Weight Lifting

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NavyKnightAh13
NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok, I plan on starting weight lifting this coming week. I need advice as to what I should do to start. (I haven't weight lifted since high school, and that was when i was a sophomore back in 2003-04, and mind you i graduated six yrs ago).

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  • MinMin97
    MinMin97 Posts: 2,676 Member
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    It is worth it to buy a personal trainer for 3 months, if money allows. Otherwise, pick a schedule: like,
    Monday--lower body (legs,back biceps),
    tuesday upper body (chest, shoulders, triceps),
    Wednesday rest day,
    Thurs lower body (do different machines/exercises),
    Friday upper body (different machines/exercises)
    saturday cardio,
    sunday rest day.
    Do some abs everyday, warm up on the cardio equipment before you begin. When you do cardio during the week, do it after weights. You can make the cardio most effective by doing sprints (like, example would be sprints on the incline bike. A nice explanation of sprints on the incline bike is at mercola.com called sprints 8's).

    I love strength training. I learned so much just by using a trainer. I try to afford a trainer once a year in the Fall.
    Have fun, 'cause you will LOVE the results!
  • jennmetz
    jennmetz Posts: 20
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    I have found GREAT success with home based fitness programs (P90X, Turbofire, etc). in lieu of working with a personal trainer.
    Reached my goals, didnt cost nearly as much!
    Took a bit of figuring it out - but really , really effective!!
  • kazzari
    kazzari Posts: 473 Member
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    What kind of weight lifting were you doing in high school? Moves you are familiar with are a great place to start. I always. recommend free weights....squats, deadlifts, pressing and pulling exercises..over machines and full body workouts over body part splits. You get a lot more bang for your buck when doing complex movements vs. Isolation exercises , especially when fatloss is part of your goal
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    What kind of weight lifting were you doing in high school? Moves you are familiar with are a great place to start. I always. recommend free weights....squats, deadlifts, pressing and pulling exercises..over machines and full body workouts over body part splits. You get a lot more bang for your buck when doing complex movements vs. Isolation exercises , especially when fatloss is part of your goal

    ^^this

    I would recommend doing compound lifts also - squats, deadlifts (but make sure you are comfortable with form on this one in particuar), bench press, bent over row, overhead press - and throw some isolation exercises on top if you have time.

    You could also look into New Rules of Lifting for Women - I do not do it but a bunch of people have had a lot of success with it.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    I am going to start a doing a full body routine 3X a week. squats, bench press, rows, overhead press, barbell curls, stiff legged dead lifts, and calf raises. Use the free weights instead of the machines. Youtube is really helpful with form.
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
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    Well, in high school, we used machines and weights. And where i go to college at now, we get access to their gym for free :) which is nice but no trainer included :( Thank you all for the suggestions!!!! Keep them coming :D
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    Well, in high school, we used machines and weights. And where i go to college at now, we get access to their gym for free :) which is nice but no trainer included :( Thank you all for the suggestions!!!! Keep them coming :D

    There are plenty of good books written by legitimate professionals that, IMO at least, are far better than most trainers anyway.

    - "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippletoe
    - "5/3/1" by Jim Wendler
    - Stronglifts 5x5 - www.Stronglifts.com

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