<p>We have the rubber-coated ones too up to 20 pounds. We have a barbell and dumbell set with adjustable weights but it’s a pain changing them and they have metal handgrips. The rubber-coated is nicer. My wife uses the under 10 pound weights when she’s doing her toning exercises. I was never able to get her interested in using the machines at the YMCA.</p>
<p>Teri - wow. Are you secretly training for the next Olympics? ;)</p>
<p>I use rubber- coated dumbbells too. Started with 6 lb and quickly realized that they were too light. Nine- pounders kept me busy for a while, and now I use 15 lb ones. It has been a year since I started doing my weights routine regularly, and my “flaps and alierons” (as DH jokingly called my saggy arm skin) are complety gone. I think I’m going to stick with my 15 lb dumbbells for a while.</p>
<p>The rubber coated ones get expensive in the bigger sizes. The 10 pounders are like $28 a pair at WalMart.</p>
<p>This set has two 5 pound bars, four 2.5-lb weights, and four 5-lb weights. It can be configured as two 5 pounders, two 10 pounders, two 15 pounders, or two 20 pounders. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.walmart.com/ip/CAP-Barbell-40lb-Dumbbell-Set-with-Carry-Case/11089974[/url]”>http://www.walmart.com/ip/CAP-Barbell-40lb-Dumbbell-Set-with-Carry-Case/11089974</a></p>
<p>$35 delivered. So for about the price of one larger set of neoprene coated, you can have a set that covers most of the popular larger sizes. You can order larger plates, they take standard one-inch metal plates.</p>
<p>I haven’t really needed heavy weights, because everything I do has been in conjunction with full-body exercises (like squat presses or lunge walks), so I’m gassed from the overall exercise. I need to start bumping up the weights as I get more fit, although I can’t really see needing more than two 20-pounders for this kind of exercise.</p>
<p>Dumbbells get expensive as you start to climb. I think you get to a point where they start selling them by the pound… like $1.20 or more per pound!</p>
<p>When we moved into our house (23 years ago), DH packed up his weights in one of the boxes. The poor movers had to move it. Comment from one of them: “What the hell is in here – weights?”</p>
<p>DH was too embarrassed to say yes.</p>
<p>VH - LOL!!! Has anyone tried shipping weights in one of those USPS flat rate boxes? LOL!</p>
<p>After several bruised toes, DH made me get a set of brightly-colored rubber coated dumbbells :p</p>
<p>This set (or similar ones) is kind of cool, and they do talk about weights being sold by the pound:</p>
<p>[Powerblock</a> | Free Weights | Sport 2.4 | Precor Home Fitness Washington](<a href=“http://precorhomefitness.com/products/Free%20Weights/Powerblock/norange/520]Powerblock”>http://precorhomefitness.com/products/Free%20Weights/Powerblock/norange/520)</p>
<p>(I played with it at the local Precor store, but I’m not in a hurry to get one :))</p>
<p>Today was d-day for me…weigh in after vacation! Was pleasantly surprised that I had only gained a pound! Yay! Should be gone by the end of the week now that I am back to my exercise routine. Still need to see some more movement in the downward trend! Hopefully there will be more than a pound gone by Friday since it is so hot and humid here! I bet I sweat off that extra pound at the gym this morning but I won’t weigh myself until I pop out of bed tomorrow.</p>
<p>iPod nazi suggests a backpack with books as an alternative to a medicine ball or dumbbells for things like squat presses or any other exercise where you can hold a weight with both hands.</p>
<p>Maybe I could squat press the cat? He’d love that!</p>
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<p>nminn:</p>
<p>I hate when the scale goes up (as it did this morning). I’ve come to know when to expect it. Whenever I see a big day to day drop (like a pound or more), I know that’s not real and a correction or plateau will be coming along to even things out.</p>
<p>Hey all, I saw this come through in an email today. I take calcium supplements (like most women). I don’t think this really proves anything but it’s certainly not what was expected!
