I made a commitment to myself that I would re-start lifting weights regularly, with consistency. See “Questioner/Upholder” from The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin. It has been a hot minute since I’ve done this (for many reasons). My husband agreed to cook dinner on the evenings that I go to the gym, so we still have a home-cooked healthy meal and I don’t have to worry about it.

Lifting Weights is Important to Me.

It makes me feel good, strong, accomplished, and capable. The health benefits of resistance training are many, but here are some of the important ones to me.

• Maintain and Gain Muscle Mass: eats more calories at rest = higher metabolism (less body fat), sucks up glucose improving blood sugar regulation, decreases insulin resistance, you can eat more carbohydrates, (in my opinion) muscle physically looks better on the body (even if covered with fat)
• Increased Bone Density
• Reduced Risk of Injury
• Help to maintain hormonal balance as we age. (HGH, testosterone, fight against estrogen dominance)

Ability to move through life without regular assistance; carry groceries, lifting bags of soil, put heavy things on shelves and get them back down again, pick things up off the floor, open jars, move on to the floor and back up to my feet again, get up and down off the toilet and the list goes on and on. There are daily life activities that many younger people take for granted that as we age and lose muscle mass become difficult. The way out of becoming frail and incapable is lifting weights/resistance training.

Let’s Get a Few Things Straight!

• Women do not have enough testosterone to “get bulky” or “look like a body builder”. The women who carry “big” muscles are those whose job it is to look like that. They have to work really really hard to gain that much muscle and they take supplements to help with that.
• Lifting tiny weights are not going to have the same positive effects (listed above) on your body as lifting a weight that is challenging (aka: heavy – which is relative to each person and changes along the journey).
• YOU CANNOT OUT TRAIN A POOR DIET! (No, I’m not yelling; I’m emphasizing)
• No one in the gym is looking at you. They are looking at themselves.

Cardio isn’t going to achieve what you want or think it will. Cardio will make you look like a smaller flappy version of what you look like right now. If you “lift weights faster” (super-sets and circuits) you don’t need to do traditional cardio.

Things To-Do

• Make sure you get plenty of recovery time between workouts. I think 1 to 2 days in between depending on how sore you are. On recovery days, get blood flow through those muscles. I like to walk, stretch, take hot Epsom Salt baths, and use ARES Sports Rub.
• Make sure you are prioritizing sleep. Sleep is the #1 thing your body needs to heal and recover. If you didn’t get a good night sleep, do not go to the gym, go home and sleep.
• Make sure you are eating nourishing foods and supplementing well. Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides is awesome recovery food (I’m an affiliate). (You cannot out supplement a pour diet.)
• Make sure you are walking every day for at least 30 minutes

NOW TO THE LIFTING

The whole purpose of my post was to tell you what I’m doing! Soooo here goes.

I finally got around to making a commitment to myself that I was going to get back to lifting regularly at the end of January this year. Since it had been a while and I’m notorious for jumping back in full force and being so sore I can’t sit on the toilet or get up from it for that matter, I made a responsible plan to work my way back into lifting without over doing it.

The current plan is 2 days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday is lower body and Thursday is upper body. I’m doing this for 4 to 6 weeks before adding a third workout day.

Side Note: I like to super-set my workouts so that I can get them done faster and it keeps my heart rate up throughout the whole workout to obtain the cardio benefits. A super-set is when you move from exercise to another exercise without a break in between. When starting out I usually can only do one set of each before taking a break. Once my ability increases, I’ll be able to multiple sets of each before taking a break. I’ve colored the text below to show you my groupings for super-sets.

Week 1

Tuesday – Lower Body (2 Sets of 8-10 Reps)

• Warm-up: Revolving Stairs – 10 mins.
• Reverse Lunge – bodyweight
• Wide-Stance Squat – 40 lb dumbbell
• Leg Press – 90, 100, 110 (pounds)
• Step-ups – 10 lb dumbbells
• Glute Bridge – bodyweight
• Plank – 15 secs.
• Stretch

Thursday – Upper Body (2 Sets of 8-10 Reps)

• Warm-up: Assisted Pull-up Machine
• Arnold Press – 15 lb dumbbells (dropped to 10 lbs on second set)
• Y-Press – 10 lb dumbbells (dropped to 5 lbs on second set)
• Rear Delt Fly – 5 lb dumbbells – (Video @ 3:32 sec)
• High Incline Dumbbell Bench Press – 15 lb dumbbells
• Bent Over Row – 30 lb barbell
• Stretch

Week 2

Tuesday – Lower Body (3 Sets of 8-10 Reps)

• Warm-up: Revolving Stairs – 10 mins.
• Reverse Lunge – bodyweight
• Wide-Stance Squat – 40 lb dumbbell
• Leg Press – 90, 100, 110 (pounds)
• Step-ups – bodyweight
• Glute Bridge – bodyweight
• Plank – 15 secs.
• Stretch

Thursday – Upper Body (3 Sets of 8-10 Reps)

• Warm-up: Assisted Pull-up Machine
• Arnold Press – 15 lb dumbbells (dropped to 10 lbs on third set)
• Y-Press – 10 lb dumbbells (dropped to 5 lbs on third set)
• Rear Delt Fly – 5 lb dumbbells
• High Incline Dumbbell Bench Press – 15 lb dumbbells
• Seated Cable Rows – 40 lbs
• Stretch

Week 3

Tuesday – Lower Body (3 Sets of 8-10 Reps – Increase Weight)

• Warm-up: Revolving Stairs – 10 mins.
• Reverse Lunge – bodyweight
• Wide-Stance Squat – 45 lb dumbbell
• Leg Press – 100, 110, 120 (pounds)
• Step-ups – bodyweight
• Hip Thrust – 30 lb barbell
• Plank – 15 secs.
• Stretch

Friday – Upper Body (3 Sets of 8-10 Reps – Add Movements)

I slept poorly on Wednesday night and moved my lifting day to Friday. Which is today!

• Warm-up: Assisted Pull-up Machine
• Arnold Press – 15 lb dumbbells
• Y-Press – 10 lb dumbbells (drop to 5 lbs when needed)
• Front Raise – 10 lb dumbbells (drop to 5 lbs when needed) – (Video @ 1:00 min)
• Rear Delt Fly – 5 lb dumbbells
• High Incline Dumbbell Bench Press – 15 lb dumbbells
• Bent Over Row – 30 lb barbell
• Wide Grip Lat Pull-Down – 40 lbs
  • Or Straight Arm Lat Pull-Down
• Stretch

Week 4 (to maybe 6)

It isn’t here yet, but it will look very similar to the above with increased weight, reps or sets to keep it challenging and progressing as well as preventing my body from adapting (plateauing).

After this 4^th week or maybe after 6 weeks, I’ll continue include different movements into my routine for another 4 to 6 weeks, while still progressing in weight. I’m going to attempt to add in a third day that will focus on 10 – 15 minutes of HIIT training (I prefer sprints) followed by stretching. So, it will be a super short workout, but that is all that is needed (more is not better), because HIIT is super effective for fat loss while maintain muscle mass.

Here are some of my other blog posts that discuss exercise.

• Let’s Talk Exercise
• Exercise: What do to when your schedule gets crazy!
• What’s age have to do with it?!?
• The Trifecta
• Are you applying a band-aid to a mortal wound?
• The Contraption for Better Legs & Glutes
• Body Types

If you have any questions please feel free to comment on this post and I’ll get back with you as soon as I can.