Weight lifting is very important to build a nice physique and aid in weight loss and help keep the weight off. “But..but I’m a girl and don’t want to look manly, I don’t want to weight lift!”. Ok Ms. Divapants, are you planning on injecting testosterone into yourself that you’ll end up looking like a man? Most likely not, you won’t start to look like a man, you’ll just get fit. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism is and the more spoons full of Nutella you can shove down your throat. Doesn’t that sound fantastic? Well, it should. I get it though, if you don’t like weightlifting, you can just use cardio and caloric deficit to achieve weight loss. I do believe weight lifting will aid in helping keep the weight you lost off and increasing your metabolism. Or even perform some exercise at home.

I’m going to make this a high level overview of working out. You don’t have to be in the gym 3 or 4 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can elect to do full body workouts 2-3 times a week. You can do an upper and lower body split twice a week.

1. Lower body day: legs. You can throw biceps on this day too to not make your upper body day overwhelming
2. Upper body day: Chest, back, shoulders, triceps

Or you can do a legs/push/pull workout twice a week. What does leg/push/pull entail? Well, here it is:

1. Legs: Workout your legs. I do biceps on this day too
2. Push: Chest, shoulders and triceps
3. Pull: Back

I personally am doing the legs/push/pull right now. I do each day twice a week. That requires me to be at the gym 6 days a week. That’s a lot, I enjoy it though. I think I’ll be switching to an upper/lower body split soon. If you’re a beginner, definitely do not do this. Do a fully body or upper/lower body split.

I also get that gyms aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and it’s intimidating. I remember going in at first and being very self-conscious. It’s ok though, everyone starts somewhere. Maybe try to go around times where it’s not as busy. Most likely, no one is even paying attention to you, everyone is there to do their own thing. You’re not that amazing that everyone is engrossed in your presence (sorry, not sorry). It’s all about starting.

Ideally, you should be working everything out at least twice a week. This will give you the most muscle growth. So for example, if you did the upper and lower body split, do each twice a week (total of 4 days). It’s all about consistency.

Full Body Workout: 2-3x a week
Number	Exercise	Muscles targeted (roughly)	Recommended Sets	Recommended Reps
1 and 2 Perform the curls in between the leg press of squat of choice sets	Leg Press or Squat of choice	Entire lower body and core	3	8-15
	Dumbbell Curls or Easy bar curls	Biceps	3	8-15
3	Deadlift of choice (conventional/sumo/Romanian deadlifts/Stiff leg deadlifts)	Back and Legs and core	3	8-15
4 and 5 Perform your lat exercise in between your chest exercise	Chest press of choice (Dumbbell Press, Barbell Bench Press/Any chest press machine)	Entire Chest	3	8-15
	Lat Pull Down or Dumbbell Pullover	Back	3	8-15
6 and 7 Perform incline chest exercise in between row exercise sets	Row (chest supported row or cable row or dumbbell row)	Back	3	8-15
	Incline chest (Incline dumbbell press/Incline barbell press/incline machine press)	Focus on upper Chest	3	8-15
8 and 9 Perform calf exercise in between shoulder exercise sets	Shoulder Press (Using a barbell, or dumbbells or a shoulder press machine)	Entire shoulder	3	8-15
	Seated calf raises or standing calf raises or calf press	Calves	3	8-15
10 and 11 Perform lateral should exercise in between tricep rope pull down sets	Tricep rope pull down or machine dip	Triceps	3	8-15
	Side lateral or Reverse Pec dec	Rear shoulder and trapezius muscle	3	8-15

Now I’ll go through an example workout. This is only an example workout, there’s many more online. You do can additional research about whichever regimen works best for you. Personally I did a programming called “Starting Strength” when I first started. You can search that up online. If you want to do a beginner fully body split here it is, I would I would have done this over starting strength when starting. Prior to this workout, warm up with 5-10 minutes of your choice of cardio. This will help prevent injuries.

That’s all for this week, if you’re interested in lifting. You don’t HAVE to do any specific exercises, choose the ones you like. A general rule is, if you do at least 10-20 sets per body part per week that should be enough. As a beginner, if you’re closer to the 10 sets, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s plenty of resources online too. There are great youtubers who go through many workouts. If you guys want, I can list some of my favorites. Or you can just ask me questions, I’d be happy to answer.

Key Points

1. Weightlifting (or just building muscle) is important. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism
2. You can choose between many workout splits. Choose one that you enjoy the most and works for you
3. Do 5-10 minutes of cardio prior to lifting to warm your body up. This will help prevent injuries
4. Working out each body part 2 times a week if ideal for a good amount of muscle growth
5. Everyone starts somewhere, don’t be afraid to get started. All those fit people in the gym, started somewhere

Disclaimer: I’m not your doctor. Please consult your doctor, nutritionist or any health care professional before making any changes in your own lifestyle. These blogs are just me sharing my knowledge for you reading entertainment purpose only. None of this is medical advice.

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