Bent Barbell Row, Lateral Raise + Full Front Raise, Venus Raise + Dips, Standing Dumbbell curls + Lying Tricep Extension, Upright Row + Dips, Bent Barbell Row, Flat bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Bent Row Narrow, Bent Row + Kickback,

Then some upper and lower combos; Squat and Front Raise, Step Up & Press, Step Up + Standing Shoulder Press, Squat & Press, Squat & Swing, Curtsy Lunge + Standing Shoulder Pres, T-Bend & Row, Pike Front Rais + Curtsey Lunge, Flat Bench Press + Step Up.

Core: Bar Bell Rollouts (you can start out with Stability Ball Roll Outs), Swiss Ball Pikes (you can start out with Stability Ball Curl Ups), and planks. As you advance Swiss Ball Pike and pushup.

I probably forgot some but you get the idea.

Best of luck to you and great job making the decision to lift!!
Bobbie

Taking off half the wall of text. Why are you giving a beginner a laundry list of lifts? It is totally unnecessary to make it this complicated, and she will not even know how to program or do them. What is wrong with compounds plus some accessory lifts?

Crazy4Healthy

Taking off half the wall of text. Why are you giving a beginner a laundry list of lifts? It is totally unnecessary to make it this complicated, and she will not even know how to program or do them. What is wrong with compounds plus some accessory lifts?

I agree, compound lifts are awesome. You get so much more accomplished and it works everything. Great place to start.

BritneysStuntDouble

Hello everyone,

I'm at the stage of my weight loss journey where I would like to start getting very serious about toning up and focusing a great deal of my workout towards it.

I just wanted to know your tips on strength training - for example does it help doing cardio before strength training?

How should a beginner start in terms of weight training? Cycling upper body and lower body? How often is too often to be working your muscles.

What emphases should I put on my diet plan if I'm going to be focusing a lot of energy towards this.

I don't want to build muscles to the point where I look like a body builder, I just want to tone up...but also get serious about incorporating it into my routine....as I very rarely did much strength training when I was losing weight.

I have heard the news rules of lifting for women is a good place to start.

Definitely find a good weight lifting routine. Apparently the new rules for women lifting is good, as well as many others and bodybuilding.com. I'm a runner too, totally addicted to running and lifting, but cardio just won't do as much for your shape as lifting. It's good for you, but you don't need as much cardio as people think and it really isn't the fat burner people think. Just look at all the people who do cardio year after year and never change their shape. Fat loss is all about calories. Cardio is good for you. And weight lifting changes your shape. I learned this this hard way running marathon after marathon.

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

Here's a list of exercises I do (I did not design the workout, I just do it). I don't do all these every day but I do most muscle groups every day, some weeks some splits but not often. You can search most of these exercises on youtube.

The routine I do consists of weight lifting first and cardio second, but I still do cardio (mainly running). I change up everything all the time. My running is sometimes long easy runs, sometimes HIIT, sometimes shorter medium pace runs. My weight routine changes each day, each week, Circuits, Intermittent Super Sets, Fibonacci Pyramids, X-sets, Progress Venus Pyramids, and some splits, constantly changing it up, everything a variety of Strength, Hypertrophy, and Endurance.

Legs; In addition to Deadlift's, Stiff Leg Dead Lifts, Sumo Dead Lifts and Squats I do Bulgarian Split Squats, Lunges, Reverse lunges, Curtsey lunges, Step Ups, Crossover Bench Step Ups, One legged Deadlifts (T-Bend), Lunge Matrix, Bowler Squat, One Legged Get Ups, Bower Squat and Calf Raise, Bowler Squat + Stiff Leg Deadlift, Curtsey Lunge + Dumbbell Squat, T-Bend + Y-Squat, Reverse Lunge & Step Up, Curtsey Lunge + Step Up, Y-squat, Narrow Stance Squat

For upper body I do Standing Shoulder Press, Standing Dumbell Curls, Lying Tricep extension, Pullovers, Bent Barbell Row, Standing lateral Raise, Standing front Raise, Curl and Press, Shoulder Press + Curl, Dips, Lying Tricep Extensions + Flyes, Venus Raise (a type of snatch), Bent Row + Standing Lateral Raise, Pullovers, Pushup + Dips, Standing Dumbbell curls + Overhead Tricep Extension, Bent Lateral Raise + Pullovers, One Arm Dumbbell row, Flyes + Pushups, Seated Curl & Tate Press, Seated Curls + Overhead Tricep Extension, Pushups, Pullovers + Dips, Bent Barbell Row, Lateral Raise + Full Front Raise, Venus Raise + Dips, Standing Dumbbell curls + Lying Tricep Extension, Upright Row + Dips, Bent Barbell Row, Flat bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Bent Row Narrow, Bent Row + Kickback,

Then some upper and lower combos; Squat and Front Raise, Step Up & Press, Step Up + Standing Shoulder Press, Squat & Press, Squat & Swing, Curtsy Lunge + Standing Shoulder Pres, T-Bend & Row, Pike Front Rais + Curtsey Lunge, Flat Bench Press + Step Up.

