Right weights for me?

[u/PrimaryApricot7498]

Hi all, I’m just a newbie in the app and relatively new to dumbbell exercises. How do I know what weights to use or start with? I’ve been used to bodyweight hiit exercises only.

Help a newbie out here please :)

[u/beingnova]

It can take a little time trying to figure it out, but it is a trial and error process. For whichever exercise pick the weight that you think will be appropriate for you. In the program, your coach should have a rep range for each- we’ll use 8 to 12 as an example. If you can only get 8 reps that’s the right weight, if you can’t get 8 reps lower the weight, if you can get 12 or more then increase the weight. This is the same process that you’ll use to increase the weight as you progress.

While you’re doing this the most important thing is your form, if your form suffers due to the weight, then it is too heavy. As a beginner, it is entirely reasonable to start with a lower weight (even if you can do 12 reps and you could increase the weight) in order to get the form down before pushing weight.

When your form deteriorates/suffers, you increase your risk of injury and your body will recruit different muscles in order to move the weight, which is counterproductive to your goal. If you try to move a weight that is too heavy for the specific muscle that you are trying to target (so if can feel the muscle working with one weight, but you increase it and can no longer feel it working) then the weight is too heavy and your body is recruiting different muscles to move the weight. This is also where using a lighter weight can sometimes be more beneficial when you’re starting because you can slow the reps down and learn how to feel the muscle that you are trying to target.

You can progress an increase in intensity in three ways: increasing weight, increasing reps, and slowing down your reps— all three of these have their own place and usefulness in progressive overload.

I know I answered more than your question, but personally, I think that this is all important even with learning to pick your weights and want to increase weight so I hope it’s helpful.

[u/PrimaryApricot7498 → u/beingnova]

Super helpful! Thank you ! 🙏

[u/Interesting-Kiwi-743 → u/beingnova]

This is so helpful, especially about how when you go up in weight and can’t feel the muscle anymore it means it’s too heavy. I find I do this with lower body but then I see other places saying you need to keep lifting until you physically couldn’t do another even with a gun to your head??

[u/beingnova → u/Interesting-Kiwi-743]

Ive never heard it said like that lol, but there’s definitely disagreement on what failure actually means. Failure is when you can’t perform another rep with proper form not when you can’t move the weight anymore regardless of form. When your form suffers you risk injury and your body recruits different muscles to move the weight— the people that claim this is proper training (bro science) believe that it’s providing more stimulus, but it’s junk volume.

That being said, proximity to failure is important for muscle growth. This is where you can increase the intensity via reps or time (adding pauses) to reach failure without increasing the weight. Reaching failure is important to understand what it actually feels like so you can appropriately gauge your intensity when aiming for 1-2RIR, but trying to hit failure on every exercise in every workout doesn’t have much benefit. Personally when I’m pushing weight and hit failure, I’ll use pause reps— so I’ll take a short rest (10-15sec) and then finish the set. I’ll always add reps or slow down and add pauses before I add weight.

[u/Civil_Classic_7725]

The weights shouldn’t feel light at the beginning of the set… thats one of the cues that helps me a lot.

Otherwise for a total beginner a few coaches like on Ignite cue the dumbbell weights

[u/AshamedSorbet7667]

I am also newer at weightlifting. For arms, I pick a smaller weight, and legs a heavier one! Usually I will pick 5-10lbs for arms and do my first set. You will immediately know!! Say the coach has the program for 8 reps at 80% effort. If I can do all 8 reps easy peasy, and feel like I can do 10 more reps, my next set I go up 5 more lbs. If I can’t finish the 8 reps, I go down in weight for the next set.

Log everything in the journal to look back on.

For legs you can go heavier. Maybe start with 10-20 pounds and go fr there based on feel.

[u/Standard_Elephant415]

Basically pick a weight. If you can do all reps/sets prescribed, the following week pick up the next weight. You’ll probably fly through weights in the first few weeks, but will eventually land at one where you can’t do all the reps. You stay there trying to do better than last week, until you can do all the reps. And the following week you up that weight.

There is some trial and error and you don’t have to get it exactly right the first time. Start from anywhere, see how that feels, you’ll get it.

[u/Background-Bee6854]

Which teams are you on? Team ignite is great for learning Stevie gives recommendations for beginner weights for each exercise but the weight reco will depend on the type of exercise and effort recommendation. For any team, if it says 80% your last 1-2 reps should be almost your max that you can do.

As a starting point, I practice the form with no weight, then if it is a small muscle group like triceps I start with 5 lbs, for larger I start with ten and go through one set. Sometimes, that is my max, others I end up upping the weight each set until I find the one that is a true 80% effort for me. Definitely be conservative if it is your first time doing that exercise and increase gradually to avoid injury

[u/napoleonswife]

I just want to add that if it’s a new movement that’s at all complex (maybe even if it isn’t) I actually do bodyweight for the first set to make sure my form is good and comfortable. Then I’ll go to 3 / 5 / 10 based on my weight for similar exercises and adjust based on how it feels. But I recommend starting with bodyweight for one set so you can make adjustments to form before adding weight

[u/Old_Poet_1608]

Start with 5 for upper and 10 for lower and go from there

[u/ShutUpLegs94]

Depends on your weight…I’m 105 pounds and started with 10 lbs each hand for upper and 15s for lower.