Workout without much weight?

[hjens56]

Hi all. This is my first post here, thanks in advance for the help...

I'm trying to get back into shape after letting myself go for the last little while. I used to be in pretty good shape when I could easily get to a gym on a regular basis; but with a job where I spend too much time and a long commute, its hard to find the time and motivation to fight traffic and the crowds at the gym.

I have somewhat recently bought a set of Bowflex 552 Selecttech dumbbells (the adjustable ones, 5-52.5lbs) and a weight bench for my spare bedroom. I really like the weights and how I can get a pretty decent workout without leaving home or cluttering up the extra room with a ton of gear. The only problem that I'm having is that I'm quickly outgrowing the weight. (A good example is bench press where I'm doing 30+ reps at the maximum 52.5lbs on each dumbbell.)

Do you all have any suggestions for how to tune my workout so that I can continue to improve strength and growth with exercises that require less weight? Maybe some exercises which are more targeted to specific muscles, but together can improve overall strength?

I know that the real solution is to get some heavier weights, but I'm looking for some help while I save up/convince the wife that the spare room should be filled with workout gear. Thanks again!

 

[Gazhole]

Hey, welcome to the forums!

I think everybody who chooses to train at home runs into this problem eventually, and like you said - the real solution is to either buy more weight or fork out for a gym membership. Personally i think the best investment for a home gym has got to be a power-rack, an adjustable bench, and then obviously the weight. With the rack and adjustable bench you can perform pretty much every possible exercise - especially since most racks have a pullup bar attached.

For now though, to make best use of the weight you have right now you might want to look into performing extended negative reps, where you slow down the eccentric portion of each rep to anywhere between 2 seconds and 6 seconds, even. You'll find that performing sets of 10 reps at a regular speed, and performing sets of 10 with a 5 second negative portion will require very different weights!

Supersets and complexes are also a good idea, as they usually make the limiting factor your conditioning rather than your strength. Doing things in straight sets is a lot easier than doing your exercises as circuits.

Hope any of that helps!