[Calcium</a> study: Heart disease risk with calcium supplements - latimes.com](<a href=“Calcium supplements increase the risk of heart disease in the elderly, study says”>Calcium supplements increase the risk of heart disease in the elderly, study says)</p>
<p>For some reason, lifting weights does not appeal to me at all. What do you guys think about swimming, yoga, plus occasional band work to keep arms from going to pieces? I don’t really care about being super strong, I just want to look reasonable (I know…not a good attitude but that is the truth…) and basically not be a complete weakling. </p>
<p>Idad I know what you mean about drops in the scale followed by a correction. But I figure every new low is a milestone and even a few days or a week correction, eventually I will get back down there.</p>
<p>Some additional strength is helpful as you get older. When I have an injury in the leg or arm, I usually have to use other limbs to compensate and that’s often the other arm. Having good strength there allows me to do mundane stuff while the bad limb recovers.</p>
<p>Swimming and yoga increase strength in many areas but there are limitations based on body weight for yoga. Added muscle mass is good for boosting the metabolism which can aid in weight loss. If weights aren’t easily available, then I’d go with the other stuff.</p>
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<p>If only I could find the video that was shown by one of our local news channels! In that video, a lady was doing step aerobics of some sorts using her cat as a weight! I can certainly use my kitties - they weigh 12 and 15 pounds :)</p>
<p>MOWC - remember, I’ve done it once now, and only five reps, but I guess it counts.</p>
<p>The difference between the two is which pec muscles are being worked. When you do a flat bench press, you’re mostly engaging the lower pecs. When on an incline, you’re working your upper pecs. The major pecs (upper) run under the breast tissue in women… so now you might understand why it might be more desirable for women to develop the major as opposed to lower.</p>
<p>Also, as I was told, generally people can lift more weight on a flat bench than an inclined. I have done the flat bench press before, but it’s been a while. Mostly he’s had me on the incline.</p>
<p>The key to higher weights is also having developed triceps, deltoids and lats because they’re all involved in the bench press, too. My trainer has been working me hard on those for most of the time I’ve been seeing him, and has just in the last month or so started me on bench pressing. Honestly, on my own I would have never known any of this… to develop the other muscles first before taking on bench pressing, but it all makes sense to me now and seems to be the ‘correct’ way to do it.</p>
<p>toneranger – thanx for the link about calcium. I have to say, though, that stuff like that makes me crazy. What was previously “good” for you is now “bad;” based on some study or other. How’s a body supposed to know what to do?</p>
<p>Got the result of my recent lipid panel today: cholesterol down from 225 to 185, HDL up 3 pts, LDL down 20-something points (can’t recall exact figures), triglycerides down from 165 to 115. Still room for improvement, especially in the HDL/LDL ratio, but huge progress in a mere 3 months!</p>
<p>I had my first appointment with a “complementary medicine” MD, who did some manipulation of my out of whack body and some trigger point work in order to address my pinched nerve/muscle spasm issues. It felt amazing. In three weeks he’s going to add some acupuncture. I can’t wait. Finally something that is really addressing this debilitating pain!</p>
<p>I don’t know, but it seems that all of the smart fitness guys agree that a complete program must include some intensity cardio and some large muscle strength training. The cardio to build aerobic fitness and the large-muscle strength training to maintain lean muscle mass (which declines 1% per year after age 30). The lean muscle mass is crucial for burning calories and for general day-to-day functional fitness.</p>
<p>The strength training doesn’t have to be weight lifting per se. I mean, a push-up is an incredible large muscle strength exercise that burns mega-calories. One of my favorite exercises is a step-press. Right foot on step, dumbbell (or the poor kitty) in left hand at shoulder height, left foot on floor. Step up, pushing off the right foot and driving the weight above your head, then back down to the floor with the left foot, bringing the weight back down to the shoulder. Do 10 or 12 reps on one side, then switch feet and arms for 10 or 12 on the other side. It uses every large muscle in one motion, from the leg through a stiff core, to the shoulder and arm. It works all the muscles, gets you breathing hard, burns a ton of calories, and is the kind of “athletic” motion that pays off directly in everyday life. I dunno if that counts as “weight lifting” or not, but those types of full-body exercises are fantastic.</p>
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<p>Common sense. Balanced diet. Balanced fitness program.</p>
<p>I agree Idad but most of us ladies have been drilled on the importance of taking calcium supplements. Now, it’s like Emily Litella…"Never Mind. "</p>
<p>Here is an interesting development:</p>
<p>[UCLA’s</a> Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center: Pancreatic Cancers Use Fructose, Common in a Western Diet, to Fuel Growth](<a href=“http://www.cancer.ucla.edu/Index.aspx?page=644&recordid=385&returnURL=%2Findex.aspx]UCLA’s”>http://www.cancer.ucla.edu/Index.aspx?page=644&recordid=385&returnURL=%2Findex.aspx)</p>
<p>Well, I’ve dropped soft drinks from my diet (tough because they are free in the office) and most energy drinks. I usually drink water or water with a vitamin pouch. Today I had a grape juice because I was feeling hungry and thirsty.</p>
<p>Last week I dropped about 1.5 pounds. This week so far, about 2. These little mini-vacations definitely throw me off. I only have about 3.5 pounds to lose to meet my goal for the summer which is to lose 20 pounds. We have another function coming up - relatives visiting from abroad. 3.5 pounds in three and a half weeks should be fairly easy to do.</p>
<p>From there, it’s another forty to go and I’m thinking 20 this fall and another 20 this coming spring. Daughter has a course schedule that’s a lot easier for me this fall so I should get at least three good running workouts per week.</p>