So, I started going to the gym about a month ago. Doing dumbell curls I started at 10lbs. I tried 50lbs at first.
Mistake!
Sized down until I got to 10lbs. I was looking for the first one I could do 20 reps. Then, as days went on, I kept moving up sizes. I'm currently at 25lbs. I keep wanting to move up to 30lbs, but my body gives way around the 12-15 rep range. So, not quite there yet. But the first 10 reps of 25lbs aren't even hard anymore. It only gets increasingly more difficult after the 10 mark, but more often than not the 15 mark. 15-20 are the hard ones.
But with 30lbs it's hard right from the start.
So, should I be doing the 30lbs reps, even if its less than 20 reps? Or do the 25lbs reps which I can easily do 3/4ths of before it becomes a struggle for the last few reps?
What other lifts are you doing? Do you also have any cardio exercise? I feel like we can give better advice if we get a better idea of what you are doing.
I basically go to the gym and try to kick my own ass. Some days it's all cardio. Some days its all arms. Some days its all legs. Some days it's a mix.
I don't even know the names of the machines. One of them you do a jogging moonwalk. I do that for 15 minutes. Some days I do an exercise bike. They also have this machine where you pull a stick as you sit down, and the whole seat moves backwards.
Then there's this thing that has 2 handles, and the handles are connected to weights which are connected to a steel cable wire. As you push the handles forward you are pushing the steel cable, which in turn lifts the weights which are on the side.On that one I do 20 reps at 55lbs. But some days my arms are too tired, so I bump down to 40lbs.
They also have a ab machine. Turns out I was doing it wrong. You put your knees on this padded seat, and then your elbows in the arm rests on the top with handles. I thought you were supposed to lift with your knees but stablize the left with your arms. Then I saw on the machine NOT to use your arms.
So.....whoops.