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Post by Austin Yun on Nov 7, 2012 17:22:12 GMT -5
Depends on what you're doing.
Anything less than 4 reps and a significant percentage of your 1 rep max and you're better off doing the Valsalva maneuver.
Taking a deep breath and holding it stiffens your torso, basically, and helps with back stability.
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Post by bigblackbrony on Nov 7, 2012 18:37:04 GMT -5
I muscle train three days a week (I might make it 4). I usually dobiceps/chest/calves/thighs one day, the next I do triceps/latissimus dorsi/thighs and calves again (I don't know that much about leg training), and the third day I usually do what I feel I haven't done yet. I toss in sit-ups in between each muscle exercise, but I would like to know more about core training.
If anyone can point in the right direction for core training, I would greatly appreciate that.
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Post by gymrat on Nov 7, 2012 19:36:40 GMT -5
^^ What Austin said. That applies especially to squats, deadlifts, and all Olympic lifts.
By sucking air into the stomach and "pressing" your abs out, you can provide a lot of support to the lower back while simultaneously training your abs.
With the Valsalva method, you should hold the air in on the way down and for about 2/3 of the way up, at that point you need to breath and your torso should be upright enough that you don't need the extra support.
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Post by bigblackbrony on Nov 7, 2012 20:06:56 GMT -5
Thank you! I'll be sure to do that on Friday.
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Post by Kirby Krackle on Nov 9, 2012 7:30:55 GMT -5
Where would everypony recommend starting off? I'm not hugely strong but I do have generic multi-gym in the house and one of those really wide weight sets (the two handed one).
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Post by gymrat on Nov 9, 2012 8:08:19 GMT -5
It depends on your goals. Do you want to get stronger, get more muscle mass, improve posture and joint health, lose weight, or some combination of the above? Post your goals and we can try to design a program to let you meet your goals.
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Post by exnihilos on Nov 9, 2012 9:45:04 GMT -5
Same as Kirby I have no idea how to start. I have basic knowledge of gym exercises but looking at this I'm better off saying I know about nothing. Back when I was relatively in shape playing football (Soccer, not the other one) my school had no gym equipment, we ended up using no water jugs for weights and lots of running.
My goal is to progressively get stronger in the arms, be a little more toned, more balanced (I'm clumsy as hell and though I blame it on a childhood of ear infections I think it might be because my core muscles are nonexistent), and work on cardio (though I think thanks to this site I have enough advice on how to run properly to work on cardio). I have no time frame, I just figure I'll have a slow progression of working my way up over a half a year or year's time.
I'm pretty patient but the thing is I don't have a lot of time to go work out, perhaps an hour or two at the most. I liked the sound of Austin Yin's work out plan but I hear that squats are an easy way to injure yourself if you don't know what you're doing so I'm cautious to start until I'm sure I know what to do.
I like gymrat's work out plan too, progressively adding weight over the course of months. Sounds very effective though had to look up what half the exercise terms were.
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Post by Kirby Krackle on Nov 9, 2012 14:08:57 GMT -5
My personal goals are weight lose, improved posture and muscle gain, I don't want to be hugely buff but I would like to be stronger.
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Post by gymrat on Nov 9, 2012 18:59:19 GMT -5
Weight loss is going to be primarily regulated by your diet. Probably 75% diet, 20% exercise, 5% other factors (stress, sleep, hormones, ect).
Improving posture depends on what your postural issues are. If you post pictures I can try to see what imbalances you, have, but I'm no doctor. A good series of articles about posture comes from the bodybuilding/ strength training website T-Nation. Its called "Neanderthal No More." Everyone should read it, I bet that you have at least one of the issues to some extent. Lord knows that I did.
"Muscle tone" is in fact a combination of low bodyfat and increased muscle size. There is no exercise that can actually "tone" a certain part of your body on its own. When you talk about tone, you are actually talking about gaining a modest amount of muscle and losing most of your bodyfat in that area.
If you don't really care about strength, don't train for it specifically like I do. You will get reasonably strong using by lifting to gain mass. You will get bigger training for strength too, but it is better to focus on one or two goals at a time (IMO).
There are a few approaches to beginners lifting. You either do fairly light weight and high reps to slowly condition your body before adding weight, or you take advantage of the "novice effect" to get much stronger very fast and then switching over to another program that focuses more on your specific goals.
The novice effect is where an untrained individual can make almost absurd progress in strength very fast. For example, I added 30 lbs to my squat and deadlift a week for a month and a half when I started weightlifting. This is for those who are willing to work their butts off and have someone check their form. Bad form spells injury in a program that utilizes the novice effect. You can post videos here if you want and I can check your form. You might feel silly. That's okay, we all did at some point.
Two good programs are Starting Strength 3X5 (you can find the first edition free online) and Stronglifts 5X5. Starting Strength is more strength oriented, and Stronglifts is more size oriented.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a more relaxed, less "pass out on the gym floor in a pool of sweat"-type program, I can give you a basic program that will work you into training more slowly. That depends more on the equipment you have access to.
