The short answer is this: if you’re eating properly (getting enough calories and eating high-quality food), working out properly for your goals, getting enough water and rest… well you should see results

If something isn’t working, then something in your plan is off. I can’t know what that is without doing a full one-on-one consult with you so your best bet is to find someone local who is a professional and can get you on track or keep learning and researching into healthy ways to live.

Great question… for that exercise just hold it for as long as you can with proper form. Lets say you can hold it for 20 seconds. That is one set. Hold it again for as long as you can and that is set 2. Then finish with doing it a 3rd time. Just remember to rest between each set for a minute or so.

Not unless you go to someone local The amount of reps you do depends on the type of strength training methodology you’re going to do. The actual weight you should use will vary.

So for example lets say you’re doing the basic 3 sets of 12 reps methodology. You would do 12 reps per set for each muscle group. You’d want to use a weight that you could do for 12 reps that would challenge you without losing proper form.

Thanks for the comment. The stairmaster is mostly cardio so if you build any muscle… it won’t be a lot… and muscle is the key to long-lasting fat loss

Most people starting with strength training do a routine of 3 sets of 12 reps per muscle group: http://www.strength-training-woman.com/basic-strength-training.html

They’ll do that 3 days per week and on the other 3 days they’ll do 30 -45 minutes of cardio. The final day is a rest day.

You can get specific routines and plans here: http://www.melt-the-fat.com

If your friend wants to do at home workouts then I recommend a set of dumbbells and a stability ball. I can do wonders with those 2 items Actually all the strength training exercises I recommend on this site only use those items.