As for the base, I've had several days to work on a plan for this, and have decided on the following.

(Bearing in mind I only have dumbbells, and not a formal gym)

Warm-up and down exercises:
* Basic light stretching
* Leg lifts (side)
* Situps and reverse sit ups over a bench
* Custom kata (multiple lift moves) with light weights

Lower Body. Pseudo-Squats. I can't do squats because I'm too heavy for my knees. But I can:
a) stand up from a sitting position on the edge of my couch.
b) squat to whatever degree and just hold that long as possible.
c) do partial-squats, far down as I can go.
Hope to get to the point of doing real ones eventually. And Calf Raises.

Back/Sides. Good mornings. Seated, if my energy isn't high, standing otherwise. Bent-over Rows and Deadlifts 1 and 2. Sumo style by default, to help build leg adductor strength too, stiff-legged at a slightly lighter weight (as good form is difficult for me on these maybe due to my size). Shrugs and Side-Bends, Shoulder Raise.

Upper body. Presses. Military press (standing), Incline press (incline), Arnold Press (sitting), and Bench Press (lying). And Pullovers.


I'll be doing 5x5 (5 sets of 5 reps ea) to begin with on the weight stuff. Some things, like the squat variants, I'm just going to do "as much as I can" without sharp pain or collapsing-exhaustion, and we'll see how it goes. I may 'switch off' press-styles within those 5 sets, rather than doing 25 of each kind each time.


I still don't know what weight is ideal or even possible for me on these various exercises. Tonight's workout is using 5# so I'm just going to record what I do and how hard it seems to get to the last reps. If it's not very hard then I'll move it to 8#. For calf raises I'm using body weight because I have to hold onto something for balance, and because my body weight seems sufficient at this time. I expect that as I'm just starting out, after a few weeks my weight should increase just from familiarity and the supportive muscles getting woken up.

I need to drive an hour to the city and find some dumbbells that are (a) metal, so my fractional magnetic plates can be used with them, and (b) I'm thinking 12# and 15# which (with the fractionals) would be the next steps from the dumbbells I have (3/5/8/10).

I'm a snob -- weights that aren't metal embarrass me. My coated dumbbells (all that was available when I first bought some) are so uncool.