Strength training at home. Any ideas?

"Bulking up" isn't going to be an issue. I lost close to 50 pounds and had managed to squeeze myself into a size 10. Then I had a baby, gained it back and had to start over. Now (about 11 years later and with 44 year old metabolism) I am still about 20 pounds heavier than I was when I was in those size 10's all those years ago. However, because I lift (barbell squats, deadlifts, bench press etc; all as heavy as I can manage) I am in those size 10's even though I'm still 20 pounds heavier. I'm working on fat loss of course but don't be afraid of lifting.

That said, what kind of equipment do you have or are you willing to get? Because that will really determine what you can do at home. I have a power cage in my garage with a couple of barbells and various dumbbells. If you've only got space for some dumbbells or kettle bells you'll need to tailor your workout to the equipment you have. I know there are a variety of body weight routines out there. Bret Contreras' book Strong Curves has body weight as well as weighted routines. I checked it out from my library before I bought it.

get a kettlebell for all body workout

jennitm wrote: »

Fitnessblender.com has great workouts ranging in difficulty. Use the sight all the time. Check it out.

A good site with a large variety of workout routines, both with and without equipment.

I've just started doing more strength work myself and picked up a set of Cathe Friedrich DVDs (get ripped with HIIT). I have started out with just a standard set of dumb bells (3 lbs through 15 lbs) though Cathe herself goes way heavy so I have room to add to my equipment as I get stronger. I'll probably be getting a basic barbell soon as some of her workouts use that. It's all in my smallish family room and so far so good!

Over this past summer/fall I did Jillian Michaels 3-month Body Revolution (2 rounds of it) and saw major gains in strength (and down 10lbs)...but it's not a workout I want to keep doing over and over. The Cathe series seems amazing so far and much more variation and ability to customize workouts over the long term.

Dumbbells are great but you can get a great workout with just bodyweight, especially for women that aren't looking to get jacked. For bulking, you need progressively heavier weights to overstress the muscle fibers. This is tough for guys to do on a caloric deficit, almost impossible for women (although you do have your genetic outliers). Look up bodyweight full body exercise routines.

I highly recommend a book called "Body By You" by Mark Lauren. It is all body weight exercises but tailored toward women. What is great about the book is that each exercise category has 25 different exercise starting from easy to extremely challenging and you step up gradually. For example for push ups you start by doing them against a wall. Then you do them against a wall but with 2 second pauses at bottom of the movement, then you do them on the edge of a table, then on a chair, then eventually on the floor. Anyway you get the idea. You need minimal equipment to do it and the sets he lays out only take half an hour three days a week. Which is awesome!!

I got a weight routine from Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle. Great book with info on weight training, fitness in general and has workouts. From there I was able to get a full body weight workout that I do at home. I use free weights and my barbell from my Body Pump DVDs


I've also done Supreme 90 day which uses free weights and body weight. Loved the program and it focuses on both strength and cardio.

I don't know what equipment you have or don't have so here's a few suggestions:

If you have DBs or a barbell -
Stronglifts or ICF 5x5
Strong Curves (also has a bodyweight program available)
Starting Strength
NROLFW
AllPros


Bodyweight Only (or mostly) -
Nerdfitness
Darebee Programs
Convict Conditioning
You Are Your Own Gy