Home gym

[Apple]

Wanting to get a mini gym in my new house but I haven't got a clue how much a decent one would cost. I thought it was just as easy as checking online, adding up the prices of the machines but it isn't that simple. First of all, where do I look... Argos maybe? Idk. Then I have to decide on the price/make. The price range can be massive, does it matter if I just go for the cheaper ones or is it actually worth spending more on the better brands? The machines I would be looking at are benches with weights for bench press, a pull up/dip machine, a treadmill, a cross trainer, dumbbell set and the leg weights which I don't know the name for. Anyone got any idea? Thanks!

[Soy]

no point doing it unless you want to spend atleast £500

join a gym

[Special]

they arn't cheap

i'm talking £1000+

easier, quicker & cheaper to join a gym

[Minstrels]

How much you got.

[Jake]

As above said, all depends how much your willing to spend.

[Apple]

no point doing it unless you want to spend atleast £500

join a gym

I wouldn't be paying for it, my parents would as they would also want to use it. £500 to £1000 doesn't really sound too bad at all, does this include everything I mentioned and where would be the best place to shop?

[PaulMacC]

Depends. Real good equipment costs way more than what was mentioned. You could buy a semi-decent bench press for what, a few hundred quid. There are cheap ones out there but they break easy and put you at risk. Just join a gym, far better

[Wig44.]

Depends. Real good equipment costs way more than what was mentioned. You could buy a semi-decent bench press for what, a few hundred quid. There are cheap ones out there but they break easy and put you at risk. Just join a gym, far better

You can buy a bench press? Perhaps you should only comment on things you are actually knowledgeable on. @OP If you are willing to buy
A) A decent squat/power rack, if you can't do pull ups in it then buy a pull up bar.
B) Possibly a bench
C)Olympic Barbell, maybe 150kg of olympic plates to start off with (make sure to get some of the micro plates like 2.5kg and 1.25kg) and dumbbells if you wish.

Then hit the compound exercises really hard, along with pull ups/push ups and add in some dumbbell work if you really want. I suggest Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting strength 3x5, you will make ecellent use of your equipment and if done right stronglifts/starting strength can get you a lot bigger as well as a huge load stronger.

Don't buy any machines, machines are COMPLETELY useless and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The benefits of spending and getting this stuff at home means you don't need to commute to the gym like I do and if you are feeling particularly lazy one day (shame on you, you lazy *******) you won't have to face driving/a bus - just go to the basement/wherever.

[PaulMacC]

You can buy a bench press? Perhaps you should only comment on things you are actually knowledgeable on. @OP If you are willing to buy
A) A decent squat/power rack, if you can't do pull ups in it then buy a pull up bar.
B) Possibly a bench
C)Olympic Barbell, maybe 150kg of olympic plates to start off with (make sure to get some of the micro plates like 2.5kg and 1.25kg) and dumbbells if you wish.

Then hit the compound exercises really hard, along with pull ups/push ups and add in some dumbbell work if you really want. I suggest Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting strength 3x5, you will make ecellent use of your equipment and if done right stronglifts/starting strength can get you a lot bigger as well as a huge load stronger.

Don't buy any machines, machines are COMPLETELY useless and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The benefits of spending and getting this stuff at home means you don't need to commute to the gym like I do and if you are feeling particularly lazy one day (shame on you, you lazy *******) you won't have to face driving/a bus - just go to the basement/wherever.
It's called a typo, everyone makes them. No need to be so ignorant.

In addition to your recommendations, I'd suggest even smaller weights such as 0.5kg small circular plates to tie on to your bar. Progressive poundage is key in lifting and some weeks you dont even notice the extra 0.5kg - 1kg.

Also, I'd recommend making your own routine rather than adapting one for the mass, yes some are good for certain people but everyone is different, everyone has a different body structure and genetics. Buy a few books to teach the fundamentals. I recommend BEYOND BRAWN by Stuart McRobert. An author who wrote his entire book for hardgainers, if you are struggling on form and technique buy another book by him called The Insider's Tell All Handbook on Weight Training Technique. Both are around £10, two of the best books you'll buy in your life. It'll teach you how to build routines plus how to train.

Pick core exercises like the Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift (Stiff Legged variant as Squat & Compound DL will cause strain). Then add accessories from there.
I found this out when trying a program, I couldn't do weighted crunches so I now do a weighted plank instead. I also cant lift very well in calf workouts so I now do the squat instead of the calf machine.

One last tip, dont over do it. I find training anymore than 3 days a week will rob you of potential gains. Most muscle growth happens when you are sleeping. So eat big, sleep well and lift big and hopefully you'll start to see some improvement. I've only been training seriously to a routine for the past 6-7 weeks, 2 days a week but already I've seen insane progress, albeit noob gains, I'm still progressing.

[Soy]

just join a gym and buy food

£500 of food will make you hench

[Apple]

It's called a typo, everyone makes them. No need to be so ignorant.

In addition to your recommendations, I'd suggest even smaller weights such as 0.5kg small circular plates to tie on to your bar. Progressive poundage is key in lifting and some weeks you dont even notice the extra 0.5kg - 1kg.

Also, I'd recommend making your own routine rather than adapting one for the mass, yes some are good for certain people but everyone is different, everyone has a different body structure and genetics. Buy a few books to teach the fundamentals. I recommend BEYOND BRAWN by Stuart McRobert. An author who wrote his entire book for hardgainers, if you are struggling on form and technique buy another book by him called The Insider's Tell All Handbook on Weight Training Technique. Both are around £10, two of the best books you'll buy in your life. It'll teach you how to build routines plus how to train.

