Gym Buddies!

[JammyJim]

Ok dudes I finally took the plunge and went to the gym (omg i ache)

However i have some questions. Im attempting to buik up which means heavy weights and 3 sets of 10 reps with rest inbetween (apparently)

Howevar for my warmup i was told to just ride on a bike for 10minutes. This didnt seem like a huge amount of warmup so im asking you the citizens (lol) of GD what should a warmup actually consist of?

Should i do the 3 sets of 10 but before i smack it upto 'maximum weight i can deal with' do 10 reps at a low weight just to prepare the muscle?

And how should i be stretching.. (detailed explanation please ta)


Gym Powah!


p.s. one last thing :

If my muscles ache a bit should I be going to the gym and doing the same workout or should i leave it more time?

[KoeN]

you are like the english silversmoke lawl.

[JammyJim]

silence hockeyboy. ive put up with enough of your
HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY
HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY
HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY hans <3 HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY

these past few years so im sure you can indulge me when im asking a serious question.

[Blastoderm]

To warm up alternative: Jog for 10-15mins.

Re: Muscle aches: Give it a rest but don't leave it out for too long.* I'd say go back (if you went today) on Monday. Leave two days off so that you're muscles can relax and remove (and get used to) that lactic acid building up in your muscles (it's the only reason why muscles gets stiff after a hard/intensive long (or short) exercise).

*Sounds wrong in so many levels.

[JammyJim]

what about stretching etc tho

and i went thursday night so today was a day of rest and im planning to go saturday (today kinda) at 7pm.

[Blastoderm]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

what about stretching etc tho

and i went thursday night so today was a day of rest and im planning to go saturday (today kinda) at 7pm.

Give it till Sunday if you think the aching has not eased yet.

With stretching..... don't they have a poster or something telling you about it? Because that's pretty much the most effective thing when it comes to stretching.
(I'll be honest, I'm not an expert on how to describe or what I think are the best stretching in detail. Sorry. Maybe SS will help. He's a bit of a gym freak.)

[meglamaniac]

Hockey hockey hockey hockey: mushroom mushroom!


That's all I have to say, except to wish JJ well on his path to joining the YMCA ^H^H improving himself*.









* i'm only jealous

[midge5]

A poster came with my brothers multi gym which had some warm up exercises on though I can only remember one sorry:


Put your arm across your chest so it is crossing just below your other shoulder. Then use your other arm to press down on the upper part of your arm and hold it there for either 10 seconds or until the tension disappears.

[MrPeach]

I start work in London soon and have just found myself a nice place to live which includes a gym. I hope to go everyday.

You can do it with a rotation perhaps JJ. One day upper body, one day lower body, one day cardio, etc.

[Rids]

When you go gym, try to vary your workouts, you dont want to be working the same muscle group every time, your muscles need time to recover.

If your going to get into it heavily, I'd suggest 2-3 days cardio and then 3 other workouts targetting specific muscle groups for bulking up.

[Raging.Retard]

You are trying to bulk so you most certainly want to be doing as little cardio as possible before you train. Cardio will affect your lifts so you should always keep it separated, do it after if you have too, but preferably on a different day all together. Standard stretching followed by a nice easy 5 minute jog is adequate (for me at least) as a warm up to lifting.

[qebab]

You hardly need much more than 10 minutes at a bike as warmup. Perhaps a bit stretching, other than that, it should be fine. Ask the personal in the gym for a training program, they supposedly know what they are doing. At first, you'll get a program where you train all muscle groups the same day, just to learn the technique's, and to get your body used to working out. When your body don't ache so much after a workout, you're starting to get used to it. You will know when. After a while, ask for a program that is divided into muscle groups, for instance two groups for each days.

Examples are:
Day 1: Chest and Back
Day 2: Shoulders and Arms
Day 3: Legs and Stomach.

