Doing Weights .....

[Jimlad]

Ok....

Finally got the weight bench setup in the spare room. Quite happily pumping iron.

Now today my arms, shoulders and chest muscles were pretty sore.

So when I come to pump some iron today I found it very hard/near impossible because my muscles were so sore.

So what do you do ?? Leave a few days between sessions ?? Or simply not kill yourself in one go ??

I managed to get through it tonight, but it was very hard as my muscles just didn't want to work.

Only have the bench and the big long bar ( thing ) just now. Should be getting some dumb bell things tomorrow so I'll be able to do more.... :)

Jim = Muscle Jim .... lol... .well in 6months time... :)

[T V O R]

Rest is the answer!

During the training period you have damaged your muscle tissue, so now you need to go and eat and sleep so giving your body time to recover.

During this period the muscle tissue is repairing from the last workout and preparing for the next one, this equals GROWTH!!

If you don’t give yourself time you won’t grow and in extreme cases it can cause ‘muscle atrophy’ and you may actually get smaller!

Try and consume 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and lots of water.

PM me for any more info!

[GT4 BOOSTER]

wait until the soreness goes between each session to begin with and dont overdo it.

i'd set your goals alot longer than 6 months also. maybe 12 to 18 months to build a physchique depending on genetics. i trained hard for 4 years , 6 days a week to get where i was.

invest in some L - glutamine , also some CREATINE , AND THEN YOU'LL SEE THE DIFFERENCE.

[Bibbs]

do one day of weights and then a day of running .. this gives your muscle time to recover and grow ..

Only have the bench and the big long bar ( thing ) just now.

and invest in some weights too .. a long bar on it's own isn't going to do much

[bh969]

Hi m8

Agreed you need to rest and feed the muscles you have used I usually find around three days is needed once you have got used to training you may need more in the meantime.

To train more what you can do is separate the muscle groups and try to train opposites I.E. train chest one day and back another,I try to train arr 3 times a week or more.

The best advice I can give is to start to go to a proper gym and learn how to train from people who know what they are doing (even if only for a few months)

[JNR]

and remember to do a good 10 minute warm up with some stretches and a 5 min run on the spot dont use to heavy a weight either at first gradualy build the weights up over a period of time dont go in all gung ho lifting to much weight you might do some damage the way i use to do it was a day of weights and then a day of running a few miles do it like that and you should be fine and in between each set of exersises always leave at least 1 min

[Yarisboy]

so you're finally getting started jim, good.

What you're feeling in your chest/arms/shoulders is known as DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

You need a plan jim, otherwise you're going to give up in 2 weeks.

Here's what I do;

It's called a 5x5 routine, and I use only the compund movements (exercises involving more than one muscle group)

5 sets by 5 reps, e.g. bench press 5 times, rest 1 minute and do it 5 times again until you have completed that 5 times.

Lift 3 times a week, and split your workouts as follows:

LIFT AS HEAVY AS YOU CAN, but make sure you keep GOOD FORM (no flailing or cheating)

PUSH

PULL

LEGS

Now I don't know how pumped you want to get, if you don't want big legs you could substitute LEGS for a couple of miles running.

PUSH - Bench Press, Flyes, Shoulder Press

PULL - Close grip pull ups, barbell row, bent over barbell row

LEGS - Squat/Lunges and you can choose to do some ab work if you want.

Leave a day between each workout if you can but it's not the end of the world if you have to do a couple of days one after the other.

As some of the guys here quite rightly said, you need rest to grow.

When you lift weights that your body is not accustomed to you micro tear muscle fibres which is also known as hypertrophy - these microtears only recover with sufficient rest and SLEEP.

Alot of people neglect nutrition when they lift weights, and it's this simple - if you don't eat the right things your muscles will not grow.

Personally I don't agree that you need to eat 1-2grams of protein per lb of body weight - I think that's excessive and is a sure way to get fat very quickly.