Pick core exercises like the Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift (Stiff Legged variant as Squat & Compound DL will cause strain). Then add accessories from there.
I found this out when trying a program, I couldn't do weighted crunches so I now do a weighted plank instead. I also cant lift very well in calf workouts so I now do the squat instead of the calf machine.

One last tip, dont over do it. I find training anymore than 3 days a week will rob you of potential gains. Most muscle growth happens when you are sleeping. So eat big, sleep well and lift big and hopefully you'll start to see some improvement. I've only been training seriously to a routine for the past 6-7 weeks, 2 days a week but already I've seen insane progress, albeit noob gains, I'm still progressing.


just join a gym and buy food

£500 of food will make you hench


You can buy a bench press? Perhaps you should only comment on things you are actually knowledgeable on. @OP If you are willing to buy
A) A decent squat/power rack, if you can't do pull ups in it then buy a pull up bar.
B) Possibly a bench
C)Olympic Barbell, maybe 150kg of olympic plates to start off with (make sure to get some of the micro plates like 2.5kg and 1.25kg) and dumbbells if you wish.

Then hit the compound exercises really hard, along with pull ups/push ups and add in some dumbbell work if you really want. I suggest Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting strength 3x5, you will make ecellent use of your equipment and if done right stronglifts/starting strength can get you a lot bigger as well as a huge load stronger.

Don't buy any machines, machines are COMPLETELY useless and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The benefits of spending and getting this stuff at home means you don't need to commute to the gym like I do and if you are feeling particularly lazy one day (shame on you, you lazy *******) you won't have to face driving/a bus - just go to the basement/wherever.

Thanks for the advice. A mini gym was something my parents had always intended to get for our new house but they asked me to find out what sort of price we are looking at for the equipment that I listed in my first post. The reason being is none of us really have the time to commute to the gym everyday. It would be so much easier to have all the equipment we need right here at home.

As far as my health is concerned, since we aren't moving for several weeks I decided to attempt to gain some weight last friday. My body fat percentage is just too low for my liking so I wanted to up it. My daily diet averages 4.5k calories a day and that consists of mainly: 700 calories from a cadburys boost bar and 2 packs of peanut m&m's on my way to school, 2 chocolate milk shakes at school which comes to around 300 calories, pasta with cheese which comes to around 400 calories, a ham/turkey sandwhich which is around 350 calories, on the way home from school I buy 2 more packs of peanut m&m's which is around 460 calories, first meal at home usually a microwave curry which has around 500 calories, then later on at night either a pack of bacon or a pizza which is about 700 calories then just before I go to bed I eat between 0.5L - 1L of plain vanilla ice cream which is around 800 calories. The rest is made up of numerous hot chocolates I drink. If you bothered to read all that, is that diet doing me any serious harm? I understand that it isn't exactly going to be good but it can't really do me too much harm can it? I have literally had the same meal plan everyday since last friday. On the friday when I weighed myself with just shorts and t-shirt it was 9.5 stone, now it is 9.9, that is excluding today so hopefully tomorrow morning (I always weigh myself in the morning) it should be higher. Can't be doing bad if I have gained around 2KG in less than a week. :P

[PaulMacC]

Thanks for the advice. A mini gym was something my parents had always intended to get for our new house but they asked me to find out what sort of price we are looking at for the equipment that I listed in my first post. The reason being is none of us really have the time to commute to the gym everyday. It would be so much easier to have all the equipment we need right here at home.

As far as my health is concerned, since we aren't moving for several weeks I decided to attempt to gain some weight last friday. My body fat percentage is just too low for my liking so I wanted to up it. My daily diet averages 4.5k calories a day and that consists of mainly: 700 calories from a cadburys boost bar and 2 packs of peanut m&m's on my way to school, 2 chocolate milk shakes at school which comes to around 300 calories, pasta with cheese which comes to around 400 calories, a ham/turkey sandwhich which is around 350 calories, on the way home from school I buy 2 more packs of peanut m&m's which is around 460 calories, first meal at home usually a microwave curry which has around 500 calories, then later on at night either a pack of bacon or a pizza which is about 700 calories then just before I go to bed I eat between 0.5L - 1L of plain vanilla ice cream which is around 800 calories. The rest is made up of numerous hot chocolates I drink. If you bothered to read all that, is that diet doing me any serious harm? I understand that it isn't exactly going to be good but it can't really do me too much harm can it? I have literally had the same meal plan everyday since last friday. On the friday when I weighed myself with just shorts and t-shirt it was 9.5 stone, now it is 9.9, that is excluding today so hopefully tomorrow morning (I always weigh myself in the morning) it should be higher. Can't be doing bad if I have gained around 2KG in less than a week. :P
It is bad, if you want to be slim and built. You are putting on fat, which is a no no. Muscles arent built from fat, they are built from lifting big, eating healthily and sleeping well. It'll waste you more time bulking with fatty foods. You can get muscle growth that way dont get me wrong just that you'll be fat. What you want to do is eat clean, healthy and natural. Chicken breasts, tuna, turkey, salmon, beef, lean mince. All good stuff. Get a lot of greens into you too. Peanut butter is also good bulking food for healthy fats and some protein.This way you can stay relatively slim and put on muscle, I personally aim my intake to be around 20-25g of fat a day plus a gram of protein for every pound I weigh. You want to eat healthy as otherwise eating fatty foods means you'd have to bulk and cut. You cant do both at the same time. That weight you've gained is probably fat, not muscle. I'm almost 9 stone and I have put on almost 1 stone of lean muscle in the past 7 weeks just by eating healthily, lifting well and sleeping well. Also invest in some whey protein, it helps wonders.
If you are doing everything right you should roughly be gaining 0.5lb+ of muscle mass a week. Considerably more if you are just starting to lift weights.