And never be afraid of asking for help (Generally when you're benching, you want to do the last rep, even if you can't manage it entirely by yourself. Ask someone to stand behind, and be ready to catch it, should you not manage.), the people working there, or working out there, should know what they/you are doing. Good luck

[Ramihyn]

Ahhh the annoying warmup issue. Over the years i have heard several tips and heated discussion about what and how to do it without affecting your training effectiveness and i was always dissatisfied with the warmup routines even though i was very used to them due to other sports.

Then one day a "pro" said to forget all of those routines because they all have different disadvantages if for example you go for a heavy workout of upper body or leg muscles that day. He said to do one set of the same excercises you will do that day with a much lower weight (like a third or a fourth of your regular weight) for warming up. That way you can be sure you warm up the right muscle groups, you can go right to the training area, your motor function gets used to the motion (esp. good for beginners if you work with freehand weights) and your circulation will be warmed up just the same.

Personally once i tried it, i never went back to the other warmup routines. You might have to increase the number of reps during the warmup set a bit - so instead of 10 reps you do 15 but that seems to be depending on each individual person.

[JammyJim]

Ok so basically ill go 10mins on the bike just to 'warm myself up' and then whilst sitting on the machine or whatnot ill just do 5 reps at a low weight to 'warm up teh old muscles'


The other important question is :

If i ache now (top of my back is achey still and my arms. a bit across chest but not much etc) - is it ok to goto the gym and train these muscles again or should i work on areas that dont ache at all?

[Blastoderm]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

The other important question is :

If i ache now (top of my back is achey still and my arms. a bit across chest but not much etc) - is it ok to goto the gym and train these muscles again or should i work on areas that dont ache at all?

The latter dude. Why? Well you need your muscles to relax/recover a little bit.

[JammyJim]

but i went last on wednesday thats liek


Thursday
Friday
Most of today (saturday) to recover. THEY SHOULD BE READY;....

[Stew]

Manchester United were staying at my gym last Saturday night.

Er..I don't really have anything else to add, sorry.

[Ramihyn]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

Ok so basically ill go 10mins on the bike just to 'warm myself up' and then whilst sitting on the machine or whatnot ill just do 5 reps at a low weight to 'warm up teh old muscles'

IMHO 5 is seriously too low. You are risking tissue damages and that will lead to no training at all for a while.

Originally Posted by JammyJim

If i ache now (top of my back is achey still and my arms. a bit across chest but not much etc) - is it ok to goto the gym and train these muscles again or should i work on areas that dont ache at all?

"No pain - no gain" but overtraining is counter-productive. Generally dont train the same muscle groups 2 days after each other or you wont see growth.

Now i wait for the inevitable "which supplements to take and which are pointless" question

[JammyJim]

Okies so 2 sets of 10 reps for warmup with 'not very heavy' weights then move to the heavy 3 sets of 10 thing.

Ill work on leg and stomach then i suppose instead. and maybe upper arms but leave teh chest and back for next time.

Ta for your help


p.s. i sound like silversmoke but without the ABS OF STEEL AND LEGS LIKE TREE TRUNKS

[Blastoderm]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

but i went last on wednesday thats liek


Thursday
Friday
Most of today (saturday) to recover. THEY SHOULD BE READY;....

Originally Posted by JammyJim

what about stretching etc tho

and i went thursday night so today was a day of rest and im planning to go saturday (today kinda) at 7pm.

I'm confused.

or was it different parts of the body?

[Ramihyn]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

p.s. i sound like silversmoke but without the ABS OF STEEL AND LEGS LIKE TREE TRUNKS

Get some calve implants for a quickstart then

(yes some ppl really do that ...)

ps: welcome to the community where with each training session your IQ drops (according to "some"

[JammyJim]

Originally Posted by Blastoderm

I'm confused.

or was it different parts of the body?

my iq dropped and i got the day wrong


the induction was on thursday not wednesday

[qebab]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

If i ache now (top of my back is achey still and my arms. a bit across chest but not much etc) - is it ok to goto the gym and train these muscles again or should i work on areas that dont ache at all?

