Calling all weight lifters

As you know, I've been doing New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm in stage 5 of 7 now. I've never lifted before in my life, so it's worked well for me as a beginner. I've heard excellent things about Starting Strength and Stronglifts as well. I think once I'm finished NROL4W, I'm going to try Starting Strength. I have heard that both Starting Strength and Stronglifts go into great detail about form, so it's definitely beneficial reading. Any of the 3 are great programs so you can't go wrong.

I can tell you not to listen to the guy about splitting cardio and strength. Sometimes due to my schedule I do them onthe same day but it's not recommended. I always do strength first though. Also, avoid isolation machines. Free weights are the way to go.

Since I'm on my phone and it's hard to go back and edit without deleting everything, I want to mention that it seems like New Rules is more complicated than the other 2 mentioned.

I had/have a knee injury and I found StrongLifts 5x5 to be better than NROLFW as there are aren't any lunges.

I'd suggest you get a trainer who can watch your form and teach you the basics. Simply for safety reasons and to avoid making bad habits.

I wrote a blog post about this, you might find it useful

http://www.jagsfitnessblog.com/2011/06/28/strength-training-how-to-get-started/

Just hit the machines one by one and do what you can, weight lifting works great for building up metabolism because muscles use some energy to recover over several days after the workout.

Please don't do this ^^

She's not training for a damn body building show, she's just getting familiar with everything. If she is going to be using her energy worrying all the time about what to do, how many reps, how much creatine to take and all the rest of the bs, then she'll never get to do anything. I understand she needs to do thing safely and have some kind of plan, but we are talking familiarization here, not training for the olympics.

First of all, no need for the hostility.

Secondly, I never mentioned creatine, body building or olympics. I said it's a bad idea to walk into the gym and use every machine, which it is. I'm all for familiarity and I would advise her to have a trainer show her how to use the equipment safely.

She asked:

I don't even really know where to begin or what would be a good schedule to follow.

and you replied

Just hit the machines one by one and do what you can

This is not helpful.

At the end of the day, we exercise to stay fit and get in shape. Doing so without a plan is pointless and a sure fire way to spin your wheels and get nowhere.

Machines aren't that bad. I started out weight training on machines for a few months before I switched to barbell work. Of course I didn't jump on every machine in the gym, I'd never have the time, but I still built a good deal of strength. Everyone seemed to think I'd been lifting for a really long time with my numbers but really I've only been at it for like 3-4 months now.

Rehabbing an injury, like the OP is doing, is what the machines were designed for. In her case, I would get a PT (physical therapist) or qualified trainer to help choose an appropriate program to rehab the injury and balance muscle development. Isolation machines for people in good health are a waste of time.

I recently discovered how to introduce weight lifting and my cardio workout at the same time. Before I did 60 minutes of elliptical training. After getting off the machine, it is difficult to continue weight lifting. What I ended up doing few weeks ago is do my cardio in 2 sets. I do 30 minutes. Then stop and do a weight lifting set. After I do another 30 min cardio. Then I complete my second weight lifting. It works better for me.

With that said I alternate my weight lifting exercises with pushing and pulling. Pushing sets are: chest, triceps, shoulders. Pulling sets are: biceps and back. Alternating these will allow your muscles to recover from fatigue.

So, for example I do 30 min cardio, set of shoulder exercises, another 30 min cardio, and complete with chest,

Just my $0.02 Good luck

That's actually not a bad idea! Once I am fully recovered I think I'll start doing that!

something I forgot to mention. 60 minutes on machine is awful long time to hang around if you don't watch tv or read book. What I ended up doing is grabbing a 20LB dumbbell. For you might want to start with 5 or 10. And I would do biceps, triceps and shoulders exercises while walking. At the beginning you would think this is a waste of time, but at the end of 60 minutes your arms and shoulders feel like you just got through lifting a car. It certainly dropped some fat of my arms and I still got my cardio in at the same time.

Interesting! Not sure if my gym would be too happy with me grabbing some weights and walking on the treadmill, though haha!

do it. you might get some strange looks. i recently started doing farmer's walks with the kettlebells and that gets me strange looks from some of the gym goers, but i dont care. most of those people are boring workouts anyway.

Thanks guys, I'll look into them!

I belong to a gym, so all the gym rats in the weight area intimidate me haha! I always run right to the treadmill or my classes, completely avoiding that area haha!

Dont worry! I got intimidated too... But honestly, everyone is in their own bubble and not really paying that much attention to you. Go work thoes weights!

If you've never done weights or resistance, then dip your toe in the water with bodyweight exercises. It's the safest way to start and avoid injury. The big ones are push-ups, chin-ups (and later, pull-ups), and bodyweight squats. You can get nice and sore with only these exercises. After a few weeks, you'll be primed for actual weights.

The New Rules of Lifting For Life: An All-New Muscle-Building, Fat-Blasting Plan for Men and Women Who Want to Ace Their Midlife Exams

I just bought this book and read for about an hour. Seems like the best for anyone who is middle age and/or overweight. I briefly looked at reviews on the other recommended at Amazon and the above seems like the best on the surface at least.