Here is a rough guide you can base your diet around. Dont copy it exactly if you dont like it, a diet can be enjoyable if you get the right food substance.
http://www.zshare.net/download/80900203a86059ea/
It's a MS Word document.

[Apple]

It's called a typo, everyone makes them. No need to be so ignorant.

In addition to your recommendations, I'd suggest even smaller weights such as 0.5kg small circular plates to tie on to your bar. Progressive poundage is key in lifting and some weeks you dont even notice the extra 0.5kg - 1kg.

Also, I'd recommend making your own routine rather than adapting one for the mass, yes some are good for certain people but everyone is different, everyone has a different body structure and genetics. Buy a few books to teach the fundamentals. I recommend BEYOND BRAWN by Stuart McRobert. An author who wrote his entire book for hardgainers, if you are struggling on form and technique buy another book by him called The Insider's Tell All Handbook on Weight Training Technique. Both are around £10, two of the best books you'll buy in your life. It'll teach you how to build routines plus how to train.

Pick core exercises like the Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift (Stiff Legged variant as Squat & Compound DL will cause strain). Then add accessories from there.
I found this out when trying a program, I couldn't do weighted crunches so I now do a weighted plank instead. I also cant lift very well in calf workouts so I now do the squat instead of the calf machine.

One last tip, dont over do it. I find training anymore than 3 days a week will rob you of potential gains. Most muscle growth happens when you are sleeping. So eat big, sleep well and lift big and hopefully you'll start to see some improvement. I've only been training seriously to a routine for the past 6-7 weeks, 2 days a week but already I've seen insane progress, albeit noob gains, I'm still progressing.


just join a gym and buy food

£500 of food will make you hench


You can buy a bench press? Perhaps you should only comment on things you are actually knowledgeable on. @OP If you are willing to buy
A) A decent squat/power rack, if you can't do pull ups in it then buy a pull up bar.
B) Possibly a bench
C)Olympic Barbell, maybe 150kg of olympic plates to start off with (make sure to get some of the micro plates like 2.5kg and 1.25kg) and dumbbells if you wish.

Then hit the compound exercises really hard, along with pull ups/push ups and add in some dumbbell work if you really want. I suggest Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting strength 3x5, you will make ecellent use of your equipment and if done right stronglifts/starting strength can get you a lot bigger as well as a huge load stronger.

Don't buy any machines, machines are COMPLETELY useless and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The benefits of spending and getting this stuff at home means you don't need to commute to the gym like I do and if you are feeling particularly lazy one day (shame on you, you lazy *******) you won't have to face driving/a bus - just go to the basement/wherever.


It is bad, if you want to be slim and built. You are putting on fat, which is a no no. Muscles arent built from fat, they are built from lifting big, eating healthily and sleeping well. It'll waste you more time bulking with fatty foods. You can get muscle growth that way dont get me wrong just that you'll be fat. What you want to do is eat clean, healthy and natural. Chicken breasts, tuna, turkey, salmon, beef, lean mince. All good stuff. Get a lot of greens into you too. Peanut butter is also good bulking food for healthy fats and some protein.This way you can stay relatively slim and put on muscle, I personally aim my intake to be around 20-25g of fat a day plus a gram of protein for every pound I weigh. You want to eat healthy as otherwise eating fatty foods means you'd have to bulk and cut. You cant do both at the same time. That weight you've gained is probably fat, not muscle. I'm almost 9 stone and I have put on almost 1 stone of lean muscle in the past 7 weeks just by eating healthily, lifting well and sleeping well. Also invest in some whey protein, it helps wonders.
If you are doing everything right you should roughly be gaining 0.5lb+ of muscle mass a week. Considerably more if you are just starting to lift weights.

Here is a rough guide you can base your diet around. Dont copy it exactly if you dont like it, a diet can be enjoyable if you get the right food substance.
http://www.zshare.net/download/80900203a86059ea/
It's a MS Word document.

I fully acknowledge the fact that the weight I am gaining is 100% fat. I just want a higher body fat percentage as at the moment there is nothing on me. In several weeks I will of cleaned up my diet and be aiming for muscle gains, not fat like now.

[KyoraStryker]

Joining a gym is definitely the better cost alternative. The only downfall to it is that you have to share the equipment with other members of the gym, whereas owning your own home-based gym would allow for only you to use the equipment.

[PaulMacC]

I fully acknowledge the fact that the weight I am gaining is 100% fat. I just want a higher body fat percentage as at the moment there is nothing on me. In several weeks I will of cleaned up my diet and be aiming for muscle gains, not fat like now.
Why do you want fat for? I started lifted at eight stone and even then I could lift a significant weight for my size. Having no fat puts you in a better position. You'll notice it more.

[Wig44.]

I fully acknowledge the fact that the weight I am gaining is 100% fat. I just want a higher body fat percentage as at the moment there is nothing on me. In several weeks I will of cleaned up my diet and be aiming for muscle gains, not fat like now.