It is very ok - just don't 2 days straight after each other. 2 days of break should do just fine. I assume you're not on a hardcore schedule yet, you're just getting the technique's/workload right at this point? After a while, you won't ache for long after a training. It is mostly in the beginning.

[SilverSmoke]

Don't have the time to read the entire thread but i came as far as Rids comment. Don't listen to him about doing 3 days of full cardio while you want to build muscle, it will work against the muscle development.
Also, don't overload the particular musclegroup when you're experiencing aches, do another one.

For example, i train 3 times a week. day one:back/biceps, day two:chest,triceps, day three:legs/shoulders. (most idealy monday/wo/fri). Don't forget to understand that sometimes training less but more intense on a certain group has much more effect then torturing a certain group 3 times a week. You're muscles need recoverytime. Food is also important.

I am doing 4 sets of 10 reps each exercise and I take about 3 or 4 exercises each group. Thinking of changing to a pyramid type schedule, for example 12-10-8-4. Four reps going to be extremely heavy ofcourse to build up power.

When I've got some time left I work a bit on belly, ass and cardio.

Originally Posted by JammyJim

Ok dudes I finally took the plunge and went to the gym (omg i ache)

However i have some questions. Im attempting to buik up which means heavy weights and 3 sets of 10 reps with rest inbetween (apparently)

Howevar for my warmup i was told to just ride on a bike for 10minutes. This didnt seem like a huge amount of warmup so im asking you the citizens (lol) of GD what should a warmup actually consist of?

Should i do the 3 sets of 10 but before i smack it upto 'maximum weight i can deal with' do 10 reps at a low weight just to prepare the muscle?

And how should i be stretching.. (detailed explanation please ta)


Gym Powah!


p.s. one last thing :

If my muscles ache a bit should I be going to the gym and doing the same workout or should i leave it more time?

i go to the gym every week day and i advise that if you want good results, in relation to muscle definition and size u should alter your diet so that you consume an increased amount of protein; furthermore to build muscle it is compulsory to eat at least 2500 calories a day. I personally use maximuscle products (sports nutrition supplements) these are safe and are used by athletes incase you were wondering. I personally use creatamax which is a concoction of creatine and glutamine bicarbonate (this aids the bodies ability to efficiently utilise creatine) and have found impressive results, gaining approximately 11 pounds of muscle while my body fat has dropped to 8.6%. Im not saying this thing works miracles you have to be motivated in the first place but it does definitely work.
And in relation to the aching your experiencing i would suggest that you start off going to the gym 3 times a week for an hour session each time, you will find that the aching will ease off and that you can increase session lengths or the number of times you go to the gym each week.
I personally for my cardio warm up go on the bike for 10 minutes followed by a 5 minute run at 16kmh, this suits me but depending on your physical state of fitness you may need to go for shorter or longer.
Regarding your stretching it depends on the parts of your body you are exerting, (ask your instructor as they should be able to advise you)

I hope this is of some use to you

[-Blue Moon-]

appologies in advance for typos i didnt have time to read over it
I'll just tell you my gym routine and if it helps, then all the better. But be warned i'm a 'tank' apparently - despite not actually knowing what that means...

Start off with a nice warm-up. Now I don't know about you, but my gym is about a 10minute jog away. Sometimes if I feel up to it I'll do some leg stretched at home and have a leisurely jog there. Leg stretches would include rolling ur ankles, pulling your hamstring buy extending ur calves so that ur foot is touching ur ass, pushing on a wall to stretch each leg, sit down and put ur legs as wide as you can and try to touch ur ankles - dont bounce or it can lead to injury, just stretch and eventually you'll get further, or in the same position (done better on grass) try and reach down as far as you can inbetween ur legs - i say grass is easier because it gives you something to hold onto.

