Want to start lifting: what weight?

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/

start by reading. this site will keep you busy for months. not that you have to wait to start, just understand the fundamentals first.
your nutrition and training will be different depending on your goals.
if your goal is to build muscle. you need to focus on lifting primarily, and too much cardio will negatively affect your recovery, and you won't be able to lift as much.
if your goal is to run, and the lifting is secondary, like to prevent running injuries, your schedule and nutrition will be completely different.

also read what you can in the girls who lift group. i'll send you an invite.
body weight exercises are quite challenging. it is completely fine to start with those.
you are your own gym
nerd fitness
convict conditioning
-all good places to start

i can't tell you which routine is best for your goals without knowing which is most important, as mentioned above.
if you are building muscle, you'll need to . do a slight bulking program, which is actually not much more calories than your maintenance, and not like it sounds.

as far as a good gym
you want it to be convenient, but also have power rack(s) in the free weights area.
not every gym has them. lots more info re: entering the free weights area
and choosing a gym in the girls who lift group.

also feel free to ask me anything. i'm new to heavy lifting, but not new to
reading about it, lifting moderate weight, and nutrition.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/

start by reading. this site will keep you busy for months. not that you have to wait to start, just understand the fundamentals first.
your nutrition and training will be different depending on your goals.
if your goal is to build muscle. you need to focus on lifting primarily, and too much cardio will negatively affect your recovery, and you won't be able to lift as much.
if your goal is to run, and the lifting is secondary, like to prevent running injuries, your schedule and nutrition will be completely different.

also read what you can in the girls who lift group. i'll send you an invite.
body weight exercises are quite challenging. it is completely fine to start with those.
you are your own gym
nerd fitness
convict conditioning
-all good places to start

i can't tell you which routine is best for your goals without knowing which is most important, as mentioned above.
if you are building muscle, you'll need to . do a slight bulking program, which is actually not much more calories than your maintenance, and not like it sounds.

as far as a good gym
you want it to be convenient, but also have power rack(s) in the free weights area.
not every gym has them. lots more info re: entering the free weights area
and choosing a gym in the girls who lift group.

also feel free to ask me anything. i'm new to heavy lifting, but not new to
reading about it, lifting moderate weight, and nutrition.

Thanks so much for the lengthy reply! I was really informative.
To be honest, I am pretty happy with the shape of my body and I now just want to build muscle on my arms and stomach to firm everything up. But I also love running and I'm not sure I could give it up but I could definitely lower the amount I run (for example I could go just 2 times a week for a longer time) if it means my lifting and definition would improve? I used to run for fitness but now I run as it clears my mind and improves my general outlook on things, it's not something I'd want to give up completely if I can help it!

I got your invite, going to join the group now.

yes this is fine. you could 2 up to 2 days of intense cardio, like Hiit or intervals, or some other cardio if you wanted something different. or 2 longer sessions of steady state cardio. light cardio won't impact lifting much, so you could for example, do 1 session of intervals, 1 of steady state, and if you prefer getting outside daily add in some light walking for fresh air, dog walking etc. generally, you'll want to do a lifting program 3 x a week, either something like strong lifts where the lifts are broken up, or 3 days of full body workouts like the all pro.

example:
M lifting
T steady state
W Lifting
TH intervals
F Lifitng
and your weekends off
make sure you have rest days.
your muscle is built on rest days,
we're not super women we can't build muscle
30 min in the gym.

each lifting session will likely be around 30-45 min

edited for spelling

As said above, strong lifts is a pretty good program; you eventually will get burned out due to the volume, and may want to switch to a slightly lower volume program. The most important thing I'd say is find someone who knows what they are doing. You need your own "bro-fessor", to make sure your arching your back when you should, getting low enough, etc. Best of luck, just started lifting about ~1.5 months ago, enjoying it a lot

Also wanted to add, regarding goals, try to keep an open mind.
As long as you're progressing, it doesn't matter how fast your progress is.
try not to compare yourself to others. or set strength goals.
instead focus on making your training, nutrition, and recovery as consistent high quality as possible.
if any of those are not where they need to be, your progress will suffer.
how much you're lifting isn't as important, as long as you're improving.
today you're starting with body weight, tomorrow the bar, next year the moon.

and get rid of your scale now. or use it as little as possible.
constant water fluctuations, swelling fluctuations, you'll drive yourself into the ground.
use a measuring tape, but only when the swelling is down, which will only be a few times a month
at most. only measure after 2 days of rest from lifting. so the swelling goes down.
don't even attempt to measure or use the scale during tom week.
best time to measure is a few days after tom. first thing in the morning.

