lifting session design question

rocky503

So I am starting a lifting program. I have lifted weights in the recent past. These days my plan is to design a plan I can do at home with free weights and resistance bands and medicine ball. I want to work up to heavy weight. I can find plenty of exercises on the web, etc. but have a couple of questions for more experienced weight lifters.

1. Soreness, how to combat this. I started using protease enzymes when I work out hard and it helps. As I get older, mid forties, I have found I need to warm a good 20 minutes before hard exercise or I am so awfully sore. yes I drink water and stretch too.
2. I would like to have a full body weight training plan to complete three or four times a week. I don't need help with picking the exercises so much as knowing how many exercises should I do in a session? Each exercise done in 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps each. Also how does counting reps compare to just timing the set, for example two minutes to complete as many upright rows as possible for a set?
3. Hand strength improvement. About a year ago I was lifting consistently and increasing weight but then found my hand strength wasn't increasing like wise. So I could lift heavy weight with my body but my hands couldn't hold on to it easily. I got a squeezy ball thing and used that but it seemed lame.
4. Sometimes after I have spent a focused hour lifting I feel like I didn't work out very hard like a cardio session and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Although sometimes I do have shaking muscles and almost a muscle weakness after lifting.
5. How much time between lifting sessions for adequate rest? I think I read even two days perhaps as people get older. Which makes feel impatient.

So those are my questions for really experience weight trainers.

Thanks

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Just out of curiosity, what are your goals?

Also out of curiosity, why design your own program? There are a lot of great free programs you can find by professionals....just wondering is all

1. Make sure you are eating enough protein, drinking enough water, and getting enough rest. If you are still sore, foam rollers are great as are hot baths using Epsom salts.

2. This really depends on your goals.

3. No idea.....I'm sure someone else will have a good idea.

4. A good workout doesn't have to leave you in a crying puddle on the floor. If you are challenging yourself, progressing and your program is well designed you're just fine.

5. 48 hours between training the same body parts is recommended. Again, this will depend on your program and goals. If you are doing a full body routine, then 48 hours. If you are doing upper/lower split you can do every day, alternating of course.

samntha14

I do the New Rules programs. All the exercises are tiered and you build a whole body workout: 10 min warm up and then warm up sets for heavy lifts; core move, power moves (fast twitch movements like box jumps) Squat, pull, push, and single leg stance for balance and core etc. I prefer whole body workouts. I feel I get more benefit from them than isolating muscle groups. New RUles for life and Supercharged are really geared for the over 40 crowd. Even if you don't like the program, they make it easier to build workouts for yourself which I'm starting to do. I'm only sore the first two times I do a workout. I have to get my 25-30% daily protein, more than 8c waters especially on workout days, and a foam roller is a beautiful invention.

I always rest a minimum of 24hours after a lifting session, sometimes 48 is the soreness is intense. I use gloves but not straps and I will reset weights for my grip if I have to. For some moves I'll use plates instead of free weights because they are easier to hold and balance. Deadlifts are really the only exercise where grip is an issue. When I start getting over 115lbs my grip starts to go. I know how aggravating it can be to know you can go heavier but your hands say no. I use a switch grip at that point, and reset my hands each lift or every other lift. The squishy ball thing can help, but a grip master is better. I stole my husband's. He uses it to strengthen his fingers for playing guitar.

