Author Topic: Beginner Strength Training Group  (Read 10332 times)

StartingEarly

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #50 on: July 17, 2016, 06:44:04 PM »
I should probably join this and try to do something. I used to be in amazing shape at 17, everyone thought I was on steroids, I was just dedicated to working out at least 3 times a week and then later got into wrestling. I did just do 20 pushups right before writing this as my start, I am surprised I was still able to lol

Stachey

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #51 on: July 17, 2016, 09:00:48 PM »
Thank you so much SL!  I'll check it out.

brute

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #52 on: July 18, 2016, 07:29:46 AM »
+1 to not needing to start with a crazy routine from a magazine. Just doing 3 sets of squats, bench, and rows 3x a week will do a lot for your strength very quickly. Shouldn't take more than 20 minutes.

mynewchoice

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #53 on: July 18, 2016, 07:37:11 AM »
I have yet to get started with lifting again, but as a small positive I have been actively biking and walking to at least reestablish a level of exercise.  As I did when I first lost a lot of weight, I am taking small steps one at a time and building upon them.

meerkat

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #54 on: July 18, 2016, 07:45:45 AM »
My people!

(Posting to remember to come back to this thread later.)

wildbeast

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #55 on: July 18, 2016, 10:43:16 AM »
I've been using the Jillian Michaels DVD's, mostly the 30 Day Shred and the No More Trouble Zones and I'm really impressed with how much my strength has improved even though the weights used are small; I guess my body mass makes up the difference!  :)

Anyone else working out at home with DVD's? 

frogger

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #56 on: July 18, 2016, 11:29:15 AM »
Just completed my first workout from New Rules for Women. I really like that book - thanks to those who recommended it!

I couldn't do all the exercises (I kept falling off the dang exercise ball), but it feels great to get started. I never stick with stuff all the way through so I am excited to try to hang in there through all seven stages. I couldn't even do five real push-ups today so I am also excited to improve in strength.

That's awesome! I'm only on stage 2, but I loved stage 1 as a nice way to get into a routine that I could remember, and really see progress in the same exercises every workout (or every other if we want to get pedantic).

I'm going to do the last workout of stage 2 this week, but I think I'm actually going to extend this stage for a few reasons--it was very hard to get into the many different exercises and I feel like I finally have a groove going, I wasn't getting them in a consistent 2-3 per week for a while, and I haven't been doing the interval training portion! It took me so long to get used to the exercises and be able to do them and get out of the gym before it closed (odd hours over summer) I just never added on the interval training, so my next few sessions will be to do the workouts as intended and then start stage 3 after my vacation in mid-August.

GuitarStv

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #57 on: July 24, 2016, 01:17:29 PM »
www.exrx.net is a good resource to poke around for all kinds of exercises. They have lists broken down by body part, then ways to strength train that body part with weights, machines, bodyweight, etc. It's not a program or anything - more a directory of the stuff you could put together to make a program - but it's very useful all the same and there's a ton more info, calculators and so on. I'm sure others will chime in with their suggestions too.

And just as an aside - it's not true that the only way to work out with weights is just to go heavy. In some circles it's the 'thing' to claim that only heavy intense low-rep workouts are any good. In reality, most people who aren't trying to be pro powerlifters or bodybuilders will see results from using slightly higher reps and somewhat lighter weights, etc (so long as it's still actually a challenge at the end of the rep range!)

There's a balance between strength and endurance.

I went through an awful lot of ridiculously high rep exercises while training in various martial arts.  Speaking from experience, bench pressing your body weight for five reps will increase your upper body strength much more than doing 300 pushups . . . and it's more efficient because it can be done in a short period of time.  Extremely high reps with lighter weight tended to limit my strength, but is great for endurance.

There is benefit to occasionally changing the rep ranges in your workout.  If you work your way up to reps of five and stall, changing things up to do reps between ten and twenty (with an adjusted weight) for several weeks can really help you.  Personally I've had good success in increasing my overall strength using rep ranges from 3 - 20.  Regularly trying to hit my one rep max at a lift leads to increased likelihood of injury (for me anyway), and there's little to no strength benefit doing more than twenty reps of anything.

Lagom

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Re: Beginner Strength Training Group
« Reply #58 on: July 24, 2016, 01:26:29 PM »
www.exrx.net is a good resource to poke around for all kinds of exercises. They have lists broken down by body part, then ways to strength train that body part with weights, machines, bodyweight, etc. It's not a program or anything - more a directory of the stuff you could put together to make a program - but it's very useful all the same and there's a ton more info, calculators and so on. I'm sure others will chime in with their suggestions too.

And just as an aside - it's not true that the only way to work out with weights is just to go heavy. In some circles it's the 'thing' to claim that only heavy intense low-rep workouts are any good. In reality, most people who aren't trying to be pro powerlifters or bodybuilders will see results from using slightly higher reps and somewhat lighter weights, etc (so long as it's still actually a challenge at the end of the rep range!)

There's a balance between strength and endurance.

I went through an awful lot of ridiculously high rep exercises while training in various martial arts.  Speaking from experience, bench pressing your body weight for five reps will increase your upper body strength much more than doing 300 pushups . . . and it's more efficient because it can be done in a short period of time.  Extremely high reps with lighter weight tended to limit my strength, but is great for endurance.

There is benefit to occasionally changing the rep ranges in your workout.  If you work your way up to reps of five and stall, changing things up to do reps between ten and twenty (with an adjusted weight) for several weeks can really help you.  Personally I've had good success in increasing my overall strength using rep ranges from 3 - 20.  Regularly trying to hit my one rep max at a lift leads to increased likelihood of injury (for me anyway), and there's little to no strength benefit doing more than twenty reps of anything.

As a powerlifter myself, I think it's also worth emphasizing that 1RMs should not really be the goal, even for serious competitors. Rather, they are measuring sticks from which you can better plan the next cycle of training. Viewed this way, and taking as much ego as possible out of it, it actually becomes easier to increase a 1RM. It's all about the journey, not the destination :)