Weight training??

You can use cans of soup or veggies to start. Try a resistance band, they are pretty cheap. Also leg lifts, sit ups and push ups. They will all help you use your muscle. Good Luck!

I"ve also seen it suggested to use laundry detergent bottles. Or, at ****'s Sporting Goods they have fairly cheap hand weights, depending on the weight you want.

I would suggest getting a strength band with weighted handles, very good for a home workout.

Great idea to start strength training. I'm not an expert but I've started to seriously use weights two months ago and am loving it and getting great results. Ok, with that said, I'd suggest that you keep a couple of things in mind: what do you want from weights?

You really need to answer this question first BEFORE you can decide what equipment you need.

If you want to start using weights, you can use cheap, light weights, and as others have said even small water bottles or cans (anything you can easily hold with your hands), or also by the resistance bands or surgical tubing (these come in varying levels of resistance, from very light to really hard to pull!).

These can be GREAT aids to a program of increasing your general strength BUT they are more an auxillary to a good program of exercises (standing, sitting, lying down) tat can include situps and pushups and many others (the Internet is FULL of great guides....find one that is in your spirit and follow the instructions...it's that simple). The weights and resistance bands are able to provide more resistance in your exercises, more than what you would have without them.

The problem with such weights is that though they are easy to use it is pretty difficult to correctly use "free weights". In other words, yes, ANY physical activity is good BUT there are great advantages to using machines as you are forced to do certain simple motions to get an advantage - and - you work your body in an even manner (not too much on one favored side or the other for example).

I wouldn't buy any machines (too costly, and you couldn't have enough of them)...I would though suggest you think about getting into a gym that is cheap (no need for the bells and whistles and the pretty receptionists...) and two or more times a week to use them in a circuit manner (in a given series, with a certain number of repetitions and using a certain level of weight) for an hour.

If from what you wrote, I surmized that you don't want to go to a gym. Ok, start out with the bands or light weights, but you can already start to do exercise without them: believe me you can get great workouts just using your body and a good illustrated program from the Internet!

Using weight training machines (or later light and heavy free weights when one knows how to properly use them), one has great advantages in relation to physiological benefits from increasing things like bone calcium deposition to increasing your metabolism, but really you need to really be stressing your body to get those benefits. So maybe they are not for you Twinmom right now but give them a thought, and in any case start building up your body's muscle tone one way or another.

Last thing for those thinking about starting weight training, especially women, don't worry about getting big muscles - there REALLY difficult to get! Believe me! :frown:

Sorry for the length but it's a BIG topic

- Thomas

There are many websites out there where there are some good and simple weight training movies. I would reccomend ivillage.com, womenshealthmag.com, and shape.com. If you aren't sure whether you want to spend money on hand weights, then soup cans or water bottles filled with sand/rocks work really well.