Before I get into a 'healthy diet' I just want to say, do stronglifts 5x5, eat lots of calories (doesn't matter if they are clean at your stage imo, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie and you need lots of calories to help you recover, in increase your body weight, and especially to help your strength increase and build muscle mass). Perhpas avoid the worst sources (chocolate, hydrogenated fats) and look at nutrient rich foods like lots of eggs, liver etc. You should be drinking plenty of whole milk, milk seems to help more than its caloric value can account for and it is an easy and excellent way to add calories to your diet. 4.5k sounds good but you can shoot for more if you want. Who cares if you gain some fat now? Gaining strength and muscle at the cost of gaining some fat as will happen with the above suggestions, then losing some of the fat is much faster and more rewarding than gaining muscle and strength at a much slower pace and keeping calories meticulously low to prevent any fat gain. Seriously, a guy like you (skinny) will be able to shed 6 months of moderate fat accumulation in a month of eating a caloric deficit and keeping carbohydrates relatively low.

Right now:
Stronglifts 5x5, do it.
Eat lots, 4.5k calories sounds good. Make sure you get good amounts of protein. You want to consume quite a lot of carbohydrate due to its ability to further stimulate appetite and gain weight.
Don't be afraid of saturated fats, or cholesterol. Neither play a role in atherosclerotic plaque build up, arterial thrombosis, arterial swelling, endothelial damage, or anything else related to heart disease/blood vessel damage in which they are both implicated. Nor cancer, or infact, anything. They have vilified to sell you grass seeds (wheat, gluten grains etc) which make more money than livestock.
Drink plenty of milk (count the calories from the milk in your daily total)

http://www.stronglifts.com for the program and more stuff on gaining weight.

[Apple]

Before I get into a 'healthy diet' I just want to say, do stronglifts 5x5, eat lots of calories (doesn't matter if they are clean at your stage imo, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie and you need lots of calories to help you recover, in increase your body weight, and especially to help your strength increase and build muscle mass). Perhpas avoid the worst sources (chocolate, hydrogenated fats) and look at nutrient rich foods like lots of eggs, liver etc. You should be drinking plenty of whole milk, milk seems to help more than its caloric value can account for and it is an easy and excellent way to add calories to your diet. 4.5k sounds good but you can shoot for more if you want. Who cares if you gain some fat now? Gaining strength and muscle at the cost of gaining some fat as will happen with the above suggestions, then losing some of the fat is much faster and more rewarding than gaining muscle and strength at a much slower pace and keeping calories meticulously low to prevent any fat gain. Seriously, a guy like you (skinny) will be able to shed 6 months of moderate fat accumulation in a month of eating a caloric deficit and keeping carbohydrates relatively low.

Right now:
Stronglifts 5x5, do it.
Eat lots, 4.5k calories sounds good. Make sure you get good amounts of protein. You want to consume quite a lot of carbohydrate due to its ability to further stimulate appetite and gain weight.
Don't be afraid of saturated fats, or cholesterol. Neither play a role in atherosclerotic plaque build up, arterial thrombosis, arterial swelling, endothelial damage, or anything else related to heart disease/blood vessel damage in which they are both implicated. Nor cancer, or infact, anything. They have vilified to sell you grass seeds (wheat, gluten grains etc) which make more money than livestock.
Drink plenty of milk (count the calories from the milk in your daily total)

http://www.stronglifts.com for the program and more stuff on gaining weight.

Thanks, extremely helpful post. You to Paul.

My appetite seems to be getting bigger by the day. Was able to polish off a family pack of m&m's (900 calories) in 15 mins when not so long ago I couldn't even eat half in that time because I felt physically full.

[Wig44.]

Thanks, extremely helpful post. You to Paul.

My appetite seems to be getting bigger by the day. Was able to polish off a family pack of m&m's (900 calories) in 15 mins when not so long ago I couldn't even eat half in that time because I felt physically full.

That's good, you'll also find that whilst a linear progression program like stronglifts is hard (brutally hard after a while) it gets very good results, and if you arent able to progress at a decent pace you either aren't: Eating enough calories, sleeping enough, or you have hit a very heavy weight where progress slows down and you reach the limit of a linear progression program (adding weight every single workout). This should happen (for a skinny guy) at minimum your bodyweight x 1.5 in squats, bw x2 in deadlifts, 1x bw in bench press, 0.75x bw in the press (aka Overhead press) and 1x bodyweight in pendlay rows.

You may stall (read the stronglifts FAQ to get used to these terms btw) a bit getting there, but ultimately you know when to stop stronglifts because you stall 3 times. On stronglifts, staling is defined as: You fail at weight A on squat, try again. You fail for the 2nd workout in a row, try a third time. Fail a third time, this is ONE stall, deload weight on that exercise only by 10-20%. Once you've stalled 3 times you switch to a new program.

[PaulMacC]

That's good, you'll also find that whilst a linear progression program like stronglifts is hard (brutally hard after a while) it gets very good results, and if you arent able to progress at a decent pace you either aren't: Eating enough calories, sleeping enough, or you have hit a very heavy weight where progress slows down and you reach the limit of a linear progression program (adding weight every single workout). This should happen (for a skinny guy) at minimum your bodyweight x 1.5 in squats, bw x2 in deadlifts, 1x bw in bench press, 0.75x bw in the press (aka Overhead press) and 1x bodyweight in pendlay rows.

