First off, I would recommend getting a gym membership rather than buying more weights. I understand you don't have money, but weights are expensive and you'll get a lot more out of a gym membership. If you aren't looking to bulk up a lot but you want to get ripped, you would be amazed at the things you can do with plain old body weight exercises (push ups, crunches, pull ups, dips etc.) You can also incorporate your dumbells and whatever else you have into your body weight exercises to create your own p90x-like work out.
I've been lifting weights/working out/training for about 9 years now. I don't have any formal education on sports science or anything, but there are a few things I've learned from experience. If I had to rank the top three most important aspects of weight lifting, they would go like this: 1.) Good Perfect form. 2.) Variety (muscle confusion.) 3.) Discipline. For number one, think of it like this: You aren't wasting anybody's time but your own by slacking on your form. You aren't getting anything out of your effort if your form sucks. It can really be the difference between amazing results and marginal results, or results and injury. All the average Joe's at the gym have bad form, but if you watch the huge guys, they really focus on doing everything perfect. For number 2, just make sure you don't get stuck in a routine. Keep things interesting. You'll see the p90x guys marketing their product like they invented the concept of muscle confusion, really they've made no revelation there, but they make a good point to emphasize it's importance. Any new motion will cause "muscle confusion" and that will cause it to grow. Always look for new exercises to do. For number 3, you need the discipline to push yourself. That's especially important if you are by yourself. If you have a trainer or a coach, they'll take care of that, if not, it's up to you. That means adding weight when you are ready and not slacking off. I know that's self-explanatory but I see so many people, my friends included, who go to the gym and act lazy, like the simple act of dragging their asses to the gym will wip them into shape.
Diet should probably fit in there somewhere but I never really pay attention to what I eat other than certain supplements, which I would also recommend you look into. Creatine, protein, or some type of a pre-workout supplement would be the best for a beginner.
Whenever somebody asks me for tips about weight lifting, I usually tell them that variety is key. That means variety in every aspect. Varitey in exercise, varitey in weight, variety in number of reps, variety in speed of motion, variety in everything. Anything you can think of to change things up. One of the biggest reasons people plateau is because they get stuck into a routine where they do the same exact workout every time they go to the gym. I love to explore with things when I go to the gym. I go with a certain muscle group in mind that I want to work and I explore with different ranges of motion and different movements to see which one isolates the muscle the best. I think I may have invented a few lifts that way and I've had a lot of success with that.
If you want ideas for body weight exercises (which is what I suspect you wanted,) I know a few. My old football coach taught me a great push up workout, which if you do it religiously everyday, your bench will skyrocket, I gurantee it. It's very straightforward: Start by doing normal pushups. Go until failure and don't cheat on form. When you can't do anymore, drop to your knees and keep going. Go until failure without cheating on form. When you can't do anymore from your knees, go up to a table or desk and keep going from there. Go until failure. When you can't do anymore against a desk, go to a wall. Push off the wall until you can't do anymore. If you can lift your arms above your head after you're done, you did it wrong. Do it everyday and you'll get successively better. It's important that you don't count, that way you don't get stuck in a routine. Just go until you truely can't do anymore. (That's all without rest by the way.)
I feel like I wrote way too much. Feel free to ask for clarification or any other tips, I like talking about this stuff.
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