Weight training for Women

Adrienne13

Hi,
I'm a girl, size 8-10 about 9 stone and 5"2. I go to the gym about three times a week normally doing about half hour of cardio and then half hour on weight machines and doing sit ups. What i really want to do is tone up and i heard weight training is the best thing for this. I carry most of my weight on my tummy and upper legs and bum. Any tips on what weight training exercises i can do to see results?

Colm_OReilly

Ideally you want to concentrate on big compound movements like the squat, press, deadlift, clean, push ups, pull ups and dips. If you focus on trying to get stronger the body composition changes will happen.

What's the current diet situation like?

Adrienne13

Thanks for the feedback.
I would normally have cereal (fruit and fibre or porridge) or a cereal bar for breakfast, soup and sandwich for lunch(always brown bread) or even just a sambo, then either pasta or rice dish in the evening with meat & fresh veg. I normally make the sauces etc from scratch. I don't eat cakes or biscuits. Eat chocolate very rarely-definitely wouldn't be eating it day in day out. My weakness foodwise is cheese and i love savoury things like peanuts and popcorn.
The only free weights my current gym has included in my regime are lunges with weights. I will have to google press, deadlift, clean and the rest as i don't know what these are!

TommyKnocker

Hi Adrienne

If you are going to get into compound lifting my advice would be to see if there is a good trainer in your gym who can show you proper technique or book a session with a PT.

It is really important that you get your technique nailed down with these lifts. Start off with light weight until you have perfected your technique, then slowly increase the weights.


Best Regards,

M

Adrienne13

Thanks M.
I have heard that Damien Maher from BFit4life is quite good and was thinking of booking in a session there. Have you ever heard of him?
My gym is quite a small one and they don't have a personal trainer facility really just advice.

TommyKnocker

Hi Adrienne

Yep, I have heard of Damien. He also writes a column in the health section of the Indo.

From what I have heard he gets good results with his clients. Only thing I am not sure about is whether he caters for single visits or whether he expects you to sign up for a defined period of time, which may be expensive.

You won't know till you ask.


Best Regards,

M

Colm_OReilly

would normally have cereal (fruit and fibre or porridge) or a cereal bar for breakfast, soup and sandwich for lunch(always brown bread) or even just a sambo, then either pasta or rice dish in the evening with meat & fresh veg. I normally make the sauces etc from scratch. I don't eat cakes or biscuits. Eat chocolate very rarely-definitely wouldn't be eating it day in day out. My weakness foodwise is cheese and i love savoury things like peanuts and popcorn.
The only free weights my current gym has included in my regime are lunges with weights. I will have to google press, deadlift, clean and the rest as i don't know what these are!

Adrienne,

Lot of carbs in that diet, and very little in the way of protein/healthy fats. I'd make a start here in terms of tightening up diet - www.crossfit.ie/articles/diet/

*Warning - Self Promotion Time* If you'd like, we do Private Training, Group Classes, or in May we've a one day course on the lifts, you can give us a call if you're interested in any of these options.

Colm

Transform

i have worked with and know both damien and colm and can recommend both - i would be more partial to the crossfit guys though.

This is a very general weights program that most women could get working with right away -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIP5y8K1zYg

hope that helps

Joan Fontaine

sorry to hijack the thread but just wondering how many calories I can expect to burn lifting weights?

I can't do any cardio/lower body workouts at the moment because of a knee injury and because of this I'm focusing on my upper body strength.

I put my weight into one of those calorie counter things to see how much 45 minutes of vigourous weightlifting would burn and it says 220 calories. I hope this isn't a stupid question, but would that be 45 minutes non-stop lifting?? because I take a minute break between reps so in actual fact I'm probably doing quite a lot less than this.

Thanks!

PS I love the look of the mini-workout Transform, I might give it a go tomorrow!

Transform

Joan Fontaine wrote: »

sorry to hijack the thread but just wondering how many calories I can expect to burn lifting weights?

I can't do any cardio/lower body workouts at the moment because of a knee injury and because of this I'm focusing on my upper body strength.

I put my weight into one of those calorie counter things to see how much 45 minutes of vigourous weightlifting would burn and it says 220 calories. I hope this isn't a stupid question, but would that be 45 minutes non-stop lifting?? because I take a minute break between reps so in actual fact I'm probably doing quite a lot less than this.

Thanks!

PS I love the look of the mini-workout Transform, I might give it a go tomorrow!

no need to worry about the calories you burn lifting weights as its the post exercise burn thats more important.

Do the workout outlined and hit it hard oh and keep diet on track