Hey, so i've been thinking lately of getting a monthly card or whatever you call it and try out gymming a bit. Since I quit training my martial art a few months ago i've been feeling a lot more weaker then the days when i exercised. So naturally I thought of going to the gym since you're not bound to any kind of schedule, you just go whenver it fits you.
So yeah, i'm wondering if you guys have any tips on what to avoid doing, what's good for begineers etc.
i'm by no means trying to build a lot of volume, i just want to train everything and build more stamina then volume in my muscles. Do you have any links to a good schedule for begineers where they tell you how many times to do what machine etc?
get a gym buddy first or get a trainer
there are people at gyms who can tell you what's what
start slow/then slowly build up.
if you want to train everything and build more stamina... go swimming. 4 times a week for an hour. for a couple months and you'll have stamina built up. It's also more fun than going to the gym and it does work on your muscles, stamina and gets you in shape.
if you're dead set on gymming... best thing to do is to continue going.
I saw things like that in here and in other "woman problems" topics so...... Am I the only one that thinks some authorities needs to be alerted about Saner and him possibly being a rapist and/or kidnapper ?
Saner is not being serious. Unless its the subject of Santa!
You can kill yourself with a serious workout in the same spot where you are sitting right now.
People think you need special equipment, or other such crap - But you don't.
One of my favorite workouts is -
15 Squats
10 Pushups
5 Pullups
Keep doing that for 20 minutes straight as hard as possible. All you will need is a pullup bar. You should be puking, or on the verge of puking if you are working out hard enough.
The squats alone are an excellent workout. Make sure you are using proper form or the workouts are going to be largely worthless.
Just make sure you get help creating schedules you follow, just going there and randomly doing stuff is worthless if you don't have a lot of experience. Also figure out what you're focusing on: losing weight, gaining muscles or improving stamina.
And also don't push yourself too hard, because if you go and try to lift some heavy weights without proper workout and prior adjustment to your body, you can do more harm then good (bone and muscle micro fractures can mess you up in the long run)...
"Quantum mechanics is actually, contrary to it's reputation, unbeliveably simple, once you take the physics out."
Scott Aaronson
chiv wrote:
thats true you know. newton didnt discover gravity. the apple told him about it, and then he killed it. the core was never found.
Do you guys happen to know any websites that offer good begineer schedules? Or am I gonna have to tailor one for myself?
How much can you currently bench press? This will give me an idea of what shape you're in due to your martial arts training. I don't think you should be considered a total beginner because of your prior physical activity.
"Techniclly speaking, Beta-Manboi didnt inject Burberry_Massi with Benz, he injected him with liquid that had air bubbles in it, which caused benz." - House M.D
"Faith without logic is the same as knowledge without understanding; meaningless"
Take the time to study nutrition theory. Working out is a great deal more rewarding when you eat right. No one diet is right for everyone .. learn what works for your body.
"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in & out of favor." ~ Frost
I suggest going three times a week at least, 45-60min workout, and 10-15 minutes of warm up. If you want stamina, I suggest you stick with swimming or running through.
It's very important to keep your schedule, and don't miss workouts. When working out you need to have your mind set on the workout pushing yourself to the maximum, thinking about other things while working out will reduce your performance. Very important to have the proper mindset, and always push yourself beyond your limits if you want to be good at it.
Later you will find that skipping workout for a single training, a week, or even a month can help you break through once you stop gaining as much as you used to. That's not that important for the first few months, or a year even though.
Nutrition is important, although you will see noticeable gains even with normal nutrition at first, later it is a must otherwise you will stop gaining. If you want muscle gain, eat a lot of protein, my favs are chicken breasts, eggs and tuna fish. The site I mentioned has plenty of articles on that as well.
If weightlifting, do more repetitions if you want stamina (15+), do less (5-9 normally) if you want muscle mass.
Don't workout two major muscle groups the same day. Don't workout same muscle groups more than once a week. (Although I'm certain there are some extreme regiments that do this, I found that my muscles take over a week to fully recover). Don't workout all muscles in one day, do 2-3 muscle groups. Workout in the afternoon as you will notice you have more energy then. (Although this might be different person to person).
I'm no expert by a longshot, so better take a look at that site as well
Thanks for the tips bearishsun, gonna take a look at the site later.
