Females weight lifting

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232good
232good Posts: 92 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Help! I'm new to this weight lifting thing and I'm just starting shoulder/abs day today, any recommended exercises for shoulders and legs? I need resistance training and have no clue what I'm doing but I know I'm aiming for like 4 exercises for each body part. Ha! Thank you!!

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  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    Check out Jamie Eason Livefit on bodybuilding.com. This was my first formal weight training plan and I have been doing it consistently for 2 years now. Also agree with @jemhh 's recommendations.
  • MlleKelly
    MlleKelly Posts: 356 Member
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    I've used the Body Sculpting Bible for Women for years and I LOVE IT. Check it out.
  • wilsoncl6
    wilsoncl6 Posts: 1,288 Member
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    I agree with the previous posters except for sticking exclusively to a full body workout. A full body workout program is good for beginners but can easily lead to overtraining and injuries without good form and instruction since you will be working all of your muscles pretty intensely several times a week. A split workout might work better for some beginners because of the ability to intensely work specific muscle groups and then give that group of muscles extended periods of time to recover. Go with a program to begin with (full body or split, whichever works for you) and then as you become more educated and experienced with lifting, then you can consider putting a program together that focuses specifically on what parts of your body you think needs more work as your mucsles will develop unevenly depending upon your intensity and genetics.
  • serapel
    serapel Posts: 502 Member
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    I highly recommend Bret Contreras "Strong Curves". It starts out for beginners and then progresses over-time. It's the best one out there right now.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    232good wrote: »
    Help! I'm new to this weight lifting thing and I'm just starting shoulder/abs day today, any recommended exercises for shoulders and legs? I need resistance training and have no clue what I'm doing but I know I'm aiming for like 4 exercises for each body part. Ha! Thank you!!

    My typical shoulders day consists of the following:
    Dumbbell Circuit
    Shoulder Press - 3 x 15 x 15 lbs.
    Bicep Curl - 3 x 15 x 15 lbs.
    T-lift (lift weights up keeping arms stiff - making your body look like a "T") - 3 x 15 x 10 lbs.
    Front Lift (lift weights in front of you keeping arms stiff) - 3 x 15 x 10 lbs.
    Tricep Lift (dumbbell held vertically behind head, pull arms up so dumbbell is above) - 3 x 15 x 25 lbs.

    Like you, I do abs on all my upper body days (shoulders/arms and back) and my circuit usually consists of:
    Double Crunch (lie flat, extend arms above head holding weight; lift knees while simultaneously lifting plate; meet in the middle) - 4 x 25 x 25 lbs.
    Knee Lifts - 4 x 25
    Scissor Kicks - 4 x 25
    Roman Chair Leg Lifts - 4 x 25
    Roman Chair Oblique Leg Lifts (lift legs to side instead of straight out in front of you) - 4 x 25
    Ball Knee-Up (lay facing down, extend feet and place top of feet on an exercise ball and lift up on arms so you look like you're in plank position; slowly pull knees to chest by rolling ball) - 4 x 15
    Roller (use ab roller or non-set barbells if possible) - 4 x 20

    ^^ Clearly I don't do everything from the ab circuit every upper body day, I just do whatever I feel is necessary
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    I would recommend following an established plan rather than putting together your own since you are so new to training. No sense spending energy trying to come up with a plan when you could be using that energy following an already-created good one, right? Here are a few programs to check out. I tend to like full body programs for beginners rather than splits where you do shoulders/abs one day, back another day, etc.

    * All Pro's - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843
    * Fierce 5 (note that there are several variations from beginner to advanced, 3-5 day, plus a dumbbell program) - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=162916931&p=1266578971&viewfull=1#post1266578971
    * A Workout Routine (beginner) - http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/the-beginner-weight-training-workout-routine/
    * Strong Curves - (This is a book and I recommend you get it and read it but he puts ou the template for free at this address) http://bretcontreras.com/wp-content/uploads/Strong-Curves-Workout-Templates.pdf

    This. I'd like to add stronglifts 5x5 to this list.
    http://stronglifts.com/
  • ticiaelizabeth
    ticiaelizabeth Posts: 139 Member
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    I recommend checking out Fitness Blender... they have a tonne of different workouts for free, and you can select your level and available equipment.
  • Rururiri
    Rururiri Posts: 31 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    I would recommend following an established plan rather than putting together your own since you are so new to training. No sense spending energy trying to come up with a plan when you could be using that energy following an already-created good one, right? Here are a few programs to check out. I tend to like full body programs for beginners rather than splits where you do shoulders/abs one day, back another day, etc.

