How much weight should I be lifting?

Exercise is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle.  It's tricky though.  When should I exercise?  How should I exercise?  How often should I exercise?  Should I lift?  Should I concentrate on cardio?  What is the right way?  What will benefit me the most? These are questions that I have had and I'm sure many of have had as well.

You can scour the magazine racks for many answers to these questions too.  Unfortunately, you can find many answers that contradict each other.  One thing that I find over and over again is to start out small.  I don't think that I have ever read that you should begin exercising with every ounce of energy you have, take all of the time you have, lift all of the weight you can possibly lift or make your heart go as fast as it can possibly go.  We are always told to start out slow and work our way up to good exercise.  If we start out too fast we risk serious injury and burnout.

I take this advice to heart.  Have I ignored it from time to time?  Of course.  I've had those moments in my life when I decide that today is the day that I get back to exercise and I take things too far.  Most of the time, though, I have resisted the urge to exercise too much.  When I am starting back to my routine again I start small.  I start with 10-20 minutes.  I start with a light exercise that doesn't cause me to faint.  I start with light weights.

I have 3 sets of hand weights.  I purchased them when I started working out to a DVD that included weights in the exercises.  At first I did the DVD without weights at all so I could start small.  Then I went out and purchased a set of small, one-pound hand weights from Walmart.  I used them for a few months before I decided that I was ready to graduate to heavier weights.  The main reason I wanted heavier weights is because the heavier they are, the bigger they are.  One of the exercises on the DVD required me to do push-ups with the weights in my hands.  It was rather difficult to do with one-pound weights because my knuckles dug into the floor.  I purchased 3-pound weights next.  They were heavier (obviously) and a little bigger for my push-ups.  They weren't quite big enough to keep my knuckles off of the ground but it was a little better.

After several more months I purchased 5-pound weights.  Again, my main reason was not the weight but the size.  These were perfect for my push-ups (even though I can't stand push-ups). That DVD I am talking about is just one of the exercise DVD's that I use.  Over the last few years I go between several different DVD's that I own and sometimes just make up my own exercise routines when I am tired of doing what the DVD tells me what to do.  I am currently in one of those phases where I am tired of all of my DVD's.  It's hard to follow them when my kids are awake and interrupting.  Ideally, I would like to wake up before my kids and do my exercises in peace and quiet but Samuel is still not a great sleeper and he wakes up quite early so I get every wink I can.  So it's easier for me right now to just watch the news on TV while doing my arm exercise, sit-ups, leg lifts, marching, etc.  When the kids interrupt me I just keep marching while talking to them or dance around the house with Samuel when he needs my attention.  I set a timer for 30 minutes for my marching/dancing so no matter how many times I am interrupted as long as I keep moving I am exercising for 30 minutes.

I've been using my 3-pound weights for my arm exercising for the last several months.  Even though I had the 5-pound weights and at one time I had used them I knew that my body probably wasn't ready to use them now.  I hadn't used them since before Sammy was born.  I do 4 arm exercises about 4 mornings per week.  After doing them for about 4 weeks I noticed that it wasn't hurting much anymore. It was becoming quite easy to do 3 sets of 15 reps each exercise.  This was a great sign.  It meant that I was getting stronger.  It meant that the exercises were actually working and maybe I could avoid the "bat wings" that seemed to be developing under my arms.  I kept up my arm exercises for another week with my 3-pound weights to be sure that I was ready. Then I increased the weight to 5 pounds.  The exercises were now hurting again.  I have been using those 5 pound weights for about 4 weeks now.  It still hurts me to do my arm exercises.  I can usually do the first set with little problem but when I get towards the end of the second set I really have to try hard to continue.  It doesn't hurt in a way that is crazy, painful.  It hurts in a way that I know I am working my muscles and building them up.  By  the time I get to my third set for each exercise I can't wait to be done.

I am proud of myself for getting to this level.  I don't know if I will eventually have to go out an purchase heavier weights.  I'm perfectly happy with 5 pounds for now.  Who knew that I would be happy to add weight in my life?  I thought I was only trying to lose it?

Have a great day.

Corinna

"The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are His delight." -Proverbs11:1