Weights at Argos for a beginner

Basq

Am a 25 year old lad who weighs just over 10 stone (well.. last time I checked a few months back, I was that weight and I barely add on much weight). I eat very well (and in excess) but must be my metabolism.

My problem isn't my weight (though adding on a few pounds would be welcome) but I need to build up some muscle.

Was gonna pick up some cheap but cheerful dumbbells in Argos.. any recommendations? Quite like these ones simply because I like the idea of having a stand for them in a spare room... but 4.5kg max is quite light, right?

Or should I pick up one of those barbell / dumbbell kits like these?

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

mink_man

i bought 20 kg dumbbells in argos last week!

jdivision

Heatons do some that are worth a look. If you're going to do it, and think it's something you'll stick with might as well get cast iron ones cos then you can just buy some extra weights rather than going out and buying all new kits. You should post your diet in nutrition because what you think is a lot of food may not be and what you're eating might not be the best for putting on muscle. The key thing is to make sure to do your whole upper body. I initially overdeveloped my front to the expense of my back and had a lot of trouble for years afterwards. back at it now but very careful to do lower back.

Edit: you can usually pick em up fairly cheap on adverts.ie

mr roper

would you think of joining a gym as its hard to get motivated to do a proper workout at home well it was for me:)

Khannie

What's your budget like?

squod

basquille wrote: »

Am a 25 year old lad who weighs just over 10 stone (well.. last time I checked a few months back, I was that weight and I barely add on much weight). I eat very well (and in excess) but must be my metabolism.

My problem isn't my weight (though adding on a few pounds would be welcome) but I need to build up some muscle.

Was gonna pick up some cheap but cheerful dumbbells in Argos.. any recommendations? Quite like these ones simply because I like the idea of having a stand for them in a spare room... but 4.5kg max is quite light, right?

Or should I pick up one of those barbell / dumbbell kits like these?

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Have you considered anything like these yokes? Pullup bar, press-up stands,
Sit-up bar and a skipping rope.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3025374/c_1/1|category_root|Sports+and+leisure|14573169/c_2/2|cat_14573169|Home+gym+equipment|14573337/c_3/3|cat_14573337|Fitness+accessories|14573353.htm

Or one of these? Pullup bar yokes.

http://www.jmldirect.com/product.asp?pf_id=I8700&changecurrency=EUR

I reckon you won't outgrow these type things as quick.

MissRibena

I'm dithering about a set of barbell and dumbell weights from argos too. I have the girlie dumbells and the set the OP showed but even the 4.5KGs are not enough for some exercises to get me fully fatigued. I reckon forget about any weights that can't be easily adjusted - it's a totally false economy.

I got the Iron Gym door thing from JML in my Tescos discounted from 36 to 18 euro ... so definitely have a look there first. Mind you, I must be a complete wimp because even following the youtube and sumptuous.com instructions, I'm still a million miles away from a pullup/chinup of any description.

Basq

mink_man wrote: »

i bought 20 kg dumbbells in argos last week!

Can you give me a link to them? Are they vinyl or iron?

jdivision wrote: »

Heatons do some that are worth a look. If you're going to do it, and think it's something you'll stick with might as well get cast iron ones cos then you can just buy some extra weights rather than going out and buying all new kits. You should post your diet in nutrition because what you think is a lot of food may not be and what you're eating might not be the best for putting on muscle. The key thing is to make sure to do your whole upper body. I initially overdeveloped my front to the expense of my back and had a lot of trouble for years afterwards. back at it now but very careful to do lower back.

Edit: you can usually pick em up fairly cheap on adverts.ie

Cheers jdivision. Nearest Heatons is Carrick-on-Shannon and don't know next time I'll be up there.

