Home gym

[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.