You may stall (read the stronglifts FAQ to get used to these terms btw) a bit getting there, but ultimately you know when to stop stronglifts because you stall 3 times. On stronglifts, staling is defined as: You fail at weight A on squat, try again. You fail for the 2nd workout in a row, try a third time. Fail a third time, this is ONE stall, deload weight on that exercise only by 10-20%. Once you've stalled 3 times you switch to a new program.
Squat and Deadlift in the same cycle isn't good, at all. It'll ruin your back in the future. At least variant the Deadlift, the conventional will be brutal with the squat. People with good genetics could get away with it

[Wig44.]

Squats and deadlifts with good form are absolutely fine and will strengthen your back. I and many others do squats and deadlift in the same workout, it isn't writhing on the floor difficult but it isn't for ******* either.

[PaulMacC]

Squats and deadlifts with good form are absolutely fine and will strengthen your back. I and many others do squats and deadlift in the same workout, it isn't writhing on the floor difficult but it isn't for ******* either.
Yes but you are giving your back and leg muscles 2-3 days for recovery when that some people take far longer to recover, especially when starting out.

[Wig44.]

Yes but you are giving your back and leg muscles 2-3 days for recovery when that some people take far longer to recover, especially when starting out.

It's the other way around, beginners have a better capacity to train like this than someone who has been lifting for say 15 years. You'll be sore for the first 1-2 weeks but then you will adapt. Recovery takes about 48 hours, it is ** that you need a week to repair one part of your body. As I said this isn't something for someone who is scared of pushing themselves out of their comfort zones.

[Apple]

It's the other way around, beginners have a better capacity to train like this than someone who has been lifting for say 15 years. You'll be sore for the first 1-2 weeks but then you will adapt. Recovery takes about 48 hours, it is ** that you need a week to repair one part of your body. As I said this isn't something for someone who is scared of pushing themselves out of their comfort zones.

Went to the gym on friday, was benching 50kg as I was advised not to attempt anything heavier when starting out, that's excluding the bar. Did quite a lot of other workouts always aiming to do weights that I can just about do 10 reps of. I felt fine after but on saturday I was aching all over (which would make sense as I did pretty much everything including legs) but today I'm feeling pretty fine.

Guess all I need to know is how many reps should I be aiming for to decide what weight to lift? Then how many sets etc. Like I said I was told that I should aim to lift weights that I can just about do 10 reps, then do 3 sets including the first.

[Wig44.]

Went to the gym on friday, was benching 50kg as I was advised not to attempt anything heavier when starting out, that's excluding the bar. Did quite a lot of other workouts always aiming to do weights that I can just about do 10 reps of. I felt fine after but on saturday I was aching all over (which would make sense as I did pretty much everything including legs) but today I'm feeling pretty fine.

Guess all I need to know is how many reps should I be aiming for to decide what weight to lift? Then how many sets etc. Like I said I was told that I should aim to lift weights that I can just about do 10 reps, then do 3 sets including the first.

If the bar is 20kg and it wasn't on the smith machine (doesn't count on the smith machine) then you benched 70kg for 10 reps. You said you're like 138 lbs (9.9 stone or w/e) and haven't trained before? I'm finding myself quite skeptical but just because I haven't seen something doesn't make it impossible.

For what to do - http://www.stronglifts.com/ Do that program, eat **** loads of food, profit.

[Apple]

If the bar is 20kg and it wasn't on the smith machine (doesn't count on the smith machine) then you benched 70kg for 10 reps. You said you're like 138 lbs (9.9 stone or w/e) and haven't trained before? I'm finding myself quite skeptical but just because I haven't seen something doesn't make it impossible.

For what to do - http://www.stronglifts.com/ Do that program, eat **** loads of food, profit.

I doubt the bar was 20kg. Thanks for the link, I am eating loadsss!!

[Wig44.]

I doubt the bar was 20kg. Thanks for the link, I am eating loadsss!!

It's a great program, there is even a spreadsheet to download since us men like logical laid out spreadsheets. You 100% should download it and put in the weights, even though I recommend you start with an empty bar (the olympic one which is.. huge and weighs 20kg itself) which is also what the program recommends. Jus tread the faq/ebook. It's all free! If you train hard, eat lots and don't miss more than 1 workout in 10 (100% is better than 90% though) you will get a) much much stronger and b) more muscular.

[SarahVictoriaaa]

Id love a home gym :)

[PaulMacC]

It's the other way around, beginners have a better capacity to train like this than someone who has been lifting for say 15 years. You'll be sore for the first 1-2 weeks but then you will adapt. Recovery takes about 48 hours, it is ** that you need a week to repair one part of your body. As I said this isn't something for someone who is scared of pushing themselves out of their comfort zones.
Sorry but the whole 'no pain no gain' method is ********. Your body needs 96 hours of full rest and recovery after a hard workout session to fully recover. Yes, you train hard, I sometimes even train to eccentric and isometric failure to maximize my gains, but training hard so hard that you are injuring yourself is pointless. You should know when to stop. I train two days a week because to milk my gains I get a good quality 9-10 hours sleep a night, eat well and workout hard in the gym.

While I disagree slightly with the recommendation of the Stronglift 5x5 program, I've tried it and it wasnt for me, yes I did the exercises correctly and yes I was putting on weight but I am currently putting on more with my own personalised routine rather than one aimed at the masses, everyone is different. Try creating your own workout and dont neglect essiental work for things such as shoulder rotators and your neck. The 5x5 is a good core essential workout to build upon if you are comfortable with those exercises, I was and now include 4 out of 5 of them in my workout.

