New here and would really appreciate any and all help

[awlucks]

I've lost 63 pounds since November by counting calories, doing TONS of cardio, and adding in resistance training 1-2x a week as an afterthought (mostly isolation and never really upped the weight). After stumbling across this forum yesterday I realize I made a big mistake. I'm 18, 5'0", and currently weigh 113.6 lbs. I'm not sure what my BF% ... I do have some definition but there is still a good amount of flab. I'm already in the process of altering my macros and I've let up on the cardio as well. I eat clean and own a kitchen scale as well as a bodybugg so I can properly keep track of calories in vs out. The only thing I really need help with is a solid resistance training routine. I've checked out stumptuous and other sites and all the information is making me insane. I don't have access to much equipment other than a pair of dumbells with 2.5 & 7.5 lb plates. I now know that I need a routine based around compound exercise and I also need to lift heavy. Since I'm short on equipment, bodyweight exercises would be practical. So, I think I know what I have to do.. I just don't know how to put it all together and execute it. Sorry if I rambled or looked over a thread that covers this. Could someone please put together a routine for me that will help me toward my fat loss goal? Thank you in advance for your responses! I'm sort of stressing because I've been doing it wrong for months and I don't want to make things worse for my body. :(

[KyleAaron]

You should join a gym so you can get access to their heavy weights. Then do squats, overhead press and barbell rows in one session, and deadlifts, bench press and chinups (assisted if needed) in the next session, then back to the first workout. For each exercise, do one light warm-up set of 20 reps, and three work sets at around 10 reps. Do this 3 sessions a week.

If you can't do that for some reason, then I suggest the following for a home bodyweight workout.

You can begin with:

Squats
Pushups
Prone pullups (lie under seat-high bar, eg broomstick across two chairs, pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar, lower yourself down)
Situps

Find out how many you can do of each (eg, 20 squats, 12 pushups, 8 pullups, 24 situps).

Now take the lowest one and halve that number (eg lowest is pullups 8, so 4). Do that many (eg 4) each day, three sets of each.

Do them in order (eg first squats x4, then pushups x4, then pullups x4, then situps x4, then back to squats x4, etc).

Do this three times a week, with a day in between. On the alternate days, go for a jog for 20-30 minutes.

Next week, do 1 more rep in each set. Keep adding until you get to 30. If at some point you get stuck, drop 2 movements from each set and progress up again (it's like parallel parking, you pull out and come back in at another angle).

When you reach 30 reps, you can use your weights. Drop the reps back down to 10. Put dumbells in your hands by your sides for squats, plates in a backpack on your back for pushups and prone pullups, and held against your upper chest for squats. Each session, increase the reps by 1. When you reach 20 reps with the weight, drop the reps back down to 10 and increase the weight again.

This will give you decent general conditioning. Not anywhere near as quickly and dramatically as heavy work in the gym would, but still decent.

[awlucks]

You should join a gym so you can get access to their heavy weights. Then do squats, overhead press and barbell rows in one session, and deadlifts, bench press and chinups (assisted if needed) in the next session, then back to the first workout. For each exercise, do one light warm-up set of 20 reps, and three work sets at around 10 reps. Do this 3 sessions a week.

If you can't do that for some reason, then I suggest the following for a home bodyweight workout.

You can begin with:

Squats
Pushups
Prone pullups (lie under seat-high bar, eg broomstick across two chairs, pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar, lower yourself down)
Situps

Find out how many you can do of each (eg, 20 squats, 12 pushups, 8 pullups, 24 situps).

Now take the lowest one and halve that number (eg lowest is pullups 8, so 4). Do that many (eg 4) each day, three sets of each.

Do them in order (eg first squats x4, then pushups x4, then pullups x4, then situps x4, then back to squats x4, etc).

Do this three times a week, with a day in between. On the alternate days, go for a jog for 20-30 minutes.

Next week, do 1 more rep in each set. Keep adding until you get to 30. If at some point you get stuck, drop 2 movements from each set and progress up again (it's like parallel parking, you pull out and come back in at another angle).

When you reach 30 reps, you can use your weights. Drop the reps back down to 10. Put dumbells in your hands by your sides for squats, plates in a backpack on your back for pushups and prone pullups, and held against your upper chest for squats. Each session, increase the reps by 1. When you reach 20 reps with the weight, drop the reps back down to 10 and increase the weight again.

This will give you decent general conditioning. Not anywhere near as quickly and dramatically as heavy work in the gym would, but still decent.

Thank you for presenting me with two straightforward routines. I'll be moving back to SD within a month so it would be pointless to get a membership at any gym around here, but I will definitely renew my membership and get my butt to the gym once I'm down there. Thanks again! :)

If anyone else has any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them!

[Tiffany_P]

This website will help you develop a routine:

http://exrx.net/Lists/WorkoutMenu.html