Weight Training Advice for a beginner?

You can use your own bodyweight as resistance & build up nice muscles this way!


Lunges, squats, push-ups, sit ups ... these are all great examples! If you're just starting out just doing this ... you will be hella sore & you WILL see results :drinker:

SO...
I'm pretty new to weight training, but I like the idea of it.

Here's the slight dilemma:

I just moved to a new state about 2 months ago and I haven't found a job yet.. so I really can't afford a gym membership YET =/ We do have a work out room in my apartment complex with a bunch of hand weights - but there aren't any of those large "Olympic" barbell deals that everyone uses for dead lifts and such.. I'm worried about being able to "lift heavy" as everyone recommends without that huge thing.

What are some good exercises I can do with hand weights? Will that be enough?

Keep in mind I'm pretty much a beginner to weight training but NOT to exercise.

=] I have a lot of weight to lose so I know I'm not going to have abs tomorrow or anything - but I'm looking to do it properly and incorporate some lifting into my routine.Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who posted, especially to the OP, for without you the other posts would not have occurred. Currently I weigh 242 lbs. and I'm 5'6. I have a figure in my mind of what I'd like to lose, however, I know from younger years I had a very intelligent conversation with a physician and he told me not to go by weight charts. He knew my body structure (at the time very tom-boyish and muscular due to weight lifting and sports I was involved with). He told me if I tried going by the weight charts I would look anorexic and would lose my muscle tone. So with that in mind....I don't have an actual weight goal set persay but rather I'd like to get to a healthy weight, be toned and stronger. I do not have access to a gym for financial reasons and being many miles from one, plus in the warmer months I work 12-14 hour days with possibly a one hour commute on top of that.......so going to a gym is out of the question. I hear alot of people talking about their success with the 5x5 stronglift and NROLFW, and I ask of you........can I do these programs at home? PLEASE FRIEND ME! I would love to know what equipment these programs require before purchasing the books or what equipment I may be able to purchase as a substitute. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

They would be difficult to do properly at home...both for safety reasons, and the fact that the weights become expensive over time.

Bodyweight strength training can be made to give similar results, if you put enough effort into it...and stick with it. Here's the program I used to lose 40lbs in 3mos (along with eating clean of course):

Some of you have been curious about my workout that I used to lose the initial 35+lbs at home. Well, it was 100% bodyweight based, no weights. I'll lay it out here:

This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set (I use a FT7 HRM and keep my heart rate over 140). The explanations of the exercises you'll use for each group are farther below.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

Explanations of exercise in order of difficulty (easy-hard)
1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

The nice thing about this routine is it scales dramatically depending on your fitness level. If you can't do even ONE regular pull up, you can scale it down and do assisted pull ups (legs on a chair), or ballistic pullups (where you jump to provide the initial momentum). It's actually easier to do properly when you're very unfit...because once you're healthy and strong...you're going to be searching for challenging enough exercises to only allow you 5 reps max by the finish of the 5 sets.

And for the more visual people here's some pictures. Keep in mind these results included ZERO cardio...and could never have been achieved without heavy (5-8 reps to failure) strength training.