Weight Machines to Free Weights

[missjazzyfe]

Does anyone have any tips for a beginner trying to move from one to the other?

I know about squats with weights and the typical bicep curls and stuff, but I'm pretty much a novice trying to expand my knowledge. Anything will be appreciated.

[Eurydice]

Read Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe. Everything you always wanted to know about barbell exercises and then 600 more pages.

A lot of people, me included, also like New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's a bit more beginner-friendly, too.

[airen123]

Bicep curls are an isolated exercise...focus on strength moves that engage more than one muscle. Once you get used to those, add in isolated moves...

Center your workout around push, pull, squat, deadlift, plank. Pushups are great, even better to bench press (these are "push") pulls-introverted rows, pullups, squat/dl with dumbells if you aren't ready for the bar...plank-maybe add in hanging lifts.

I change up my routine a little bit each time, to make sure I'm hitting all the muscles in my body, but I've found my favorites are the overhead press, side and front raises, chest flyes, pushups, and hanging lifts. You can google all these to see how they're done.

[missjazzyfe]

I've heard that compound exercises are really good too? But should I start with those are start simple?

[airen123]

The exercises I named are compound exercises The problem with "starting simple" with bicep curls, you're kind of wasting your time...

Seriously, New Rules of Lifting for Women are highly recommended by a lot of women here if you want to drop the dough. Have you read any of Steve's articles on lifting?

[missjazzyfe]

I'm looking at the book on Amazon as we speak, and the reviews overall are very good for it so I'm probably going to order it today.

And I've dabbled in them. I just knew that after I read about the damage weight machines can do I needed to get away from them.

[nickls]

Start by learning how to do squats and bench press, dumbbell press, or pushups first. Compound exercises doesn't mean they are more complicated, it means that they work more muscle groups. Squats and bench press (or push-ups) are great because they hit so many muscles in your lower and upper body, respectively.

You can start doing these as bodyweight, dumbbell, or barbell exercises depending on your gym equipment and what you are going for.

If you are looking for a routine to start with, besides the books recommended above, there is obviously the NF Strength guide and I'm sure he's outlind a number of routines in blog posts.

[bigm141414]

SS is the best intro book you can get as far as form. And really freeweights are very simple. Squats, dead lifts, bench press, over head press, and rows will get you a very good base of strength and some great results.

[Guest Snake McClain]

you basically have your answer but let me state that there are a million resources for guidance.

new rules seems to be mighty popular. Starting Strength and Strong lift are practically the same. I can't speak for the NROLFW but i know the others teach this. Deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, pullups. They tell you to start with JUST THE BAR to learn form. this is hardest with deadlifts because the bar doesn't sit off the ground at the right place so form will not be right. so either be able to deadlift 135lbs to start or find bumper plates. I'm talking alot and probably sounding confusing.

but compound exercises are anything that i just mentioned. they use the whole body to exercise. challenging and must be done properly to prevent injury.

okay i'm shutting up now.

p.s. I lied. I am not shutting up. there are many dumbell exercises that can be done to get great effects as well. they also use compound movements. good stuff. just research.

[missjazzyfe]

A lot of what you said sounded confusing, but I be it is really useful.

A lot of what everyone is saying is kind of both, but I'm going to go google some of the terms and try to educate myself some.

[cline]

I highly recommend working on form with bodyweight squats, pushups, and even deadlifts (or romanian deadlifts) without weight. You'll activate muscles you never knew you had. Then graduate to light dumbbells, etc. It took me a while to switch off the machines my first trainer had me doing to dumbbells. Now I'm using barbells, etc.

I love Starting Strength, but it can be intimidating. I love the deep discussion behind everything. I read it regularly and repeatedly. New Rules is also good (I like SS better but that's just me). Key is to watch form on these things and don't start heavy. Learn form so you don't get hurt. Ask a ton of questions and video tape yourself to see what you are doing. People here have a ton of wisdom and great feedback (is like thousands of personal trainers).

Did I say get form right? It's really hard to do. When you learn correct form, you'll love lifting even more than you do now.

Also, I ask tons of questions and read anything and everything. I watch tons of videos (mmmmmm.... nerdy). Mark Rippetoe videos can be found for just about anything. He trains men and women and shows work with lighter or heavier weights.

[Guest Snake McClain]

A lot of what you said sounded confusing, but I be it is really useful.

A lot of what everyone is saying is kind of both, but I'm going to go google some of the terms and try to educate myself some.

curious what was confusing? I can try to explain it in a new way if you tell me.

[missjazzyfe]

Deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, pullups. They tell you to start with JUST THE BAR to learn form. this is hardest with deadlifts because the bar doesn't sit off the ground at the right place so form will not be right. so either be able to deadlift 135lbs to start or find bumper plates.

I'm a total novice. I'm getting ready to youtube/google videos to see people doing these things so hopefully that will help.

