Gym thread

[paulieg]

Originally Posted by Reventon

Yeah I'll probably go to the gym Thursday and do some chest and tris. I have gotten plenty of bis and legs and core moving shit for the past two weeks.

You should do yourself a favor, and grab yourself some very basic equipment for when you can't get to the gym, including a solid bench, dummbells, and a dip stand. If you watch Craigslist, you can do this for $300 or under. I know that when I put my "emergency" home gym together, I bought a commercial grade bench, power rack, dip stand, about 400lbs in plates, a straight bar, curl bar, weight tree and dumbbell handles for under $500.

[El_Mayo]

Originally Posted by paulieg

You should do yourself a favor, and grab yourself some very basic equipment for when you can't get to the gym, including a solid bench, dummbells, and a dip stand. If you watch Craigslist, you can do this for $300 or under. I know that when I put my "emergency" home gym together, I bought a commercial grade bench, power rack, dip stand, about 400lbs in plates, a straight bar, curl bar, weight tree and dumbbell handles for under $500.

damn sonnnn
I would if I had my own place AND it was big enough
I'm living at home atm, then moving out in September to campus, but there'll be a gym on site like 2 minutes away A pretty good one too, I've heard

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by paulieg

Well, in your situation, you should just work a circuit hitting every muscle group. That little arm circuit is just excessively hitting vanity muscles, which is all but worthless. So are 15 lb dumbbells, except for maybe some light overhead shoulder presses,front raises, and maybe some hammer curls. It's much too light for anything else. I can give you some bodyweight exercises that will give you much better results than anything those 2 little 15 lb dumbbells will do for you. Just PM me, if you like me to develop a little program for you. As far as nutrition goes, it depends on your goals. In general it's really easy to have carbs be wasted calories. It would help if you gave me a sample diet from and average day. Then I can critique and offer suggestions.

Is this on the right track to what you had in mind? I certainly would prefer these over what I'm doing, I feel like I'm wasting potential by just sitting on my ass when lifting.

[paulieg]

Originally Posted by DaveK

Is this on the right track to what you had in mind? I certainly would prefer these over what I'm doing, I feel like I'm wasting potential by just sitting on my ass when lifting.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...a/P1140694.jpg

I suppose it's somewhat better. Problem is, it appears that it really has you doing cross training, which is really not what you want if you are trying to put on a little muscle mass. You should just have 2-3 days per week dedicated to nothing but strength training. If it's not possible to get a hold of heavier weights, you should do this in this EXACT order, 2x per week.

Alligator pushups- 3 sets, as many as you can do with proper form. 1 minute rest in between sets

Normal stance pushups- 2 sets, as many as you can do. 1 minute rest b/t sets

Chair dips- 2 sets, as many as you can do. 1 minute rest between sets.

Chins/pullups- Find a steady door frome for this. If needed, set a chair or something sturdy under your legs. See this article. If you cannot do a complete pull up now, do "partials" until you are able. 3 sets, as many as you can do.

Shoulder presses- Ok, here you can still use those little 15 pound dumbbells. Just do these VERY slow to increase resistance.

Floor crunches- 2 sets, as many as you can do.

That's all. This will do way more for you than any fitness magazine nonsense. It is however a beginner program, and there are limits to bodyweight training.

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by paulieg

I suppose it's somewhat better. Problem is, it appears that it really has you doing cross training, which is really not what you want if you are trying to put on a little muscle mass. You should just have 2-3 days per week dedicated to nothing but strength training. If it's not possible to get a hold of heavier weights, you should do this in this EXACT order, 2x per week.

Alligator pushups- 3 sets, as many as you can do with proper form. 1 minute rest in between sets

Normal stance pushups- 2 sets, as many as you can do. 1 minute rest b/t sets

Chair dips- 2 sets, as many as you can do. 1 minute rest between sets.

Chins/pullups- Find a steady door frome for this. If needed, set a chair or something sturdy under your legs. See this article. If you cannot do a complete pull up now, do "partials" until you are able. 3 sets, as many as you can do.

Shoulder presses- Ok, here you can still use those little 15 pound dumbbells. Just do these VERY slow to increase resistance.

Floor crunches- 2 sets, as many as you can do.

That's all. This will do way more for you than any fitness magazine nonsense. It is however a beginner program, and there are limits to bodyweight training.

Ah, pushups. I was afraid of those. I've never been able to do a pushup. I lost what little strength I had in my right shoulder after breaking a ligament and my physio lacked building strength for pushing. I can barely do a pushup using a counter top or the back of a chair, so this will be a bit of a journey.

As for the pullups, I don't see how I'll do those either. I don't see my door frame supporting me at 210lbs...

If I was to buy some equipment, what would you recommend?

[WhiteLotus]

Originally Posted by DaveK

If I was to buy some equipment, what would you recommend?

A gym membership.

[Steevo]

Or just start walking, then jogging.

Cardio will be best for losing weight, then once you are within 10% of your target weight you can start worrying about muscle gains, and the conditioning you will have will allow for better workouts.

[paulieg]

Originally Posted by DaveK

Ah, pushups. I was afraid of those. I've never been able to do a pushup. I lost what little strength I had in my right shoulder after breaking a ligament and my physio lacked building strength for pushing. I can barely do a pushup using a counter top or the back of a chair, so this will be a bit of a journey.

As for the pullups, I don't see how I'll do those either. I don't see my door frame supporting me at 210lbs...

If I was to buy some equipment, what would you recommend?