GiddyupTim

I am no expert. But I am an older dude, and as you mentioned being older, let me tell you two things.
I am much better about warming up than I ever was, or needed to be, when I was younger. That is, I do warm up sets, increasing the weight with each set, up to the weight I want to use in my workout sets. If I am doing relatively heavy lifts, like squats, I might do five warm-up sets getting to my workout weight. For the bench, maybe three sets.
It actually does not take that long because you don't have to rest between the sets, and it is much better than injuring yourself and then not being able to do anything for a long time.
Also, I do find I need at least two days between lifting sessions. I can do my next session within a single day in between (exercises and body parts irrelevant), but I dread going in and it is not fun, and, after a couple of weeks of that, I really start to hate lifting. Now, that said, I am somebody who does something strenuous every day -- if not lifting, then a long run, or tennis, or something. If I did not do so much else, the lifting might not be so difficult.
Good luck.

meeper123

Bump!!!!!

mrdexter1

So I am starting a lifting program. I have lifted weights in the recent past. These days my plan is to design a plan I can do at home with free weights and resistance bands and medicine ball. I want to work up to heavy weight. I can find plenty of exercises on the web, etc. but have a couple of questions for more experienced weight lifters.

1. Soreness, how to combat this. I started using protease enzymes when I work out hard and it helps. As I get older, mid forties, I have found I need to warm a good 20 minutes before hard exercise or I am so awfully sore. yes I drink water and stretch too.
2. I would like to have a full body weight training plan to complete three or four times a week. I don't need help with picking the exercises so much as knowing how many exercises should I do in a session? Each exercise done in 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps each. Also how does counting reps compare to just timing the set, for example two minutes to complete as many upright rows as possible for a set?
3. Hand strength improvement. About a year ago I was lifting consistently and increasing weight but then found my hand strength wasn't increasing like wise. So I could lift heavy weight with my body but my hands couldn't hold on to it easily. I got a squeezy ball thing and used that but it seemed lame.
4. Sometimes after I have spent a focused hour lifting I feel like I didn't work out very hard like a cardio session and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Although sometimes I do have shaking muscles and almost a muscle weakness after lifting.
5. How much time between lifting sessions for adequate rest? I think I read even two days perhaps as people get older. Which makes feel impatient.

So those are my questions for really experience weight trainers.

Thanks

soreness was the same at 25 as it is now at 51 and defines a heavy workout...
and no i purposely never have warmed up.

setts and reps can be debated all night but its what gives results for you that counts.

although i do i dont see anyone doing fore arm front and back isolation exercise but it strengthens grip and wrist

keep short rest between setts and 45 minutes is enough to raise the heartbeat and breathing and i cant imagine what you re doing for an hour and not doing so !

i do 45 minute 3 day split routine and theres never a day i dont have some pain or swelling just as in my 20 s.

crisanderson27

So I am starting a lifting program. I have lifted weights in the recent past. These days my plan is to design a plan I can do at home with free weights and resistance bands and medicine ball. I want to work up to heavy weight. I can find plenty of exercises on the web, etc. but have a couple of questions for more experienced weight lifters.

Congratulations! Just remember, random exercises off of the internet won't necessarily make a good lifting program.

1. Soreness, how to combat this. I started using protease enzymes when I work out hard and it helps. As I get older, mid forties, I have found I need to warm a good 20 minutes before hard exercise or I am so awfully sore. yes I drink water and stretch too.

My way to combat soreness is to keep lifting. I'm never very sore after the second week of three alternating days.

2. I would like to have a full body weight training plan to complete three or four times a week. I don't need help with picking the exercises so much as knowing how many exercises should I do in a session? Each exercise done in 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps each. Also how does counting reps compare to just timing the set, for example two minutes to complete as many upright rows as possible for a set?

This is somewhat complicated. I will post a full bodyweight training program at the bottom of my reply here. It absolutely specifies exercises (to an extent...it gives you a range of exercises to choose from for each body part). It also lists how many of each exercise to perform.

Reps are a gauge of intensity. You need to be performing an exercise where you fail or come close within that rep range. Timing a set isn't anywhere near the same thing. Timing a set equals cardio basically. Reps, by nature...force you into a level of difficulty where you're actually lifting.

3. Hand strength improvement. About a year ago I was lifting consistently and increasing weight but then found my hand strength wasn't increasing like wise. So I could lift heavy weight with my body but my hands couldn't hold on to it easily. I got a squeezy ball thing and used that but it seemed lame.