    * All Pro's - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843
    * Fierce 5 (note that there are several variations from beginner to advanced, 3-5 day, plus a dumbbell program) - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=162916931&p=1266578971&viewfull=1#post1266578971
    * A Workout Routine (beginner) - http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/the-beginner-weight-training-workout-routine/
    * Strong Curves - (This is a book and I recommend you get it and read it but he puts ou the template for free at this address) http://bretcontreras.com/wp-content/uploads/Strong-Curves-Workout-Templates.pdf
    +1 <3

  • RainyDayBrunette
    RainyDayBrunette Posts: 59 Member
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    Thanks for all these links and tips everyone!!
  • _dixiana_
    _dixiana_ Posts: 3,262 Member
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    Glad to have found this post. Lots of good recs. Been wanting to start lifting but wasn't sure how to jump in.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
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    No love for Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength?
  • Sweet_Heresy
    Sweet_Heresy Posts: 411 Member
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    CipherZero wrote: »
    No love for Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength?

    Right? Everyone's quick to recommend SL 5x5...I like SS better cause 3x5 is more managable while eating at a deficit, and power cleans are a ton more fun to do than rows.
  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
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    first step as a new lifter would be to invest in a trainer to show you how to do movements correctly - then you can go off and follow programs and what have you :)

    You can not only injure yourself, but also be working the wrong muscles if not performing activity correctly. EG - my traps grew to an alarming size because I kept activating them for a whole bunch of shoulder and back exercises. And I was wondering my my shoulders were still puny and my back not widening. But my traps are like beastly.

    Got fixed when I had a session with an expert. Now my shoulders and lats are growing nicely to offset the massive traps.

  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,982 Member
    edited September 2016
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    CipherZero wrote: »
    No love for Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength?

    There's a distinct bias on MFP towards SL even though Starting Strength has a longer history and has more info and data to back it up than SL does.

    Not sure why this is. Both SS and SL are both prominent online and there are many more instructional videos and articles posted by Mark Rippetoe for SS than by Medhi for SL.

    SS also has a FREE users forum where Mark is available to answer questions; just make sure they aren't "stupid" or oft repeated questions or you may not like the answer. Medhi use to have a P2P forum for SL (I was a member) but he said in an announcenent a couple of years ago that he dropped it to devote his time & attention to his app, which is his main source of income. Mark as an app too that he makes money on but that doesn't prevent him from still giving out free advice in the SS forum and in the many free videos and articles that he's published.

    There really aren't thay many differences between the programs either. Both adopt the big 4 compund lifts - SQTs, DLs, OHPs and BPs. SS uses the Power Clean instead of Rows as a primary lift because it is oriented towards atheletes where power and quickness are important but Mark still recommends Rows as a valuable accessory lift.

    The other difference between the programs is that SS uses 3x5 for the SQT, OHP & BP and 5x3 for power cleans. Both SS & SL use 1x5 for DLs. However, the reason that SS uses 3x5 is because it presupposes a warm up routine that would be too tiring if you did 5x5 across.

    In the early days, when I 1st learned about and used SL, Medhi did not even recommend warmups and only minimal rest between sets or lifts. I believe he's changed that POV but still has not altered the basic 5x5 approach, which is fine for lighter weights but can become way too demanding when max weights are achieved. Mark on the other hand has always reommmended full warm up sets and to take as much rest needed between sets and lifts in order to achieve success and avoid injury.

    So, i really don't understand why SL gets so much more love than SS on MFP. Perhaps it's because Mehdi pays for better product placement to Google when searches about strength training are entered. When I do that, SL is near the top of the list and there virtually no mention of SS.

    All that I know is that I quickly switched to SS from SL as soon as I discovered it and read Mark's book, because there's just so much more thought and substance underlying SS than there is behind SL.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    sgt1372 wrote: »
    All that I know is that I quickly switched to SS from SL as soon as I discovered it and read Mark's book, because there's just so much more thought and substance underlying SS than there is behind SL.

    and the one-liners . . . :p

    i found sl before i found starting strength. never learned power cleans, never got the hang of that hip-pump for press. so i kept the sl lift scheme, but 4 weeks or something into sl, i needed the ss book and the rippetoe clips to actually explain to me what i was doing and why.

    plus, if you're a woman with even the rudiments of self-respect, the tone of sl is intolerable.

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited September 2016
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    I have a list of links and sometimes post them all (including SS and SL) and sometimes don't. Depends on my mood. I loathe sets of 5 reps for some reason (personal preference.) I like Rippetoe plenty and have done well following his advice regarding 3-rep sets for women. But I would never do SL5x5. Just won't do it. The thought makes me want to stick a finger through my eyeball and swirl it around in my brain.

    ETA: this is one of my favorite Rippetoe interviews--

    https://youtu.be/Kxhw_NvdXLc

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