Thanks Chinup i'll remember that, i'll take a look at some diets once i've gotten started a bit.
AnimalMother: I'm not really sure about how much I can benchpress, never really tried it out imo. I used to practice brazilian jiu-jitsu and since i'm only 179 cm and weigh 71 kg I used to rely more on technique then raw strength, although I did spend a lot of time practicing my pushups etc. I'll give it a go next time but 30-40 kg should be about my range right? Or maybe a bit higher?
Depending on how much of the 71kg is muscle mass, 40kg should be doable. How hardcore do you want to go? Most of teh tips above are for building up muscle mass as much as possible. I tried it for a while, it sucks if you don't care about being huge. Protein diets taste like shit and you'll notice a belly, doing schedules all the time gets boring. You can build up good muscle mass without doing such things.
Don't start too high (up the weight with every set), take time to rest, get a proper warm-up and don't take a long break (e.g. weeks). That's all I'll say. Rest is very very important, don't overdo it. As for weight, go for long sets with low weight for lean muscles, go for short sets with high weight for big muscles (you should go to teh edge when doing this). It'll take your body atleast three months, depending on genetic make-up and previous work-outs, to adjust and show signs of improvement. Most people give up before that happens. Great thing about stamina is that you'll see a big improvement within a couple of weeks.
I'm not interested in building big muscles. Obviously improving my looks is nice but I wanna do it to stay in shape, keep myself healthy and increase my strength.
Maybe I should just start off by trying out every machine/station and see what's what? Obviously working hard all the time but just moving randomly from machine/station trying to work every muscle. Is that acceptable?
in the first month work every muscle group everytime you go to the gym.do 1 exercise for chest , one for the back , biceps , triceps , and so on. you gain resistance and stamina.
laters you can separate them like
day 1 - chest and biceps
day 2- back and triceps
day 3 - shoulders and trapezius
day 4 - legs and abs
good luck !!
and dont forget
train hard !
eat well !
sleep 8/9 hours !
>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> ♪ Viva La Vida ♪ <<<<<< <<<<< <<<<<< <<<
Ok listen up, first of all get a motivated gym partner, preferably male. This is very important because you need someone who can motivate you and you dont need to constantly push to do shit. Secondly the last time I had a female gym partner all she could do was run and bitch about some random shit. Women also cant keep up in heavy physical schemes so better take a dude.
Depending on your training scheme, get some gloves, seriously. It might look a tad gay at first but when you start lifting serious kilos your hands start taking a beating, especially if you do it three times a week. Listen to your fucking coach, seriously if he tells you to warm up before you train, fucking do it. Ive seen so many people slack off their warming up only to end up having a muscle spasm or something and dropping 20 kilos on their left shoulder. Dont be a fag and slack on your leg and overall training; I know deadlifts suck and I know squats are annoying as fuck, but do them.
Depending on your area, DONT TRAIN AT NIGHT, first of all the gyms are fucking crouded at night by sweaty greasy neckbeard men, of whom most I suspected were gay. Dont worry I wasnt sexually harrassed by old fat men that day . You also will be especially tired and exhausted at night and if you live far away or in a shitty neighbourhood thats bad. Also all the women go around 3-5 o'clock so thats the time to go if you want to look at women doing some kind of crazy sex yoga infront of mirrors.
You can kill yourself with a serious workout in the same spot where you are sitting right now.
People think you need special equipment, or other such crap - But you don't.
One of my favorite workouts is -
15 Squats
10 Pushups
5 Pullups
Keep doing that for 20 minutes straight as hard as possible. All you will need is a pullup bar. You should be puking, or on the verge of puking if you are working out hard enough.
The squats alone are an excellent workout. Make sure you are using proper form or the workouts are going to be largely worthless.
agreed, i got a really awesome home workout set from Muscle & Fitness magazine DVD. It consists of
15 reps Squats
10 reps each side side-to-side lounge
10 reps Shoulder pushups
10 reps of Push-ups
10 reps of Diamond pushups
10 reps Torso raise
10 reps sets of Weightless concentration curl
15 reps sets of crunches
1) - definitely warm up, well, before starting. at times it seems stupid but you don't want to go balls to wall while you're cold. make sure to stretch the muscle group you are about to work well, especially since you are just starting out.