Anyway when you get to the gym you should probably start with something light. I'd usually go for cycling for 15mins, keeping the RPM around 70 (i think). Try programs with alternating levels of difficulites or try setting yourself targets. I used to bring a gym card with me, saying how far i could cycle in X amount of minutes, and then next time i went i'd try to beat it, even if just by a second. It's a lot easier when you set yourself targets imo, it keeps you more focused.

Then after cycling (ofc running is a good substitute - but i hate those damned tredmills) see if you can handle some rowing. Rowing is good for you, it helps broaden the shoulders, it works pretty much the whole upper body and sometimes your abs (not chest tho afaik). you have to be careful tho, coz i've had a friend get seriously injured by not rowing correctly. Keep your back straight, pull in till the bar touches your chest and ur arms either side/behind ur torso, push with your feet/legs, and it should be ok. I find that if i'm rowing hard i get extremely tired by 5-7mins, but if you take it slow, keep at about ~25 strokes a min, you should manage 10-15min. Again, if you set yourself targets it's always more fun. At the moment I'm trying to consistently stay below 1.55mins/500m, but find a challenge that suits you. Some ppl i watch r like insane... find your pace and stick to it.

Next up I'd suggest doing something for your chest. You may find your arms feeling a little bit heavier after the rowing ; in which case do some ab/back workouts. there are machines, there are little plastic things, there are fit balls - i'll explain later. but chest... I usually try to stay away from the free weights for chest because well... i'm a chicken heh. There's bound to be a decent machine to bring ur arms in working the chest, or a simple benchpress style machine. if you end up using a bench press find what your maximum is and do 2 weights below it and more reps. As my coach always said : reps>weights (unless you're going for power/speed lifting). try and do several reps of 10 or 15 ; 3/4/5 it's up to you. If you are using a simple benchpress technique an easy way to stop your back from arching (which is bad) is to lie flat with your legs raised off the floor - cross ur ankles, and lift your legs so they're higher than your body. then lift. it may look odd, but it's the best way to lift.

after which, do some work on your abs/back. best bet is one of the pre-made machines, they're pretty good but if you're feeling adventurous i'd suggest the fit ball. you ever seen those massive inflatable balls? that was me and my gym partner's most fun excersise - what u do is you find a wall and sit down-centre ontop of the fit ball. have your feet against the wall and do situps or obliques. oblique would be situps via right-elbow to left-knee, left-elbow to right knee, then normal situp - arms behind your head, or touching ur ears. some people cross their arms on their chest - see what is best for you. Anyway we had a game that we would do as many obliques as we could before we died. this would typically come at the END of the workout before stretchouts. i think our record is 160something nonstop. hehe fun \o/

onto free weights... this is where having a buddy can be useful, but not essential. my friend and i started going to the gym as peons. i mean, we would use the 2 dumbells of 5kg, and struggle to do 3 sets of 10 mainly because the stabilisers in your arms are initially very weak, and even if you can lift 12s, you cant do these excercises till your arms adjust. so remember this is hard work, and its usually quite hard to move up a weight class - even from 5s-7s. ALSO please start low. this way your stabilizers have a chance to grow. we found we moved up a weight every week or 2. ok so. first you need a bench with a back that can be adjusted to lay-flat position and sit-up-straight position. we'll start with lay-flat. lie down on the board and have the weights either side of your arms. lift them up, and lay with your arms out either side of you in the cross shape. lift your arms up so they are directly above you, and slowly down back to the cross position. hold for a second, then repeat. this works all the stabilizers in your arms, and is good for your shoulders, arms and chest. TRY to keep your back straight. if you're arching your back to lift them then you need to move down a weight because its dangerous to excert yourself. after you do 10 reps of that move DIRECTLY from that position to a standard bench press position.bring ur elbows towards ur chest, so that it looks like a 'dagger' position, and push straight up, hold, return to daggers and hold. do this 10 times. and that's your first set done. as before you can repeat this 2/3/4/5 times. your choice.
second is the sit-up-straight free weights... sit up straight, feet firmly on the ground, with your back against the back of the thingy. now lift the weights into a cross position and from 'fully out' lift your arms and the weights to a position where they are directly over your head - so from _o_ to |o| ... crude pics ftw. lol. repeat ten times then get ready to go DIRECTLY into the next routine.. starting with the dagger pose - arms tucked into your chest and the weights at around neck height, push directly up from there going from a .o. position to a |o| position. repeat ten times and that's your set.

