Beginning Weights

Pj!

Right, I have a cardio programme set up but also want a weights programme to keep my muscle in check.
I'll be working from home, have a basic weights bench and a set of dumbells (and of course my own bodyweight).
I am new to weights, and have been looking up what I should be doing.

Chin-ups, sit-ups, squats, press', curls (maybe?), push-ups. These I guess are the main ones I should be doing as far as I know but would like a bit of help with them.

Could someone advise if they are correct for me and how I should split them up during the week?

As I said building muscle isn't my main priority for now (losing weight is) but I want to keep my muscle in check).

Pj!

Found this, seems suitable for me.
Perform this routine three times a week with a non-weight day between workouts. I do this on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The non-weight (commonly known as a “rest” day) is imperative to your success. Your muscles will need a day to recover if they are to rebuild stronger and thicker.

You can mix up the order of these exercises for each workout and I suggest you do. You have to constantly out train your body’s natural urge for efficiency. If you do the same exercises in the same order with the same weight you’ll stop growing new tissue because your body will have adapted to the motions. Switch between workout A and B. So, for example, do workout A on Monday, B on Wednesday and A on Friday. If you don’t have access to weights, try the body weight exercises across all three days. Each workout should last between 45-60 minutes.

Try and add a little weight to your barbell or dumbbell each week. You have to really push yourself and take yourself out of the comfort zone. If you’re not pushing yourself hard then you’ll not see any gains.

Take a 60 second rest between sets. Try not to leave it any longer otherwise your heart rate will drop and your body will start sending out hormones to repair your tissues which will leave you lethargic and unable to continue effectively.

The routine: Weights Workout A
You can use a dumbbell or barbell for each of these. If don’t have a bench, substitute the chest press for press-ups.
Click each exercise to see a demo in a new window.
4 sets of 10 Chest Press
4 sets of 10 Deadlift
4 sets of 10 Front Squat
4 sets of 10 Bent Over Row
4 sets of 10 Military Press

The routine: Weights Workout B
You can use a dumbbell or barbell for each of these. If don’t have a bench, substitute the chest flye for press-ups. If you don’t have a chin up bar, substitute chin-ups for bent over rows.
If you can’t manage 10 pull-ups (and not many people can, starting out) then concentrate on the ‘negative rep’. That is, do as many as you can and then jump up and lower yourself down slowly for the rest of the reps.
If you don’t have a barbell, substitute the front squat with dumbbell lunges.
Click each exercise to see a demo in a new window.
4 sets of 10 Chest Flye
4 sets of 10 Deadlift
4 sets of 10 Front Squat
4 sets of 10 Pull-ups
4 sets of 10 Arnold Press

The routine: Body Weight Exercises
4 sets of 10 Press Ups
4 sets of 10 Prisoner Squat
4 sets of 10 Chin Up
4 sets of 10 Back Extension

The routine: Notes
Do as close as you can to the number of reps for each set. Choose a weight that you can complete all 10 with but start struggling on the 8th or 9th rep. The last rep should be a real effort. Make sure you go slowly when pushing/pulling/raising/lowering the weight. Try and move the muscle through the complete range of movement and don’t allow inertia or body rocking to assist in the movement.
Notice how we don’t have any abdominal work or bicep curls? The aim here is to lose weight by using our largest muscles and the compound movements will do that. Your biceps assist in many of the exercises also, such as the chest press, bent over row and military press. Your abdominal (”core”) also gets a work out with squats and deadlifts. I’ve never seen any value in sit-ups / crunches or any other ab isolation work so I don’t include any in my program. A sit-up won’t burn many calories either, so it’s almost useless for fat loss.

Aerobic exercise on rest days
If you want to speed up your fat loss then you can do 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise on your non-weight days. This can be running, cycling or any sport (football, tennis, etc). 20-30 minutes is ideal - anymore and you risk a catabolic state which will eat away your lean tissue. I do 30 minutes (6k) on the treadmill on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Conclusion
You should see some definite muscle definition coming through with this program in around four weeks. Just make sure you’re eating and resting well to supplement the plan. Good luck and let me know how you get on!

TerrorFirmer

Seems like a decent routine for me all round. You are hitting most areas pretty well, chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders, back. Personally when I don't have access to the gym and have to resort to my 'mini-gym' upstairs, I would do split like

day a:

Bench
dips
Lateral raises
raises
military press + whatever you call behind your head variation of that

day b:
curls
bent over rows
lying rows
shrugs

Colm_OReilly

www.startingstrength.net/workouts

As a beginner there's no need to split your program, as your progress will be linear (i.e. you should be able to increase the weight every workout). When you start stalling on your lifts then you can move to an intermediate program

Curious about this:

Take a 60 second rest between sets. Try not to leave it any longer otherwise your heart rate will drop and your body will start sending out hormones to repair your tissues which will leave you lethargic and unable to continue effectively.

while there is a correlation (note, not causation) between a 45 second rest and hypertrophy (growth) for strength gains rest periods between sets are usually much longer (3-4 minutes). We've a number of competitive powerlifters here and they take longer than a minute to recover.

To reiterate a point and dispell a myth that just won't die - extended "cardio" sessions will place you in a catabolic state and wear you down. Shorter, intense cardio or interval training will deliver greater results than steady state running. The drawback? You have to put in more intense efforts.

Best of luck,
Col

Hanley

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

while there is a correlation (note, not causation) between a 45 second rest and hypertrophy (growth) for strength gains rest periods between sets are usually much longer (3-4 minutes). We've a number of competitive powerlifters here and they take longer than a minute to recover.

Yeah I was looking at this

To be honest I've taken 8-10 minutes between heavy 3-5 rep squat sets because when you're in full gear with straps up and knees wraps you NEED that time.

rubadub

Forky wrote: »

As I said building muscle isn't my main priority for now (losing weight is) but I want to keep my muscle in check).

By losing weight I presume you really mean losing fat. In which case aiming to build muscle is a great way to lose fat. It will increase your metabolism a lot, as your body uses calories on your nontraining days to build the new muscle, then it takes more calories to maintain the new muscle too. This makes it easier to acheive a calorie deficit while still eating reasonable amounts.

But you could well weigh the same, I was a pretty constant 12stone for ages, still am, yet am getting thinner all the time. Losing fat & adding muscle at the same slow rate.