Weight-lifting

[MikePizzoff]

Anybody on here weight lift? I've just recently decided to take advantage of my room mates weight set. I'm wondering if any you guys can give me some tips. I've been doing bicep curls, individually, with a 20 pound dumbell. As well as bench pressing 50 pounds. I read online that rotation and sets are good so I'e been doing it like this: -8 curls right arm, 8 curls left arm -8 to 10 bench presses Repeating it two more times after Is this good? I really don't know what to do because I've also read that sets/reps don't mean shit and it's better to just do as many as you can in one sitting than doing smaller amounts, broken up. So, today I decided to just do 12 curls with each arm, as that's about my breaking point, then did 15 bench presses. Is this better or should I continue with the rotation? Also, should I be giving myself 48-hour periods between workout sessions in order to allow my muscles to regenerate? I've only been doing this for a week, but I can already visibly see that my arms are bigger. I also feel a lot better about myself. Not confidence wise, but physically and mentally. I don't feel as fatigued throughout the day and I feel much less stressed. Thanks for any tips.

[darth los]

Itdepends what body type you are going for. Do you wanna get big? Tone? Lose weight and tighten up? Based off of that I would say the big thing for men is to adjust the wieght. If you're going for mass lift heavier. Tone go light and do callastetics. If you wanna lose weight and tighten up, you wanna go lighter and do a ton of reps. I could tells you a routine that works for me or you could just go online and see what workouts they have for every body part. Now, you are not to do them all in ne session. If you workout for more than an hour, it's over kill. And you want to do about 4-5 routines of 3 or 4 sets each.

[kortick]

when i first started working out i didnt know how to do it properly and i hired a trainer. for me i was into strength building and turning body fat to muscle, but not looking to bulk up. the key is the point of failure. failure is when u can no longer lift the weight. usually u will do 15 reps and sets of 3 with 30 sec to 1 min in between the key is to always reach failure on the 3rd set. i do 15 reps. say i use a 50lb weight. if i can do all 3 sets of 15 and complete them then i have not accomplished anything. on the last set i should make it to about 12 before i cant lift anymore. so therefore 50 lbs is not enough i need more weight to push myself to failure. so you may start at 20 lbs and reach failure at the 3rd rep at 8. you keep going until u can do all 15 then u increase the weight until u reach failure on the 3rd set again, and so on. i usually do what is called a 'round the world' work out 3-4 times a week which is a full body intense workout, including cardio. i recommend u add cardio to your workout This is the type of workout i do. as Darth said, it varies for each person. i prefer an intense full body workout but you need to do what works for you.

[Tricky]

Ive been lifting weights since I bought a set at 16, but up until the last 2 years its always been with varying levels of commitment & never really pushed myself. In the last two years ive upped the ante a bit though, some of it was while I was getting ready for recruit training with the army, and a lot of it for my own vanity as I dont want to be one of those fat beer bellied blokes as I approach my 30s & beyond. I'll never be one of those seriously dedicated meatheads with all the diet supplements & so forth, and I wouldnt want to be absolutely huge, but at the moment Im looking pretty good, I guess not that far off what Brad Pitts build was in Troy although the 6 pack isnt quite as defined. As well as weights I use a rowing machine & go running & usually start the day with 30 press ups

[slickwilly13]

Anybody on here weight lift? I've just recently decided to take advantage of my room mates weight set. I'm wondering if any you guys can give me some tips. I've been doing bicep curls, individually, with a 20 pound dumbell. As well as bench pressing 50 pounds. I read online that rotation and sets are good so I'e been doing it like this: -8 curls right arm, 8 curls left arm -8 to 10 bench presses Repeating it two more times after Is this good? I really don't know what to do because I've also read that sets/reps don't mean shit and it's better to just do as many as you can in one sitting than doing smaller amounts, broken up. So, today I decided to just do 12 curls with each arm, as that's about my breaking point, then did 15 bench presses. Is this better or should I continue with the rotation? Also, should I be giving myself 48-hour periods between workout sessions in order to allow my muscles to regenerate? I've only been doing this for a week, but I can already visibly see that my arms are bigger. I also feel a lot better about myself. Not confidence wise, but physically and mentally. I don't feel as fatigued throughout the day and I feel much less stressed. Thanks for any tips. It depends on your goals. What is the weight for the set? I used to lift for years and almost went into power lifting, until I walked into a boxinng gym one day. 50 lbs for a flat bench is very lite. You would be better off doing pushups. We need a little more info to help you better.