2) - make sure to use proper form. it might be best to rely more on the machines at first to help you maintain that. believe me, form is critical to not injuring yourself. i started working out 10 yrs ago and my shoulders are screwed up from doing military presses with bad form. if something is hurting, it's hurting for a reason. don't always go by the "it's just weakness leaving your body" shit that you read on signs in the gym.
3) - when you are ready to move to free weights, decide what groups you want to work, google for exercises for those groups and then watch videos of them on Ytube so you see how to do it correctly.
4) - as was previously mentioned, don't expect results overnight or even after the first month. unless you're juicing, then you can expect a big pick me up starting around the 4th week
5) - if you've not been active for a while, or ever with weightlifting, expect to hurt, BADLY, for the first couple weeks. depending, it may even be comparable to having been in a car wreck BUT don't get discouraged, it will hurt less as you do it more - stick with it!
6) - the most overlooked aspect of working out - diet and rest. your diet is just as important, if not more, than the workout itself. rest is also critical. make absolutely sure you are getting enough sleep at night.
depending on what you want to accomplish will depend on how you should adjust your diet. if you get a friend to go with you as a partner it will really help you to keep going and when you want to use free weights it is nice to have someone there to spot for you. it also cuts down on accidents. i'm not going to lie - if i hadn't had a workout partner i more than likely would've quit going long ago.
that being said, while it's nice to workout at home, it also increases the likeliness that you will pass on a workout. you are more likely to go to the gym and actually complete your workout if you have a partner there waiting, depending, on you to be there. now that doesn't apply to everyone. some people are extremely dedicated to their workout regimen and will work out no matter what or where.
just sharing things i have read over the years. good luck!
I am in the same boat as you. I was sick so I stopped going but now I am slowly getting back into it again. Keep in mind I was really sick so I am working out a bit differently. There are some great ideas here.
For me ...
1. I have problems going with other people mostly because their schedule doesn't fit mine. I go whenever I can. Other people don't motivate me, plus I am too busy to talk to them anyway Right now it is the mornings plus I feel it is a good way to start the day. When I start working again it will prob change to a really early morning time.
2. I do cardio on the eliptical machine. It is low impact on joints so less injuries. No less then 25 mins right now, I make sure I get my heart rate up and sweat.
3. I use a ipod, it makes the time go faster, I work out harder.
4. I work out different muscle groups, I look at the pictures on the equipment to see what muscles I am using. I do 3 sets, reps of 20. I use whatever weight makes my muscles burn at 15, so that the last 5 of a set are really hard. When that becomes easy I move up a weight.
5. I swim after, nothing big but I concentrate on my muscles and movement. I meditate on this. Thinking about how I am doing my body a favor, that the body is a gift and is deserving of respect. I do this so I APPRECIATE what I already have, so I don't get down on myself for not being perfect, or expecting results right away. It gives me emotional power to eat right during the day too.
6. I treat myself to the sauna, hot tube, and steamroom. Relax, more meditation. Plus I think the sweating helps me remove toxins.
7. At home I do situps, crunches, squats, pushups while I watch 1 hr of tv.
8. Eat right of course. I made some chicken I have frozen that I defrost and add to a salad and dump cottage cheese on it for dinner. Low fat, high fiber, keeps me full. No snacking except for some celery, or a salad roll.
9. I keep a journal of what I do and eat during the day so I know I am not lying to myself. My mind is somewhat defective sometimes. It keeps me honest with myself.
10. I work out not to look good but to be healthy and to move better, be more comfortable in my own skin. The looks will follow however I try to keep in mind that I am doing it for the right reasons, not for attention because I know where that ends up. Disappointment
Gonna start right after new years since i'm going on a trip for a few weeks soon so no point in buying a gym card now and waste about a month.
I'll be gymming alone since I don't want to schedule my training after someone elses, I can keep myself motivated without no problem.
I think i'll be starting off with the most general machines/free weights and see what's what. Maybe just testing everything out for a month would do me some good before I start off serious with schedules etc?
I'm still wondering about twice per week, is it enough? Or do I have to go more often? Note that twice per week is perfect for me so I wanna avoid three times per week
I have a friend who is really obsessive about bodybuilding, and he goes only two times a week. He got really bulked up in just one year so I'd guess only two times isn't that bad.
i agree. my first 5 or so years of working out were only from going twice a week. granted we were in there about 2 hours each time back then. we eventually switched to 4x a week, then 3 and recently i am burnt out on it and back to 2x a week.
depending on what you want to work and how hard, you may need to make sure you are spending enough time while there if you are only going to go 2x a week.
