Weightlifting

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Ok.. I Sort of have a problem - I've wanted weights for a couple years now asked for them for holidays etc but haven't gotten them... So Is their anything at home that I could use as a Substitute?

Start out by doing a lot of push ups, sit ups, pull ups. etc. Anything you can do with out weights. Once you've been doing all those for a while make them harder, for ex. put your feet up on a chair and do push ups.

Eventually you're going to have go get SOME sort of dumbbells (Just don't get ripped off at fitness stores) doing pushups and sit ups are good; but just doing those will lead to poorly defined muscles and a severe imbalance of strength and power. Eventually you'll have to work on the rest of your muscles.Most free weight systems don't cost that much money (you should be able to get them for less than 30 cents a pound) You'll probably want to start off with 20-30 lbs for each hand.

yah thats true... i kind of left the other part out... thanks hawker

No point wasting money on 20-30lb dumbells. You're better off saving and buying good adjustable ones and bit of weight to go with them. If you get 30lb ones you'll be needing heavier ones in two weeks.My advice is either join a gym, or save up $750 (how much I bought all mine for off ebay, including delivery) and buy your own power rack, bench, barbell, dumbells and ~350lb of weight.

Thank you Kmrobins; that is actually what I was trying to get at...my wording was messed up (I just figured he should start out with 60 lbs of plates at this time due to the cost, and then by larger plates as needed)

i dont know what 60 pounds of plates will do if this kid is over 100 pounds. look aorund at garage sales, people are gonna be spring cleaning soon, weight sets are always out there.

30lbs per-arm is a good start for someone who hasn't done this before. You over-looked that, also, you missed the fact that I said TO START, 60 LBS TO STARTThe OP isn't a millionaire, in a couple weeks he'll require more plates and can purchase them as he needs it.

ok but im just saying, 60 pounds with a bar thats probly 15 or so is not alot of weight. and he better lift for his legs too. he doesnt need to be a millionaire but if he gets out of his house there are plenty of weights to be bought.

If he is using dumbbells vs barbells, that makes a diverence^0 lbs of weight on a dumbbell is more than enough for most people to start with it means only exercising one arm at a time or doing tricep presss its fine too. as he neds more weight he can buy plates to fit on the adjustable bars, when he has money for a bench he can add a barbell, til then he atleast can stack up some weight on them and get the plates built up. If he starts doing the shti and people see he is serious about it, he may well start getting some of it for holidays and birthdays and end up with a pretty decent collection for his needs.

Originally Posted By: Hawker2330lbs per-arm is a good start for someone who hasn't done this before. You over-looked that, also, you missed the fact that I said TO START, 60 LBS TO STARTThe OP isn't a millionaire, in a couple weeks he'll require more plates and can purchase them as he needs it. Depending on how big this kid 30lbs might be to much to curl or do certain lifts.

That was what I was thinking. 30lbs for each arm in dumbbells....needing more in 2 weeks as a beginner. I thought I was either extremely weak or they were mixing up the terms.To OP. For dumbbells start out with something 10bs. or less than add more, cause I can almost guarantee that you won't be able to hardly lift 30lb dumbbell much less exercise with it. You could probably make some cheap dumbbells out of gallon milk jugs.

All depends what he's doing. 30lb dumbell curl - Yeah, tough. 30lb dumbell press - Probably a good place to start.30lb bentover DBell row - Easy, very easy.If you want to do a good routine at home you're better buying at least a small set of 100lb.

But wouldnt you agree that not having the cash t go buy a complete set its a decent place to start, not to mention that it shows his parents hes serious about it and can lead to them getting him extra weight and bars and gear fro birthdays adn christmas?Its not ideal, but its better than nothing and not a bad place to begin. you can get a decent work out to start your body on a new road with that amount of weight.Plus if he did get teh adjustable dumbbells, he could stack all 60 lbs on one of them for behind his head tricep press and what not, pending the thickness of the plates and how much his dumbells let him stack on.I have with a start end, spin it on and off and change weights fast and pretty easy, much better than the ones I had years back that you had to use a wrench to tighten or loosen the collars.