[KatieK]

Hi Everyone,
I am posting this topic here ( rather than in Exercise) as I feel I belong here in the Maintenance section and I am such a beginner at WL.
Since I love cardio, I have decided at this stage to do a combo endurance and HIIT session 3 x a week.
So I do an easy walking warm up and cool down ( 15 min each) and in between do HIIT for 30/32 minutes.
Total is around 60 min. Hey it's so much better than the 1 hour 40/50 minutes I was doing before.
Right now I decided to start at the recommended 6 to 7% of perceived capacity for beginners.
I want to wake up in the morning as I do now thinking "Wow how great, I get to do cardio today." Rather than "Oh no cardio yuck!".
Since I am maintaining well and don't feel I need to lose weight I am giving myself the luxury of building up the intervals more slowly.
I am going up by .1 each day I do a session and then the last interval I go up another .1 sort of to set my body up for the next session day.
I did the squats and deadlifts for the first time yesterday. I am only using my bw right now for the squats but I can go deep because of all my years of doing yoga. And with the deadlifts I am using low weight dumbells so I can get the form down.
Boy do my thighs ( back and front) hurt today. But it is a good feeling hurt. Those leg presses obviously weren't doing anything for me.
But I have a couple of questions.
1. I would like to add lunges --which would be better front or reverse lunges?
2. I am doing Krista's beginner split set where she has you only doing 2 sets. I had been doing 3 sets on the program I did before. Is it better to go to 3 sets first before adding more weight?
I can't imagine ever getting to the place with squats of lifting barbell weights since I have a left shoulder injury that gets activated when I put the 20 lb (?) bar on my back. I will have to use dumbells but I know that you can only go so far with them and I don't have a lot of hand strength. Oh well that is far in the future.
3. For Krista's upper body program she has you doing lat pulldown, shoulder press, one-arm dumbbell row, and chest press. Do you think I need to add a tricep pull down and bicep curl exercise as well?
And again there is the question of do I go to 3 sets before adding more weight?
I am doing 4 ab exercises on both my UB and LB weight lifting days as well.
Thanks in advance for responding.

[Meg]

Katie, please don't be shy about posting in the Exercise forum! Lots more people will see your questions there and you'll get many more responses, from lots of different points of view. Everyone there is really friendly.

Bit I'll go ahead and take a stab at your questions:

1. Lunges: They're a great exercise to add to your program, but I don't think one kind is better than the other. They work almost the identical muscles. Maybe switch them up occasionally to keep things interesting? It's funny, but for some reason I have better balance when I do rear lunges -- not sure why!

2. Two sets with more weight vs three sets: Another six of one/half dozen of the other questions, without a clear-cut answer! I think that I personally would go to three sets and then increase weights, but that's just me. I don't feel like I've done much if I only do two sets of an exercise. Two sets is recommended for beginners, I think primarily to get your body used to the idea of working with weights. Since you were doing three sets before, I'd go back to that lifting scheme and then bump up the weight.

3. Adding specific bi and tri exercises: I don't think that it's necessary for you to add bi and tri exercises, but you certainly can if you have the time. Your biceps will be worked secondarily when you do lat pulldowns and rows and your tri's get worked secondarily with the chest press. But if you want to throw in a bi and tri isolation exercise, it's perfectly OK. I tend to do that myself because I really like a little arm definition.

Everything else you're doing sounds spot on, with abs and intervals. You're doing the right thing by using low weight on squats and deadlifts to get the form right. I started off doing squats with a broomstick until I mastered the form! Yay, Katie -- I know you're going to love your results!

[Mel]

You program sounds great
I of course agree with Meg about the lunges- I mix them up in the same set. Are you doing walking lunges or stationary? Either way you can do a forward-backward if stationary or forward-forward-backward if walking so that the backward is on alternating legs. Keeps you concentrating so hard on the count, that you don't notice the burn!

Mel

[KatieK]

Thanks for your responses Meg and Mel; they are much appreciated!
I'd said to my husband last night that I thought that three sets were the way to go since I had been doing 3 before.
I am going to add in the lunges and will mix them up as you both suggest maybe even doing some of the Bill Pearl straight leg ones as they target the butt as well as the bent knee ones.
I'm also going to add in the tricep and bicep islolation ones ...especially because I am sooooo weak in my arms.
I've felt frustrated because after doing WL for five months I haven't seen that much of an improvement.
And I am so far away from even beginning the NR4LW.
But I think I was doing a lot of the wrong exercises especially using machines for legs.
I woke up this morning kind of down in the dumps about my progress but then I did my UB and abs workout and I was able to increase my reps since the last session --it's just when I haven't done it for years and I am not 30 I can't build muscle as fast as I would like.
Oh well the important thing is to keep consistently doing it which I CAN DO because I have strong will power and dedication to exercising.
And I love it because it makes me feel so GROUNDED.
That's also how I lost the weight... so this is just one more area to practice patience.
I'm hesitant as I said to post in the Exercise section --particularly the WL section as most of the people who post there are so experienced and lift so heavy and have been doing it for years.
Wish there was a section for beginning WL's.
Also I am sorry for not being able to take part in the maintenance chat thread but because I work I just do not have the time to keep up with the pace there.

[Mel]

Katie- please don't be shy about posting in the Weight threads. Asking questions, absorbing from others and sharing your new triumphs and enthusiasm is valuable for all of us! Not everybody has been there for years. And for those of us who have been doing it for years, sometimes is takes a fresh question or a beginner's new found passion to shake us up out of a rut. Please join us!

Mel