strength training

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  • mariacolumbus
    mariacolumbus Posts: 227 Member
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    I was scared of P90X too before I did it....I am 54...non athletic...and the nice thing about P90X is there are modifications in the video so you go at your own speed and improve at your own rate
    Wow! Thanks for all the great ideas. My brother is doing p90x now so I may be able to borrow it from him. He is really strong though so I thought it maybe a bit out of my league. I never even thought of looking on Youtube so I will def. be checking that out. I have been doing pushups and I see a difference from that, but the squats and lunges really hurt my knees.

    KyleB65, thanks for the book mention, I have to go to the library later so i will see if they have it. Thank you all again, I feel like I have a good place to start from now.
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
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    It's my view that great benefits (functional strength and aesthetic) come from performing the major compound exercises with a weight that is challenging at 8 repetitions:

    1. Deadlift
    2. Squat
    3. Bench Press
    4. Military Press
    5. Pull-ups (Assisted, Bodyweight, or added weight)

    Excellent list. I'd add:

    Lunges
    Bugarian Split Squat
    Planks
    Crunches

    and rows\cleans
  • allirep
    allirep Posts: 26
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    i have a $30 pull up bar. you can make significant progress just with body weight exercises. get the basics down (someone already recommended push ups) - before you go spending money on weight sets. even little ones.

    search for body weight exercises. you can get good strength training from push ups and squats without added weight. Can't do a push up? Modify until you can. here is one that is very easy to squeeze in to a busy day and doesn't require equipment
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/03/10/angry-birds-workout-plan/

    and if you want some fresh air - try this one
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/12/playground-workout/
  • Eafears
    Eafears Posts: 135 Member
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    Lots of great stuff here! I'm bookmarking to come back too. Love the work out sets people posted. Thanks!:flowerforyou:
  • willowdancer
    willowdancer Posts: 95
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    Four weeks ago I started lifting weights at home using the exercises from articles on muscleandstrength.com. This is the workout I just finished doing for 4 weeks http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/kristen-adamson-body-transformation.html I lost 10 pounds in those 4 weeks by keeping track of my calories and doing this workout in combination with 30 minutes of cardio (my favorite is hoop dancing, but you can do whatever you think is fun!) A lot of the transformation stories on that website have a detailed layout of the workouts the transformed people do, as well as what their eating plans are. I would like to be able to get a weight machine so I can have more of the gym experience at home, but for now I only have some dumbbells, a barbell and some plate weights, a pull up bar, balance ball, yoga mats and a treadmill.

    Good luck to you!
  • FitCrissy
    FitCrissy Posts: 1
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    It's my view that great benefits (functional strength and aesthetic) come from performing the major compound exercises with a weight that is challenging at 8 repetitions:

    1. Deadlift
    2. Squat
    3. Bench Press
    4. Military Press
    5. Pull-ups (Assisted, Bodyweight, or added weight)

    Excellent list. I'd add:

    Lunges
    Bugarian Split Squat
    Planks
    Crunches


    Liz! Lots of great stuff above!!! And you can do any of these with dumbells! Check out http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html to see how to perform any of the above. Or to find anything new.
    One thing that I do have to suggest is to keep with a push/pull routine. Like, if you are doing push ups, combine it with pull ups. Planks are great and you can do a whole assortment of them.
  • Jynus
    Jynus Posts: 519 Member
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    There are 4 primary movements that the human body was designed to do. Jump, run, push, and pull. Add in core support and core movement and you have the broad classification for every movement the body is capable of. Every strength training exercise fits within these classifications, and any strength training program will work to enhance all of them.

    Knee soreness when doing squats/lunges comes from poor form, lack of mobility, and/or mucular imbalances. Full depth perfect form squats are as good of an exercise for correcting knee soreness as there is. Lunges aren't nearly as important of an exercise as squats.

    Pushups, pullups, squats is as basic and fundamental of a full body workout as you can get (assuming that you also do some form of cardio thus work your running muscles to a degree).

    You can get extremely strong with just your bodyweight, a pullup bar, and some small dumbbells. Unlike with weights, where you add plates and reps, you have to keep progressing to harder and harder exercises. There is no one stop shop for how to get strong with bodyweight exercises (calisthenics), this is something that you'll have to put in the time researching.

    Um no, there are 7 primal movement patterns... Push, pull, twist, bend, squat, lunge and gait. otherwise, rest of what you said is pretty sound.

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