Just make sure you stop eating mars bars, mcvities digestives etc and increase your fruit/salad/veg consumption. Eat lots of fish/meat/eggs and good carbs... pasta/broccoli/etc etc

Lifting weights is the easy part, nutrition is hard :)

I've got several websites to help you learn how to perform the exercises properly through animated gifs, and several forums that will give you far more information than I can.

If you want them i'll pm them to you.

[dj_davo]

the voice of reason pretty much hit the nail on the head, however hypertrophy is the state when your muscles grow, atrophy is when they shrink - also referred as a catabolic or negative nitrogen state.

i recommend 3 days a week with a couple of days in between strenuous workouts for now. when you get more proficient aim to train monday, tuesday, have wednesday off, then train thursday, friday and have the weekend off.

split your body parts up, ie train chest, shoulders, triceps one day, back and biceps the other, legs the other.

keep pumpin, and remember arnies saying when interviewed in pumping iron,...

"dont drink milk, milk is for babies, when you're a man you drink beer"

edit: just read some more - sorry to yarisboy but ignore that workout advice. unfortunately he is quoting one of many new fangled exercise routines written by wet behind the ear sports and fitness graduates who think they are inventing the next great way to do something.

stick to basic exercises (similar to what yarisboy has quoted, ie bench press, squats) but dont do those sets and reps. if u wanna build muscle you do 3 sets of between 6-8 reps, if by the 3rd set you can do more than 8 reps you are not using enough weight - IF BODYBUILDING IS YOUR AIM.

if u wanna tone up and not get huge, do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

and always remember to warm up beforehand, stretch during, and after the workout to prevent the lactic acid buildup or DOMS (sic!) as yaris quotes.

MUSCLEBOUND SCOTSMAN, muhahahahahahaah

[GT4 BOOSTER]

he also said " the pump was better than comming " total crap arnie come on.

[Yarisboy]

oh, and steer clear of Creatine and glutamine for now - these won't really help you until you get more serious and start to reach your natural peak.

Then you can consider things like creatine (which actually just makes your muscles hold more water) and glutamine to aid recovery time and energy bursts.

Or you can consider Clenbuterol and Dbol (steroids) which I would not recomend if you like the size of your peenee.

Just drink lots of water and eat well, lift with good form and keep focused.

:)

[dj_davo]

he also said " the pump was better than comming " total crap arnie come on.

i take it you never had a seriously hard hamstring or calves workout! :D

[Yarisboy]

Sorry dj davo but that is nonsense.

the routine I quoted is that of strong men from many years gone by.

The advice you give is that that usually accompanies machine laden gym equipment.

5 reps at a heavier weight WILL ALWAYS induce more muscle growth than 6-8 reps at whatever weight you can handle for 8 reps.

Furthermore 'toning up' has absolutely NOTHING to do with the amount of weight you're lifting, it is entirely down to nutrition & body fat %

However we're not going to agree so it's quite futile arguing, jim has to weigh up all the research on his own and decide which advice he is going to follow.. and there are many more voices in the world of 'bodybuilding' than just ours :)

[Yarisboy]

If serious muscle growth is your goal jim I would reccomend you have a read of this routine

anti-bodybuilding hypertrophy program

I use this with great results, I always change my routine after 2-3months though to prevent from going 'stale'

I usually always come back to this routine though, or something very similar

You may want to get a month or so lifting under your belt before attempting this however, it will pain you :D

Edit: reading maleborn talking about 18inch biceps etc, alot of 'bodybuilding' is down to your genetics.. if you're a naturally slight guy you will find your growth limits kick in far before someone with a larger frame.

although you're quite a big boy from what I remember jim, so you may go quite large :);)

[GT4 BOOSTER]

in a way ur both correct , its best to mix up exercises , reps ,angles,time taken, weight, the body soon gets used to its punishment.

any of you ever have 18 inch biceps , 49 inch chest , i did and at 5 foot 6 and 13 stones 4 pounds.

gimme your views on the mr2 for sale in the mr2 section please guys.