Also when you are starting to lift, the first 2-4 weeks should be put aside for form. Dont rush into without proper form. You will only rob yourself of the exercise. Here are some basic tips for the core exercises that I do

Overhead Press - Arms parallel, lift up, rotate wrists forward at the front otherwise you'll hurt your wrists, bring it down. Keep the weight as close to your head/neck as possible when coming down. It should just skin the top of your nose when coming down. Bring it to the chest and as soon as it hits your chest, lift it up again. Remember 3 seconds up, 3 seconds down. This way you are in control of the weight and it will work your muscles more than dynamic lifting.

Bench Press - Same as above really except lying down and you are pushing upwards rather than overhead. Try and focus everything when lifting into your core. Arms should be parallel once again.

Squat - A simple mans squat is pecs out, back arched and ass out. 3 seconds up, 3 seconds down. Breathe in when going down, breathe in when going up. This is an orthodox breathing pattern, use it when lifting weights otherwise you'll blackout.

Deadlift - I do the stiff-legged variation because I find the squat and deadlift in the same cycle to be injury provoking. But basically you want your back arched when doing the compound deadlift and then come down as if you were sitting on a toilet, pecs out, keep the bar as close to your legs as possible. Dont deadlift to the ground unless you can, otherwise you'll injure yourself.

Hope this helps. Weightlifting is a real great hobby to get into. I've been doing it seriously now for a good 6-7 weeks. My friends have been doing it for over 2-3 years though and they really enjoy it too.

[Apple]

Sorry but the whole 'no pain no gain' method is ********. Your body needs 96 hours of full rest and recovery after a hard workout session to fully recover. Yes, you train hard, I sometimes even train to eccentric and isometric failure to maximize my gains, but training hard so hard that you are injuring yourself is pointless. You should know when to stop. I train two days a week because to milk my gains I get a good quality 9-10 hours sleep a night, eat well and workout hard in the gym.

While I disagree slightly with the recommendation of the Stronglift 5x5 program, I've tried it and it wasnt for me, yes I did the exercises correctly and yes I was putting on weight but I am currently putting on more with my own personalised routine rather than one aimed at the masses, everyone is different. Try creating your own workout and dont neglect essiental work for things such as shoulder rotators and your neck. The 5x5 is a good core essential workout to build upon if you are comfortable with those exercises, I was and now include 4 out of 5 of them in my workout.

If you only visit the gym twice a week then what is your weekly schedule? I know you like to give yourself longer to recover but it took me under 2 days to recover from a quite a vigorous workout.

[PaulMacC]

If you only visit the gym twice a week then what is your weekly schedule? I know you like to give yourself longer to recover but it took me under 2 days to recover from a quite a vigorous workout.
You cant have a vigorous workout when you have only begun your cycle. Just because you no longer feel fatigued doesnt mean you are fully recovered. I'm almost certain you havent got form down properly. It took me 3 weeks to learn most of my exercise form correctly as do most people. Brutally hard training is training to eccentric failure, not many people can do this. There are three levels of workout, hard, very hard and brutally hard. Hard is usually what you give every week but every 5-6 weeks to boost gains I throw in some isometric and eccentric. I only do this once every 5-6 weeks as again it is very brutal.

Hard is training to concentric failure, where you can no longer complete a full rep range of motion. I base my training on concervatism and progressive poundage (going up 0.5kg - 2kg each week) so I already have set reps and sets.
Very hard is training to isometric failure, where you can no longer hold the weight at the top of the motion.
Brutally hard is training to eccentric failure, where you do negative reps until you can no longer resist the weight. You only do this once every 5-6 weeks as it is brutally hard and takes almost everything out of your body. I do my eccentric training on my hammer curls. I get my friend to lift them up for me after I've exhausted myself in isometric training and then I do them until I cant resist the weight anymore. The next day, I couldnt move my arms.


Monday - Overhead Press, Bench Press, Squat, Weighted Plank, Weighted Crunches.
Thursday - Stiff-Legged Deadlift, Pulldown, Pushdown, Hammer Curls, Shrugs, Neck Work, L-Fly, Weighted Side Plank.

My workout is planned so I get the maximium recovery time possible. Each session usually takes me between 1hr 30min - 2hr 30min. Usually monday is 1hr 30min while thursday is the later.

[Wig44.]

Sorry but the whole 'no pain no gain' method is ********. Your body needs 96 hours of full rest and recovery after a hard workout session to fully recover. Yes, you train hard, I sometimes even train to eccentric and isometric failure to maximize my gains, but training hard so hard that you are injuring yourself is pointless. You should know when to stop. I train two days a week because to milk my gains I get a good quality 9-10 hours sleep a night, eat well and workout hard in the gym.

While I disagree slightly with the recommendation of the Stronglift 5x5 program, I've tried it and it wasnt for me, yes I did the exercises correctly and yes I was putting on weight but I am currently putting on more with my own personalised routine rather than one aimed at the masses, everyone is different. Try creating your own workout and dont neglect essiental work for things such as shoulder rotators and your neck. The 5x5 is a good core essential workout to build upon if you are comfortable with those exercises, I was and now include 4 out of 5 of them in my workout.

Also when you are starting to lift, the first 2-4 weeks should be put aside for form. Dont rush into without proper form. You will only rob yourself of the exercise. Here are some basic tips for the core exercises that I do

Overhead Press - Arms parallel, lift up, rotate wrists forward at the front otherwise you'll hurt your wrists, bring it down. Keep the weight as close to your head/neck as possible when coming down. It should just skin the top of your nose when coming down. Bring it to the chest and as soon as it hits your chest, lift it up again. Remember 3 seconds up, 3 seconds down. This way you are in control of the weight and it will work your muscles more than dynamic lifting.