Grip strengtheners are available, those balls work as well. You can pinch weight plates or dumbbells between your fingers also.

4. Sometimes after I have spent a focused hour lifting I feel like I didn't work out very hard like a cardio session and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Although sometimes I do have shaking muscles and almost a muscle weakness after lifting.

There is absolutely nothing abnormal about feeling energized or less than worn out after a lifting session. With experience you'll be able to gauge the intensity of your workout by how you feel...but for the beginning, stick to failure and reps as your gauge.

5. How much time between lifting sessions for adequate rest? I think I read even two days perhaps as people get older. Which makes feel impatient.

I alternate days...Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This is whether I'm lifting 300lbs 5x5 on squats, or performing bodyweight exercises. I do NOT do bodyweight AND lift weights...as the way I perform them, they are virtually the same thing.

So those are my questions for really experience weight trainers.

Thanks

Hopefully my answers helped!!

Here is that bodyweight program. If you need any help with it, let me know.

Some of you have been curious about my workout that I used to lose the initial 35+lbs at home. Well, it was 100% bodyweight based, no weights. I'll lay it out here:

This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set. The explanations of the exercises you'll use for each group are farther below.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I could come up with dozens more if needed. Google is your friend if you are unsure what an exercise is or how to perform it properly. Youtube is usually a good resource. Remember also, you can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest, backpack, or resistance bands if necessary.

Explanations of exercise in order of difficulty (easy-hard)
1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

The nice thing about this routine is it scales dramatically depending on your fitness level. If you can't do even ONE regular pull up, you can scale it down and do assisted pull ups (legs on a chair), or ballistic pullups (where you jump to provide the initial momentum). It's actually easier to do properly when you're very unfit...because once you're healthy and strong...you're going to be searching for challenging enough exercises to only allow you 5 reps max by the finish of the 5 sets.

If you need any help with choosing exercises, or anything else, let me know!

ItsCasey

1. Soreness, how to combat this. I started using protease enzymes when I work out hard and it helps. As I get older, mid forties, I have found I need to warm a good 20 minutes before hard exercise or I am so awfully sore. yes I drink water and stretch too.

Proper warm-ups and cool-downs will help with soreness. Foam rolling will help somewhat, as it will keep the fascia loose and prevent your muscles from becoming tightly bound. Ice baths are good for recovering your legs. As you continue lifting and your body begins to adapt, the soreness should lessen considerably.

2. I would like to have a full body weight training plan to complete three or four times a week. I don't need help with picking the exercises so much as knowing how many exercises should I do in a session? Each exercise done in 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps each. Also how does counting reps compare to just timing the set, for example two minutes to complete as many upright rows as possible for a set?

If you're doing compound lifts, I would limit your sessions to 4 lifts: a pushing movement (any kind of press, for instance), a pulling movement (chin-ups, pull-ups, rows), a hip hinge (any kind of deadlift, good mornings, kettlebell swings), and a squat (back, front, overhead, goblet, whatever). If you have time to add in an accessory lift (curls, for example), do that after your compound lifts. Loaded carries are also a type of movement to consider doing, and you can do it with virtually anything heavy that you can get your hands on. Also, counting reps is a much better strategy than timing your lifts. The problem with timing them is that you will start to focus more on beating the clock than on using proper form and completing the full range of motion. Heavy lifting is just not meant to be done for time.

3. Hand strength improvement. About a year ago I was lifting consistently and increasing weight but then found my hand strength wasn't increasing like wise. So I could lift heavy weight with my body but my hands couldn't hold *on to it easily. I got a squeezy ball thing and used that but it seemed lame.

The fact that you are worried about grip strength tells me you are already ahead of the curve. Loaded carries are great for improving grip strength, as are one-arm kettlebell swings. You will get more from simply trying to hold on to something heavy for as long as you can than by squeezing those rubber balls.