anyway
i have to go now, and i dont have time to edit
but i hope this helps... it helped me bulk up for sure.
gym 3 times a week and this ^

tuxed0
pm me on netgamers #dos if u'd ike any other tips

[JammyJim]

ta dudes this has been most helpful

[Reidy]

i go 3 times a week (mon, wed, fri) and then on a weekend every other two weeks.
I do chest and triceps on a monday, back and biceps on a wednesday and abs and shoulders on a friday. On the weekend i do legs. Its important not to work muscles that counter each other in the same session such as abs and lower back
For chest i do dumbell flys both regular and incline. Free weights are most appropriate for your chest as the machines only work it in 1 way and for a large muscle area thats not good. The machines are fine for something like biceps as its a smaller muscle but thats off topic. The cables are really good for your chest too, make a bird like 'flap' drawing your arms in together. Try and do some press ups too if you can.
Most guys like to 'bench press' but i find you use ur shoulders and back too much. Dumbells let u isolate your chest a bit better. For your triceps i'd recommend using one of the cables and a rope. Draw the rope over your body and head. Simple pull downs work pretty good too. Also use a bench and a chair - put your feet up on the chair and hold the bench with your hands. Then dip your body down using the triceps. If its too easy put a weight on your lap. Its best to work your heaviest sets first, e.g. do flys before you tackle the cables...

Triceps will make your arms look bigger more quickly that your biceps as there a far bigger muscle group.

I'll write what i do for the other days later if your interested...

[JammyJim]

Well the program ive been put on is as follows :

10minute warmup ride on bike.

Then i sit on a machine where i push a plate with my legs and i slide upwards or something and weights move

then i move onto a 'rowing machine' which is actually me with a padded thing in my chest leaning forward very slightly pulling handle bars towards me connected to weights.

then i do the fly
then i do 2 leg workout machine things

then i move onto triceps (push this bar thing away from me in an arc from head so my arms go from being upright to straight out infront

then biceps which is pulling a bar up towards me

then i do 10minutes of light jogging

then i do calfs which involves moving upwards almost onto tiptoes pushing upwards lifting weight...


apologies for the non technical crap but i honestly dont have a clue right now what anything is called..


I do 3 sets of 10 reps on each with around 10-30 second break in between each set just to recover or whatnot.

the weights im doing are about as much as i can deal with and usually on the 3rd set im thinking 'omfg i want to die this is difficult'

(not so difficult that im tearing things but you know what i mean)

i do that for 6 weeks then the weight is upped....


he didnt say 'do different groups different days tho'...

[SilverSmoke]

Nah, that's fine to start with. Full body workouts are an excellent way to get into basic shape.

Why are you doing so much cardio? Do you want to lose fat or? If it's not for the fat you could do less of it in my opinion.

[JammyJim]

the only cardio i do bar the warmup on the bike is the 10minute jog on the machine. i could cut this i suppose or do it as a warm down. every other exercise involves pushing weight of some kind.


i went yesterday and did 45minutes there (i got there late and was kicked out - KICKED OUT OF A GYM (!!!)' and am going again today at 4


i dont need to lose fat.
im about the non fattest person ever. im liek just under 11 / just over 10 1/2 stone (seems to depend on scales) and 6foot ish.

[SilverSmoke]

Ah ok I see, thought you where doing 20 minutes cardio each session.

