This past Friday I hit the gym to get in a good cardio work out before the weekend started. After my workout, I noticed my brother was there for a weight lifting session. In college I used to lift on a regular basis, but it’s been at least half a decade since I last lifted a weight (yikes!). Since I started training for this half marathon, I’ve decided that I really need to get back into weight training as well, and Friday seemed to be the perfect opportunity. I asked my brother if I could follow him around and have him help me out, and he agreed (such a nice brother!). We mostly focused on legs, with a few curls and other arm exercises thrown in on the side.
I definitely didn’t look like the girl in the above photo. With a mixture of laughter and dramatic wails that I was “dying” and why am I “so weak when I work out so many days a week”, my brother was patient and kept me motivated throughout the other that we lifted. I felt alright on Friday night, but when I woke up on Saturday morning I ached like I had the flu. I shuffled very slowly around the apartment for the day, and spent most of it on the couch. OUCH! At this point, I regret giving up lifting so many years ago. And quite honestly, I have no idea why I did.
I’m planning to start out slowly, with maybe 4-5 leg exercises and 4-5 arm exercises. That’s where you come into the picture. What are your favorite weight exercises to do? I sure could use your help!
Now it’s your turn to share! Do you ever work out with a family member? Do you lift on a regular basis, or do you tend to avoid that part of the gym? What basic exercises would you recommend that I do?
Journey to Wellness 
When I was about 10 years old, my mom would take me to the gym with her while she worked with a personal trainer. My dad worked late nights so I had to go with her. I would pay attention to the direction he gave her regarding weight training and took on weight training once I got in college. When I came home on the weekends or during the summer, mom and I would hit the gym together to work out (run and lift weights). I kept it up for 8 years then turned to focusing on running just 2 years ago. I know a good amount of information about weight training. The first thing you want to do is create a plan. Do you want to do full body workouts 2 to 3 times per week? Concentrate on certain muscle groups (primary and secondary) on each day of the week? How long do you want to be in the gym? By answering these questions, you can then move on to organizing your workouts. I’ve done many different combinations to change things up or to work with other scheduling obligations (like grad school or social stuff). For the full body option, I would complete 30 – 45 minutes of cardio then I would spend about 2 hours working my entire body. After cardio, I would stretch, get in a quick core workout (3 x 30 sec planks, 3 x 25 ab crunches, etc). Next I would move on to my weight workout, completing 3 sets of 12 or 15 of each exercise. I tried to complete two exercises where one focused on the primary muscle group, then the other one worked another muscle while still working the other muscle as a secondary. Example: 3 sets of 15 – leg extensions. Primary muscle: Quadricep. Then 3 sets of 15 of squats. Primary muscle: Glutes. Secondary: Quadriceps. You see? I found that the most effective combination of workouts that really made it easy for me to organize and remember was the “Push/Pull” weight training rotation. Basically, you work the muscle groups that help you to PUSH on one day, then you work the muscle groups that help you to PULL. So a good schedule would look like Monday: PUSH, Tuesday: PULL, Wednesday REST or easy cardio like swimming or yoga, Thursday: PUSH, Friday: PULL. It takes some studying and preparation on your part to perfect the right combination and to choose the right plan for you. And I can’t stress this enough: study the form before trying it out at the gym. Youtube it, read up on it on weighttraining dot com or muscleandfitnesshers dot com, whatever you have to do to make sure you understand what you’re body should be feeling in order to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. Weight training injuries suck. Also, try out every exercise with a lighter weight first to get your form right before trying it with a more challenging weight (but you already know that, I”m sure). I hope this helps. I know I typed out a lot of stuff here. Good luck! 🙂
And to answer the actual question (I’m so bad at reading comprehension), my favorite exercises are hip abductors, push-ups, dumbbell curls, tricep pull backs, squats, single leg lunges, and lateral raises. I’m a runner so those keep me pretty injury free and feeling strong and healthy. 🙂 I no longer use heavy weights. I use 8 lbs weights and resistance bands now. Good luck! That haven’t-lifted-in-a-while soreness is pretty tough to deal with!
I just started a modified version of the Stronglifts 5×5 program (2x per week instead of 3). I have to tell you, after using dumbells for years, lifting barbells is freaking awesome. I feel so powerful squatting with the bar on my back or lifting it overhead. And I feel awesome, since I’m the only lady doing it. 🙂 The best part is that you don’t have to do 10 exercises to work your whole body, only 5 (squats, bench press, overhead press, barbell row, deadlift). The Stronglifts guy is actually kind of obnoxious, and basically just ignores women who lift, so I mostly read Stumptuous for technique advice and such. It’s a great resource!