Diet typically consists of:

- Breakfast - don't regularly eat a breakfast - always have a coffee, and maybe a snack (chocolate brioche) and coffee at 11pm break. If I do have breakfast, it's typically either cereal, bagel or a crumpet.
- Lunch - typically either a sandwich, club sandwich, small breakfast (1 egg, toast, 1 sausage, 1 rasher, 1 hash brown, beans & coffee) or curry chips.
- Dinner - normally chicken kievs / chicken maryland, burger, curry (chicken / prawn) with chips or potatoes and veg (ranges from sweetcorn, broccoli, turnip etc).
- Snack - I pick on snacks in the evening (Haribo, bars). Might have another coffee if I'm tired and a beer or two occassionally.

Cheers for the advice regarding working my whole body.. any links to recommended routines?

mr roper wrote: »

would you think of joining a gym as its hard to get motivated to do a proper workout at home well it was for me:)

Was thinking of it.. but unfortunately I don't think I'd be motivated to go after a day of work. Whereas when the other half is watching her soaps or whatever, I could easily go up into our spare room and work out for a while.

Khannie wrote: »

What's your budget like?

For beginning out (as I'm a big ol' quitter), €50 would typically be my budget for dumbell or barbells.

squod wrote: »

Have you considered anything like these yokes? Pullup bar, press-up stands,
Sit-up bar and a skipping rope.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3025374/c_1/1|category_root|Sports+and+leisure|14573169/c_2/2|cat_14573169|Home+gym+equipment|14573337/c_3/3|cat_14573337|Fitness+accessories|14573353.htm

Or one of these? Pullup bar yokes.

http://www.jmldirect.com/product.asp?pf_id=I8700&changecurrency=EUR

I reckon you won't outgrow these type things as quick.

Never tried either of these.. I thought weights were the safest thing to start off with, but will consider them.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

squod wrote: »

I reckon you won't outgrow these type things as quick.

The problem with all this stuff is precisely that you do outgrow them quick and need to move on to weights.

jdivision

basquille wrote: »

Diet typically consists of:

- Breakfast - don't regularly eat a breakfast - always have a coffee, and maybe a snack (chocolate brioche) and coffee at 11pm break. If I do have breakfast, it's typically either cereal, bagel or a crumpet.
- Lunch - typically either a sandwich, club sandwich, small breakfast (1 egg, toast, 1 sausage, 1 rasher, 1 hash brown, beans & coffee) or curry chips.
- Dinner - normally chicken kievs / chicken maryland, burger, curry (chicken / prawn) with chips or potatoes and veg (ranges from sweetcorn, broccoli, turnip etc).
- Snack - I pick on snacks in the evening (Haribo, bars). Might have another coffee if I'm tired and a beer or two occassionally.

Jaysus you like carbs. Seriously post this in nutrition and diet and look for advice. You need to eat more good fats like olive oil and avocado and more protein. And eat porridge for breakfast. Those changes alone will change your body type in a positive way (I lost 70 pounds in 15 months but it's as easy to put on weight depending on what you eat, and I still drink lots, just switched to Guinness from lager - can't drink as much of it and lower calories per pint). Do you get mood swings and feel tired a lot? (I won't assume that because you have coffee in the evening occasionally, but suspect you must because I was fairly similiar diet-wise and used to have that all the time).
As for routines, others would be best placed to give them. I'm by no means an expert.

squod

Here's a couple of good exercises for people starting off/beginners.

The bent knee push-up, and full push-up,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezf_OtRcAXo

The inverted row, you can change hand position to face your palms
away from you, or toward you and get different results from each.
Use the pull-up bar halfway down the door frame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtNXo-29d3Q

And body weight squats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd_lCvzCPjE


Some of the argos weights also come with excellent work-out charts.

I have this set here:

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3028292/Trail/searchtext%3EBARBELL.htm



And I have to say, I'm fairly pleased with them (though I'm no fitness expert). I don't really use the barbell at all, and tend to stick to the dumbbells (though it's nice to have the barbell incase I ever do decide to use it) but I think they're pretty handy.