Anyways, good luck and have fun becoming a monster. No pain no gain and all that jazz *hulk*

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

p.s. i sound like silversmoke but without the ABS OF STEEL AND LEGS LIKE TREE TRUNKS

I don't have abs of steel dude, well not visible ones at least and my legs are behind which is a common thing for starters. Doing them 'hardcore' now though every friday and it makes me move like robocop during the weekends

[JammyJim]

i always find getting of the running machine fun and games.
i feel like im still moving whilst im standing still for about a minute.

ive yet to meet a hot woman at the gym tho

altho i did spy a milf \o/

[JammyJim]

actually i do have a question.


i came back from the gym the other day. went to bed. woke up. went into shower and noticed that i have 2 red parallel lines on my left shoulder and a red blob on my right shoulder that appears to be like a burst capillary affair....

is this normal or am i killing myself?

[Mr. Ed]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

actually i do have a question.


i came back from the gym the other day. went to bed. woke up. went into shower and noticed that i have 2 red parallel lines on my left shoulder and a red blob on my right shoulder that appears to be like a burst capillary affair....

is this normal or am i killing myself?

Yeah i've had that a few times- I think its from the one where you "Sit on a machine where i push a plate with my legs and i slide upwards or something and weights move"- If thats the machine I'm thinking of all the weight is put on your shoulders, which causes the marks but they tend to fade in a day or two.

If it gets really bad though you might want to give that particular exercise a rest for a while.

[JammyJim]

prolly the rowing machine as all the weight is put on the upper back and shoulders.


at least i know im not alone

[Blastoderm]

A fat guy giving advice. What's the world coming to?

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by idimmu

only work a body part once a week, and make sure you work all your body over the week else your body shape could be affected.

If he only does 2 different exercises a week, so a total of 6 sets in your advice, then he's not training hard enough. You can do 3 full body workouts (which he seems to be doing sort of) a week for example which oftenly means you hit a certain group of muscles more then once a week, which is a decent schedule for starters as long you keep the amount of sets limited for each group once a week.

According to you he has enough with doing 6 sets of 10 reps bicep a week. Although this might be enough to start with to gain but in fact according to most fitness and bodybuilding lecture he should do 9 to max 12 sets a week while you speak of he certainly shouldn't do more.

About your comment of doing the exercises slow and controlled. Opinions seem to differ about this. I see people doing them like you describe, but I also see people doing them quick and powerful. Both groups seem to be knowing what they're doing judging by their fysics. I never looked up much on this but there are serious bodybuilders who train quick and powerful and the other week or whatever they do it slowly and controlled. I guess it's all ok as long you do the exercise correctly.

There is no real set rule for in which intensity to train and on what speed and frequency, each body is different and there are different motives so I don't know where you get the 6 sets a week max crap from. I don't mind people talking bullshit about things they believe they are specialised in but it annoys when such posters start with 'everyone in this thread is rubbish'.

[lizardking]

I remember teh first time i went to gym, worked on my chest & arms. Damned teh aching next day. I let the pain run and pass through and went there again to work out my legs. Took efforts just to sit teh next day. When u look at the bright side, when the pain comes u know u've done summit right. It's teh sign to know it's actually having effect. I've been doing gym regulary / taking pauses (whenever rl requires) for about a year now as my 12month contract expires to the gym. The thing about gym is most ppl think it's going to be labor all the way through. It's not. The feeling u get doing is awesome and u get to look at ur own musclegrowth (takes about ~2months to c teh first signs btw), there's nothing quite like it. I really do enjoy doing it a lot and results still go up alltho maybe not as fast as when i first started, but whatever gain is a gain.

