Hey Anna:
GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!1
Seriously, who gives a **** whether your dumbells are filled with sand or any other detritus you might find on your local beach! They will work for you, that's what counts.
I have one light pink pair, one dark pink pair, one purple pair, one black pair, and from 8 pounds upwards they are all standard shiny metal, more homogenous looking. Most of the coloured plastic-coated ones are now so battered they are shedding their skins, and my husband regularly uses them in the basement to either jam some contraption open, bang some nails into something, as makedo doorstops, piles them on top of his books to flatten them again! So, my dumbells are not pretty, but they have many uses! And it's the coloured ones that are responsible for me being on this site today! You gotta start somewhere, right?!?!?
Listen, I only started weight training one year ago, last January. At that time I only owned 3, 5 and 8 pound dumbells and that was enough to begin with! Imagine a string bean with a head on top and feet at the bottom, and that was me then. I could only do 3 pounds on triceps exercises, no more than 8 pounds on biceps exercises, and used just the 2 x 8 pounds for all lower body work and for the first few weeks with just Cathe's MIS, I could barely walk afterwards. THen it got easier, especially for the lower body, and I had to go out and invest in heavier dumbells, and that's just where you are now.
I came home with the 10, 12 and 15 pound set and people on the university housing estate where I lived watched me interestedly as I carried them all in my house from the car park, making many trips to get them all in, because they pulled my arms out of their sockets too, and I had had to get the nice man in the shop to help me get them in the car in the first place. He probably wondered why I was buying them since I could barely lift them, but he was polite enough not to say anything!
But you know what, here we are a year later and I am now envisaging that there may come a day in the next year when I might finally need to invest in a pair of 25 pound dumbells for back and bicep work. And I am a would-be stick figure ecto! My body wants to constantly revert to type!
You can do this Anna! And I predict that if you stick with it, you are going to go way past me in your weight training and strength. Betcha! It may take a year, but, where's the fire? Your kids aren't going anywhere soon are they? You can take it nice and slow, building your strength at your own special pace. And wow! wait til you see the changes in your body!
If you don't already own it, get the Pure strength series. Cathe says on PS legs "don't be afraid to go heavy. Heavy weights do nice things for you". And whenever I feel afraid of a heavy weight, I think of that and it encourages me.
I saw from another post you were thinking of getting Body Max and the PS series, if it's a question of money, I'd prioritize the PS series over Body Max any day. If you are currently trying to conquer the CTX series (re: your posts on 10 10 10), and you have two of the new I Series on the way (you see I have been following your posts), getting the PS series will give you more than enought to be getting on with. I think Body Max is pretty vicious, dangerously fast, in my opinion. I got injured doing it. I would personally advise you to get it later down the road perhaps... It's such a tough video, it might put you off, psychologically speaking, and there's no point to that).
Keep us/me posted on your strength gains and progress, love to hear from you here on the forums and I send you a hug to help you get through this month's PMDD. I know how you feel. I have just tried Paxil, Zoloft and the new drug Lexapro (don't know what their equivalents would be on the UK market) to help me get through mine, and my body violently rejected both of them. So, I am left to battle my PMDD every month it strikes on my own. Somewhow, I am actually looking forward to menopause and I am dead envious of my husband being born male!
See ya,
Clare
) but they will do. I think, though next time I will invest in a Reebok chrome dumbell, with interchangeable discs. My arm nearly fell out of its socket when I lifted up a 10 lb dumbell. I am not quite ready for that one yet :-hmmm !