Everything they give you (excluding the barbell) comes in a box that's 9(W) x 9(H) x 22(L) inches in size (i actually measured it, that's how bored I am!) so if you hold onto that then they're pretty easy to just throw away once you're done with them and they don't take up much room.



If I were you I'd opt for this set:


http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9003149/Trail/searchtext%3EBARBELL.htm


It wasn't there when I bought mine, but it seems to be identical (a different brand, but I've never heard of any weights being better than others. I doubt they'll develop a 'technical fault' and you'll have to return them :pac: ).

The 'Pro Power' ones also come with 'rubber sleeves' (according the item description) so they seem better than the York ones anyway (the hard plastic can be sometimes uncomfortable when you're using them, and I often wear gloves due to that).



If you're just starting out it seems ideal to me. They're less than €40 so even if you get fed up with them, at least you gave it a shot and it didn't cost you a fortune.


Regarding other posts above, pull up bars as a whole seem to me to be a nightmare thing that anyone could buy just starting out. Again, i'm not the most informed fitness person on the planet, and I can of course only throw out my opinion (everyone's differs) but with a pull up bar, you can only lift one weight, and that weight is you. I don't think many people are going to be able to competently lift their own body weight 8 or 12 times (or ever how many reps you'd do with such equipment) and will either get sick to the death of constantly failing at it, or will end up trying too hard and hurting themselves because of it.


At least with a dumbbell set you can control the weight you're lifting. If it's too heavy, take some weight off, if it's too light, put some more on it. Also with the dumbbell/barbell set you are open to a much wider array of exercises to stop things getting too repetitive. When I first got my set, i actually watched the arms video of the "8 Minute" exercise series. They go through a whole range of different exercises and you can see how they should be performed etc. so it's pretty good.


So with that all said; My recommendation would be that of the 'Pro Power' Dumb/barbell set. I know some people said above you should invest instead in some iron weights so you don't have to buy a new set when you want more weight, but I reckon it'll be quite a while before you want some weight anyway (assuming you stick to it) so I'd still go for the plastic (vynil, whatever it's called) cheap ass ones until you either need more weight or are completely certain you won't be giving up on them.



Again though, as I said already in the post, that's just my opinion on things, but Basquille whatever you do, best of luck with it.

Johnnyjump

Basquille, it would be interesting if you posted one year on to see what progress you make after the effort of using weights etc,.

rubadub

MissRibena wrote: »

I have the girlie dumbells and the set the OP showed but even the 4.5KGs are not enough for some exercises to get me fully fatigued. I reckon forget about any weights that can't be easily adjusted - it's a totally false economy.

They are a false economy, also you rapidly build strength, I remember getting the 20kg adjustable set and thinking I would never get full use of it! now have over 140kg of plates.

MissRibena wrote: »

I got the Iron Gym door thing from JML in my Tescos discounted from 36 to 18 euro ... so definitely have a look there first. Mind you, I must be a complete wimp because even following the youtube and sumptuous.com instructions, I'm still a million miles away from a pullup/chinup of any description.

Pullups are very difficult starting out, especially for women who will naturally have relatively lower upper body strength. In the US marines fitness tests women do not have to do chinups, they just hang. A female poster here who goes into lifting competitions and can lift more than me has said she could not do a pullup. Many people taking up weights are overweight which will not help matters, but the OP is 10 stone so I would recommend one. The chinup bar is my favourite piece of equipment. Very cheap and a great exercise. If you get gymnastic rings you can attach them and do loads more exercises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyRdlhc2bo

Check www.simplefit.org for more basic exercises with just a chinup bar.

basquille wrote: »

Can you give me a link to them? Are they vinyl or iron?

I would get iron ones, the vinyl ones degrade over time, also the bars are usually hollow that come with them, they are not rated to much weight, I have a hollow bar that began to bend over 100kg. The vinyl ones are far more bulky, so you can physically only fit to many plates on the dumbbell handles which is very limiting.