Help with lifting...

DiaryOfaThickFitWoman

So I really don’t know anything about lifting. What “lifts” can I do with 20 and 30 pound dumbbells? The 20’s are loose (2 ten pound), and I have 15 on each side of a rack (equaling 30). Again, I don’t know anything about lifting so I’m sure the terminology I’m using it totally wrong. I’m pretty much just trying to target my arms, butt, legs, and stomach. Still losing and not trying to do anything drastic. Please give me any advice, pictures would be great. How often? How many reps?
I will be doing this at home and do not have a bench….

Thanks good people~

CorvusCorax77

Hey angelbee! That's so rad you want to start lifting! People may say you can't do much of anything with those weights, but I think you can. I started doing compound lifts with just dumbbells. It's really good to work on form. Since the weights are so light, you may aim for trying to do three sets of 12 on each exercise. Maybe start with the 20 lbs dumb bells, then go up to the 30.

These are the lifts I would suggest doing:

Squats (I just found this video and that's not the form I used, but it looks ok to me: http://youtu.be/YqYi90vp8m4)

Military press (http://youtu.be/B-aVuyhvLHU)

Dead lift (http://youtu.be/j8YJ_tfLPJQ) this one you should be able to do a lot of weight on eventually. Ignore that lady's teeny dumbbells.

Rows (http://youtu.be/KR8onsa5jFQ)

If there is any way you can do a bench you should, Alternately you could do push ups. Also try to do chin ups...if you need assistance on those, you can. Or you can do a negative chin up where you start at top, and lower yourself slowly:

http://youtu.be/6yX5ssbh6qc

CorvusCorax77

also lunges with weights are great for protecting your knees:

http://youtu.be/D7KaRcUTQeE

You can start all of these exercises with no weight at first, actually. That's totally reasonable if you have never lifted before. Research form- especially for the deadlift, and the squat. You can hurt yourself if you do those wrong. And then add weight.

If you are anything like me, you'll be soon dying to access a gym to have more weight on those things!

DiaryOfaThickFitWoman

Thanks very very much~

CorvusCorax77

you wanna have rest days in between lift days so do it 3-4 x's a week. You can either do all your lifting in each day, but more likely break it up. Like I do this:

Day 1: squats, glute ham raises
Day 2: "rest"
Day 3: Bench, rows, face pulls
Day 4: "rest"
Day 5: Dead lifts, ab wheel or hanging leg raises, assisted pull ups if I'm not doing them on OHP day
Day 6: OHP and either pull ups or bear complex
Day 7: "rest"

and this is loosely followed. I might skip assistance work here and there, I might do bench and OHP on the same day because I might go out of town for the weekend or something.

danielhutchins

Lift 3-4 times a week, day off between days. Here is a dumbbell routine I like built for weight loss all 3 x 10:

CHEST
DB Bench
DB Incline
DB Flys

SHOULDERS
DB Seated Military
DB Front Raises
DB Lateral Raises

BACK
Lat Pull Downs
Seated Rows
DB Bent Rows

TRICEPS
Tricep Extensions
Diamond Cutters
Head Knockers

BICEPS
Incline Curls
Hammer Curls
Concentration Curls

I do these one set at a time, back to back without much pause, one muscle group at a time. At the end I usually do Russian Tilt Stands. You can look all of these up on YouTube or some other lifting site. This usually takes me 55 min, and then I do cardio. FYI, I am a powerlifting coach.