I've been tempted by straps but was hoping I could build my grip strength (which isn't particuarly working). Maybe I should do my normal lifts until I fail then get the straps out rather than starting with them on.
Try throwing in some forearm excersises at the end of your arms session. Let your fingers extend as the weight roles down and then close them again. Might help improve the grip. Probably better than the deadlift because it not such a riduculous amount of weight.
If you have access to a good pull up bar, i can recommend (from personal experience) a certain pull-up variant for grip strength and forearm development. (You could try some reverse barbell curls too?) Palms facing in towards each other, thumbs facing you. (grip akin to a hammer curl) This helped my grips on deadlifts. Unless your pulling extreme figures, you should be removing these bottlenecks with training, not glossing over with accessories... atleast that was my logic.
I dont entirely agree. Yes, improving your grip is helpful and should be done. But by using a strap when deadlifting its not glossing over anything, its letting you train your back without restriction. Thats my thoughts anyway. If im training back ( like i did today) then i want to isolate the muscle in question and not have grip holding me back from training properly.
With bulking up you must remember your power exercises are essential as in Bench Press, Squat , Dead Lift. You have to be strict with these as well with no cheating or jerking. One thing I found I used change what I did to each muscle group to confuse my muscles. Another thing don't be scared to try supersets to get a good blood flow to each muscle. But all this your dieting is one of the most important things. When I got up to 130kg for rugby I used to eat a lot of eggs, baked potatoes and wild rice with a lot of pasta. Its also good to train with someone you trust as well. I also did mostly a six day split routine. 3 days on, 1 day off and 3 days on. Splitting my muscle groups into two example. Legs in the morning and shoulders in the afternoon. Then Chest in the morning and biceps in the evening. Third day back in the morning and tri's in the evening. My so called day of rest I did cycling and a lot of stretching exercises.
I'd say it's a combination of both. To begin with, exercise usually will help. It's getting things refined that involves eating well. I f you don't exercise dieting won't help whatsoever. In the same vein you'll have quicker diminishing returns if you don't diet well.
I saw this thread back when it first started but fitness wasn't very high on my agenda at the time. I've decided I need to sort myself out, slim down, build some muscle etc. The problem I have is I have no idea where to start. I signed up to the Gym about a month ago and I've been going roughly 2-3 times a week. My current limit on the cardio is about 13k on the bike and 5k on the cross trainer (I can't use the treadmill as I screwed my ankle up a while ago and I can feel it going again whenever I try). I've been using the resistance machines (completely in the wrong way if the info on here is anything to go by) and I have changed my diet to cut down on the amount of fat, salt and sugar and upped my protein intake. There has been some mention on here about training different muscle groups on different days. I was wondering if someone would be able to give me some advice on what muscles I should be training together and what I should be doing to work them. Everywhere I read seems to have different opinions on the subject...
If losing weight is your priority, then I would suggest cutting some carbs from your diet. If gaining muscle, then eat, a lot. (while obviously working out etc)
I want to try to lose some of the weight, most of which is round my stomach. I do want to try to get some definition on my upper body though. I'm not looking to build a lot of muscle. I would be happy with just having visible muscle lines. Losing the weight isn't really an issue, I tend to loose fat really quickly when I put my mind to it (it's the keeping it off I struggle with). It's the building muscle part that I'm not entirely sure about.
Cardiovascular is the way to go and dieting. Low weight hi reps. Loads of cycling and stepping machines. Remember stretching is also very very important. Day 1 Chect and biceps followed by stretching and cycling. Day two Shoulders and legs followed by lots of stretching for the legs. Then stomach also using an exercise ball Day three Back and triceps following by stretching and stepping machine. Remember you need to get your heart rate up. I don't know your health issues but its good just to have a check up before you join up. To get your heart rate usually its 220 heart beats minus your age. Example mine being 220-50 = 170 but I need to jeep that heart beat there for at least an half hour. Remember dieting very important. Eat loads of skinless chicken and fish with loads of green veggies broccoli one of the best. Wild or brown rice also very good. I could go in all day but learn to listen to your body.
