Advise on home weight routine

[Spongela]

I am in need of a home weight routine, I cant really afford to pay out on the gym right now, but I have dumbells and barbell with plates that add up to around 150lbs in weight and also a pull up bar. I was having a research of various routines like starting strength, new rules of lifting for women etc, and wondered which one would be the most ideal for this

I'm 5ft 9 and currently at 140lbs and I just really want to pack on some muscle now, well as I best I can with what I can use right now and hopefully at some point I can start lifting heavier at a gym. I have being doing p90x but its to much cardio based and I feel that it helping my fitness but not really helping me with my gains.

[Barbarossa]

Are your bar weights adjustable? How are your pushups/pullups/BW squats/etc?

[Spongela]

Yeah they are adjustable. Pushups are good, my pull ups are pretty weak, something I'm trying to Improve on. I haven't tried back squatting a lot of weight, so far I have tried around 40lbs. The only experience I've had with barbell lifting is when I used to do body pump classes at the gym.

[161803398874989]

Starting Strength, StrongLifts, NRoLfW, doesn't really matter as long as it's compound based in the 3x5 or 5x5 range and most importantly, you stick with it.

[Barbarossa]

Also, you might look into body-weight strength work, then adding weight as appropriate (pullups --> weighted pullups, etc.) You can do a lot more strength work with just your body than people think.

[Crusader]

I'd go with a combination of body weight strength workouts with some weights added where they make sense. Perhaps pushups, pullups, chin-ups, dips can all be done with body weight. Add in a good core strengthening routine to get the lower back and abs. Then use your weights for things like curls, triceps extensions, sumo squats, weighted lunges, etc. to get you more cut. I think a few rounds of this along with some cardio work (running, walking, biking) can easily get you there without a having to ever set foot in the gym.

[Barbarossa]

She needs to get a squat rack before she can curl, bro.

[Pat G]

What are your goals Spongela?

If its strength training and you're comfortable with using the free weights up till you get toy our 150lb limit, start on a program like starting strength or strong lifts. 5x5, 5 main lifts, Squat, Deadlift, Overhead press, Clean & Jerk (or Barbell row) and Bench Press. simple and quick.

Or if you want to head down the path of bodyweight exercises. check out the resource on the blog for the Bodyweight routines or AngryBirds workout.

[Spongela]

Thanks for all the input

My goals are strength training and building muscle, I may be able to have use of a gym now, so will check out that starting strength routine I think.

[Namednoname]

Squat, Deadlift, Pull-up, Bench-Press and Clean and Press. Go Heavy. You'll get stronger quick. Eat Right and you'll definitely put on muscle.

Starting Strength is a good one. Reverse Pyramid Training is worth a try as well. This is how i did it -

First set - Lifting the absolute heaviest weight you can, aim for 6 reps. This is 100% effort. If you can only do 4 reps, then that's good. You know your limit now. If you hit 6 reps, up the weight by 2.5% for the next workout.

Second Set - Drop 10% off of the first set. Aim to do the same amount of reps as first set but + 1.

So an example workout would be:

Deadlifts: Set 1: 4 Reps of x amount of weight.

Set 2: 5 Reps of x -2.5%

Or Set 1: 6 Reps of x

Set 2: 7 Reps of x -2.5% - Next workout add on 2.5%

Hope that all makes sense That's what I did with big compound moves for a while because how intense it was and got pretty good results from it. Starting Strength worked well too, just thought this was worth a mention

[Shoshie]

I've found initial progression in strength training to be much easier with a barbell program that with bodyweight, but I'm also a pretty heavy chick. I was having good luck with a barbell program and then just having fun with some bodyweight stuff when I was at home/taking breaks at work/at a playground next to my garden.

[JanObe]

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/top-posts/

Under the section Free Workout Routines most of these seem to be away from the gym (at home, in a hotel, etc). The beginner's one seems to be broken at the moment (at least it is in my browser, I see the others just fine).