[MikePizzoff]

50 lbs isn't very light to me, hahaha I must be a weakling. Then again I'm 6'1 and 160 lbs, so I'm pretty skinny. However, today I was able to do 16 bench presses at 50 lbs, so I guess I gotta increase the weight drastically? What I'm ultimately going for is increase in muscle size. There really isn't much weight for me to lose, so that's out of the question. Thanks for the tips, guys. Especially Kortick - I'm now setting out with the mentality of pushing myself until the point of failure. Also, Darth, thanks for the tip on doing my 3 sets multiple times. The websites I've looked at have been pretty unclear on stuff so I thought I was just supposed to do 3 sets a day; I never thought I had to do 3 sets, then rest a little bit, then repeat 3 or 4 more times. So I should be trying to do the 3 sets, 4-5 times within one hour, correct? I shouldn't be spanning this over the course of my day, right?

[paulannett]

Lose the dumbell and get yourself to a gym that has barbells, lots of weights and a squat rack. Focus on compound lifts (lifts that use more than one muscle) deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead shoulder press, pull-ups and a row variation is a great base to start. If you ignore your legs and back, you'll end up looking like and walking like an imbecile. Anyway, most functional strength comes from the legs and a strong core (do not read that as a "6 pack"... a strong core is much much more than that). Stop focusing on biceps so much, you're arms will look stupid considering that the triceps make up 2/3 of your upper arm. I haven't targeted my biceps with an isolation exercise since I was 16 (I'm 23 now) and my biceps are just fine. Body weight exercises will only get you so far, if you struggle with a 50lb bench press throw in some push-ups throughout the day, get your chest used to being worked. But do not ditch free weights. And ignore the machine weights, if used too often they'll lead to musculature imbalances and shitty form on free weight exercises. Also, free weights exercise a bunch of muscles you won't ever see, but they'll strengthen your body and make you less injury prone. If you want to see growth you've got to eat!!! Seriously, throw some calories into you, muscles are torn apart in the gym through weightlifting and they are rebuilt at home, on the sofa, when you're sleeping, at a lecture. Keep protein high, carbs and fats medium, don't ignore the benefits of eating healthy fats (olive oil, oily fish, nuts) Milk is a great, cheap weight gainer. It provides a lot of cals, good amounts of protein, fats, carbs and surgars. It's a good post-workout drink. it can put some fat on you, but if you work out right, you're muscle gains will more than balance out any fat gain. You're a lifting n00b, so if you lift right and eat right you'll see big gains realitive quickly because your body will be shocked to change and grow with this new stimuli. If you can't/won't ditch those dumbells (DB) do something like this (though I'd recommend higher weights on some exercises): - DB deadlift - DB shoulder press - Bench press - DB squats - Overhead tricep extension - Single arm bent-over row - Pull ups (grip doesn't matter, you tend to use the same body parts) I'd also consider throwing in some DB lunges too. For diet specifics, training specifics (i.e. rep schemes etc), you need to post your goals. But a good place to start, no matter what your goal, is Ripptoe's Starting Srength programme... though you will need to go to a gym to do it. ---------- Post added at 09:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 AM ---------- 50 lbs isn't very light to me, hahaha I must be a weakling. Then again I'm 6'1 and 160 lbs, so I'm pretty