4. Sometimes after I have spent a focused hour lifting I feel like I didn't work out very hard like a cardio session and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Although sometimes I do have shaking muscles and almost a muscle weakness after lifting.

This is normal. You should feel fatigued after heavy lifting, and it should be difficult to complete your work sets if you are lifting heavy enough. But if you are taking proper rest between sets and between lifts, you shouldn't feel like you just got hit by a freight train after a lifting session.

5. How much time between lifting sessions for adequate rest? I think I read even two days perhaps as people get older. Which makes feel impatient.

This totally depends on the person, the kind of lifting you're doing, and your individual recovery practices. Younger people recover faster than older people, and women recover faster than men. I would never lift heavy two days in a row, and I have great recovery practices (I eat well, I get plenty of sleep, I do joint and spinal mobility work on off days, and I warm up and cool down extensively before and after workouts). Start with lifting every other day, and make sure your diet is in order and that you are getting all the sleep you need. If you notice that your performance is not improving or is getting worse, then add in additional rest periods.

DavPul

I strongly suggest you get one of the New Rules of Lifting books and read the beginning. Twice. I don't really care if you follow the routines from the book or make your own, either way the info up front will answer not just these questions, but all your other questions. Some of your questions strongly suggest to me that you need additional insight of the what, why, and how aspects of strength training. The NROL books explain it as good as I've seen anywhere.

crisanderson27

I strongly suggest you get one of the New Rules of Lifting books and read the beginning. Twice. I don't really care if you follow the routines from the book or make your own, either way the info up front will answer not just these questions, but all your other questions. Some of your questions strongly suggest to me that you need additional insight of the what, why, and how aspects of strength training. The NROL books explain it as good as I've seen anywhere.

I'd put something like this in my original post Dav...but mine came across a bit less polite, and I didn't like it so I took it out. Thanks for putting it in a much more constructive manner than I was able to (for some reason my mind kept drawing a blank lol).

FitnSassy

Bump

jmadams111

Most everything was covered very well before this so I will only add a couple of things that work for me:

1 - rest; although 48 seems to work most of the time, at 65 I find an extra 24 every now and then helps!
2 - hand strength; I don't ever see ayone else doing these, but I have found forward and reverse wrist curls with pretty heavy weight has helped me greatly.

rocky503

VegasBaby04
Thanks for your reply, just wrote a longish response and it got lost with a poor connection. I would apprecitate any reference to good plans for home work outs describing the equipment I have. My goals are overall strenght building with defintion of my upper legs and adding some muscle to my shoulders as I don't like the look of a bony upper body. I am pear shaped so my thighs need a little more work to get toned up. I don't want to be overly thin I'm 5'5" and like being about 136 with good muscle mass.

rocky503

Thanks Samantha
I will check into the new rules program as it sounds geared for what I am looking for. I like full body workouts better too.

rocky503

Thanks tufel
I am getting the message about resting 48 hours and it makes sense for me. I active otherwise with exercise in between.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Thanks Samantha
I will check into the new rules program as it sounds geared for what I am looking for. I like full body workouts better too.

I think that New Rules is a great place to start, as many others have mentioned as well.

Another great resource that I used when I first got started is "The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises". There are loads of workouts, directions on how to make your own effective workout, pictures of the exercises and it covers dumbbell, barbell, and bodyweight.

Mrsallypants

Stronglifts is a decent free weight lifting program as long as you have good form.

For hand strength, use Fat Gripz, deadlifts, and do hangs. If you're doing an exercise like deadlifts and your hand strength fails, you can use a mixed grip or use lifting straps.

970Mikaela1

Bump to read the well written response

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Stronglifts is a decent free weight lifting program as long as you have good form.

For hand strength, use Fat Gripz, deadlifts, and do hangs. If you're doing an exercise like deadlifts and your hand strength fails, you can use a mixed grip or use lifting straps.

Stronglifts is a fantastic beginner program but I don't believe OP has access to barbells to progress on the program.