Bench Press - Same as above really except lying down and you are pushing upwards rather than overhead. Try and focus everything when lifting into your core. Arms should be parallel once again.

Squat - A simple mans squat is pecs out, back arched and ass out. 3 seconds up, 3 seconds down. Breathe in when going down, breathe in when going up. This is an orthodox breathing pattern, use it when lifting weights otherwise you'll blackout.

Deadlift - I do the stiff-legged variation because I find the squat and deadlift in the same cycle to be injury provoking. But basically you want your back arched when doing the compound deadlift and then come down as if you were sitting on a toilet, pecs out, keep the bar as close to your legs as possible. Dont deadlift to the ground unless you can, otherwise you'll injure yourself.

Hope this helps. Weightlifting is a real great hobby to get into. I've been doing it seriously now for a good 6-7 weeks. My friends have been doing it for over 2-3 years though and they really enjoy it too.

Deadlift/Squatting in the same workout is not injury provoking. Past 8 hours of sleep you re not making a great deal of difference to muscle reparation and I can dig out a reference if you like. It isn't no pain no gain - there are 2 types of pain. The bad type, and the not so bad type. The difference is that the first one can indicate an injury and the second is muscular fatigue, pain where the bar is resting on your back, DOMS (much less common after a couple of weeks) etc. But you need to man up, squatting 3x per week with OHP, pendlay rows, deadlifts and bench is intense. You do not need 96 hours to recover. Training to failure past the 1st set has been shown to hurt gains - training to failure is not necessarily a good thing. Linear progression - that is increasing weight every single workout - works far better. Your posts are getting dogmatic now, go ahead and do your hammer curls and train to failure with forced negatives. You know that these muscle gaining 'methods' are for people on steroids right? All the best bodybuilders built their physiques from strength training, Schwarzenegger and Coleman being two of them. Schwarzenegger has since admitted that his size may have come almost entirely from the strength training he did and that the bodybuilding isolation/body part split routines may have been a waste of time. Also, remember that he was cycling steroids...

I'd like to point out that the problems with your workout if I may be so bold.
Crunches and planks are nowhere near as good at producing core stability as squatting, deadlifting, power cleans, olympic snatches, hell, even OHP. Shrugs are also inferior to the aforementioned exercises (except squats and ohp) at training the traps. Pulldowns are a poor replacement for pull ups and the strength doesn't transfer to real life, nor will pull downs provoke any real gain. Then there is the 2 times per week thing. That is just too slow progress to me. You are kidding yourself if you think that you need all that time to repair. DOMS are not a sign of progress you know. But I guess if you are eating like a school girl (and it sounds like you are) then maybe you need more time than the rest of the population to repair.

@ Apple: Don't let Paul confuse you - typical bodybuilding dogma (body parts need 96 hours to repair, isolating muscles - it's almost as if he copied and pasted it from a bodybuilding.com article). Do stronglifts or Rippetoe's Starting Strength. Training to failure and training twice per week are not things you need to do. Don't be suckered in by fancy terms, bodybuilding is highly pseudoscientific now.

[PaulMacC]

Deadlift/Squatting in the same workout is not injury provoking. Past 8 hours of sleep you re not making a great deal of difference to muscle reparation and I can dig out a reference if you like. It isn't no pain no gain - there are 2 types of pain. The bad type, and the not so bad type. The difference is that the first one can indicate an injury and the second is muscular fatigue, pain where the bar is resting on your back, DOMS (much less common after a couple of weeks) etc. But you need to man up, squatting 3x per week with OHP, pendlay rows, deadlifts and bench is intense. You do not need 96 hours to recover. Training to failure past the 1st set has been shown to hurt gains - training to failure is not necessarily a good thing. Linear progression - that is increasing weight every single workout - works far better. Your posts are getting dogmatic now, go ahead and do your hammer curls and train to failure with forced negatives. You know that these muscle gaining 'methods' are for people on steroids right? All the best bodybuilders built their physiques from strength training, Schwarzenegger and Coleman being two of them. Schwarzenegger has since admitted that his size may have come almost entirely from the strength training he did and that the bodybuilding isolation/body part split routines may have been a waste of time. Also, remember that he was cycling steroids...

I'd like to point out that the problems with your workout if I may be so bold.
Crunches and planks are nowhere near as good at producing core stability as squatting, deadlifting, power cleans, olympic snatches, hell, even OHP. Shrugs are also inferior to the aforementioned exercises (except squats and ohp) at training the traps. Pulldowns are a poor replacement for pull ups and the strength doesn't transfer to real life, nor will pull downs provoke any real gain. Then there is the 2 times per week thing. That is just too slow progress to me. You are kidding yourself if you think that you need all that time to repair. DOMS are not a sign of progress you know. But I guess if you are eating like a school girl (and it sounds like you are) then maybe you need more time than the rest of the population to repair.

@ Apple: Don't let Paul confuse you - typical bodybuilding dogma (body parts need 96 hours to repair, isolating muscles - it's almost as if he copied and pasted it from a bodybuilding.com article). Do stronglifts or Rippetoe's Starting Strength. Training to failure and training twice per week are not things you need to do. Don't be suckered in by fancy terms, bodybuilding is highly pseudoscientific now.