Was the shoulder injury a partial or full tear? Did you see a PT for recovery? Good news is that with the right kind of training, you can protect yourself from having this type of injury again, or having recurring problems due to the initial injury.

A good bench, a dip/pull up stand, and a set of adjustable dumbbells like the Ironmaster quick change, or Bowflex Selectech dumbbells. There are also some much cheaper knockoffs. These are made to replace several sets of hex dumbbells, and for you, even the 52.5 lb. Selectech dumbbells will probably be all the weight you will ever need. With this basic equipment, you can do EVERYTHING you would ever need to, in order to build a stronger, more muscular body.

You could also put together a cable system from a company like lifeline fitness. I usually don't care for cables, but the guy who created these cables knows what he is doing. If you decided to go this route, I can help you with what to buy. The benefit to cable systems is that they can go with you anywhere that you have a door jam, or something secure to wrap the cable around. The constant variable resistance from cables works really well with novices. I still use some heavy cable exercises to compliment my freeweight training.

Originally Posted by WhiteLotus

A gym membership.

Yes and no. Thing is, you will spend more than what I listed above, and people can always find excuses not to go to the gym. It's harder to come up with excuses if the equipment is in the same house as you. A better idea is to have basic equipment for home use, and a gym membership.

Hey WL, how is your training going?

Originally Posted by Steevo

Or just start walking, then jogging.

Cardio will be best for losing weight, then once you are within 10% of your target weight you can start worrying about muscle gains, and the conditioning you will have will allow for better workouts.

I don't know all of his stats, but from some comments around here, it seems as if he needs to put on muscle more than anything else. Obviously, if he is weight training, and eating well, he will shed a touch of bodyfat in the process, as increased muscle mass requires additional calories just to maintain. I do think that 2 days of cardio per week, preferably on days when you are not strength training is optimal.

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by paulieg

Was the shoulder injury a partial or full tear? Did you see a PT for recovery? Good news is that with the right kind of training, you can protect yourself from having this type of injury again, or having recurring problems due to the initial injury.

A good bench, a dip/pull up stand, and a set of adjustable dumbbells like the Ironmaster quick change, or Bowflex Selectech dumbbells. There are also some much cheaper knockoffs. These are made to replace several sets of hex dumbbells, and for you, even the 52.5 lb. Selectech dumbbells will probably be all the weight you will ever need. With this basic equipment, you can do EVERYTHING you would ever need to, in order to build a stronger, more muscular body.

You could also put together a cable system from a company like lifeline fitness. I usually don't care for cables, but the guy who created these cables knows what he is doing. If you decided to go this route, I can help you with what to buy. The benefit to cable systems is that they can go with you anywhere that you have a door jam, or something secure to wrap the cable around. The constant variable resistance from cables works really well with novices. I still use some heavy cable exercises to compliment my freeweight training.

It was a full tear. I saw a PT and I was given a list of movement and strength workouts with a resistance band. He said I've made a good recovery and I've been doing the exercises at home and now I'm comfortable lifting weights and can do shoulder presses and such with no problems it's just the pushups on the a kitchen counter are tough.

Yes and no. Thing is, you will spend more than what I listed above, and people can always find excuses not to go to the gym. It's harder to come up with excuses if the equipment is in the same house as you. A better idea is to have basic equipment for home use, and a gym membership.

Hey WL, how is your training going?

Although there's a good gym down the road that's really cheap, a lot of the time when I workout at home it would be at a time the gym is closed. If I was in college by the time I get home, eat and do assignments it'd be too late to go. With equipment at home, I could do it anytime I wanted and it will always be with me especially when I to a different house/apartment. Unlike a gym membership which is only a year. In the long term I'd get more use out of the equipment.

I don't know all of his stats, but from some comments around here, it seems as if he needs to put on muscle more than anything else. Obviously, if he is weight training, and eating well, he will shed a touch of bodyfat in the process, as increased muscle mass requires additional calories just to maintain. I do think that 2 days of cardio per week, preferably on days when you are not strength training is optimal.

I've lost 3 stone since the start of 2011, it was 4 stone but then around the start of the year my weight has gone up a stone. Last time I checked I was around 19-20% body fat. I wouldn't mind losing a bit more but I'm at a comfortable level right now and I've already lost a lot of fat so now it's time to gain muscle.

At the moment I cycle ~2hr 30m twice a week and do tabata high intensity interval training three times a week.

[El_Mayo]

I've been finding it hard to do any cardio recently
I have all the motivation to do weight training, but I (obviously) still have excess fat
Can I lose fat and put on muscle at the same time, or should I stick to putting on muscle for now, then in a month or two focus on cardio? (taking up basketball and squash or any other sport should do the trick)

I played basketball for a bit the other day, but it was after a leg day and I was knackered pretty quick, so I might dedicate whole days to it and do something similar to interval training (10 layups, and free throws whilst/instead of resting)

In terms of nutrition I've started eating smaller meals and I feel just as full as I did before (I obviously just enjoy eating haha), but I'm assuming it's as simple as smaller meals, more water, less fatty/sugary foods?

[WhiteLotus]

Originally Posted by paulieg

Hey WL, how is your training going?

Not bad thanks, still at 11 and half stone, (75odd kg) even after a week holiday in the beautiful Tuscany where it was 39 degrees C and I barely ate anything.


Now i'm home I went back to the gym today, did a light work out to get back into it, and used this new toy I bought called a "Blender" to "blend" together some tasty vanilla ice cream protein, full fat milk, and peanut butter. Pretty damn tasty.

[WhiteLotus]

Progress...



Pretty pleased.