Weight training at home

crippledhalo wrote: »

Hi! So, after losing about 80lbs, I realized my main issue to not losing any fat is because I haven’t added in weight training. I have a treadmill & exercise bike at home which helped me get to where I’m at but I look what I consider to be a “skinny fat”, I realized that I hadn’t toned or “lost my fat”, so could any of you provide any tips or tricks on how to begin to weight train at home? Or if you’ve done it at home, has it worked for you to get to where you wanted to be? Interesting in hearing your feedback. Thanks!

I seriously doubt that you haven't lost fat/weight because you haven't done any lifting.

Losing fat/weight is primarily about limiting how much you eat and, if you reduce your food/cal intake sufficiently your body will use up any available fat "reserves."

Aerobic exercise will help to burn a few more cals but really do not increase your cal "burn" all that much. The main reason to do aerobics is to improve cardio-vascular health and to provide some muscular involvement that can contribute to increasing muscular strength (albeit only marginally).

Lifting on the other hand is mainly about increasing your muscular strength but the amount of lifting that you need to achieve this involves more than just using a couple of 5-10# dumb bells that you have lying around.

FYI, there are a lot of power lifters who are really "fat" who are also really strong. In fact, heavier body weight is positively corrected w/strength in terms of how much weight can be lifted.

Muscle also weighs more than fat and, if you increase your muscle mass by lifting, you may not notice any significant weight loss, even as you lose fat.

So, lifting will not necessarily help you lose fat or weight.

The best kind of lifting for most people involves compound lifts which involve more than one body part and require you to exert significant (for you) increasing levels of effort consistenly over time; it's called progressive overload.

There are a couple of excellent beginning lifting programs that many people have used to achieve greater body strength using the progressive overload technique.

They are Stronglifts and Starting Strength. The 4 basic lifts used in both of these programs are the Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press and Overhead Press which are considered the "big 4" of weight lifting.

The other lifts used are the Barbell Row in Strong Lifts and the Power Clean in Starting Strength. For beginners, barbell rows are easier. Power cleans are included in Starting Strength to develop muscular strength "explosiveness" and are more technically difficult to do "safely" and are argubly unnecessary people who are not involved in competitive athletics (which is a focus of the Starting Strength program).

In order to do these programs, you need access to Olympic barbell equipment, including a bench and squat rack. Some people have the space/$ to install this gear at home but this kind of equipment is available at most gyms, except perhaps for Planet Fitness.

I'd suggest you Google Starting Strength and Stronglifts to find out what they involved and then find a gym (if you are not already a member of one) with the necessary equipment in order to start the program of your choice.

Most gym staff are familiar with these programs and you should be able to find a trainer there to can provide you with additional advice/assistance in executing the programs, if you feel you need the help.

Good luck!