Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hi! Tell us about your weight lifting endeavors.

I do Crossfit right now. Today I deadlifted 213 lbs.

Random mix of free weights and the occasional bar or pull down for triceps. Once a week but aiming for 2x a week.

Moving from 8 to now 10 lb. bells for shoulders and triceps, and from 10lb to 12-15 for arms, chest, squats and lunges. Plenty of reps, at least 2 sets (sometimes 3) of 12-15 reps depending on the weight.

I need to get more excited about ab work, but I'm trying.

I like the free weight lifting and getting to the gym, gets me out of the house and watching bad TV.

I started doing weights because I got tired of being passed over for doing physical labor because i'm a girl. Yes, I want to lift heavy shiitake!

My father-in-law has a bench press so I do that, I can only do ~40 pounds right now (i'm not sure how much the bar weighs, ten?), but i've been steadily increasing it since I started so I don't think i'm doing too bad. Then I do hand weights that are about ~12 pounds (they're adjustable so once again, i'm not sure how much the bar weighs). I don't look super ripped but I can feel the difference.

I have no idea what I lift, because I don't know how much the empty barbells at the gym weigh and I'm not even sure they all weigh the same, and I'm to embarrassed to ask.

I pyramid 8, 10, and 12 pound dumbbells following mainly exercises from Joyce Vedral books and videos, I've been doing them for years and am used to them. I need to move up weights again eventually but I've slacked on my routine lately.

I've been working on doing toning with small hand weights as of late...trying to get some variety into my workouts. The other day I asked my boyfriend if he noticed a difference and he squeezed my arm and said in a caveman voice--"Extra firm. Like tofu."

Wow! Nice work!

i'm on this programme right now and its great. Small increments mean you progress with weights regularly and its all compound exercises.

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5- ... g-program/

I've been wanting to try 5x5... I think I'm going to do it after I finish training for my Thanksgiving Day 10k! I like the idea of simple workouts with compound movements.

yeah I really like it! Squats, squats, squats.

The inverted rows are great too but I found 3x12 and being too muscle specific was frustrating me and taking too long so 5x5 is perfect for me. It's so good seeing progression too, hopefully ill put on some weight too but i struggle with eating enough for my really fast metabolism.

Right now I'm doing 15 lbs for biceps and 12.5 lbs for shoulders, I really want to build myself up to 20 lbs for biceps but I need to lift more often. Right now it's only 1 or 2 times a week as I do classes at the gym on other days.

I have been doing supersets for a couple of years. I'm not interested in muscle mass, just maintaining tone and strength, especially in upper body as I am a runner.

I think they're usually 45 lbs.
Edited because the internet said I'm wrong.

I was going to guess around 40-45. Sometimes some feel lighter than others though, but I'm not sure if I'm imagining things.

Whoa whoa whoa, wait. The empty bar is 45 lbs? That can't be right! Or, the one i'm using at home can't be 45. I was guessing it was around 10.

It depends on the barbell! One of those home gyms kinds are probably going to be smaller. (I'm picturing 80's movies with the older brother doing reps in the garage on something that looks like it's held together with 3 screws).

Standard Olympic weight lifting bars (7 feet long) are 45 lbs. At our gym, we have women bars that are 33 lbs. They are similar to the olympic bars but the bars are a little thinner for a better grip if you have smaller hands.

OK, I'll assume they're 45 then and I'm just imagining things! They are all the same thickness and the difference I feel is definitely less significant than 12 lbs.

I've had the opportunity to make a fitness schedule for a few people in my shop; If you want to feel like you just ran 15 miles and your legs are going to give out, try doing something called an "Iron Bike" with 40lb weights above your shoulders. Basically, a jumping squat, alternating legs..

try 3 sets of 15.. they couldn't walk for two days! Oh, they also did Wall Sits with the 40's. 30s, 45s, 1m.

Hey I have an odd question..most of the times when I lift weights across my back and shoulders my arms start to tingle and go numb, has anyone else had this happen? It's really annoying, I'm guessing it's some kind of nerve pressure but no matter how I try to rearrange the bar it always happens.

I do free weights and kettlebell every other day. I do not lift much though, 5 to 8 pound weights.

So, I can't really get to a gym right now (school gym is 1/2 hour away, too far for practicaility, I'd rather do a workout vid and home weights) but I want to standardize my weight lifting with my small hand weights. Help me design sets!

I currently have available 2.5, 5 and 10lb weights, plus my roommate's 40lb interchangeable set, so it has 2.5, 3, 5 etc. I also have a big ball thingy that I use as a bench seat, and a rubberband.

Some things I've done are:
Delt raises with the 2.5-5lb weights
Triceps behind the head with 2 arms raises with the 10lb
hammer curls and bicep curls with the 10lb
shoulder shrugs with the 10lbs
military press with the 5lbs
shoulder press with the...5 or 10? probably 5. My shoulder press is weak.
row laying over the ball, however this isn't really high enough so if you know a better way to do a row at home let me know! 10 lb
tricep curl laying over ball like row- 5 lb or 8lb if available
fly over the ball- 5 or 8 lb
I can't remember if I've done a reverse fly on the ball or not, but I don't see why not.

Does this sound like a complete enough upper body workout for home no gym? Do you know of any pages that show these things better so I know if I'm doing them right? I should probably invest in better hand weights then what I have for free, but its what I have right now.

I also do a core/abs thing- crunches on the ball, side crunches (which I never feel like I do right) reverse crunches and leg lifts for lower abs, inner and outer thigh lifts, maybe a bridge.

I should work some legs into this though...and I don't know how.

But really what my question is:
Do you know of any online sites that have a good full home hand weights workout that I can follow til I know I'm not missing something and also doing it right? Because I worry I'm doing stuff wrong.

I can't think in lbs. So I looked up the conversion rate for lbs/kgs and that sounds pretty impressive! Whatever crossfit is it must be working. Started on weights about a year ago and can't seem to get past the 50kg/110lb mark for deadlifts.

I accidentally did one set of 60kg deadlifts last week because I'm dumb and forgot that the bar weighs 20kg. I didn't struggle though, which was weird. Last time I did them I moved down to 55kg and am going back to 60kg next week.

I only do one set of 5 though, don't want to overdo it and kill my back.

lycophyte - I'd skip the shoulder shrugs.

Overall, I'd recommend body weight exercises, pushups, pullups (you can modify in a variety of ways, bands are a good sub), tricep dips, lunges, squats, etc.

If you want to see videos or get a better understanding of form for the standard dumbbell type workouts, I'd recommend looking at Shape's website. If you poke around, you'll find a variety of exercises:
http://www.shape.com/fitness

Also, to learn more about pushups, here is a website designed to give you a program to build you up to 100 pushups
http://hundredpushups.com/

Also remember that a workout should be varied so if you've done the same workout for 6 weeks or so, you'd want to switch it up.