My advice would be to do cardio 3 times a week at moderate/high intensity (I prefer 3/4 mile runs). Train arms on one day. Back and shoulders on another. Chest on another. Train your abs 2/3 times a week before you go to bed. I personally don't train legs but I'm a runner so have never felt the need. Keep it simple and do approx 2/3 different exercises per muscle group, so, e.g. for chest, flies/dumbbell press/press-ups, for back, bent-over rows/cable pulldowns/pullups, for shoulders, shoulder press/shrugs/front raises, for triceps, skull crushers/pushdowns, for biceps, barbell curls/dumbell concentration curls. I'v found that if you nail the basics and get a good routine going you can then vary it later on once you're knowledge and muscular development has improved. You may even want to begin with only 1 exercise per some muscle groups, which is fine when your starting out. For diet, eat moderately more protein. But the main part is eating a balanced diet that is rich in nutrients and minerals, and one that doesn't go over your total daily energy requirements (or you wont lose weight). Eat lots of fruit and veg, and lean meat (not too much red). You want to lose bodyfat and build muscle, both which can be done at the same time by changing your diet (replacing the unhealthy/high calorie foods with healthier lower calorie foods (so a bowl of veg instead of a plate of chips, etc)), and by doing cardio exercise regularly and weight lifting. As I'v posted before, I'v found an easy way to eat more healthily is to use frozen veg and cook it in a microwave, and have that with every meal I make. You can buy cheap bags of mixed broccoli, carrots, peas, green beans etc from any supermarket, and with it being so easy to make it's a great way to get those nutrients and vitamins in your diet. And alternatively, fresh veg in a pan is great too (sugar snaps, peppers, mushrooms, you name it). All taste great and are healthy to eat. These are some examples of the stuff I make, which just gives you an idea: 1, 2, 3, 4 That's a mixture of chicken, turkey, salmon and tuna, and once a week some red meat like minted lamb ribs or pork chops.
This, eating the right mix of complex carbs (brown rice & wholeweat pasta's being a good one), veg and protein (generally chicken / fish) are the perfect building blocks for what you do at the gym. If you eat **** you wont get no where (can say that as I have done it admitedly & currently step dad is doing it xD) Anyway when I get back to uni (and have access to a gym again) I'm trying out a few program guides tbh however this time aim to eat right first xD As for routines, 20 mins to start and end a session in the gym can be a good starting point as that can help to kickstart your body using your fat reserves as energy. As for muscle groups I generally used to use, day 1- Chest, biceps (bench press being a good exercise for chest if you can do it) day 2 - Ticeps, lat's and back then day 3 being Shoulders and legs. however I moved a bit towards doing shoulders with triceps and doing legs as a "off" day with back and lats :/ (this was a good year or so ago, whilst at uni I was mainly doing recovery stuff on my shoulder)
Hope someone can help me with this. I have spent the last 2 years chaning my lifestyle, eating habits and excersise regularly which has always been cardio. (Running half marathons and hiking quite a lot) I have taken the executive desision to hit the weights as my upper body needs some bulking up. I started at the beginning of the month and have been quite a few times (every other day). I have been working to do 5 reps and fail on the 6th. What I would like to know is, what should my muscles feel like once I have finished at the gym? Any tips would be great!
I would say its early days yet, if you only been about 6-7 times you wont notice a huge difference. Yet. Feeling wise, your muscles should feel a bit pumped and tight. But if this the first sort of heavy weight work you have done then it may take a while to get them to respond. Make sure that your diet is lined up, ensuring you have protein and whole foods at the right times throughout the day is essential and i would almost go as far as saying its not worth lifting the weights until you get the diet sorted. My advice would be to spend 2 weeks aiming for 10 reps per set, for 3 sets. Then for the following 2 weeks, go slightly heavier and aim for 6-8 reps. Once a month has gone try 10 reps again. Good luck and keep it up, once you get stuck in and start seeing results it can be addictive!
I've got the diet down well. Its the training. I realise I wont see any benefits in this short amount of time, however, I just wanted to make sure I am to the correct level.
last year i was in the gym 5 nights a week for 9 months - it was great but new job meant I dont have the time as I was in there for 2 hours a night. 5 reps and fail on 6? or 5 sets and fail on 6? as 5 reps isn't very many. I used to work out a different muscle group each of the 5 nights I went, so each muscle group only once a week, but it was a very hard work out. if you are going to the gym every other day and working the same muscle groups and not giving them time to mend and repair then they aren't going to grow very big. Pyramids are good, with increasing weight. I would do 5 sets, light - med - heavy - med - light and then fail on sixth with heavy load. my reps would normally go 15 - 12 -10 - 12 - 15 and then fail on about 5 or 6. Other nights I would just stick to straight sets of heavy, 10 - 10 - 10 and fail on fourth. Are you taking any supplements at all? there are some good ones out there if you want good muscle growth (not steroids) whack the weight on and strap yourself to everything
I haven't read through all the thread so I'm not sure if they've been posted already, but here are some fitness/diet sites that I find useful: http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html http://www.eatthismuch.com/ http://deflab.me/ Oh and if you're a beginner then you shouldn't even consider supplements. If you care more about supplements than squats you have your priorities wrong. Edit: forgot this brilliant one http://www.rohitnair.net/pp/
