Starting weights for dumbell press/curls

[brian997]

Hey, I am going to be helping two friends of mine, I have the details of the program I am going to start them on already figured out. My only problem is that I don't want to embarrass them by giving them weight that is too heavy.
For an average 19 year old female doing a incline dumbell press, what is a good weight to start them off at that they can get about 10-12 reps? Same question for dumbell curls.
Thanks ladies
-Brian

[freebirdmac]

Who knows. There's no embarrassment involved in finding starting weights. Just pick a weight and go from there. Keep a log or have them keep a log.

[brian997]

I know, but I need a ball park, I litererally have no idea as to the strength of the 19yo female.... I was going to say 20lb dbs for the press, but is that too much?

[AmyInProgress]

Do you know if the girls have done any weight training before? If not, you probably want to start them on around 10lb - better to start light, then they can easily decide if they can handle more but I would think that's a reasonable weight.

[freebirdmac]

Honestly, there's no way to tell you. People can look very weak but be very strong and vice versa. Hand them 10 pound dbs and say it's a warm up for 20 reps. See how they do. Correct their form before loading up the weights. You need to do that anyway.

[Emoore]

Can she do ten good pushups? If not, forget the presses until she can do at least 10 good pushups.

[brian997]

Thanks guys and gals, exactly what I wanted to know

[Mindi911]

listen to freebird there's no way to tell

the best way to do it imo is start light and if it looks like she's able to do it easy then up the weight

keep doing this until she looks like able to push the weight but it's heavy enough to feel like it's working

believe me she'll tell you if you've gone too heavy

[nicoledominique]

Most girls I see start with 10-15 lbs db's for pretty much every exercise. Start there, see where they're at and move up if it's too easy for them.

[analyse_this]

Yeh, just experiment with different weight, but remember FORM.

Make sure they are completing the rep correctly to get the most benefit!
Don't throw them in at the deep in where they may not be working the muscle correctly.

Good luck

[kjocko86]

Ha I m a weakling. For bent over rows i can only do 10 pounds and curls i can do 12 pounds. On the machines i can do much higher but eh im shakey with weights.

[N-cognita]

Originally Posted by Emoore

Can she do ten good pushups? If not, forget the presses until she can do at least 10 good pushups.

Um wouldn't the presses help you build strength to do pushups?

I couldn't even do one before I started doing bench presses and dumbbell presses. I can do a few now.

[ausaryn]

20lbs is a lot if she has never lifted anything especially if she is using proper form and a full range of motion.

Ten would be a good place to start like everyone has said.

[Mindi911]

Originally Posted by N-cognita

Um wouldn't the presses help you build strength to do pushups?

I couldn't even do one before I started doing bench presses and dumbbell presses. I can do a few now.

agreed with this I started doing bench presses the minute I started working out - I only started doing push up's four maybe six months into my training and then it was only easy pushups with knees on floor

now I can do normal pushups no prob's but the whole time I never stopped doing db press because I couldn't do a pushup

and yes I do believe it helped my pushup

Originally Posted by ausaryn

20lbs is a lot if she has never lifted anything especially if she is using proper form and a full range of motion.

Ten would be a good place to start like everyone has said.

I actually started lighter than that - if I recall correctly for db's I started at 4kg's - 8.8 lbs