skinny. However, today I was able to do 16 bench presses at 50 lbs, so I guess I gotta increase the weight drastically? What I'm ultimately going for is increase in muscle size. There really isn't much weight for me to lose, so that's out of the question. Thanks for the tips, guys. Especially Kortick - I'm now setting out with the mentality of pushing myself until the point of failure. Also, Darth, thanks for the tip on doing my 3 sets multiple times. The websites I've looked at have been pretty unclear on stuff so I thought I was just supposed to do 3 sets a day; I never thought I had to do 3 sets, then rest a little bit, then repeat 3 or 4 more times. So I should be trying to do the 3 sets, 4-5 times within one hour, correct? I shouldn't be spanning this over the course of my day, right? I also disagree with most of what Kortick and Darth Los said. I would NOT recommend training to failure because you're new to the whole thing. When you're a little more advanced and know what you're doing, sure, throw in a set to failure. But not now and not for a while yet. Pushing yourself to failure too early in your lifting can lead to poor form and injuries. If you aim for 3 sets of 8 reps for an exercise and can't manage to complete it, you're lifting too heavy. Your final set should be hard, your final reps should be hard, but you should be able to complete it. The same applies if you're tearing through all 24 reps without breaking a sweat, you're lifting too light. For an increase of muscle size do 3 sets of 8-10 reps of each exercise, but I'd still recommend Ripptoes Starting Strenght programme to you. Also, to gain muscle you need to EAT. I seriously can't emphasise that enough. I don't know your body composition and I don't know your metabolism, but you'll probably need to eat 3-4000 calories a day. Between each set take a 1/2 minute break and then do another set. eg. You're doing squats 3 sets of 8 reps. You do 8 reps, 2 min break. Do another 8 reps. 2 min break. Do your final 8 reps. Move on to next exercise. When you get more advanced, stronger, fitter etc you can decrease the resting periods to increase your work rate. Also, if this is the 1st time you've lifted, expect to be very sore the following days, especially if you do some heavy compounds. But don't let this discourage you, everyone got sore, push through it. On that note, muscle soreness is also not direct result on how hard you have worked that muscle... I don't get sore muscles (unless it's after maximum deadlifting), but that doesn't mean I haven't beat the crap out of myself in the gym. Workouts (excluding any cardio) should last an hour-ish maximum. Cardio should also be left the end of your weight training session. As for rest days, I'm not too strict in them. I do deadlifts, squats, bench, pull ups, rows, shoulder press and some exercises for my weaknesses 4 times a week, at least. But, in general it's recommended to target a muscle group or 2 on one day and then target other muscle groups 48 hours later. But, meh... I don't need that rest! And don't worry about being weak, everyone started somewhere. At least you're doing something about it! Some Cliffs: - Focus on compound lifts. Lift as heavy as you can for the full rep scheme, but do not lift til failure and do not sacrifice good form. - Ignoring body parts (eg legs) will lead to several things 1) musculature imbalances and 2) look like a twigged leg frat-boy moron! - If you want to put on muscle mass, EAT BIG! REST LONG! - Sort out your diet. Protein, fats and carbs... but don't get carried away just yet. A 6 inch chicken sub isn't great, but it's a damn sight better than a KFC. Wow, when I decided to reply to this, I didn't expect to type all of that!

