Hey folks! I usually hang out over at the 20-somethings board, but I just got back into weight lifting this weekend and realized that 1) I really missed it! and 2) there's A LOT I don't know and thought I'd seek out the professionals here for a bit of advice. I used to lift in high school, but just followed the routine the coach assigned for the day...now that I'm trying to get back into it on my own I really don't know what kind of routine to do! I work out with all men at my brother's home gym (small, but VERY nice!), and none of them know what kind of advice to give me because they just read the men's magazines and from what I hear men and women really shouldn't lift the same way, or even do the same types of exercises in some cases. I did find my max bench press yesterday (110 lbs) but otherwise I was just kind of haphazardly going from machine to machine doing random exercises with random weights.
My main goals at this point are to increase my metabolism and tone up, so from what I've heard is that I should be doing lower weights and higher reps...is that right? At the same time, I would like my max to increase to at least 125, as that is my goal weight and it would be nice to say I can bench myself. LOL My old max in high school was 115 but I weighed 112 at the time so that was a pretty cool feeling.
Here are the exercises available to me at my brother's gym:
Bench Press
Incline Bench
Decline Bench
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Tricep Extensions
Lat Pulls
Bicep Curls
Squats
That thing where you go up and down on tiptoes with weight on your shoulders (LOL)
My idea is to try to do 4 sets of 10 reps for each thing, except maybe lat pulls because I heard girls shouldn't do that because it gives them that V shape guys want but girls shouldn't have. I would like to change weights for each set (going in 2.5lb to 5 lb intervals, depending on the exercise)...does that sound like a good plan? If so, where should I start with the weights...maybe just starting with the bars and going up until I reach the point where the last set is pretty tough? Should I be going down in weights or up in weights (for example, starting bench at 60 lbs and ending at 45 or vice versa)? Is it OK to lift weights every day, or should I alternate? I've been riding 3-5 miles on a stationary bike before starting lifting so far to get in a little cardio too...is that still OK? Any ideas/tips/suggestions are very welcome and appreciated!! Thanks!!