The one thing that confuses me is what my starting weight on the dumbbells and barbell should be. I know some people say you should put on as much weight as you can lift but I find that to be a vague answer. I've started with 7.5kg on each dumbbell and 20kg on the barbell. Would people agree with this?
It depends on what you want to achieve. If you want to get bigger, you should put as much weight on the dumbbell as you can lift 6 to 10 times. If you want to get tone, put as much weight on the dumbbell as you can lift 15 to 20 times.
Thanks for the reply. My objective is to basically turn as much of my fat into muscle as possible, I'm 6ft2 and weigh 247 pounds at the moment.
I currently have dumbbells that I can lift 6-10 times. So I'm going to keep at it and continue to use them.
There is no arbitrary weight everyone needs to start with, everyone has varying strength levels. However, I would recommend starting with just an Olympic barbell which weighs 20kg and gradually add weight each session as your strength increases.
You're welcome, dean. Did you start with 20kg added to the barbell? That's 40kg of weight in total, assuming it was an Olympic barbell. It also depends on the movement. Compound movements allow heavier loads than isolation movements.
I'm trying to gain muscle so I started lifting 40lb weights. Its just right for me to lift on an day to day basics. I'm currently 5"10 173lbs. I want to lose a little more weight before I focus on building muscles.
