Hey everyone, I'm not really a newbie when it comes to working out, i played high school football and lacrosse, and worked with a trainer for a summer in college, but i always had access to a full weight room back then. But now I just have access to free weights and am looking for some suggestions as to what different lifts that I can incorporate into my workouts.


I'm trying to shed some weight, Right now I'm 6'1" or so, and between 235 and 240 lbs, but would love to lose about 20-25 pounds (no time frame). but more than the weight loss, i just want to feel good and healthy. If that means i'm carrying around a bit more weight, so be it.

I have a weight bench, and 300 lbs of weight in plates, and dumbells starting at 15 lbs and going up to 35 lbs.

I'm currently doing:
chest:flat bench, incline bench, chest flies,
Biceps: dumbell bicep curls
Back: back flies, bent over row, sometimes I do pullups (when my shoulder feels good)
Shoulders: front raises, side raises, i avoid military press (it seems to hurt my shoulder) shoulder flies, upright row.
Triceps: kickbacks, dips
I haven't really lifted lower body in years, aside from teh occasional lunges and things like that.

I also have an elliptical, which i try to use for at least 20 minutes before I lift. i generally pair up chest, triceps and shoulders on one day, and back and biceps the next day. I'm really trying to get into the habit of stretching out before and after my workouts.

I'm open to suggestions on how to vary up my workouts, though buying more equipment isn't in my budget at the moment.

Thanks in advance!
Dave

1. - work on your lowerbody.

2. - whats wrong with your shoulder?

3. - come up with a routine you enjoy and stick with it. Whether it be a full body workout, a push/pull split or upper/lower split, or even a body part split.

4. - do your cardio after you lift.

Thanks for your response!

Today I added in some squats with dumbells and some straight leg dead lifts to work the lower body.

I'm honestly not really sure whats wrong with my shoulder. I looked up my symptoms online and it sounded like tendonitis in my right shoulder. It hurt like crazy to raise my arm up over my head, took a little over a month to feel normal again. I'm trying to ease my shoulder back in the the shoulder lifts, so I'm doing really light weight to test it and to get my confidence in my shoulder back.

I was leaning toward changing my cardio to after my lift to see how that felt, i have been doing it before hand for the last few months. though I haven't really been that consistent with my workouts until the last few weeks.

Thanks for your advice!

Just a question which may help scubadhp aswell.

When doing a split routine, say for example I do shoulders/bicepts on one day. How many different exercises should I do for the one body part on that day?

Good job adding Squats and Deadlifts.

About your shoulder - I'd be very cautious. You may even want to see a doctor. It's a good idea to start light, but because you said your shoulder hurt for a month after you raised your arm above your head (I'm assuming it was just your arm without any weights), that leads me to believe you might have an injury.

Cardio after lifting is better because you'll have more energy for your lifts. If you're anything like me, I can run after lifting with no problem. But, if I run first, I have no energy or power to lift.

Beaver - 3-4 exercises per body part seems typical. But, it's been a few years since I've tried a bodypart split.

I think a lot of the lingering shoulder pain I had was mental, I've never had an injury before like that, so I was very hesitant to trust the shoulder. Right now, it feels like new, but I am still being very cautious. I'm starting very light work with the shoulders, but I have full range of motion without any pain, my flexibility has actually increased now that I'm focusing on stretching again.

Are there any other lower body lifts that I should be adding to my leg day? I know compound lifts really good for you, any suggestions of lifts I could do with the equipment that I have already?

I definitely had plenty of energy left to do my cardio after my lifting session yesterday, so I think I'll stick with that going forward.

Thanks for your advice!

You're welcome.

Lunges are a good lower body exercise. There are also a few variations like single-leg squats and stiff-leg deadlifts. It may seem strange to only do 2 lower body exercises, but if you're doing a full body workout, those 2 are plenty.

Focus on compound lifts, Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Shoulder Press and the rest will fall right in line. Without these, mass building will be slow.