Strength Training Rank Beginner

btsinmd

I am 52 years old and 5'7" have managed to get to 250 lbs since December. I'm now no longer morbidly obese (still obese though). My glucose level has moved from pre-diabetic to normal. I'm looking to really get into strength training and up my cardio and calories. My workplace has a small but new and seems well equipped gym. While I'm planning to do most of the cardio at home and outside, I'd like to use the gym for strength training.

I am completely out of shape and have no clue as far as anything related to strength training, but have looked at internet ideas. Just getting on the floor and getting up again isn't easy. Push ups (of any sort) and sit ups seem impossible. I can't imagine trying to lift anything without destroying my spine and knees. But the strength machines seem do-able and I think that I can use them to get to a fitness level where perhaps the other stuff won't be as scary. I got the orientation two weeks ago and have tried all the machines a couple of times now.

My questions are:
1) Am I crazy or will working on the weight machines eventually enable me to do more?
2) Can I skip the leg extension one without too much imbalance or anything? I like the leg curl one and don't want to skip that one. Even keeping the leg extension one on low weights, my knee crackles and pops on it and feels weird. I have no worries with the other machines.
3) I've been doing 2 sets of 10 on each machine and raising the weight by one if the first set seems to easy, so for example:
date1(lbs) date2 date3 date4
machine1 25/35 35/50 50 50
machine2 20/25 25 25/35 35
machine3 25 25 25 25/35

Is this the right way to go?

Thanks, Donna

Sarauk2sf

What is machine 1, 2 and 3?

What else are you doing? I assume you are doing upper body as well.

Oh, and I nearly forgot...great news on improving your markers.

btsinmd

Sorry, I wasn't sure what the machines were so I did some internet searches to figure them out.
The machines that the gym has are:
Seated Leg Extension
Seated Leg Curl
Inside Thigh (Adduction Machine)
Outside Thigh (Abduction Machine)
Leg Press which you can leg press and also position yourself so that you're just working your ankles

Shoulder Press
Pec Flye kindof; It has two states it can be set to. Each arm has a vertical and a horizontal handle. The one state where you sit with your back to the weights, the machine arms are parallel with your shoulders, you grasp the vertical handles and it looks like the pec flye. You also can change the machine arm position so that you can sit facing the weights and grasp the horizontal handles that are now directly in front of you and pull them out and parallel with your shoulders.
and
An abdominal machine where you sit with a padded bar on your legs and across your chest and you bend at the waist to press the chest bar down.

I can do much more weight on the leg machines than the upper body ones.

Sarauk2sf

How comfortable would you be with dumbbells and the cable machines?

btsinmd

What are cable machines? I don't think this gym has them. It does have dumbbells and benches though. I could do dumbbells if I knew what to do.

Sarauk2sf

I posted a pic of one on this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/899037-machines-vs-dumbbells

btsinmd

There are no cable machines. No machines other than the ones I listed and the cardio equipment.

Sarauk2sf

Thanks. I will get back to you in a bit with a fuller response.

JosieRawr

tagging cuz I want to see the response

Amazon_Who

tagging cuz I want to see the response

Ditto

btsinmd

Sorry to bother. Been waiting 48 hours.

Sarauk2sf

You are supposed to say "WHY DON'T YOU REPLY TO MY POST YOU PECKER?!"

Thanks for bumping. We will hopefully get back to you tomorrow (well, later today now)

btsinmd

Watching for it. Thanks.

Sarauk2sf

*sigh* retagging 'again'. Sorry OP :flowerforyou: will get back to you asap...it's been pretty busy recently.

btsinmd

I keep checking. Thanks.

Sarauk2sf

Looks like you are missing a few things in your routine (back mainly) and should easily be able to swap out some for dumbbells. Leg extensions are fine not to do as you are doing leg press.

Can you do squats without problems on your knees?

Re upper v lower - we should always be able to do more on our lower body as the muscles are bigger there.

Machines have their place, but for many exercises, free weights are better as they do not force you in a fixed trajectory and also you need to use your stabilizer muscles.

If you let me know if you can do squats without problems on your knees I can suggest a routine that adds in some lifts you are missing and also adds in some free weights without taking you outside your comfort zone too much..

btsinmd

I looked them up and tried a few. I can do shallow squats, to almost parallel. I expect that this is something that I can improve as I'm not getting knee pain, just stiffness and a little balance issues due to not doing anything like this for probably 40 years.

Thanks.

Donna

Sarauk2sf

You do should some flexibility exercises to help with the squats. Will link when I find some good ones.

btsinmd

I will work on my squats and see if I can improve them.

Sarauk2sf

Here are the pics/links:


http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/01/episode-363-pre-squat-hip-opener-mob-rx.html





^^push your knees out

(To give him the credit, I took them from a post that Hendrix made on another thread)

Sarauk2sf

So, a suggested routine would be a full body workout 3 x a week (if possible). I would suggest following something like this:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843&page=1

A Simple beginner's Routine
You will do 3 work outs per week on non consecutive days. The first work out is your heavy work out. The second work out is your medium work out, use 10% less weight for your work sets. The final work out for the week is your lite work out, use 20% less weight.

Do a lite warm up with 1/4 of your work sets weight. Do a medium warm up with 1/2 of your work sets weight. Do 2 work sets with the same weight. Choose a starting weight and start light.

These are the seven exercises you will be starting with.

Squats
Bench Presses
Bent-Over Rows
Overhead Barbell Presses
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
Barbell Curls
Calf Raises

You will be running this program on a five week cycle as follows:
The first week do all 4 sets for 8 reps.
The second week do all 4 sets for 9 reps.
The third week do all 4 sets for 10 reps.
The fourth week do all 4 sets for 11 reps.
The fifth week do all 4 sets for 12 reps.
If you got all of the required reps on the fifth week then increase the weight by 10% and

repeat the cycle. If you didn't get all of the reps on the fifth week then repeat the cycle with the same weight. You shouldn't need more than one minute rest between the warm up sets and you shouldn't need more than one minute thirty seconds between the work sets.
Do some cardio and abs work on non weight training days.


BUT, swap out a few of them or make adaptations as follows:

Squats -

Bulgarian Split Squats https://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/bulgarian_split_squats&cr=

or

Goblet squats: Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in front of you at about chest height. Make sure you keep the same form as with a barbell squat (although your center of gravity will be different) - engage core, slightly arch back and go to at least parallel, keep knees behind toes as much as possible. You will have a wider stance for these so they are more similar to a barbell sumo squat.

or

Leg Press (machine)

Bench Presses - do with dumbbells

Bent-Over Rows - do with dumbbells

Overhead Barbell Presses - do with dumbbells

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts - do with dumbbells - http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/main/popup/name/stiff-legged-dumbbell-deadlift (note, she is going very low in this video - only go as low as you can while keeping your back slightly arched - it will depend on your flexibility)

Barbell Curls - do with dumbbells

Calf Raises - I would not worry about doing this one

Seated leg curl will be fine to add in.


Let me know if you need any help with explanations of the lifts

btsinmd

Thanks. I need to print this out and reorganize a bit to help me understand better. I will ask questions if I need to.

Sarauk2sf

Locking as part of our new procedure to try to help is track open threads: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/914180-thread-locking-and-intake-follow-ups

Feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel to unlock or you want to add anything.