Adding strength training in--buying hand weights
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You Are Your Own Gym, or Body By You is definitely the way to go. Well worth the small investment it would require.
And no worries. It doesn't take much to start a forum war around here.0 -
Ok, totally didn't mean to open a can of worms. LOL. Consider me a completely clueless, total newb just starting to dip her toe into something other than cardio. Cardio is how I lost 20 pounds before our last child, but that alone is not really cutting it this time around, so I'm trying to expand my horizons and shake things up. I do not have a routine in mind as I just started researching everything this afternoon. I truly thought, when I posted, that dumbbells were the way to go. Considering me clued in to that not being the case. I wasn't trolling or trying to start something....lol. Truly clueless person here.
No worries friendo. That's how these posts tend to go.
Good luck with the new program. Do give it a shot for a few months and let us know how it goes.0 -
How much you can do depends on the lift itself. You'll most likely be able to squat more than you can press overhead or curl.
Your program should have the basic compound movements:
A Squat
A Vertical Press (Overhead Press)
A Horizontal Press (Bench Press for example, though if you don't a bench, you can do Floor Presses)
A Lower Body Pull (Can't really do Deadlifts with dumbbells, but you can do Romanian Deadlifts with them).
An Upper Body Pull (Rows would be good for dumbbells. If you can get a pullup bar you can start with using a chair and doing negatives then work your way up to chinups then pullups.)
You can add in a few isolation movements like Curls or Lateral Raises, but the fundamental compound lifts should be in there. Personally, I think finding a set of dumbbell handles that take Standard or Olympic weight plates may serve you better because it'll be cheaper to increase the weights since plates are much cheaper than dumbbells. However, try them out first. Some Olympic Dumbbell Handles can be clunky and hard to use for isolation lifts.
I second this. Also, look on Craigslist for some Olympic barbells and weights. I saw some yesterday for 150.00 (A whole set with a rack) if you keep you eyes open you can find good deals. You just have to keep looking until something in your price range comes up.0 -
if you buy lighter weights, you just do more reps. i know someone said 10-15 pounds is useless. not true. 10-15 pound DBs can feel like 1,000 pounds after 100 reps.
but if you do start out light, maybe you should buy resistance bands instead of weights. just to start off as a cheaper option.
As a FYI, sometimes you can find cheap weights at thrift stores, garage sales, ive even seen free ones on freecycle0 -
Ok, totally didn't mean to open a can of worms. LOL. Consider me a completely clueless, total newb just starting to dip her toe into something other than cardio. Cardio is how I lost 20 pounds before our last child, but that alone is not really cutting it this time around, so I'm trying to expand my horizons and shake things up. I do not have a routine in mind as I just started researching everything this afternoon. I truly thought, when I posted, that dumbbells were the way to go. Considering me clued in to that not being the case. I wasn't trolling or trying to start something....lol. Truly clueless person here.
If you're wanting to do some resistance training without joining a gym or buying equipment, then the bodyweight routines suggested earlier are a great option. You can do a lot with those. I'd personally recommend a set of dumbells (buy them used off of Craigslist-- not new-- you'll save a lot of money), and a beginner's routine from Scooby's site:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/
That would keep you busy for months right there, starting out.0 -
I think things are getting muddy in the water. Sure compound exercises hit biceps, which is good in a weight loss regime. But, to say, on a general level, that isolation movements aren't strength training is inaccurate. For me, isolation is key since I work one to two muscle groups a day. To others, compound movements are all their programs are made up of. And even from that respect, 15 lb dumbbells would be quite an exhausting movement for a noob doing push press.
So my shoulders getting STRONGER from TRAINING them with lateral raises and front raises, or even rotator cuff exercises, is not strength training? And how do you, personally, train your biceps to get stronger without curls?
Those lifts are nice for evening things out, but do you BTN Push press, Overhead press?
And I know you asked Davpul, but have you ever tried a chin up? A bent over row? Inverted rows? / tons of other compound exercises that hit biceps.0 -
OP - There are numerous programs and approaches that can help you. The thing to ask yourself about every program or exercise is, "does this work my whole body or a large part of my body, or does it isolate to one muscle or muscle group." A good example of this is curls versus pull ups or lat pull downs. You want to engage as much of your body as you can with every exercise, especially in the beginning.
With that said, the You Are Your Own Gym that was mentioned above will work, also check out nerdfitness.com, and (I'm surprised this wasn't stated before), but sandbags (just google it) would work too. The best (in terms of being able to keep gains moving well past your body weight), but most equipment heavy, approach would be weight lifting with barbells. You can often get inexpensive used sets on internet sites such as craigslist, and sports re-sale stores. For that look at Stronglifts, Starting Strength 5x5, or The New Rules of Lifting for Women.0 -
Ok, I've got a list of routines, websites and apps to look at and research this evening, it looks like. Thanks for the input everyone.0
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Ok, totally didn't mean to open a can of worms. LOL. Consider me a completely clueless, total newb just starting to dip her toe into something other than cardio. Cardio is how I lost 20 pounds before our last child, but that alone is not really cutting it this time around, so I'm trying to expand my horizons and shake things up. I do not have a routine in mind as I just started researching everything this afternoon. I truly thought, when I posted, that dumbbells were the way to go. Considering me clued in to that not being the case. I wasn't trolling or trying to start something....lol. Truly clueless person here.
