I think this is the best way to judge how much you should be lifting. It is a quote by a guy named Dawg, to give credit to the proper person.


I always worked out in men/women gyms until now....I have a small gym in my home. I almost always enjoyed the experience. I think you'll find the majority of people very nice and helpful. Most everyone is there for the purpose of working on their own body, and that is where their focus is, not in judging others. It's not a high school....most of the people in there are friends from having met in the gym, there's not a group of mean girls or guys who make fun of others. Now some people are hard not to make comments on.....but they are after attention generally.
Enjoy the experience, meet some great people, learn some new things.....and get that great body you're wanting. And remember.....wipe the sweat off the equipment when your done.

Yeah - we have some weights at home as well - the only one who uses the pink weights at our house is the 6 year old

galatia - thanks for that. What's your opinion on doing more than 2 reps? I usually work to being able to make 2 set of 10 reps at whatever my next highest weight is, but the hubby says I should shoot for three sets...any opinions? You have the arms I want!!

My basic arm routine is this:

Biceps: 5 sets of 5 reps. alternating db curls.
The weight I use is 30 pound dumbbells. My last work-out the reps. looked like this:
30 lb dumbbells x 7, 6, 6, 4, 4 reps. (5 sets)

Then I'll do a superset of 2 sets of something like:
low pulley curls w/rope
20 x 8, 6 with
close grip pull-ups (assisted)
7, 6

Don't cheat yourself on assisted exercises, the goal is to work the muscle, not just get the rep.

Then for triceps:
Standing rope extensions: 3 sets of 6 reps.
25 x 10, 7, 5
(sometimes I superset these)
bench dips: 3 sets of 8 reps
body weight x 10, 8, 8

Make all your movements slow and controlled. Feel the muscle working. Concentrate on it. During the day, flex your muscles, get to know them how they work and feel. That may sound dumb, but it makes a difference.
I hope this helped. There are as many opinions on "How to do it" as there are people doing it. This isn't the only way. I don't always follow this, but it's a good routine. See what you think.

Galatia, the quote from Dawg was excellent! That's a simple way to figure our what weight to use, and simple is good, as far as I'm concerned!!