UKC

Hello all,
Im keen to grow stronger to counter being a bit over flexible, but lack the confidence to mess with the free weights and have no desire to use machines at the local gym. So, I have a notion that an instructional DVD may be the way forward, since we have a spare room I can workout in.

Does anyone know of a good DVD with bodyweight exercises, or straightforward stuff with free weights or massive beach ball thingy (this being the only equipment I think I can really justify)? Any recommendations? Or ones to avoid?

In reply to goosebump:
try www.myomytv.com loads of workouts on there

In reply to goosebump:

I do bodyrock.tv workouts at home - they're based on high intensity interval training (HIIT), so the workouts are generally 12ish minutes. It works for me, already lost quite a bit of fat and gained strength. Doesn't seem to be doing my climbing any harm either! To find workouts without equipment, you can use this page and filter by 'no equipment':

http://litealloy.com/workouts/tags

This youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ZuzkaLight is brilliant for weekly HIIT workouts (Mr Bodyrock's ex-wife - it's complicated )

In reply to goosebump:

I'll lend you a small child (or two if keen....) - by far the most effective upper body/core workout I've found

In reply to goosebump:

Bodyweight exercises: google 'convict conditioning', there are videos and a book that look interesting, though I've not delved too deeply.

But if you're interested in free weights may I highly recommend
www.stumptuous.com
and
gubernatrix.co.uk
both are women-centric and have more online resources than you can shake a stick at.

In reply to everyone:
I thought this thread had died but no! Thanks all for the replies, I shall be checking them out!

In reply to goosebump: I don't really rate convict conditioning, although it is all bodyweight, I find myself developing golfers elbow using these exercises and believe light dumbells can help you lower the rep (repition) range but increase your strength gains (i.e. do less exercise and get more from it.)

Try researching simple dumbell exercises, look do do 5 reps of each, for 3 sets, with a short break between each set and each exercise. Once you can do 8 reps for 3 sets, increase the weight that you use.

When looking at what exercises, try compound movements that utilise lots of different muscles instead of ones that isolate certain muscle groups. youtube.com/watch?v=sWVs3qC4E3E& this video has some good ideas.

Always warm up first, some nice gentle walking or jogging, sets of 5/10/15/20 crunches/pushups/squats for the first 10 mins before you start picking up weights should help you avoid injury.

Lastly; adequate rest and nutrition are probably as important as whatever exercise you do eventually choose, make sure you get enough, take care, be strong.

oh yeah, my bodybuilding friend suggested I try this http://www.thehourofpower.co.uk/ haven't yet tried it, can't really rate it, but he was impressed.

In reply to goosebump: Go climbing!

In reply to goosebump:

Go to the gym and book in with a good instructor.
They can show you body weight and free weight exercises to help build very specific areas of weakness and balance.

In reply to goosebump:

You could do a lot worse than buy Jim Wendler's book 5/3/1: The Simplest and Most Effective Training System to Increase Raw Strength.

This is about as simple as it gets for building strength.

Avoid the beach ball thingy, get a bar, put some weights on it and lift it off the ground.