Reply to this thread or PM me if you have questions!
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Post by exnihilos on Nov 10, 2012 11:38:29 GMT -5
Wow plenty of knowledge! And now I know what tone really is.
Well the novice effect sounds good as a quick way to get quick results. I've got no problem with a tiring work out. I'm lazy but I know from the past nothing feels better than falling asleep after exhausting work and the soreness of it.
I think I'll take a look into this Starting Strength 3X5, do some research into it. I'm not looking for too much mass but more proportional non-stick shaped arms would be a good side effect of strength.
So with muscle tone. Does it make sense that since I'm starting off with very little body fat and seeking increased muscle size I may see tone quicker than mass?
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Post by Kirby Krackle on Nov 10, 2012 14:19:28 GMT -5
Thank you so much gymrat you have given me a lot to think about.  |
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Post by gymrat on Nov 10, 2012 18:41:09 GMT -5
@ exnilios, first and foremost, you will gain mass. I don't know how little bodyfat you have, but if it is low enough you could very easier get that toned "Fight Club" body by gaining some muscle.
One recommendation that I have for Starting Strength is to add some assistance exercises in. If you follow the program to the "T" you will get stronger, but a bit imbalanced. I would recommend adding some pullups (assisted, bodyweight, or weight added) and dumbbell rows. Maybe 5 sets of 8 for those. I say increased volume for those because the back generally responds better to higher rep work, and you'd only do those as assistance lifts to keep your body balanced.
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Post by graham on Nov 12, 2012 0:32:15 GMT -5
So i was planning on commenting here earlier but forgot about the forum for a while, Gymrat you are awesome with helping these people out, here's what i got. I've only been seriously working out for a little under a year so i'm not that experienced I started out extremely overweight, so i was working on cutting (losing fat while trying to maintain or gain muscle mass) and initially just went to the gym because all my friends were doing it (working out with others is fun and a good way to start). It started out as just a fun thing to do and eventually a few of us really got into bodybuilding. Now i didnt really focus on losing weight since dieting has never worked well for me and i just focused on being healthier and the weight eventually but surely came off and i've lost 60 lbs. I started off by doing this routine, www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethin-12-week-daily-trainer-week-1.html but dont be intimidated by its looks. I started this from literally nothing and you dont need all the supplements or the diet plan, just follow the workout routine as best you can (at different weights of course). Now that i'm stronger and thinner i've moved on to a version of Starting Strength, high intensity low reps. I'm still working on cutting so i do cario every day, running 3 miles before and after weightlifting. Every workout day i do squats (gotta have my squats) and alternate between Benchpress and overhead press. Monday is pullups and triceps, Wednesday is deadlifts, calves and abs, friday is chin-ups and biceps. Although it's called starting strength it's not for complete beginners since at high weights having bad form on some of these exercises can cause serious injury. some of my advice: women dont be afraid to lift weights, as other have said you wont get bulky and it's generally good for you. People trying to lose weight and gain strength, you should focus on eating less, and eating healthy, lots of protien and fiber, being sure to do cardio, and lift so you dont lose muscle as well as fat (you wont be making many strength gains) People who want to just gain muscle then bulk and eat more as well as going to the gym. Eating more does not mean eating whatever you want, you need to eat lots of protien, good carbs, fiber, and some fats (i dont have as much experience in bulking since i havent done it yet) Well thats my story and my two cents, other feel free to correct my advice, like i said i'm not that experienced. |
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Post by Austin Yun on Nov 12, 2012 1:30:54 GMT -5
In general I'd probably just echo what gymrat said and check out my tips thread in the scheduling sub forum.
I would like to be clear though that a program doesn't have to be, and for a beginner, shouldn't be, very complicated.
In the 11 months I've been training, I've gone from never having been able to do a chin-up in my life to 14 body weight ones if I do it first thing. Also being able to squat less than 135 lbs to ~245 for a single, 225 for a triple, going to parallel or better. All that while being a constant calorie deficit (lost about sixty pounds). The vast majority of my time is spent on squatting, dead lifting, bench pressing, rows, and chin-ups. Generally three lifts a day, in and out of the gym in an hour or less, three workouts a week.
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Post by exnihilos on Nov 16, 2012 10:19:00 GMT -5
Okay this is the day I'm going to do something. I'm tired of feeling weak and I need to start somewhere. I'm torn though on how to start. One way I've been looking to is trying out the consecutive 100 push ups as a starting point but from what I've found Starting Strength is very good for getting strong. The only thing is I have no barbells and its a twenty minute drive to my university's gym.
I'm set on cardio. Going to alternate between running (Increasing from 3/4 mile to more) , a fast cardio workout I found on youtube, and swimming (love swimming). It's just the strength training I need to figure out because it seems like scrawny guys need a different approach as we're not trying to lose weight.
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