Serious "Lifting" w/o a Gym

Bump!!! I am 29 yrs old, 5'3" and weigh 145 ... I want to lose about 10 more pounds, but I also want to tone up my stomach area. It seems to be the worst right now. Anyone have any stomach exercises that I could do. Keep in mind I do have a bad back, so that does limit me on some stomach exercises I can do!!!

Thanks

Good question, I have 5 pound weights at home too, and I need guidance on how to build some serious muscle.

I can't get to a gym either.

The nike app has some good body weight moves also try the muscleandstrength.com website they have ton of weight training programs and demo on how to do them correctly and tips on form. You will need to eventually purchase higher weights or a bench though.

Look into adustable dumbells...these are the ones you can change the weights on by moving a little knob on the barbell while it's in the cradle. You can probably pick up a used set off craigs list for not too much money. Then get a used bench from craigslist and lat tower or chin up bar.....you'll have pretty much everything you need to do some serious weight lifting.

Almost anything you can do at a gym, you can do at home. You can do all the "big" moves like bench presses, squats, deadlifts, etc. with dumbbells. A lot of people prefer dumbbells because it requires more muscle control to use them so you use more muscles doing the same exercises than you would by using barbells. You can get some pretty cheap adjustable dumbbell sets. I use the Cap Barbell 40-pound Dumbbell Set. It's only $40 and you get two adjustable weights up to 20 lbs. That is probably plenty for you to start out with and when it gets to be too light, you can buy some extra weight plates. It's a lot cheaper than a gym membership or spending $1000 on a full set of dumbbells.

There are a lot of books out there about lifting for beginners, just go on amazon and browse for some highly rated ones.

I use adjustable dumbbells that are just basically mini barbells, you put the plates on and screw on an end cap. They aren't as convenient as some of the other ones because you have to take weights on and off as opposed to just turning a dial, but in my opinion they are much safer. I've read too many horror stories about the Bowflex SelectTech in particular about them breaking and weights falling off during use, sometimes landing on someone's head or face.

I think I'm at around $175 invested in my set-up. I haunted Craigslist and my local used fitness equipment store and currently have a heavy adjustable bench with separate bar rack that I can adjust up to use as a squat rack and an oly bar and weights totalling 230lbs. I'm going to have to buy a couple more plates in the next week or two as my deadlifts are going to exceed what I have right now but a pair of 45lb plates can be found for $30 to $60 if I look around. 320 pounds is going to last me a long time. After I move in the next couple of weeks (I hope) I'm going to save up for a cage but the rack I have now will hold what I can squat for a good while longer.

Your 5lb weights aren't going to do anything for building or strengthening. I would imagine that you routinely carry more than 5lbs of stuff every day already. To build muscle/strength you need to push your muscles harder than they currently get pushed to stimulate a need for growth. Doing enough reps with 5lbs to work your muscles is only going to add endurance, not strength or mass.

ETA: I also have a pair of dumbbell handles I got used for about $6. I have a pair of 10lb, 5lb and 2.5lb plates for each of them and I can get more plates to make them as heavy as I want. If I can't find plates cheaper on Craigslist my local store sells used plates for 59cents a pound.

Decent starting programs for lifting center around large compound moves such as a the squat and dead lift and most prescribe using a bar (Olympic size/weight if possible).

So if you wanted to follow one of these programs (such as Starting Strength or Strong Lifts 5x5) you would as a minimum need:

Bar, weights, bench and a rack for the bench presses.

But, if/when you progressed you would soon find that the safety aspect of squatting alone at home mean that a power-cage was required.

This kit is not cheap and not something that you can pack away after a session.

I bought second hand from eBay for about £600 (about $800-$900?)

I do Cathe DVD's. Im doing Muscle Max right now and I love it. Check out carhe.com and watch ome of her previews and I think she has downloads for about $7 and I also bout a 100 lb weight set of of amazon for $165 includine shipping. Also there is a store called "plasy it again sports" that sells used equipment and also craigslist.

Well lifting light weights like that are only going to help tone or preserve what muscle you do have. Doing too much cardio can eat into your muscles, so make sure your eating enough protein. I don't go to the gym, but I do Chalean Extreme at home, currently lifting 10,15,20lb dumbbells....need some 30's though. I would go buy heavier weights and look up exercises online that you can do with them, check craiglists you might find weight equipment on there for a reasonable price. For me I feel that heavier is better, heavier weights less reps.

jacksonpt - since you brought up food -- when you say "adjust diet", do you mean overall calories? I've been playing with that, but my diary isn't open, so I wasn't going to ask for feedback. Whatever general tips you have, though, are greatly appreciated!! I'm trying to stay with mostly fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains, etc but I don't cut anything out completely.

Everyone has a "sweet spot", where your body responds well to both the caloric deficit (i.e. you lose weight) and to the exercise (i.e. where you have energy). The trick to all this is to find that sweet spot, and to do it in a way you can sustain long term.

Most people don't get enough protein and are overly worried about fats, thus not getting enough. Based on the little bit you said above, and general tenancies of people, you probably need to increase your protein significantly. To do that while staying at the same total calories, most people have to reduce carbs.

That's often why you'll read success stories from "low carbers". In most cases, it's not the reduced carbs that led to success, it's the increased protein.

BTW, you aren't going to be "toning" anything with 5 lb weights, unless you're a newbie. Lift heavy if you want to see a dramatic difference.

Actually, I knew this and I totally agree - hence why I'm here looking for tips I've actually not used the 2s but maybe once, and I only use the 3s and 5s for the DVDs...I figure using those is better than doing them without any weight. What I wasn't sure about was if the 30DS, RippedIn30, etc DVDs were actually going to get me much of anywhere. I assumed my little current hand weights were basically useless for real lifting.

I know I need protein for muscle - what should my daily goal be (roughly)? It seems to me that MFP underestimates...would you agree?

jacksonpt - since you brought up food -- when you say "adjust diet", do you mean overall calories? I've been playing with that, but my diary isn't open, so I wasn't going to ask for feedback. Whatever general tips you have, though, are greatly appreciated!! I'm trying to stay with mostly fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains, etc but I don't cut anything out completely.


(thanks guys, I"m LOVING the tips!!! Keep 'em coming!)

Many posters agree MFP definatly underestimates protein. You can customize the goals, mine are 35% carbs / 35% protein / 30% fat and that seems to be working for me now. I think MFP sets you up with a goal of only 15% protein which I think is not enough.

...mine are 35% carbs / 35% protein / 30% fat and that seems to be working for me now.

That's the exact kind of comparison info I was looking for, thanks! I recently changed mine to 40/30/30 but I haven't been at it long enough to see if it's working

Another way to look at it...

Generally speaking, the starting points should be:

a minimum of .3g of fat per lb of body weight
a minimum of 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass
fill in the remaining cals however you like.

So, (making some assumption here)...
185lbs @ 20% bf on 2000 cals per day...
- a minimum of 56g of fat (56g of fat = 504 cals)
- a minumum of 148g of protein (148g of protein = 224 cals)
- fill in the remaining 1272 cals however you want