Ask HN: Free weights, do you use them?

You are seriously limited by 10kg dumbells and if you lack space then your only option for a real free weight workout is to get a membership to a gym. Even if you could fit in a bench and more weights, you should also have access to a squat rack which you certainly wouldn't have room for.

Start out with the most basic free weight exercises for each of the major muscle groups and then go from there. Also, start out with just the bar or some small weights to get the form correct. If you don't have experience with free weights you might get a trainer to start out with you and check your form. Alternatively you might find an experienced lifting partner. If the place has mirrors you can check out your form that way as well.

Check your progress towards your goals. Those goals will also determine what sort of scheme you end up with. When starting out, you only need to hit the gym a few times per week and probably for about 45 minutes. You don't have to do anything fancy. Once you hit a plateau it's time to change it up, though you need to change things up before you hit that point.

As long as you have good form and you don't get injured then you don't have to worry about getting everything else totally right. You will learn along the way and at first you get the benefit of fast progress even with a less than perfect routine. By the time you hit a plateau then you will be far enough along to figure out how to tweak your routine.

Also, try to turn this into a lifestyle change. Otherwise you will be one of those people who buy a membership and never go. ;)

1) Two 10kg dumbbells will be insufficient in even the short term. The idea is to make progress over time; ie being able to lift more weight for the same number of reps.

2) You need an exercise program built around the compound lifts. That is:

* Deadlifts

* Squats

* Bench Press

* Overhead Press

* Chinups/Pullups

There's quite a few of these around; Stronglifts and Starting Strength are two that come to mind. Find one of them on the internet and stick to it religiously for a few months. Don't try to tweak it yourself.

3) To perform these properly you'll either need to join a gym or get access to the following:

* A 20 kg olympic barbell and plates

* A power rack

* A bench

You'll use the power rack to do the pullups/chinups and protect you while squatting and benching (it's much more vital when you don't have a spotter to help you if you try lifting something too heavy for you).

4) Form is vital. You can do quite a bit of damage to your body with shitty form.

5) Get plenty of rest and healthy food. Diet is probably harder to stick to than working out simply because it takes up so much time.

6) Three full body workouts each week is plenty.

7) Track your progress. It's much easier to stick to something if you can see that you're putting on muscle/losing fat/whatever. Use spreadsheets with weight/weights lifted, photos of your physique over time, the works.

The only thing i could add would be to learn the olympic lifts as well: the snatch, the clean, & the jerk. But maybe only after you've got the lifts in #2, though :)

Also, i second the recommendation of Starting Strength.