beginner lifting weights

alondrasilva10
alondrasilva10 Posts: 63
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello all,

Today I started this program: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer-phase-1-day-1.html
All was going great until I got to the workouts.

I did 3 x 12 flat bench cable flyers with 10 lbs weights
I did 3 x 12 (with many breaks in between.. in fact lets make that 3 x 10) standing dumbbell triceps extensions - 10 lbs
I did 3 x 12 Triceps pushdown but to be completely honest I don't even know if I used to right machine. Oh and I used 20 lbs on this one.

I was supposed to use flat bench cable flyers but my gym did not have this machine (or I didn't look hard enough for it because there were big scary men everywhere)
When I tried doing the wide and narrow push ups I could not even lift myself up. My arms were soooo weak.

My question is.. what am I supposed to do? Do I keep going at it like this until I can finally manage getting through my sets? My husband says I need to go above and beyond my weight limit but I feel as though that will only strain something and will have me not working out at all. Please, ANY advice is appreciated.. any at all!

Replies

  • jackaroo21
    jackaroo21 Posts: 127 Member
    I would focus on compound lifts as a beginner. Squats, deadlifts. Bench press, overhead press. I see lots of women on here doing stronglifts 5x5 or new rules of lifting for women. Look them up. Most people have great success with them and really enjoy it. Good luck to you.
  • SJ46
    SJ46 Posts: 407 Member
    I would focus on compound lifts as a beginner. Squats, deadlifts. Bench press, overhead press. I see lots of women on here doing stronglifts 5x5 or new rules of lifting for women. Look them up. Most people have great success with them and really enjoy it. Good luck to you.

    ^Yep.^ Stronglifts 5x5, starting strength, or NROLW(New Rules of Lifting for Women) are very effective and simple. Good luck.
  • phjorg
    phjorg Posts: 252 Member
    thats a really bad program.

    far to much daily isolation volume. not near enough weekly volume. there is zero reason to only do 1 movement a week for a beginner.
  • snooj
    snooj Posts: 69 Member
    I'd recommend 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting For Women honestly above Jamie's program. Her program uses a lot of isolation exercises (using only one muscle). Compound (multiple muscles at once) exercises should be at the core of any program unless if you have very specific goals.

    If you want to keep on her program though or have this issue on another program, yep, you basically just push through. If there's an exercise you can't do for whatever reason, see if you can find an alternative. Lots of machine exercises have a free weight equivalent. Or you can just look up what muscle that exercise uses, and do something else that uses that same muscle. Or, provided it's not an important compound exercise (squat, deadlift, presses, etc), you can just not do it.

    If you can't do a single rep, find something easier. For pushups, try an incline pushup, like off the bench instead of the floor. Work your way up.

    My rule of thumb is that if I can do one more rep of an exercise, my weight is too light. Everyone's rule of thumb differs, but if you can do all sets with a particular weight, it may be time to consider upping it.
  • karimah_jamila
    karimah_jamila Posts: 16 Member
    I'm into week 4 of Live Fit and seen tremendous improvements in my workouts. I struggled in week 1, but I just did what I could.

Categories