Hi everyone.

I'm starting to slooowly add strength training into my routine, little by little. I hear great things about bicep curls and it seems fairly easy to do, I thought I'd start there. I'm using 8 pound weights. I know that's a little much, but I got it for free. Plus I worked all summer as a grocery store cashier and stock person, so my arms are pretty strong right now.

Since I have no idea how many I should do, that's where you guys come in. What would be a good place for a beginner to start? I did 5 sets of 10 today but I don't know if I should start lower or even higher.

Thanks.

It depends on what you want to achieve. For bigger muscle mass, do less reps (8-10) w/ heavier weights. For more definition and toning do more reps (12-15) w/ a lighter weight. If 8 lbs is easy for you to handle and your arms are not feeling fatigued, you can increase the # of repititions, or increase the weight, or both. Form I think is most important. Be sure you're not using your back or momentum. Good luck!!

In my opinion, Zero.

Bicep curls are a small muscle, isolation exercise. Bicep curls will do very little for you in terms of burning calories both during and after a workout. They will build muscle in 1/3 of your arm in a perfect world.

If you want to start with one exercise, start with a squat or a deadlift. These will work just about every muscle in your body and since you are working so many muscles and large muscles, they will burn calories for you both during and after your workout and build and strengthen the muscle throughout your body. These will give you a leaner, stronger, more "tone" body. Bicep curls will give you a little bump on the front of your arm.

If you really want to do bicep curls, that's great. However, don't do them as the entire program, do them as part of an overall program and a minor part at that.

Like winning said, your rep/set schemes are dependent on goals, but since most people who do bicep curls are looking to build bigger biceps because "tone" means fat loss which means that you are looking to create a metabolic debt for which curls are useless, and from a strength point of view, your strength comes primarily from your bigger muscles again leaving biceps curls out of the equation. So, we will assume hypertrophy as the goal.

Find a weight that you can lift for at least 8 reps but no more than 12. And then do 3 to 4 sets. When you can do 12 reps on all sets, increase weight.

Sorry, if this sounds preachy or as if I'm ranting against you. It's nothing personal against you. It's the overuse of the evil bicep curls that I hate. If there was one squat or one deadlift performed in the gym for every bicep curl, you would see a lot more strong and fit people in the gyms of America than there are now.

Depalma, I totally undestand what you're saying. And I appreciate the advice, I'm such a beginner. I just chose bicep curl cause it seems to be the most simple thing, I figured I couldn't mess that up.

Would you recommend any other arm exercises that would perhaps be better?

Also I've thought a long while about doing squats do. What would be a good number to start with? I know doing squats right is more important than doing a lot of bad ones, but I need a number to start moving towards.

Strength training confuses me so much, there's no way to just "google" the exact amount you're supposed to do.

Are you working out at home or at a gym?

If you want to build great arms, I would start with chin-ups. Using the underhand grip, these will really hit your biceps, but will really work your back hard and also work shoulders, core (basically your entire body). Most gyms have some type of assisted pull up machine. If not, you can use giant rubber bands to assist you. Start with setting the assitance to a level that lets you do 8-12 reps. When you can do 12 reps, lower the assistance until you can do body weight.

As for squats. I would start with a "goblet squat". Hold the dumbell like a goblet up to your chest. Really focus on form. Sit back then down. Make sure you weight is on your heels and chest is high. Back should be flat, retaining it's natural arch. Push your knees out while you lower. Try to go to paralell or lower. Depending on your flexibility, you may or may not be able to get to parallel right away with good form. Go down as far as you can go until your back loses it's natural arch. If that is only a 3/4 quarter squat for now, so be it. Start with a weight that will let you do 12-15 reps. I like starting with higher reps on the squats and really concentrating on form. If you are having problems with form, start by wall squats with a stability ball. These are great for learning to sit back.

I'm working out at home. Is there a way to do chin ups at home?

Thanks for the squat advice, I'm really excited to start exercing.

Depalma is really the expert here, but I hate pull ups and don't do them, so I'll suggest a couple of other really good upper body exercises that work lots of muscles in the upper body. (On Depalma's advice, I have given up bicep curls and nonetheless have nice strong, defined bis.)

Dumbbell shoulder press/Military Press: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...lderPress.html

Dumbbell Row: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...ntOverRow.html

Dumbbell Press: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...enchPress.html

As a general rule, you want to be able to do between 8 and 12 reps of 3 sets and you pick your weights based on whether or not you can do that. You should feel pretty tapped out by the last couple of reps of the last set. If not, you need heavier weights.

There are many different types of chinup bars that you can get for home use, some attach to your doorway and can be removed with each use. However, if you are just starting out, you would also need to get one or two different strength jumpstretch bands to use for assistance and you may not want to go through that much expense yet. There are other good compound exercises that will help you. Baffled gave you a few, as well as a links to a great site for exercise ideas.

If you want to hit the biceps more, try the dumbell rows in baffled's link but do them with an underhand grip.

Thanks for all the ideas!

This may seem like a silly question, but does walking build strength in your legs? And muscle? Because I'm walking 2 miles a day now and I swear I feel my legs getting harder.

Or if you're my DH, you just leave the bar there.

If you had been pretty sedentary before hand, it will build some muscle as it is a new load that the body needs to adapt to. As the body adapts to it, you won't see much additional size gain due to walking. In fact, as your body weight goes down, you will actually be reducing the load placed on the muscle meaning that you will be giving it less reason to grow.

The primary overload from walking will be on your cardiovascular system, so you will continue to become more fit as long as you continue to exercise progressively, like walking at a faster pace, longer distance, or on an incline. It will burn calories and help you shed some body fat which will make your muscles feel and look harder and more "tone".

Squats are so good for you...do them. Lunges too.

I am a total beginner so my advice is not that of an expert but from a fellow novice.

As far as pullups at home. I have a pullup bar, you can kind of do assisted pullups with a step stool or if you have enough strength just hold yourself at the top of the bar as long as you can until you can one day eek out one little precious pull up. Persistance and patience are key. I am still hanging there but hanging longer and longer each day.

You can also do horizontal pullups where you are more horizontal. Its a different exercise but still good and a bit easier. If your bar is high up you need something to put your feet on. I use my bathroom sink because my pull up bar is on that door frame.

Push ups are good too. If you can't do the regular kind elevate your upper body by putting your hands on the couch instead of the floor or a firm table or your bed or a stepstool. The higher you go the easier the exercises are.

Keep reading and asking questions and check out stumptuous.com the "iron" section and use the internet to look up videos for any exercises you might like to try.

Yay for you for getting started.

I know I sound like a broken record, but if you haven't discovered Krista Scott Dixon's site, http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php, check it out. The whole site is great, but see especially the sections on starting and training. I believe one of her suggested workouts is for people who lift at home.

If I have a complaint about Krista's site, it's that some of the embedded links to exercise demos are broken. (Krista doesn't sell ads to support the site, and it's just a hobby for her and a free service to us, so I forgive her. ) This site shows form for more exercises than you'll ever need, in handy videos.

Kim

For the truly cheap beginner:
If you don't have a pull-up bar you can lay a (strong) broom or mop across the seats of 2 chairs, lie underneath and pull yourself up. If it's too hard to do that with your legs straight, bend your knees and put your feet flat on the floor, then pull yourself up. If it's too hard to pull yourself up, start at the top and let yourself down.