New weight lifting routine (Read 1908 times)

I really like Tamilee Webb's "I Want Those Arms" as a starter workout (the entire "I Want That Body" DVD is good beginner/intermediate). I need to do that long enough to get bored with it, then move on to some Cathe Friedrich stuff--she is brutal! As much as I am loving running, I don't want a T-Rex body--powerful legs and wimpy little arms. k

"I want those arms" reminds me of those old "buns of steel" tapes...

And with good reason--same woman created it. k

here's some stuff you can do at home http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html

What do you think of weights as versus using your body (i.e., pushups and situps) for strengthening?

What do you think of weights as versus using your body (i.e., pushups and situps) for strengthening?

Well for me, I can't do a decent pull up so free weights help me get stronger so I can. I am pathetic at push ups but I am really increasing the weight I can bench press. I like the idea of getting stronger combined with losing weight, because I am getting closer to lifting my own weight. Sit ups are for me most efficient without weights/machines. My motivation is having a friend call me and get me into the gym 2x a week and I can really tell the difference in my strngth.

What do you think of weights as versus using your body (i.e., pushups and situps) for strengthening?

depends. for upper-body, where i'm weaker in general, i do a lot w/ bodyweight only-- endless varieties of pushups!-- but for balance i'll also do some stuff w/ weights as well (tabata intervals w/ dumbbells and/or cable pulls, bent-over piston rows, etc). when i use weights, i don't necessarily do the "low weight, high reps" thing that most runners stick with-- i'm a woman, i'm not going to bulk up to the point of slowing myself down through gained muscle mass, even if i use high weight. so i do use as much weight as i can handle through 6-8 reps of an activity w/o having my form fall apart. i've just been lifting this way since winter, and it seems to help-- i feel a lot stronger in general (and i have sweet guns for the first time since high school, haha!), and at the end of a long run when my legs are starting to feel heavy, my upper body is now strong enough to help keep my rhythm steady. for lower body & full-body, i rely on weighted lunges, weighted deadlifts & weighted squats most of the time. although my trainer ("my"-- ha, i can afford to call him that like, 4x a year) recently had me doing pistol squats which were much harder than anything i'd ever tried w/ weight attached! for unweighted lower/full body, i make sure there's a plyometric aspect-- something with POP that will make the activity more meaningful than just a slow up, slow down (trainer says it's beneficial to all varieties of muscle fibers to do this). i've seen definite improvement in my leg strength, which has helped my stride and junk over the last few months and has *definitely* helped me reduce issues w/ an old hip injury. the only thing is that i have on at least one occasion gotten carried away w/ my lifting too close to a race and had crappy, heavy, unrecovered legs before the race and had a terrible race performance because of it. that's my own idiocy, though.