We're all very opinionated around here. lol. Better to just accept that and carefully read what you can find, and then make an reasoned decision based on your own needs and financial and space limitations.0 -
I'd start with the 10's and add from there. Keep in mind how much your purse weighs or a bag of groceries - surely you can lift more than that
You might even invest into the adjustable weight set. Not sure if they have the less massive sizes available - but look around.
Congrats on your commitment!0 -
I've been doing Body By You which is You Are Your Own Gym for women. The same exercises, but with some pauses added in to make the progression a little more gradual.
I enjoy it, each move is working many muscles and you progress to more and more difficult movements with bodyweight alone. I have noticed an increase in strength already and noticed that my posture is better.
It has been a good way to incorporate strength training for me because I am a SAHM/WAHM and don't have access to a gym.
This is an excellent suggestion. Please listen to this and not the people telling you to do curls. If you would like additional information as to why you can and should be lifting more on COMPOUND exercises (bench press, pushups, chinups) instead of light weight on ISOLATION exercises (curls, lateral raises, flyes) read New Rules of Lifting for Women in addition to the books recommended in this post
It's good to see that bodyweight programs are being given a bit more credit on here now.
I would also promote the manual called "You Are Your Own Gym" and I understand there is an equivalent written with women in mind which has easier starter exercises.
If you don't want to use free weights, it is quite possible to greatly improve your strength and even build a little muscle just using bodyweight and most bodyweight exercises are compound movements and help you to handle your own bodyweight in challenging positions.
Because I practise yoga every day, I like to split my bodyweight work up so my sessons are shorter, but that also enables me to drop in one more movement per bodypart to really focus the work on one area. So I do a three day split twice a week: Push, Pull and Legs & Crunches, with a day for rest per week.
A warning - bodyweight exercising can be addictive!0 -
I've been doing Body By You which is You Are Your Own Gym for women. The same exercises, but with some pauses added in to make the progression a little more gradual.
I enjoy it, each move is working many muscles and you progress to more and more difficult movements with bodyweight alone. I have noticed an increase in strength already and noticed that my posture is better.
It has been a good way to incorporate strength training for me because I am a SAHM/WAHM and don't have access to a gym.
This is an excellent suggestion. Please listen to this and not the people telling you to do curls. If you would like additional information as to why you can and should be lifting more on COMPOUND exercises (bench press, pushups, chinups) instead of light weight on ISOLATION exercises (curls, lateral raises, flyes) read New Rules of Lifting for Women in addition to the books recommended in this post
True, but she doesn't have a bench press.
does she have a chest, a pair of hands, and access to a floor?0 -
I started off in February buying 20kg of dumbbells (handles with 18kg of weights). Within a couple of weeks I wanted/needed more. I bought 20kg more weight.
Then I bought a barbell.
Then I bought a bench.
Then I bought some squat stands.
Then I bought 130kg of weight plates.
I'm now happy-ish (I want a lifting platform, a better barbell and lots of little bits) but if you want to get stronger dumbbells won't cut it for long.
You're honestly better off with a bodyweight programme if you don't want to go the barbell route. Light dumbbells won't get you far.0 -
So my shoulders getting STRONGER from TRAINING them with lateral raises and front raises, or even rotator cuff exercises, is not strength training? And how do you, personally, train your biceps to get stronger without curls?
I do curls all the time. I'm one of the few pro-curls broscientists on this site. Love curls. But I'm thinking we shouldn't base our resistance training program around them, should we? Surely her time would be better spent on some compound work, no?
And no, you shoulders aren't getting stronger from doing laterals. Unless you had some incredibly weak shoulders0 -
True, but she doesn't have a bench press.
She probably owns a floor, or could find one somewhere.
True But she didn't ask about a barbell and weights, she asked about dumbells. I'm going to assume she has a routine already in mind.
She probably does, but that routine is most likely flawed. Seriously flawed. That's why we are trying to point out other options. The OP may not like the snark, but genuine help is being offered and she can either choose to take it or keep harping about the tone in which it was delivered. We're just trying to get her to the point where she can serve her kids breakfast cereal without risking serious injury0 -
Strongly recommend suspension trainer or sandbags. They're about all the equipment you need, either one.0
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I've been doing Body By You which is You Are Your Own Gym for women. The same exercises, but with some pauses added in to make the progression a little more gradual.
I enjoy it, each move is working many muscles and you progress to more and more difficult movements with bodyweight alone. I have noticed an increase in strength already and noticed that my posture is better.
It has been a good way to incorporate strength training for me because I am a SAHM/WAHM and don't have access to a gym.
