How do you do 'weights'?

[desikated]

Seen on various threads people talking about doing weights as exercise.

OUTSIDE of a gym setting (I'm not joining one for various reasons - cost and location primarily)
....

How do you weights?
Any recommendations for videos / routines?

Context:
I have some dumbbells and a kettlebell. So I do have some stuff to do it with.

Whenever I have done weight lifting (based on sets and reps I've found online) - it always seems to be quite quick / doesn't raise my heart rate. Is that the way it is or am I doing it wrong?!
Is it something I need to spend lots of time doing or can it be short and sweet but regular?

HELP!

I don’t have a mirror but I wish I did. I’m doing it from the App now. Have my iPad propped up in front of the TV and can now see myself reflected in the TV. It really helps!

Yes, I'd did and still do use a large mirror - though these days is largely vanity!

This is how I did it - and I've been doing weights for over 4 years altogether - about 3 with Caroline:

• had a couple of sessions with a PT at the local gym - though I didn't feel i learned all that much.
• tried a few online trainers, including Rebecca Louise and Andrea Orbeck.
• discovered Caroline and never looked back; specifically:
• did her EPIC beginners several times, using 3kg dumbells, and always checked the mirror.
• once I felt confident, I did EPIC 1, 2, 3 and Heat and then most of the others.
• ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS watched her introductory explanations the night before, and always skipped through the actual workout to familiarize myself with what I'd be doing in the morning.
• graduated to 5kg and now using mostly 8 and 10kg, plus my son's heavier adjustables at times.

I have NEVER injured myself. A little muscle soreness, of course, but nothing that a few stretches and/or a day's rest wouldn't fix.

Ooh thanks all. Really useful suggestions. I have to look up this Caroline - clearly v popular!

And stop looking so amazing and pretty 🤣

I mean, Caroline does look amazing and pretty, but she is very awesome.

haha. Ok. Forewarned is forearmed.

Body pump is great. You can use your dumbbells bit make sure you've got heavy ones for your back and legs. Else invest in a body pump set. Cheap enough

I've seen Caroline Girvan mentioned on here before so have looked her up on Youtube. The Iron workouts look great, will be giving them a go. I can't believe she puts all that content online for free! A lot of trainers post individual videos but you'd have to pay for a structured programme like that - I'm very impressed.

She's amazing @DonttouchthatLarry
The quality of her videos, the format of them, the fact she's doesn't chat, everything.
The music isn't too offensive either

What size weights are you all using!?

Im a body pump evangelist. It gives me cardio and toning exercises in one and I really push myself.
In the gym I use the machines usually or just the bar to deadlift and squat. If I go heavy my heart knows about it!!

I have been doing caroline girvan iron for 2 months and use 2 x 3kg, 5kg, 10kg (and sometimes 1 x 20kg for single dumbbell exercises). Roughly half of what Caroline uses!

you’ve said you run ++++ so for your weights sessions you don’t need cardio!

Bodyfit by Amy on you tube

I do it in my garage. I have a selection of weights and dumbells. I'm very fit from doing this two or three times a week plus walking and swimming.

Very happy to wear sleeveless tops.

@WhinyWitch
For shoulders, biceps and triceps I use mainly 2x 5kg but have been challenging myself to starting with 2x 7 or 6 then dropping to the 5s.
For back, such as single arm rows, I use a 10kg dumbbell but sometimes I have a 12 or 16kg kettlebell available so I use that.
For chest I use 2x 10kgs.

Leg workouts you are supposed to go with heavier than you'd use for arms/shoulders but for lunges etc I struggle with balance so have been working my way up and concentrating on form, practicing from just body weight only.
But squatting/deadlifting/ RDLs etc I'd use at least 10kg.

The whole purpose of strength training is to lift as heavy as you can really, as opposed to body pump which is repping it out.
I'd rather do less reps with a heavier weight, or start heavy and drop down to a smaller weight when I can't do any more

The whole purpose of strength training is to lift as heavy as you can really, as opposed to body pump which is repping it out.
I'd rather do less reps with a heavier weight, or start heavy and drop down to a smaller weight when I can't do any more

This ^

Sometimes there is a fine line between challenging oneself as opposed to overdoing it. It pays to listen to one's body: shall I push through with this, or might I risk injury?

After a while it becomes second nature, but one of the reasons I like Caroline is her very thorough explanations and demonstrations. I always feel in good hands with her.

Needless to say, like everyone I know, I use MUCH lighter weights than Ms Girvan... - I guess between half and 2/3. I always have a 'light' pair that I use for most exercises, especially shoulder presses and the like, and a heavier pair for legwork, hip thrusts etc. In time the heavy pair becomes the 'light' pair and I acquire a new set that is 2-3 kg heavier.

So, over time my 'light' dumbbells were 3kg, 5kg and now 8kg. My current heavy set is 12kg, but I sometimes use one of my son's 15kg for goblet squats and the like.

