Heavy lifting for beginner female.

hollyrenee1990
hollyrenee1990 Posts: 197 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I want to start lifting a few days a week to add in with doing Insanity but I do not know where to start.


I do not go to the gym and workout from home. Can i do this starting out with handweights and my weight bench?


If so anyone know of routines for beginners? Please help! Thanks!

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    New Rules of Lifting for Women, Starting Strength, Strong Lifts...all good.

    You can start with dumbbells, but if you're actually doing a strength routine with a **** you're going to outgrow them very quickly...like a few weeks. To really get the benefit of a lifting routine you always have to be challenging yourself and upping the weight...just lifting the same weight weeks on end is an exercise in wasting time.

    If you can't get to a gym and some heavier weights, I'd suggest finding a body weight routine that also incorporates some resistance bands and dumbbells...take a look at nerfitness.com.
  • helpfit101
    helpfit101 Posts: 347 Member
    Hi I wrote this for another post I think it can apply to you too. However I would like to say there should be no heavy lifting for beginner female. That doesn't make sense. You want to do heavy lifting that's great. But you'll need 6-12 months at least before you get there because you want to avoid injury. So start with medium lifting :)

    Basically any routine you do you want to workout your legs (front and back), chest, back, shoulders, arms, abs ideally 2-3 times per week.

    I would recommend doing these exercises:
    chest - dumbbell chest press (lying on a bench)
    back - lat pull down machine (if your gym has one) and dumbbell bent over row
    shoulders - dumbbell shoulder press
    arms - dumbbell bicep curl and tricep extension
    abs - plank
    legs - dumbbell squat and/or dumbbell lunge (forward, backward)

    You can google the exercises (like plank, or lunge) and find out how they are done. Or you can ask in your gym.

    You can do that routine 2-3 times per week with weights that don't tire you out too much. For each exercise do the movement 12-14 times (12-14 reps) and then rest 30-60s and do it again. Repeat 3 times (3 sets). Make sure the weights are not too heavy in the beginning. But once you get the hang of it don't go too light either!

    For the squat you can use a goblet dumbbell squat. I would say the squat is the only exercise where it is really important to have someone show you how to do it and make sure you don't do it wrong. You should keep your knees back basically, but ask in your gym.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    Id pick one or the other. Lifting or insanity. I really am annoyed by the common theme of doing multiple programs simultaneously. The point of heavy lifting is to maintain lean mass while cutting weight (or gaining lean mass). If you're doing too much you're going to lift like **** and preserve less muscle. More work does not equate a better regimen. Surely you'd burn more calories, but if thats all your after than just do cardio. Food for thought.
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    This is a copy/pasted response of mine to a different thread asking a similar question:

    I completed New Rules of Lifting for Women. If I was to start all over again, I'd skip it. I found it to be overcomplicated and confusing. And it doesn't give enough info on form. A lot of people like it though. And it did get me off the weight machines and using the free weights. Read the book Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Look up videos on youtube about lifting form videos on youtube with Mark Rippetoe. I learned sooooo much and this was after I completed NROLFW. Download the free pdf Stronglifts 5 x 5. There's really only about 5 pages of useful info in there, but it's worth it.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/788-women-strength-training
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/824-strength-training
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/4618-stronglifts-5x5-for-women
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary (an excellent summary of the program if you can't get through Mehndi's shpeil)
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/5469-stronglifts-5x5
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/12869-girls-who-lift-the-guys-who-spot-them-
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/119-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w-

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