I have a friend who is really obsessive about bodybuilding, and he goes only two times a week. He got really bulked up in just one year so I'd guess only two times isn't that bad.
Bulking up and -real- strength that you obtain from workouts like Crossfit are two different things.
Great, you can do 10 reps of a lot of weight and you are done for the day, and have to wait a couple days to recover.
IMO, I just don't find that style of workout interesting.
really obvious to state, but every bit of work out you do starts with your core. You'll here this over again, if your trainers half decent.
Your core is your mid body, stomach, bowel. Your arms legs and heart are designed to support this, along side your brain. If you don't repeatedly train and strenghten this part of the body, then everthing else goes to shit.
A lot of people go straight to the gym, and pump iron, row, run etc: and just throw a few minutes into abdominals. This is a big mistake.
Get this right, you'll feel stronger, have more stamina, and enjoy your routine more. You'll also look pretty buff, even if your not that muscular or well built.
When I go I usually concentrate on a mixture of crunch, abdominal etc: for at least 20 mins of a 40 min routine 3 times a week. I usually eat straight after. Also if you can find time to do a half our cardivasculer class, or high intensity workout. It's hard but really builds up your stamina.
Above all routine is important, along side a good diet, and attitude. Don't stress about getting big chest or arms, this will come naturally in a properly balanced routine, and shouldn't be concentrated on exclusive too everthing I've mentioned above.
Lastly routine, going regularly is much more effectove and healthy than pushing yourslef too hard. I know a lot of guys in the gym who burn out, or really hurt tear muscles, even fracture a knee or femur by working out to hard. Then your off for a long time, sometimes permananently.
sad the some of you jackasses have been like 1 month in their whole life and now apparently are experienced enough to give advice
brool story cos
Now for op:
DO NOT DO ISOLATION if you are a newbie. Do composite workouts (google is your friend).
I recommend finishing something like Starting Strength (workout program).
If you want muscle gains at first, cut cardio.
A good diet (complex carbs, 2,2 * your weight in kg for protein intake, healthy fats with moderation)
Get 8 hours of sleep.
Running your ass off and doing abs all day wont give you definition like a good diet will.
Basic exercises you need to do either way:
Squats
OHP
Deadlifts
Clean and Press
Dips
Pullups
Bench Press
Probably forgetting some basic details right now.But like i mentioned above, do SS. You will thank me later
I have been training Brazillian Jiu Jitsu for about 11 months now under a guy who is a 1st degree black belt under Pedro Sauer. I plan to compete very soon. Prior to this, I was a wrestler. i wrestled all through middle school, high school, and then after high school and competed in the 1992 National Championships.
I dunno what kind of body you are looking to get. But if it is functional muscles, speed, power, I can give some tips.
As a wrestler, we did a TON of cross fit type training. Weight lifting consisted of very basic exercises such as the clean and jerk, squats, dead lifts. Bench pressing is pretty useless. The cardio portion usually involved carrying weight. Things like farmer carries. Our cardio didn't mean we ran for 20 miles either. We did a lot of HIT training. Which means we would sprint for 30 seconds (inclined) then walk for 1 minute for a total of 15 minutes or so. Too much cardio will actually burn muscle. Look at a long distant runner compared to a sprinter. Now that all i said and done, I wrestled at 185 lbs and was 5% body fat in high school. After high school, I wrestled at 195 lbs (freestyle) and was the same body fat.
These days I have discovered TRX and I train on that pretty much exclusively.
I love it b because you can do so much on it and you don't have to change weights or anything. You can go right from one thing to another. It gives me a workout that both taxes my strength and hits me with cardio. It is fantastic. If you can't afford to buy one, you cna make one easily out of cargo straps. I have a really nice power cage with a bunch of olympic weights and stuff, but they all gather dust now that i found TRX.
Heres some info on TRX:
And here's is a DIY suspension trainer. A buddy of mine actually made this and it works really well (although if you are a heavy dude, I wouldn't use tie straps).
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but I wanna do it to stay in shape, keep myself healthy and increase my strength.