Why do you monitor your HR when lifting, @desikated ? In what way do you think it's relevant to muscle/strength development? The whole reason we do cardio and resistance is because resistance doesn't do cardio. If it did, there'd be no point doing cardio too.

In reality, they are at opposite ends of a spectrum, rather than different things. Running uses some muscle strength, and lifting your 1 rep max will require a change in blood/oxygen supply, so both exercises do both things. If you want a high heart rate when lifting, lift lighter weights for longer time. 5 squat reps might not get your heart up much, but 20 would have it soaring, if you reach failure or close to it.

What is your goal when lifting? What are you doing it for? I'm a PT and will happily advise. Not selling anything, and remaining anonymous, I will add, before someone suggests I'm touting for business!

@Watchkeys - as a PT, and assuming you are familiar with Caroline Girvan, what are your views of her programs?

@PaminaMozart

I think she's doing brilliant work. She's not doing anything particularly novel in terms of the exercises, but she's presenting them in a way that's accessible and enjoyable to so many people, and for free. There's only only so much we can do to strengthen these machines we live in, but it gets made so complicated by so many supposed professionals. It's great to see someone keeping it simple and straightforward.

I use Beachbody and work out at home with weights. There are specific weight training programs (e.g. LIIFT4) that have made a massive difference for me.

Another vote for Caroline. Her workouts are challenging, effective and never dull. Another transformed body here thanks to her workouts, and a convert from 100% cardio (running) to 50% running 50% weights. I'd always denied the benefits of weights before but I run less but faster and stronger, eat more and have muscle definition I never dreamed of.

Thanks @Watchkeys I really appreciate that.

So, I have a Garmin 245. I spent the vast majority of my life totally inactive and gained a lot of weight in my 20s. Things changed, and in the last 5 years I have become very much a runner / cycler. I run to and from work (up and down massive hills both ways!). I run my toddler in the pram. I can't really go without running and getting my HR up - it hugely helps my MH which is dodgy to say the least.

I worry about not running and not getting my HR up in case I'm losing fitness or potentially risking gaining weight again. I am quite obsessed with reaching certain numbers on my garmin which I do know is kind of silly. I know I probably have quite skewed understanding of how exercise helps weight loss etc. I have done many many diets, but nothing has ever stuck and actually I struggle to 'diet' while running and walking as much as I do (as I'm always starving if I restrict calories to what WW want). I'm currently meant to be on WW but I'm just f-ing starving after a week where I have done 6 x intense hill runs carrying a weighty bag plus at least an hours walk each day.

Anyway. I have a huge incisional hernia (not weight related but surgery related). My core strength is shot to pieces (have 2 finger plus diastasis 2 year post birth!). My arms are pathetic! I'd love to be more toned and more bloody powerful!!!! It's a bit shit because the incisional hernia is the size of a tennis ball + (no joke!) and sticks out a LOT. So I'm never going to look trim until an op - it's super depressing

However if I do weights, I have to give up some running - I don't have time to do weights while keeping same intensity of runs. So that's my aghhhhhhh.

So I suppose, perhaps, I need reassurance that dropping a couple of runs and putting the time to weights (which won't necessarily raise my HR to the same extent) is 'good' body work and worth it.

Sorry that was quite the post.

It might be useful to keep in mind that the more CV an exercise is, the less it impacts your kcal burn afterwards.

So, if you run for 40 mins, you might burn 400 kcal during the run, then the excess kcal burn stops, and you go back to your usual level of kcal burn.

If you do a bloody good weights session for 40 mins, you might burn 150 kcal during the session, but your body has to spend the next 24 - 48h repairing itself, which is 24-48h of increased kcal burn. Then, you have a little more muscle, meaning that your body needs more kcal simply for maintenance, so the kcal you eat will be more likely used than stored as fat.

It's also worth mentioning that, if you're gaining muscle and dropping fat, your body will change for the better, health wise and aesthetically, but your weight might not fall quite as fast as you'd expect. Take your eyes off the Garmin and the scales and the kcal counting. Look in the mirror, on your plate, and at how your clothes fit.

Everything @Watchkeys says.

Before I started weight training, I was 3-4 kg 'overweight'. (Compared to my 'best weight', I hasten to add - my BMI was always within normal range.)

4 years and many CG sessions later, I'm still 3-4kg above my 'best weight'. But I'm slim and trim, and all my old clothes fit. These days I still weigh myself occasionally but I go with what my mirror tells me. (I'm nearly 70 and can wear sleeveless tops - not a sign of bingo wings...)

And I can still ski for 6 hours a day!

It's so, so worth it, so rewarding - and actually enjoyable.

Why are PP ignoring OP's hernia situation? Why is it safe for OP with her hernia to do weights at all, much less "heavy" weights?