Okay...where to begin?

I have lost 83 pounds over the last year. During my weight loss, I walked on a treadmill 5X a week, alternating walking 3.8 with a 2.0% incline and walking 2.8 with a 13.0% incline for 60 minutes. Now that I am roughly where I want to be fat-loss wise, I would like to start building some muscle.

The incline climbing on the treadmill has really helped my thighs and butt so I want to keep that up. However, I just bought 2 8lb. dumbbells and I would like to begin doing bicep curls, rows, lunges and squats and some shoulder presses. My question is, how do I incorporate all of this into a routine that maximizes the effects of these?

A few things I know...NOT to do cardio first, then weights. You can't build muscle while losing fat. You need to eat enough to fuel muscle repair after weight training. It is important to rest the muscle group you have worked that day for optimal muscle repair.

I am throwing myself at the altar of your expertise. I want to come up with a routine that incorporates muscle building AND cardio AND climbing on the treadmill AND to make sure my muscles get the proper amount of rest after. I want to work out every day, with one rest day per week.

Why can't I figure this out??? Any ideas? I would be most grateful as I really respect what the regulars on this forum have done with their bodies and I am so anxious to get started and work my way up to some serious training with free weights (I know...that will come later!)

Any help would be most appreciated!!! Thank you in advance.

polly i think you should do weight training 3 times weekly and there should be days in between like you can do it mon, wed, fri and do your cardio as you are five time weekly

Tall order for 8# weights.

While I want to honor your goals, my own approach is different: Do something. Anything. If it hurts, quit till it doesn't hurt any more. Don't do so much that it makes me want to quit.

The people in the magazines and videos with visibly cut muscles and the carefully-plotted food and rest schedules are using stacks of weights, not 8# dumbells (although they did start small).

Do a strength routine three days a week, and do your cardio when you can, and make sure you eat right, and in three months or so, look at how you feel and what you look like and hire a personal trainer. If you start getting persistently sore, make an adjustment or get a book and check your form.

You'll know what's going to work after the first two or three workouts. If 8# is kicking your butt, you won't be able to walk after the lunges. In that case, adjust the timing.

Good luck.

Hey Polly!

You'll probably need to get either some adjustable dumbells, or else a few more sets...like 3#'s, 5#'s, 10#'s to start. You can put together a pretty sensible routine using these...start with one set of 10-12 reps until you get a feel for the exercises, and then add a set of each, until you can do 3 sets of 10 reps. Probably not more than 6 to 8 exercises to start. Alot of beginners start off with a full body routine, 2 or 3 times a week.

Do this on alternate days, so you give yourself some recovery time. You can treadmill on the days you're not lifting.

I would strongly urge you to do a little homework, so you can get a better idea of what you should be doing, and how. www.stumptuous.com is an awesome site to get started. Click on the "iron" section, and then "training". Good luck!

Yeah, I realize it's only 8#, but 8 months ago I couldn't even get up the stairs without getting tired out.

I figured I'd start out small and work my way up. I don't like the machines at the gym and I wanted something I could start with at home. Someday I hope to be using stacks of weights instead of dumbbells, but after a lifetime of inactivity and neglect of my body, I'm gonna ease my way into this so I don't do something stupid.

Thanks!

Dane,

Thank you for the advice, and actually, I've been reading stumptuous.com for a while now trying to get my courage up to do SOMETHING. I just e-mailed krista from that site, asking her to send me her dumbbell routines because they are no longer on the site.

Thank you again!

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/phy...cises/index.htm

Hi Polly,
Check out the link above - it might be just what you were thinking of. I'm in the same boat you are - eventually I will go beyond this, but I thought it was a good place to start.

Hi Katelynal!

Thanks for the link. That site is great and the exercises look to be about my speed right now. I love the little instructional pictures that show you the correct form for each exercise!

Thanks