6 Months of Weight Training

I am very new to weight training. I've been doing some arms with dumbbells and machines for years but never got serious about full body. Now in my 40's I realise how important lifting weights is as we get older and we start to lose muscle tone and bone density. I did a bit of research and found a fantastic YouTuber, Cheryl Coulombe or "Lift with Cee" (@ceelifts on IG). She targets exercises for over 40's and since she started lifting in her 40's and at 59 looked absolutely incredible and I was sold to at least try out her workouts. My biggest fear was not knowing where to start or injuring myself further.

So having said that, this is my 6 month account of doing her weight training videos. I have a lower back injury so I started with core exercises and followed her beginner lifting videos for the entire 6 months, deciding I would only start a new workout after the 6months. I could increase the weights if I felt like I need it though. She has some great introduction videos here too. I love that she talks about "fat loss" over "weight loss" since as we gain muscle we may not see a big difference on the scales but certainly will in how our body looks, feels and burns energy.

This is what my workouts looked like;

7 days a week - 8,000+ steps (Cardio), moved to 10,000 steps a day in October

2 days a week; 

• July - Started with Beginners lifting 
• August - Moved to Full Body Workout 30mins  (these are great when I don't have time for the full 60mins)
• September-December - Moved to 30min Upper Body + 30min Lower Body 

In the beginning I added in 3-5 days a week - 10 min Core exercises (Core) because my back needed the core strength. Probably for a couple of months I did this.

And here are the results by month (July 10 - Starting stats);

	July 10	Aug 8	Sept 30	Oct 23	Nov 10	Dec 10	Jan 9
Weight	146.5lbs	147lbs	146lbs	145lbs	146lbs	145lbs	144lbs
Biceps	12"	11.5"	11.5"	11.5"	12"	12"	12”
Chest	38"	37.5"	37.5"	37"	38"	37"	38”
Waist	35"	35.5"	35.5"	33.5"	34"	34.5"	34”
Hips	40.5"	41"	40.5"	39"	40"	39"	39”
Thighs	22"	22.5"	22"	21.5"	22”	22.5”		22"

So it's December and I have to say I feel amazing. As you can see from the results on paper though it doesn't seem like a dramatic change and with not much difference on the scales I see how one would get discouraged but the weight shifts from fat to muscle. I want to eat more and yet and not gaining weight, I definitely see the changes in my body, how my clothes fit, how my muscle is developing and how strong I feel. Bonus is my back pain has been diminished quite a bit. I'll do a 12month progress post but I'm definitely sticking with it.  People have been noticing and commenting on how good I look. I definitely noticed the saddlebags diminished and my butt is higher from all the squats LOL

Toward the end I found her "30-Min Full Body Workouts" the best option, three times a week ideally. Consistency is key and giving yourself a realistic goal like 6 months. I've even upped my weight a couple of times and am closer to the weights she uses in the videos.