Weight training for complete noobs?

Hong Kong Yanpep International
All these suggestions are great!

I have a question for those who have been weight training for a long time...

I swam competitively for years, so I had a coach to create workouts and guide me. Strength training is another beast.

I gained weight due to life stuff, and couldn't lose it. GLP-1s helped me drop 65lbs, but I've stalled for months (on the highest Tirz dose). I want to build strength and tone up. I think it might break the stall. I want to lose another 20-25lbs, but strength matters more, especially my core.

I get ridiculously sore after just one or two workouts! 😩

Everything I've read says not to lift when sore because muscles are rebuilding. If soreness lasts 2-4 days, what do I do? (I foam roll, massage gun, drink water).

Do I just lift through it and it'll stop eventually?

Consistency is key, so how do I stay consistent when this happens?
Thanks!
 
There are some peptides that supposedly help with muscle soreness after workouts. I don't recall the names, but look into it.

When I start lifting, I use low weights. Lower than I think I need. Every week or so, I add around 1-2 lbs until I reach a good challenging weight. It gradually gets muscles used to lifting. You'll still be sore, but less so. I lift 3 times a week and my program looks like this:

Sunday - rest
Monday - upper body
Tuesday - lower body
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - rest
Friday - full body/core
Saturday - rest

Spacing it out gives you recovery days. And always stretch! I always stretch.
 
But that requires you have expensive equipment and a power cage. I wouldn't let a 5-year old do those exercises unsupervised. At age 55 with moderate to severe spinal osteoarthritis and zero experience doing a power clean, there's no way I'd attempt that myself. I spoke with Andy Baker (co-author with Mark Rippetoe) on Facebook, and he said he doesn't have his clients (mostly not teenagers) doing power cleans.
 
I've weight trained for years, with some breaks. Soreness is worst coming back from a break after being trained. You can mess yourself up when your muscles remember the moves, but aren't used to the workload.

I deal with soreness by working through it. Lifting usually makes me feel better; it warms up the muscles and gets blood moving. It's good to take 48 hours between sessions to recover, but don't wait until you're not sore. Go lighter or do less volume if you want, but it's not required.

One time after a break, I started with light weights (empty bar) and did 3x10 every session, adding 10 lbs each time. That was probably too fast, but I still improved rapidly and didn't get too sore.
 
I saw a thread on Reddit about someone feeling confident enough to finally join a gym after losing weight. It said they focused on diet and a GLP-1 for most of their journey. It's sad that people feel judged for their appearance at the gym. I wish gyms would ban video recording. Huge success to that person, inspiring!
 
There was another thread about a person doing two rounds of 75 HARD during their weightloss journey on a GLP-1. Sounds intense! They posted some impressive before/afters. I wonder how they balanced that level of exercise with the appetite suppression from the meds? Pretty inspiring stuff.
 
Wes_2002 said:
I would love to try Pilates someday! God they are expensive though 😅
Click to expand...

I've found some good online Pilates instructors that are way cheaper than classes! It's not quite the same personal attention, but it's better than nothing. Plus, you can do it anytime.
 
That comment could've been two sentences lol. Fair point though - seven in the morning and rambling. Anyway yes, some people respond that way. But this thread is about relying on side effects as motivation. That's unhealthy. The OP needs to dig deeper into why nausea feels necessary.
 
One of his peptide videos really grabbed my attention and led me to this community! I'm into his comedic take on fitness and resistance training.
 
Walking and cycling first with RA - both build the cardiovascular base without grip and joint load. Resistance bands fill the strength gap when hands allow.
 
You're doing it all right but something's missing - diet, exercise, GLP protocol. Have you thought about TRT? Recovery is key. Might be that, not more work, just faster healing.
 
For perimenopause-era weight training, the big three movements - squat, hinge, and press - give the most return on time without requiring gym knowledge. Starting with bodyweight or light resistance at 2x per week is enough to preserve muscle while GLP-1 handles the deficit. The protein range the source mentions tracks; aim for the higher end of 1g per pound of target bodyweight during active loss to offset the muscle-sparing problem.
 
PT for disc disease is a good entry point for the gym - your physio has likely mapped the movements that are safe and the ones to avoid. Most people coming from PT are surprised how quickly they progress once loaded properly. The starting-from-weakness phase lasts a few months and then things compound quickly.
 
I hit a wall after 8 months at max Wegovy, then switched to Mounjaro with no luck either. Real change only came when I switched my routine - ditched high-intensity for heavier weights and more walking. That worked for about a year with steady progress, but now I'm plateaued again and thinking about pivoting back.
 
the standing-only protocol for joint-sensitive beginners is genuinely underrated - most beginner programs front-load floor exercises that are mechanically difficult to get in and out of when mobility is limited, while standing sequences do the same compound movements without that barrier. 10-15 minute daily sessions compound significantly over weeks when the format is sustainable
 
The 10-15 minute standing workout model is exactly the right entry point for late perimenopause where joint tolerance is the constraint - standing resistance movements load the bones without the high-impact of cardio and the floor work of traditional strength training. starting two or three sessions weekly and building from there is the right progression regardless of starting fitness level; the lazy gene framing usually means undertrained, which is not the same problem
 
the 3x per week strength recommendation is solid for someone who is new to resistance training and already doing cardio - the frequency is enough to produce muscle adaptation and metabolic benefit without requiring the recovery capacity of daily training. the movement-easier-in-later-life framing is the one that tends to stick as a long-term motivator once the weight loss target is reached, since the strength benefit persists independently of the scale number
 
Body weight to get movement patterns down and then progressing quickly is the exact framework. The proprioception piece is real - once your body knows what the patterns feel like, loading them is way more effective and way safer. How long before the progressive overload starts is usually a matter of weeks not months.
 
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