I dont do forced reps or negatives very often nor do I train to failure, they only should be used a plateaus breaker. I use a progressive poundage method as you've mentioned above. Adding 0.5KG - 2KG to the bar each week. I'm a hardgainer, I wasnt born with good genetics. I have to earn every pound of muscle I put on with hard work. I have the worst body build for weightlifting. Crunches and planks are an accessory exercises. I already Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and OHP if you managed to read my workout plan. Pulldowns are for lat definining and Shrugs are an accessory exercise. I eat 3.5K cals a day, with 6 meals and 2 supplementary protein shakes and I roughly intake 1.5g of protein per body pound. I dont follow Schwarzenegger at all, he was born with some of the greatest genetics on earth, he could do anything he wanted and still get big. Accessory exercises are needed but the core exercises must be put first.

My entire workout is based upon Stuart McRobert's books and magazines entitled HARDGAINER and Beyond Brawn (www.hardgainer.com (http://www.hardgainer.com)). They teach conservatism throughout lifting and progressive poundage. I am completely against the majority of the information on bodybuilding.com, that is dogma not what I am advising. A conservative approach to weightlifting is better. Less than more. You can get away with it now that you are young but I plan to weightlift my entire life, without injury. I respect your view on weightlifting but do not slander my information as dogma. My workouts are based on conservatism, where as the majority of the weightlifting populations are not.

[Wig44.]

I dont do forced reps or negatives very often nor do I train to failure, they only should be used a plateaus breaker. I use a progressive poundage method as you've mentioned above. Adding 0.5KG - 2KG to the bar each week. I'm a hardgainer, I wasnt born with good genetics. I have to earn every pound of muscle I put on with hard work. I have the worst body build for weightlifting. Crunches and planks are an accessory exercises. I already Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and OHP if you managed to read my workout plan. Pulldowns are for tricep definining and Shrugs are an accessory exercise. I eat 3.5K cals a day, with 6 meals and 2 supplementary protein shakes and I roughly intake 1.5g of protein per body pound.

My entire workout is based upon Stuart McRobert's books and magazines entitled HARDGAINER and Beyond Brawn (www.hardgainer.com). They teach conservatism throughout lifting and progressive poundage. I am completely against the majority of the information on bodybuilding.com, that is dogma not what I am advising. A conservative approach to weightlifting is better. Less than more. You can get away with it now that you are young but I plan to weightlift my entire life, without injury. I respect your view on weightlifting but do not slander my information as dogma. My workouts are based on conservatism, where as the majority of the weightlifting populations are not.

Starting with an empty bar is conservative (e.g stronglifts) in my opinion. Stronglifts has been done by people in their 60's who had no history of working out - a very viable option for someone to workout their whole life. I dislike it when people use the term hardgainer, yeah your genetics may not be as good as some but the difference really isn;t as great as some people would think. As I said, pull downs are pretty damn useless, I noticed the compound exercises, it's just your thursday workout is inundated with useless 'accessory' exercises (synonymous with waste of time imo). Also, 6 meals isn't actually necessary nor beneficial. All it does is raise your fasting insulin and blood glucose levels. Little and often does not speed up metabolism, nor does it affect protein synthesis. If it is just so you can get your calories in (which I doubt when you are only eating 3.5k) then fair enough.

Anyway, we have dragged this off topic and I'd agree that your views are better than most of the conventional bodybuilding views/ideals.

[PaulMacC]

Starting with an empty bar is conservative (e.g stronglifts) in my opinion. Stronglifts has been done by people in their 60's who had no history of working out - a very viable option for someone to workout their whole life. I dislike it when people use the term hardgainer, yeah your genetics may not be as good as some but the difference really isn;t as great as some people would think. As I said, pull downs are pretty damn useless, I noticed the compound exercises, it's just your thursday workout is inundated with useless 'accessory' exercises (synonymous with waste of time imo). Also, 6 meals isn't actually necessary nor beneficial. All it does is raise your fasting insulin and blood glucose levels. Little and often does not speed up metabolism, nor does it affect protein synthesis. If it is just so you can get your calories in (which I doubt when you are only eating 3.5k) then fair enough.

Anyway, we have dragged this off topic and I'd agree that your views are better than most of the conventional bodybuilding views/ideals.
I was a pretty scrawny guy when I started. I couldn't even bench the Olympic bar for 3 sets of 8. I've been going up 2KG a week on my core exercises. I put form before anything though, I dont like robbing myself of the exercise. I personally think genetics play a huge role in weightlifting but again that is my opinion. Yeah it is so that I can get calories in, I have a very small stomach and find it hard eating bulk. I refuse to take weightgain shakes as most are full of sugars and fats and I'm prefer eating quality food than blending a lot of it together and liquidizing it. I do lack severe knowledge in weightlifting so excuse the multiple obvious errors I have made, some areas I'm not so experience in but I do know most the fundamentals.

[PaulMacC]

Also just to add.

I never denied that squats provide immense core strength however there are some deep muscles that the plank and crunches will reach that those examples you've given cannot. Snatches and Power Cleans are for Olympic trainees and is a very specialized kind of training which should be done under full and professional supervision, not as part of a normal programme. If you can pull 5% more than your body weight in pull-downs you can pull-up, right now I cannot. It's a simple fact. 2 times a week is optimum. You need more rest than work. Your muscles need more time to rebuild and over compensate. I am slowly raising your eating habits. To simply rush into new calorie intake level would be down right foolish.