Weeks 7 & 8
PreviewExercise, Level 1, Weeks 7 & 8
Goals
- Weight lifting
Weight Training Tips
Congratulations, you have made it to the end of the first level of Pain Free Lifestyle. Hopefully by this point you are being more active, and feeling a little better.
Since you have spent the last six weeks getting into shape, now is the time to add in some weight lifting exercises.
Play Exercise & Stretching Demonstrations
I’m not talking about spending an hour a day, six days a week in a gym pumping heavy iron. All of the exercises that I recommend here, can be done at home, with minimal equipment.
Start out with light weights. If you haven’t exercised in years, then start with no more than a 5-pound dumbbell. If you have been exercising recently, then you can start with a 10-pound dumbbell.
But start out easy, almost too easy. Your body is not used to the exercises, so you will get more sore than what you would expect. You’ll be using muscles that you haven’t used in years. But the soreness shouldn’t be so painful that you can’t walk down the stairs the next day.
Finding the Right Balance
Weightlifting is all about balance. If you do an exercise for your chest, you have to do an exercise for your back. You want to work all the opposing muscles.
The main areas that you want to focus on are: upper back, chest, stomach, low back, hips, front of the legs, and the back of the legs. These are the major muscle groups that get vastly overused. And overuse of these muscles commonly leads to injury and pain.
You want to work all the muscle groups equally. And don’t focus on just 1 area.
The exercises I selected are easy on your body, and easy to stick with.
If they don’t feel right, then don’t do them. Look for an alternative exercise that works the same area.
I recommend starting with 1 set of 10 to 12 repetitions, per exercise.
This means that for each exercise (pec flys, bent rows, etc,) you want to start with doing each 10 to 12 times.
Later on, you’ll start doing two sets of 10 to 12 repetitions each. Then you’ll do 10 to 12 repetitions twice. But for right now, you want to do one set of 10 to 12 repetitions. So 10 to 12 repetitions, once for each exercise.
Remember, you don’t have to go crazy hard. As we age, I feel it is better for us to use lighter weights. The heavier weights we use, the quicker our joints are going to break down.
Even if you stick with 1-2 pound weights, you’ll still be stimulating the muscles, maintaining muscle strength, and preventing injury.
I hope that this helps you to have a Pain Free Day.