As said above, strong lifts is a pretty good program; you eventually will get burned out due to the volume, and may want to switch to a slightly lower volume program. The most important thing I'd say is find someone who knows what they are doing. You need your own "bro-fessor", to make sure your arching your back when you should, getting low enough, etc. Best of luck, just started lifting about ~1.5 months ago, enjoying it a lot

Thanks. Yeah I am thinking of maybe looking for a gym where I can get a trainer to show me the ropes and make sure I'm doing everything with correct form as it's totally new to me.

this can be helpful. but many trainers and lifters don't know what they are doing.

trust yourself. go by how it feels as you're doing it.. pay close attention when you're reading. something like stong lifts where he goes into detail on each lift, read them over as many times as needed. and read more. the mirror can be helpful, but mostly you have to go by how it feels, have someone video it. looking in the mirror would mess up your form for most exercises.
and form can always be improved. no matter how many years they have been lifting.

what's most important is learning great form now. don't get excited and try to lift too much too fast.
injuries now and later, stalls, there's just nothing good.
you want a steady linear progression, and to be
as injury free as possible.

this can be helpful. but many trainers and lifters don't know what they are doing.

Indeed. The very first trainer I ever went to put me on machines.

The second trainer I went to put me on isolation exercises dumbbells and crunches, crunches, crunches.

Then I started stronglifts and after a few weeks, went to a trainer for form correction. He let all kinds of form mistakes (I found out later, the hard way) slip by while he tried to talk me into moving into a low carb diet.

The fourth trainer, took a look at me the first week, made some minor adjustments, the second week wanted to "assess" where I was at and had me do all this TRX crap*. The third week, he told me looking to the ceiling would keep my knees from going over my toes (it doesn't).

My last trainer said my form looked good, and then showed me a bunch of exercises to improve my squat strength. He neglected to comment on how my knees came in as I stood up, my tailbone rounding under at the bottom, or how my wrists were bent way back.

Don't be afraid to ask the trainer questions about his philosophies on lifts, form, and technique before you sign up. Try to get a quick assessment and do a flat back bench press and move your feet a lot. If he tells you good, and doesn't talk about arching your back and stopping your leg movement so you can engage them, don't bother.

* I'm not dissing TRX. It has a lot of value for a lot of people. Many people have gotten great results from TRX. It just doesn't match my goals and what motivates me. Even after telling the trainer about these goals and motivations, he had me do it. And, just like I thought, it didn't really match up with what I wanted.

bumppp

Thanks guys, I appreciate the extra comments on this! I do have a mirror at home so I am considering maybe working with the weights I have here to begin with in order to work on my form whilst searching for a gym with good equipment and an area I can really keep an eye on myself.

My boyfriend is interested in lifting too so maybe if I can get him involved we can help each other to maintain correct form as we read up about it online. I don't want to get conflicting or bad advice from a trainer, I'd rather get it wrong from myself than from someone else. Ha ha!

Just a little heads-up (pun intended) about using a mirror to check form. It tends to make your neck in an unnatural position as you lift. A neutral neck is better. You would be better to film yourself doing the lifts and then watch it back after, compare with recognised good form (from good books or noted youtube vids), make notes and make adjustments the next time you lift.

If you want to know about mechanics of the main lifts, Starting Strength by Rippetoe goes into unbelievable detail on them and can be read and re-read to mine more tips. The youtube series by EliteFTS "So you think you can Squat?" and "So you think you can Bench?" contain tips that will stand you in good stead going forward.

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