[dj_davo]

yaris, you are clearly stupid!

toning up is everything to do with the reps and weight u r using. if you can do 12 reps the weight must be light because you shouldnt be able to do more than 8.

i could go on and on with other info but let me leave it at this,....

i was yorkshire bodybuilding champ in 1991, and 2nd in the uk the same year.

i have numerous big friends/ex-training partners who competed and did very well at an amateur level.

i am a friend / and ex-training partner of mark windle, who was amateur universe winner in the early 90's.

i am a friend of trevor crouch who won mr wales and consequently turned pro, im a friend of pete brown who won mr britain and consequently turned pro, and andrew raines who won the universe twice, came 3rd in mr britain, and was in last years worlds strongest man. pete brown is also famous at the minute for having the largest competition quality biceps in bodybuilding - 24". guess what yaris, i used to train biceps with pete!

the way i train, and advised jim to, is also the way all these people train too, as is the way every competitive bodybuilder (who are the ultimate exponents at knowing how to build muscle and burn fat) trains.

unless you are a close friend of a mr olympia winner who uses a different training standard i would pick your arguements more carefully!

ah thankyou :P

[Yarisboy]

well that's great dave, but jim isn't using steroids at the moment!

i'm not here to pick an argument with you, like I said - jim has to weigh it all up for himself before deciding which way he's to go.

edit: sorry dave, i'm only telling jim what has worked for me :)

and congratulations on achieving such a high level of bodybuilding, when you reach your level then i would agree that high reps will help to tone you. But for jim just starting out, high reps will do him no good until he gets a foundation of muscle to work with

[GT4 BOOSTER]

can we post pics of anatomys here to prove the different workouts actually work ?

i mean of each other ?

dj did you go to gateshead leisure centre to the north britain and the city hall newcastle to see eddy ellwood ,my local guy win the universe ?

[dj_davo]

steroids also have nothing to do with the training routine i quoted - other than obviously helping in the obvious ways.

if u think you can just take steroids and grow you are as misinformed as i thought.

you have to train twice as hard, eat twice as hard, and rest twice as hard for a result - unless u wanna play at it and just gain copious amounts of water retention.

steroids are a whole different subject which i will happily enlighten you about,......if you like

edit: just seen yaris' edit,.....yikes this is going on,....

5 reps are the target number for power lifting, and building tendon strength, 6-8 are bodybuilding, 10-12 are defining the muscle, which as you correctly state would be fruitless at this stage of jims experience, which is why i quoted the 6-8 for building the muscle first. for the first year jim/or anyone, shouldnt even play with cable crossovers, pec dec or any other shaping exercise and stick to the basics, which i also quoted earlier.

[GT4 BOOSTER]

i think its safe to say that weights and a bench in a spare room , after 2 weeks will turn into nothing more than a dust covered memory that may of been .

seen it ,read it ,got the t-shirt- go to a gym or get a training partner, sorry its the only way.

[breezer]

thats what happens when youre old

[GT4 BOOSTER]

your mom didnt complain . :P :P

[theenemywithin]

OOOOHHHH, this is a very testosterone charged thread isn't it!!!

I for 0ne am not going to argue with dj_davo.

[GT4 BOOSTER]

if he's into bodybuilding you can bet ur life dj davo is a sound guy .

[Richard K]

your mom didnt complain . :P :P

OOOOH, you didn't need to take it there.

don't sweet FA, but from what's been said, I'm guessing

Eat healthier and do bodybuilding routines at the start to get the growth.

when you've reached the size you want.

Use the toning/definition routines alongside less frequent body building routines

this is only a guess using what has been said on here.

As some one has said already, join a gym (not a 12 month contract gym).

get them to give you a exercise routine and nutrition plan, do it for a few months to get the techniques right and when you are happy with the progress leave and take it home to the spare room.

yaris & dave will probably laugh at what I've said, but it's a compromise of the two views,

my 2p's worth.

[Ryan1985]

I'm takin a wild guess here but I don't think Jim wants be be a beefcake! I think he just wants some muscles and a wee workout!