Core: Bar Bell Rollouts (you can start out with Stability Ball Roll Outs), Swiss Ball Pikes (you can start out with Stability Ball Curl Ups), and planks. As you advance Swiss Ball Pike and pushup.

I probably forgot some but you get the idea.

Best of luck to you and great job making the decision to lift!!
Bobbie

Cranktastic

cool..i was in b4 wall of text!

Lolz - not quite!

yes i was
you never notice me:sad:

Sarauk2sf

cool..i was in b4 wall of text!

Lolz - not quite!

yes i was
you never notice me:sad:

OMGOMGOMG - you were, and I did, not enough coffee this morning.

pjrbs

Bump to read later.

DrMAvDPhD

I think one specific thing that might not have been answered yet was cardio, I believe most recommend cardio after lifting not before (and HIIT is most recommended).

+1 to eating lots of protein and more than 1200 calories, starting with NROL4W or some other program with clear instructions and goals, and not worrying about building too much muscle (you can always stop if you don't like what you are seeing).

LorinaLynn

Giant wall of text makes me really appreciate Stronglifts 5x5.

Monday: bench press, bent over rows, squats
Wednesday: overhead press, squats, deadlift
Friday: same as Monday
Next Monday: same as Wednesday
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

So simple, and so effective. The summary in the group for women on here is wonderful... so much better than the real website! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women

I love running, and do that three times a week in between lifting days. I might do light cardio on lifting days, like a very short run or a long walk, but I save strenuous cardio for non-lifting days.

kboard10

Its recommended to get 1g/lb in order to supply your body with the protein necessary to heal muscle, and maintain, while keeping a calorie deficit. But, its hard to get this much I agree, so anywhere from .8-1 g of protein per lb should be good.

I also recommend a 4 or 5 day split because I think its easier. A full body workout is exhausting and tends to burn people out from their regiment. However, its not a bad plan (much better than nothing) and if you like it, go for it!

WendyTerry420

You will NEVER build muscle like male body builders do. There is NO such thing as 'toning' up. Buy and read The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It explains all this and will help you get stared. Or do a search. Lots of posts on here just like yours.

Funny because I read that book, and it explains what toning up actually means, which I suspect, is what the OP desires.

WendyTerry420

You will NEVER build muscle like male body builders do. There is NO such thing as 'toning' up. Buy and read The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It explains all this and will help you get stared. Or do a search. Lots of posts on here just like yours.

Lol, well i meant i wouldn't want to look like a female such as jillian michaels completely...i want to be just 'toned'

Body builders have very very low body fat. To get significant (relative) muscle you need to eat at a cr*p ton of food and train intensively.

^^ Exactly

If your body fat stays around 20% to 24%, you will still be at a healthy body fat, but without your muscles showing through, so that you look toned, but not "muscley."

nexangelus

Hmm, I do compund lifts for serious strength training...started off with 12 weeks of stronglifts 5 x 5, madcow for the upper body stalls and now onto Wendler's 5/3/1 for a slower build...I am on cycle 2, week 2 of Wendler's on a deficit and loving it...not losing strength and still steadily losing the body fat...feeling fab!

Fight2bFiT

Starting off 2x a week should be a good start. Upper and lower days. Then you can break it down to muscle groups when you are more comfortable and have a good idea of what you are doing. It's important to do cardio after a weight training session due to the energy that you need should be expended on the weights, not the cardio.
Eating should be more protein intake and more carbs therefore more calories. This scares most ppl. We need the carbs to expend during weight training sessions and you know what the protein is for:). Your not eating tons of more cals. But you are focusing more on the macros and this time rather than the calorie count. Losing weight and Doing tons of cardio is COMPLETELY different than weight training and toning up. You can't get big unless you take the "juice" (yes most women take it even in figure level of competing) and without eating tons of protein ad carbs (like 2000 or more) so don't worry about bulking. Do the weights and do them 65% of max with 12-15reps and 3-4 sets. So basically half of the most weight you can lift and the last 2 reps should be hard. If not go up in weight. Don't e afraid of the weights. They don't bulk you. I squat over 400 and curl more than 40 but I don't look like a dude in any way.
Hope this helps?