Last weekend while carrying in the groceries, I realized that the angle I held the bags at seemed to be working my stomach muscles. And we all know that I wouldn’t care how big I am if I just had a flat stomach and lost the granny arms.
So, I talked my husband into letting me buy two 5 lb barbells to sort of work out with. When I say talked into, I mean “Honey, I want some weights.” Anyway, so this weekend we drove out to KMart and checked out their neoprene coated barbells.
You know, it’s a lot harder to choose weights than you’d think.
At first, 5 lbs seemed too light. It wasn’t doing anything for my muscles. Then I tried 10 lbs. That seemed to light as well at first, but quickly became too heavy. Then I tried 8 pounders, which seemed just fine to me, but as I don’t work out much, I was concerned about injuring myself.
I picked up these little 2 pounders thinking they were kind of cute. I was surprised to find that even though they weighed so little, the grip was smaller, which actually worked my muscles more.
Still, I didn’t want to pay for 4 barbells to do different exercises with, so I finally settled back on the 5 lbs that I originally wanted.
I think I made the right choice. While they indeed are not very heavy, after several minutes of exercises, or even just 1 minute trying to hold them out straight, you feel the weight. Any heavier, and I wouldn’t be able to do these exercises that I think will benefit me most. 2 pounders might do it for me, but I think I’d quickly outgrow them.
We’ll see how it works. I’m trying a lot of new things. Hubby and I are taking short walks after work (very short- about a block), drinking spearmint tea, and using weights to work my muscles better. If we walked farther, I’d have gotten ankle weights, but I don’t think they’d do any good for the short distance we go, and I don’t pick my feet up when on the Gazelle.
We shall see.
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Here’s the key, the lighter the weight you use, the more reps you do. If you do some bicep work with the 5 lb weights, take note of the difference you’ll feel between doing 3 sets of 10 reps and let’s say, 1 minute of continuous movement. The 1 minute of continuous movement is a lot harder and works the muscle more. Good luck!
Thanks very much! I’ve actually been slacking off in using the weights (I keep forgetting I have them), and I needed the reminder to keep going.
I’m no expert on weights, so I can use all the input I get.