Weight training for fat loss...Is my routine okay?
Just wanted to make sure I'm doing things right...am I getting a complete body work out doing these? Anything I should add? I'm a beginner. I start with 10 mins warm up of jogging in place, then 3 mins of stretching, and ending the work outs with more stretching and 20mins of jogging in place.
The weight training workouts: Squats with 5lb dumbells (2 sets of 10 reps), Wall Push ups (2 sets of 10), Shoulder Press with 5lb dumbells, Dumbell Side-Bends, Crunches (3 sets of 15), Bicep Curls (2 sets of 10) and Tricep Extensions (2 sets of 10), both also with 5lb dumbells.
Am I missing anything? I've been doing these for nearly three weeks now, with 2 days rest in between each session. My muscles feel real sore the next morning (especially the hamstring, butt and arms) so I know they're working and I'm using the right dumbell weight. When do I start increasing?
Also, will doing too much dumbell side bends make my waist appear 'wide'?
Oh and as for the squats...I do my squats with my butt dipped below parallel and my legs spread wider apart...I find this easier to do than the 'butt parallel to the floor' squats and my knees don't hurt...is this okay?
Oh, I'd also like to add that I'm a 138-139lbs female and I eat around 65g-70g of protein a day...is this enough?
For your squats method - I think one way makes your knees hurt, and the other way doesn't - do the pain free way.
You start increasing the weight when you reach your prescribed reps for all sets. You could try getting to 3 sets of 12 first, and then increase weight, but it's fine to stick with the 2 sets of 10 for now... but if you are reaching 10 both sets, it's time to up the weight.
As for your routine... there are other people who can do this better, but I'll give it a shot.
Squats = good
Wall pushup = good, if that's what you can do for now. Later, try it at an angle (I use stairs, you could also use a box or a workout bench), and much later, on the floor. Just work up to it.
Shoulder press = good
... but then... where are your pulling exercises? You've got a verticle push (shoulder press) and a horizonal push (pushup) but you need pulls.
Pullups would be a verticle pull, as would lat pulldowns and lat pullovers.
Rows (bentover or seated, if you have cables) are a horizontal row.
Throw in deadlifts, to get the hip dominant move (squats are quad dominant), and lunges or step ups.
You can skip the bicep curls and tricep extensions, in my opinion - they are isolation exercises so not nearly as useful, and your biceps and triceps will get worked in the upper body exercises you are already doing (and the pullups and rows that I suggested).
That's my two cents. Hope it helps.
Thanks Amethystgirl...The exercises I can do are quite limited...since I'm not a member of any gym...I'm planning to join one sometime in March....for now, all I've got is a pair of 5 lb dumbells, the wall and the floor...lol....well there are a couple of sturdy chairs and tables around too...I'm not sure what pull ups are
Can those be done with dumbells? ![]()
As for the lunges, I used to do them but they make my knees hurt...so I'm sticking to squats, I tried to do step ups too but my table is a little too high and I almost fell over doing it hehe...so I'll wait till I get to a gym I guess...I'll add in the dumbell deadlifts and rows though, those I can do...thanks again for your suggestions.
We have one of these so that we didn't have to install anything.
For stepups - do you have a set of stairs?
I have adjustable dumbbells that go up to 20lb per hand and use those for a lot of my workouts, although slowly moving up to barbell for some exercises.
And if you need more challenging weights at some point, improvise. Your environment has a lot of heavy things, and rearranging furniture is also a workout. I started out with these for my weights - a bucket or shopping bag full of soda bottles is a perfectly fine dumbbell.
Small children are also fun to lift - playtime for them, workout for you ;)
You can also do Your Body is a Barbell with next to no equipment.
Eat a little more protein on days you lift. Heavier is better than more reps. Keep changing it up!
Thanks for the input and tips everyone...and nope no stairs :( and no kids either hehe...I used to do step ups on our stairs before we moved to our new home...I'll just have to make do with what I have here now and do the exercises I'm able to do with my dumbells...I'll try Melkor's tips with using the huge plastic bottles filled with water as my dumbells, when the weights I'm using become too light for me that is, I can't be buying new dumbells or equipments since I'm moving abroad real soon (in about 6 weeks or so) to further my studies and I won't be able to take them with me, it would be a waste...my first fitness goal is to graduate to doing real push ups...I can barely do one now....I'm joining a gym about 2 months from now once I start Uni, there's a gym there thats only a few minutes walk away, and by then hopefully I'd be strong enough to lift heavier and do atleast 2 real push ups...also there'd be trainers at the gym to guide me with the work outs.
Well, it sounds like you've got enough to keep you busy til you can join a gym. Good luck, and let us know how the pushups go!
Good luck with the push-ups! It really is a case of practice makes perfect.
I couldn't even do one this spring, so I started doing them against the kitchen counter (like your wall push-ups) until I could do 20 or so of those with my torso straight. At that point, I could do a couple of "real" push-ups. Then I kept at that, and now I can do 20 "real" push-ups and even 10 with my feet up on the exercise bench (though that's still really hard so I'm not ready to advance to the next hardest kind quite yet).
Increasing the weights is a good idea but only when your muscles are ready. As a beginning lifter you need to keep doing what you are doing and establish a base of strength and endurance before increasing your weights. Being quite sore the next day, is a good indication that you aren't ready for heavier weights quite yet. It takes time to get your muscles used to this type of activity and once it does, then it's time to increase the weights. When you aren't so sore the next morning, try increasing the weights be a couple of pounds and see how that works and keep going from there.
Slow and steady wins the race for beginners and avoids a lot of unnecessary pain and injury.
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