This is an excellent suggestion. Please listen to this and not the people telling you to do curls. If you would like additional information as to why you can and should be lifting more on COMPOUND exercises (bench press, pushups, chinups) instead of light weight on ISOLATION exercises (curls, lateral raises, flyes) read New Rules of Lifting for Women in addition to the books recommended in this post
True, but she doesn't have a bench press.
She probably owns a floor, or could find one somewhere.
I do them on the floor because I don't have a bench. It does get a little difficult as the weights get heavier. If you do New Rules of Lifting for Women, check out the group here (NROL4W), because there's a lot of information there that helps clear some things up that could be confusing. Good luck!0 -
Jumping on the sandbag bandwagon. The cool thing about these is that you can add sand (in duct-taped Ziplock bags) in weight increments. They're adjustable. It's not the same workout as a barbell, but hey.
Also, you can buy the hand weights if you want, 10 and 15 pounds (used) to do accessory work.
So, at this point, you have bodyweight, sand bag, and a couple dumb bells. That's plenty to get started with.0 -
I bought a 40 lb set of adjustable dumbbells at Wal Mart for $30ish (20 lb each), and ordered additional plates online, plus two sets of 1.25 lb plates so I'm not going up in 5 lb increments. That's what I used for NROLFW, and I found substitute moves on youtube for the exercises I didn't have equipment for. I forgot to add that in my first post, since you were asking about hand weights.0
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You specifically said curls aren't strength training. I'm not debating what kind of workouts the OP should be doing. Shoulders are my favorite muscle group to work out. I don't think they got the way they look from just three to four sets of shoulder press once a week.So my shoulders getting STRONGER from TRAINING them with lateral raises and front raises, or even rotator cuff exercises, is not strength training? And how do you, personally, train your biceps to get stronger without curls?
I do curls all the time. I'm one of the few pro-curls broscientists on this site. Love curls. But I'm thinking we shouldn't base our resistance training program around them, should we? Surely her time would be better spent on some compound work, no?
And no, you shoulders aren't getting stronger from doing laterals. Unless you had some incredibly weak shoulders0 -
You specifically said curls aren't strength training. I'm not debating what kind of workouts the OP should be doing. Shoulders are my favorite muscle group to work out. I don't think they got the way they look from just three to four sets of shoulder press once a week.So my shoulders getting STRONGER from TRAINING them with lateral raises and front raises, or even rotator cuff exercises, is not strength training? And how do you, personally, train your biceps to get stronger without curls?
I do curls all the time. I'm one of the few pro-curls broscientists on this site. Love curls. But I'm thinking we shouldn't base our resistance training program around them, should we? Surely her time would be better spent on some compound work, no?
And no, you shoulders aren't getting stronger from doing laterals. Unless you had some incredibly weak shoulders
Just out of curiosity. What's your achieved (not calculated) one rep maximum for strict barbell (not machine) overhead press? (Military press)0 -
I don't do 1 rep max on any exercise because it isn't relevant to my training regime. And the real reason for the question is?0
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I don't do 1 rep max on any exercise because it isn't relevant to my training regime. And the real reason for the question is?
Probably to assess how strong your shoulders are. So what do you use for weight on the OHP and for how many reps then?0 -
I think the relevant the question is how much weight is used on the laterals and how often the weight progressed0
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I think the relevant the question is how much weight is used on the laterals and how often the weight progressed
Except the Press (OHP) is a bigger indicator of strength. Just like the Bench Press instead of Dumbbell Flys.0 -
Bump for later0
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I think the relevant the question is how much weight is used on the laterals and how often the weight progressed
Except the Press (OHP) is a bigger indicator of strength. Just like the Bench Press instead of Dumbbell Flys.
I agree. But a certain someone is insisting that laterals are a strength building exercise as opposed to an iso exercise used to finish off the shoulders in an effort to create hypertrophy0 -
Who gave anyone the right to assess me?I don't do 1 rep max on any exercise because it isn't relevant to my training regime. And the real reason for the question is?
Probably to assess how strong your shoulders are. So what do you use for weight on the OHP and for how many reps then?0 -
Who gave anyone the right to assess me?I don't do 1 rep max on any exercise because it isn't relevant to my training regime. And the real reason for the question is?
Probably to assess how strong your shoulders are. So what do you use for weight on the OHP and for how many reps then?
seems like you are just looking to argue.0 -
Not trying to argue. Feeling like I have to defend my credibility. But, Dav, there was never any opposition. ^^You specifically said lateral raises are NOT a strength training exercise, and that is wrong. They are a strength training exercise designed to isolate the medial delts.I think the relevant the question is how much weight is used on the laterals and how often the weight progressed
Except the Press (OHP) is a bigger indicator of strength. Just like the Bench Press instead of Dumbbell Flys.
I agree. But a certain someone is insisting that laterals are a strength building exercise as opposed to an iso exercise used to finish off the shoulders in an effort to create hypertrophy0
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