Weightlifting; how much weight do I start out at?!


Question: Weightlifting; how much weight do I start out at?
I'm looking to begin lifting weights sometime beginning in March to go along with a college swimming course I'm taking. With both put together, I'm really looking to get myself into shape. I'm not stranger to lifting weights as I've lifted for a few years back in high school, but haven't lifted for a long while. I benched with my neighbors one day during the summer and much to my surprise, I was able to bench press roughly 200 pounds (I weigh 180).

Being a part-time worker and a full time student, I found a workout that utilizes two separate workouts, meant for three days a week (Mon-Wed-Fri). It is as followed:

Workout #1
Bench Press
Lat Pulldowns
Bent Over Rows
Dips / Weighted Dips
Ab workout

Workout #2
Squats / Leg Press
Seated Shoulder Press
Tricep Extensions
Barbell Curls
Ab workout

I'm familiar with all of the workouts, but I'm unsure where to start as far as weight goes. My goal is to not start slamming weights and be benching 300 lbs; instead, I want to keep it casual and methodically build as I go. Benching, which I'm most familiar with, I figured start out at 95 and increase weight by 5-10lbs each time, doing sets of 12-10-8. The rest, just find a comfortable spot and document each workout, increasing as time goes on.

Does this sound like a good start or is there a better approach?

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Bro, you have it all worked out and your approach is quite logical and methodical. Start as light as you'd like, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that you don't want to cause injury by starting off too heavy since you've taken a break from working out. Your goal is to "stress" the muscle groups, not injure them and that means light weights during your first week or so and than go up by 10lbs after that, perhaps only go up by 5lbs if you're working a smaller muscle group. Where you should start? Only someone who was there with you observing you can really answer that but you're intelligent enough to know what feels "too heavy" and what feels way "too light" so go with your gut instinct.




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