Best way to start effective strength training at home?

amychantel
amychantel Posts: 52 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am a working my mom with 3 young children. I am away from home about 10 hours a day including work and commuting, so I have limited time at home with my kids. Rather than go to the gym, I would like to incorporate strength training into my routine at home. For those of you that have done this, how did you go about it? I would like a simple, but effective, routine that is appropriate for a beginner. In addition, I am interested in optimizing results for time spent. Would you suggest free weights, DVD's, specific books, bodyweight exercises, specific web sites, etc.? I am open to all ideas/opinions. I would love to hear about anyone's success doing this at home (particularly as a beginner) and before and after pictures would be great too. :D

Any advise/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I have recently lost about 77 pounds. I'm 5 pounds from my original goal weight and I have some excess skin that is not so flattering, so I would definitely like to tone up. For cardio, I walk as much as possible and climb stairs at work several times throughout the day.

Replies

  • hilly510
    hilly510 Posts: 46 Member
    Congrats on your progress!

    I've been doing StrongLifts 5x5 for the past 2 months. You lift heavy weights 3 times a week. You can SEE the results quickly because at every workout session you increase your weights by 5 lbs. I've been able to finish the workouts in 20-35 minutes while giving my body adequate rest. You can do this with a standard weight bench. This type of program is truly worth the time/money/energy spent. You're not exhausted or burnt out when you finish and you see results right away.

    http://s3.stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-report.pdf
    The description of the workout starts on page 41. There is an endless supply of information on this program in the MFP forums.

    Good luck!
  • amychantel
    amychantel Posts: 52 Member
    Thank you, hilly. I will check it out.
    Congrats on your progress!

    I've been doing StrongLifts 5x5 for the past 2 months. You lift heavy weights 3 times a week. You can SEE the results quickly because at every workout session you increase your weights by 5 lbs. I've been able to finish the workouts in 20-35 minutes while giving my body adequate rest. You can do this with a standard weight bench. This type of program is truly worth the time/money/energy spent. You're not exhausted or burnt out when you finish and you see results right away.

    http://s3.stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-report.pdf
    The description of the workout starts on page 41. There is an endless supply of information on this program in the MFP forums.

    Good luck!
  • amychantel
    amychantel Posts: 52 Member
    Any other suggestions? Thanks. :-)
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    I workout in the morning while my kids are sleeping. I have a bar, rack, bench and plates. I vary my routine, I'm doing full body twice a week right now, I'm thinking of going back to a Strong Curves, using the advanced program. You could also do something like You Are Your Own gym which is progressive bodyweight training.

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