[MikePizzoff]

Holy shit, Paul, thanks a TON. I'm unable to gain access to a gym currently so I'm going to start doing that regiment you wrote out for me. Lots of good info to keep in mind, thanks man!

[Tricky]

Thats pretty good stuff for getting plenty of protein into you after a workout, or you could eat a couple of chicken breasts without the skin on

[paulannett]

I agree with Tricky, though I dislike Maxi-Muscle (which kind of sucks because I can get a hefty discount off their products!). Protein supplements are very cost effective, i.e one scoop of protein is approx 25g (depending on the brand), that is approx 50p a scoop (75 cents?), 5 eggs contains roughly the same at a higher price! I take 3 protein shakes a day (usually mixed with a bunch of other goodies), one first thing in the morning, one pre-workout and one post-workout.

[mista_mo]

Start off slowly, and gradually work yourself up. I started at 3 times a week, focusing on a major muscle group, and a minor one for a specific day (chest and triceps monday, back and biceps, legs and shoulders), and it worked fine for me. Eventually I would work my way up to exercising 5 days a week, focusing on specific muscle groups for each day, Note, I never spent more than 2 hours max a day at the gym, and that includes cardio, warm ups and cool downs. If you goto a gym, do not pay attention to how much other people lift, focus on what you are doing. So what if you can't bench press 200 pounds? don't sweat it. Keep working at it and eventually you may be able too. So what if you can only curl half of what that one guy can? Don't sweat it, everyone starts somewhere. The most important thing is your personal safety. Never, ever, ever try to do more weight than your body can handle. You will not see results, and will be sore as hell all the time. You also, do not require protein shakes or supplements. Sure they help, but sticking to a well balanced diet is a key priority. eat your veggies and meats, and if you re deficient in some areas, then start the supplements, but don't rely on them. Drink lots of water, but in small sips so you don't cramp up, and always remember to warm up/cool down, as this helps prepare your muscles for the exertion that exercise brings. Now is different though, as my arm kills me way too much. Need to get surgery done on it, and can only rotate and bring it back a certain distance before it feels like It is gonna pop out...ahh..the good ol' days. When it all comes down to it though, it totally depends on what you are after, and you should try and find a fitness plan that suits your life style.

[paulannett]

I remember you were a lifter, Mo. Sorry to hear about the arm. What happened to it? Good post too. I agree with everything you said!

[mista_mo]

I've dislocated it about 8 times. 4 minor ones, and 4 major ones that resulted in me being stuck in a hospital for 2 and a half hours each time, without any pain killers. It was kinda funny looking back, as my right arm was starting to lose all feeling, and going purple. The shoulder joint itself was about an inch and a half lower then it is normally, and I hurt for me to move my fingers. I also swore at the doctor that tried to pry it back into place without putting me under any anaesthetic. Gave him a good tongue lashing I did. Now, I lack a full range of motion on it, and it gets sore just doing my job (night crew at a grocery store, so a lot of heavy lifting, and I can barely move skids with a pump truck because of it, so have to use the power giant when I can). Now, I have a hard time doing anything strenuous with it really. For instance, when I was heavy into weight lifting, I could bench press 215 pounds as my absolute max twice, and usually stuck at around 170 or so. Now I have a hard time doing about 120, as it hurts my arm too much. Could also do about 45-50 pounds on lateral shoulder flies for 3 sets of 10 reps. Now can do maybe 20 on my right arm and 30 or so on my left, and have to stop at 4 or 5 on the right arm. Could also dumbbell row about 120 each arm, but again, have a hard time doing 70 pounds on my right arm, and I can only do about 20 push ups before my right arm starts to flare up. It really bugs me, as I always valued my strength, especially for being a short guy. I am about 5 foot 8 inches tall, and weighed about 155-160 pounds at the time, so all things considered, I was pretty advanced strength wise. Hoping to hear back from the doctor soon, as I cannot wait to start lifting again, as it was my favourite pass time.

[kortick]

yes i do want to say i agree with Paul working out to failure is best done with the guidance of a trainer to start. it WILL at the beginning leave you sore. and by sore i mean 'oh shit god kill me' full body workout to failure is intense. Like i said, this is what I DO. in 8 weeks i doubled my strength. I also suffered thru Hell at the hands of a trainer who was not unlike a Nazi. But the results were to me, what i wanted. so i was satisfied with the outcome of my efforts. You will get lots of advise but the most important thing i wish to stress is do what is right for YOU. I work out because i enjoy it, there isnt any other reason im not looking to bulk up or lose weight, just get stronger really. if you have a friend who goes to a gym and will help you get started that prolly would be a good thing. good luck. and if u join a gym have a laugh at the steroid beasts that lumber around.

[slickwilly13]

I could send you my bodybuilding regiment from back in the day, but you are not ready for it. You need to build a foundation, first. On your bench press, are you using dumbbells or a barbell? If it is DBs, then 50 lbs in each hand is not really lite. It is not the same as benching a 100lbs barbell. You can go down further, since there is not a bar stopping at your chest. And you have to stablize each arm, which is tougher. You could either use a bodybuilding online site or book for reference purposes. It would give you an idea on what type of exercises to do along with a regiment and nutrional guide. You will also need someone to spot and mentor you a bit. Because you could injure yourself by using incorrect form. This is what I did when I first started out. I lightly worked on 2-3 body parts per day for a week. ex. arms and chest w/ abs on Mondays and Thurdays. Legs, back, and shoulders Tues and Fridays. Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday off days. I only trained a few sets per muscle group. You're not ready to do 12 sets on your chest.