Also Cline, I'm trying to get better about talking to strangers at the gym but I'm rather shy so it's a little hard for me. I almost never see girls lifting weights when I go and the gents I see are either angry looking or they're in a group which makes it worse. I was thinking about getting a trainer for a few sessions for help with form and overall motivation though, if I could find one at a decent price who was nice.

[spatzcat]

I started with 10's on the sides, and it worked just fine.

[bgvanbur]

I started with 10's on the sides, and it worked just fine.

I also started with 10s on the side. I used a light weight since I wanted to make sure I got my form down first.

[Crizomaticus]

I know how you feel, moving into the free weights area is intimidating. It's like when you were a kid and finally getting into the deep end of the pool, then you finally realized it's awesome and the shallow end is lame.

Just realize nobody is judging you in there. The guys that look like they live there respect you for doing it (granted there are douchebags in every facet of life), and everyone else feels just like you. People only look angry there because well, nobody lifts with a smile. When people get tired, they look angry for some reason lol.

The best way to learn is to just start doing it. Watch some videos on form. Have a plan on what you're going to do before you get to the gym. Don't wander around aimlessly. If it helps, go during non-peak hours. Start with an empty bar to focus on form. You'll be moving less weight than you did on machine. Don't worry about it.

There are countless topics on plans, so I won't bother recommending a plan to follow.

[cline]

Start w just the barbell and video yourself. Post on here in rebel base camp or warrior room and ask for help. People here will help.

If you've never dead lifted before start with PVC pipe. Seriously.

Sorry if I missed it, but how did you pick 135#?

[missjazzyfe]

I didn't pick 135 anything?

And thank you guys for all the wonderful suggestions. When I went to the gym tonight I worked up the courage to go over to the weights and kind of start mimicking what I saw other people doing. I'm going to do more research tomorrow at work and go out after work and buy one of those books mentioned so I can form my own work out pattern. And I'll try to video myself doing things so I can post and see if my form is correct.

[Zorch]

Others covered the topic quite well, but I'll highlight one point again, just for emphasis:

Focus on learning proper form. If you have someone you trust that can critique your form, even better (or, failing that, prop up your smartphone, take a video of yourself, and ask folks on NF for a critique). Proper form will minimize your risk of injury, and also maximize your returns in terms of strength gains. I can't stress this one enough. Don't worry too much about the amount of weight on the bar. I've swallowed my pride and gone back to lighter weights on my squats on multiple occasions, just to work on my depth/form. The long-term payoff is worth it.

[spatzcat]

I also started with 10s on the side. I used a light weight since I wanted to make sure I got my form down first.

I was just that weak.

[Guest Snake McClain]

I'll say that when i started i started with only...yeah 10's on each end. just to get started and strengthen my back (i used to have a pretty awful injury) and it worked..sort of. but the form was wrong. maybe i'ts because i'm 6'2 and had to adjust my body in weird ways to get that off the ground and hold it right but i've seen a ton of resources say to get bumper plates so you can use correct form from the beginning even with light weight.

so the 135lbs came from if you can put a 45 on each end. not saying you should be able to and you're sucky if you don't. just if you can. but use what you can. apparently it's working for others.

[cline]

Aha! I misread posts. Snake was talking 135#. Doh!

Def just practice first. Just form. Then do dumbbells. New rules might be a realy good starting place.

W dead lifting, it's really key to get theses legs and butt muscles fired up so you don't hurt your back.

[morethanjustamom]

I started deadlifting with 10s on each end too...it cleared my feet just fine.

I'm still not up to 135# now, and I've been working on it about a month, so you can definitely start out with whatever weight gets the bar high enough.

My mom just started deadlifts, and she's using one of those barbells with permanent weights, a 20lb one.

[ducatisteve]

I'm a total novice. I'm getting ready to youtube/google videos to see people doing these things so hopefully that will help.

Also Cline, I'm trying to get better about talking to strangers at the gym but I'm rather shy so it's a little hard for me. I almost never see girls lifting weights when I go and the gents I see are either angry looking or they're in a group which makes it worse. I was thinking about getting a trainer for a few sessions for help with form and overall motivation though, if I could find one at a decent price who was nice.

I'm the same in that I don't always feel comfortable initiating conversation at the gym unless it's with an employee. I know some folks just want to be left alone (although I have met some very nice people through conversation that just came up). I think the idea of a personal trainer that will instill the fundamentals into you is an excellent idea and would totally be worth the money. Having good form means you'll see much better progress and dramatically lower your chance of injury.

[missjazzyfe]

My boyfriend is going with me this weekend to help me with form and weights in case I bite off more than I can chew (which is totally not the goal, but accidents happen). I'm gonna make him watch the videos with me too so he can help monitor my form and if he isn't really helping at the very least he can record me doing it so I can get tips.

Thanks guys.