Strength training - any point to little and often?

Kdp2015
Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
My focus is on weight loss so I'm currently on a deficit but keep reading about the importance of strength training. I've also read you need a surplus to build muscle. I would like to be stronger but I'm a bit nervous of heavy weights and don't want to go to the gym - I've got 2kg weights at home, if I use these little and often will I gain strength or does the exercise need to be intense?

Replies

  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    edited March 2016
    You can do body weight exercises at home even without weights that will be sufficient to build strength. Ideally, working with weights to strength train allows one to create the needed physical stress for strength and muscular development more easily but it is just a tool. You can pound a nail into the wall with a hammer or brick. Hammer is a better tool. Both work.

    But it is also possible to train with smaller weights or bodyweight exercises.
    Look into a good body weight program that includes a range of movements and is progressively harder. You can do that for 6-12 months and re-evaluate.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    edited March 2016
    If your goal is to build strength, you need to challenge yourself in lifting heavier. Assuming you are completely weak, as in "cannot lift your purse" weak, then the 2 kgs dumbbells will challenge you at first. But, as soon as you get used to them, working with weight so low will practically be a cardio workout. It will help with endurance, not with strength.
  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
    your strength curve will eventually stole very quickly if you are on a deficit - 2 kg weights at home are worth approximately nothing.... off course you can use them in many ways but don't expect any major result - if at all.
  • Kdp2015
    Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
    aggelikik wrote: »
    If your goal is to build strength, you need to challenge yourself in lifting heavier. Assuming you are completely weak, as in "cannot lift your purse" weak, then the 2 kgs dumbbells will challenge you at first. But, as soon as you get used to them, working with weight so low will practically be a cardio workout. It will help with endurance, not with strength.
    Thanks, kind of makes me feels bit like it must be all or nothing so what's the point though! My daughter is 31lbs and I carry her all over the pace but since I've lost weight I've found it more difficult. I don't want to be stronger as such but don't want to lose strength through weight loss either and I keep reading it's so important to be strong.
  • Kdp2015
    Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
    You can do body weight exercises at home even without weights that will be sufficient to build strength. Ideally, working with weights to strength train allows one to create the needed physical stress for strength and muscular development more easily but it is just a tool. You can pound a nail into the wall with a hammer or brick. Hammer is a better tool. Both work.

    But it is also possible to train with smaller weights or bodyweight exercises.
    Look into a good body weight program that includes a range of movements and is progressively harder. You can do that for 6-12 months and re-evaluate.
    Thank you i will look into that
  • Kdp2015
    Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
    abadvat wrote: »
    your strength curve will eventually stole very quickly if you are on a deficit - 2 kg weights at home are worth approximately nothing.... off course you can use them in many ways but don't expect any major result - if at all.
    Are you saying its a waste of time having them?
  • abadvat
    abadvat Posts: 1,241 Member
    Kdp2015 wrote: »
    abadvat wrote: »
    your strength curve will eventually stole very quickly if you are on a deficit - 2 kg weights at home are worth approximately nothing.... off course you can use them in many ways but don't expect any major result - if at all.
    Are you saying its a waste of time having them?

    well - always better than sitting in front of the TV doing nothing i guess but yeah.... the use of a 2 kg weight and eventual benefits you will get out of them will eventually stole very - very quickly.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    Even body weight will get you going. 2kg, if you haven't used anything, ever, will get you started, but won't help in the long run. Your grocery bags are probably heavier.

    I'd bet you're buying into the myth that heavy weights will make you bulk up, because there's no reason you can't purchase additional weights if you want to workout at home.

    Use what you have for a couple of months and use the time to educate yourself about strength training so you are better equipped to move forward if you decide it's the route you want to take.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    A waste of time, no. Any exercise is better than no exercise. I have 3 kgs dumbbells at home, which I use sometimes for a fast paced no-stops circuit, with some push-ups and burpees, which I consider basically cardio. But they will not increase strength. You said it yourself: you are carrying around your 30 lbs child, what can 2kg weights possibly do for you in terms of increasing strength?
  • Kdp2015
    Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    Even body weight will get you going. 2kg, if you haven't used anything, ever, will get you started, but won't help in the long run. Your grocery bags are probably heavier.

    I'd bet you're buying into the myth that heavy weights will make you bulk up, because there's no reason you can't purchase additional weights if you want to workout at home.

    Use what you have for a couple of months and use the time to educate yourself about strength training so you are better equipped to move forward if you decide it's the route you want to take.
    Thank you, I'm quite sure I'm not in any danger of bulking up I just don't want to hurt myself. I'm going to search for videos to help with the basics and go from there I think :)
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,260 Member
    Kdp2015 wrote: »
    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    Even body weight will get you going. 2kg, if you haven't used anything, ever, will get you started, but won't help in the long run. Your grocery bags are probably heavier.

    I'd bet you're buying into the myth that heavy weights will make you bulk up, because there's no reason you can't purchase additional weights if you want to workout at home.

    Use what you have for a couple of months and use the time to educate yourself about strength training so you are better equipped to move forward if you decide it's the route you want to take.
    Thank you, I'm quite sure I'm not in any danger of bulking up I just don't want to hurt myself. I'm going to search for videos to help with the basics and go from there I think :)

    OP, keep in mind that lifting heavier weights doesn't mean you go in on Day 1 and starting benching 135 lbs. Rather, you start out with what you can lift initially and gradually add weight and/or reps. Some people can go in and lift a lot right away, some cannot. And it's normal to find some of the exercises easier than others for a variety of reasons. In general, my guess is that many non-lifting women can lift more than they think they can. Your first weeks of lifting generally see big increases in weight lifted because you learn how to use what you've already got to move that weight effectively.
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