You'll need a working program and sum1 with experience, a friend or personal trainer f.ex to get u started. Don't work ur muscles randomly coz it's no use if u want ur body to build up in faster pace. Atm my routine consists of 4 different day sets:

day 1: chest & biceps
day 2: back
day 3: rest
day 4: shoulders & extenders (sory dunno teh correct word for it)
day 5: legs

And start up the circle when it's finished. Well this is 1 example of a program. U'll ofc need more specifics how those moves r done and what equipment to use. It's also good to change program every 1 or 2 months since muscles tend to "get used" to doing the same over and over.

Also don't forget to eat well. I recommend u buy recovery powder for the extra protein coz ur muscles need those proteins to grow. F.ex. bodybuilders use specific food program to get best results.

Well I hope this helps, gl and remember to pump the iron :-)

-liz

[SilverSmoke]

how much weight did you gain in those 12 months?

[lizardking]

Didn't take a note, but my best guess would be 6-7kilos.

[JammyJim]

well i dont stretch at all atm and I havnt actually bothered to do the whole '10 reps at low weight to warm up' malarky either....:(


whilst i wait for a machine to free up (the arm curl usually) i do a few more sets on the ab cruncher as ive heard that unless my 'core' is built up i dont stand much chance elsewhere.

im already definitly getting larger. i think ive put on a pound or two and ive only been going for 2 weeks (5 times so far and end of second week on saturday with 6th).

im concerend about the stretching because lots of different people are saying very different things...

some say 'dont bother it just wastes time and will impede muscle growth'
others say 'omg you have to stretch or you will rip every muscle and bleed out your ass'
etc etc


what is right?!?!

[SilverSmoke]

Don't know, I don't feel like stretching, it works quite well without. I only do very low weight reps as a warm up before my bench press sessions. At my gym a couple of serious builders do something like 10 minutes bicycling before they start to do their training and some do nothing. The people who get injuries are the ones who are doing their exercises incorrect in combination of taking too much weight.

[JammyJim]

its very hard to do it incorrectly when your on a machine...infact its close to impossible to get bad form unless you do something immensly retarded like not setup the machine correctly or one of your arms decides not to move so all the weight goes on the other...


as for weights then yes i can see how putting to much could cause strain but again youd have to be pretty stupid not to know what the max is you can lift....

[JammyJim]

oh and i shall be purchasing some

of this

for before and after the gym on the days i go... it says to take it everyday but i dont want to get fat and im only going 3 days a week......

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

oh and i shall be purchasing some

of this

for before and after the gym on the days i go... it says to take it everyday but i dont want to get fat and im only going 3 days a week......

Nice mix of whey powder, creatine and glutamine it seems. I'm quite new to these supplements. I ordered a whey/protein mix powder some days ago to supplement my lack of protein. Creatine is to strengthen your muscles as far I know, thought of ordering it but for now i'll do with the whey after each training and see how it goes.

Also I started to change my eating habbits. More eggs, tuna without sauce/oil on a dailly base. Milk in the morning. Trying to avoid pigmeat and industrial sugars etc.

[Game^]

Originally Posted by JammyJim

oh and i shall be purchasing some

of this

for before and after the gym on the days i go... it says to take it everyday but i dont want to get fat and im only going 3 days a week......

You should take a protein drink 3 times on the day your going the gym. Once a few hours before, another straight after you have finished, and the final one just before you go bed.

Also dont do machine weights, as you'll end up with an unbalanced body, due to the fact your only working 1 primary muscle group on the machine. You should be using free weights, i.e. dumbells, as that ensures you use secondary muscles in terms of stablisation also. You will also see better results as it IS a much harder workout.

As far as stretching goes, ive never stretched before or after exercise since i started going 3 years ago, and the only "warm up" i do is a few minutes with really light dumbells (6KG), doing bicep circles, tricep extensions, shoulder shrugs, "windmills" (heh), just to basicially ensure my muscles are fully moving.

[Veedeejem!]

protein drinks are for fags

BEEFCAKE!

[SilverSmoke]

I thought signatures with your planetarion history in it are for faggots mr officer