I am a female who just turned 48. I am 280lbs, I have restructured my diet so that im eating high protein, low carbs, 1500 cals, and i meal prep for the week. (Full disclosure, i fall off my diet on my days off, but not horribly. Still working on this).
I have a barbel, dumbbell, cap plates, 15lb kettlebell, and just bought a workout bench.
I really want to start lifting, but clueless where to start.
There is a sheet that came with my bench. My question is, should i be doing all the excercises on the sheet every 2 days once, or pick a few, and do a few sets a day? I will include a picture of it if im able to.
What are your macros? Depending on your height you may need to lower the cals even further at some point.
Should be all you need.
My advice is to not go too crazy to start. We don’t want you falling off the wagon by over taxing yourself too soon. IMO you start with (2) days of strength training and (2) days of aerobic / cardio exercise for 45-60 minutes a piece. On your off days try to get a long walk in or something slow steady state type of low impact exercise.
Not at all. Thats just an example of the options to you from your equipment you have. You could do one day lower body and one day upper body for strength training and then the cardio I listed above.
When I have more time I can help you figure something out but I’m hoping some of the females here would have better input than I. My experience in laying out plans for females is limited to a couple people, one of them my wife haha.
Thank you for your reply.
Im 5’6. Walking long distances isn’t a problem for me. I feel my macros should be 50/20/30 (protein, fat, carbs). I will try not to go too crazy at the start, but when i do things, its usually at full steam ahead lol.
If and when you get ‘bit’ by the fitness bug you can certainly up the intensity. Your current weight may hold you back from that so start slow and steady. If you injure yourself, it could put a full stop to your plan so keep that in mind.
At your height I like your calories count. I would reverse the fats and carbs if it were me.
This is good. People underestimate the power of a 3 mile walk. Sure it takes 45-60 minutes versus running but its good for the mind and great for the body. Its a steady state calorie burn with low chance of injury or negative effects to your workout.
Is there anything you like to do thats more fast paced such as a sport like tennis, swimming, etc? IMO starting your cardio aerobic exercise with something like swimming or rowing, eliptical etc that is easy on the knees would be best until some weight is shed.
This may not be the best approach. Not sure it worked last time.
The good news is you haven’t given up and are back! That means you still want it.
I would just start with something simple.
Goblet squats with KB
DB Bench/OHP
Rows
DB Rdls
Lying leg raises
2 days a week
3x10 first week
4x10 second
5x10 third
Then 3 days a week
Then 4 days
Start a training log on here to hold yourself accountable.
Then start learning how to use the barbell correctly. T Nation has videos for just about any kind of exercise you want.
This is truly the only piece of information that matters from your post at this time. The rest of the post is highly secondary. Being honest with yourself is the most important first step. You are not eating 1500 cal a day on average if you fall off.
I can walk 12-13k a day easily. I was looking into tennis recently, and figured i could bounce a ball off a school wall with a raquet when the kids aren’t in school. I also do a lot of bike riding.
Pre pandemic, i dropped down to 235lbs. I was riding my bike to the gym, spending an hour there, biking to the pool, and biking home again.
Lockdown hit, i go up to 290lbs, and by body turns to crap. 2 years later, I’m finally motivated again to get moving. Just figured this time I’ll focus more on strength training.
Thank you for all of your advice and help.
This is great, thank you. I did manage to make it down to 235lbs, and the pandemic hit. After 2 years of feeling like a blob, I’m ready to start again.
I love the T Nation videos, and will check them out.
