Weight lifting 101 refresher

[uspcommuter]

Hey all,

Finally took the step of getting a gym membership to get back into shape. Just thought that the gym membership was cheaper than to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes.

Just a little bit of background on my physical history. I was trained in Highschool as a track and field thrower. Threw mainly shot put & discus. And sometimes the javelin. This was a good 8 years ago...havent had a regular regimen excercise for a good 4-5 years.

There are two areas that I would like to start working on.

1. Support muscle to the abs.
It seems like I have developed a beer belly over the years, I am worry about the support muscles (like my back muscles) with all the strain over the years. Yes I know, I have to do crunches and so on to get rid of the belly...but I just want to make sure I got everythign covered :-)

2. Upper body. I just recently moved and I realized quickly that I wasnt as strong as I was used too...so many stuff I was able to move by myself cant be done without another person or with me breathing heavily after its done. Maybe I am just getting older... :-)

any suggestions is greatly appreciated. also if you can provide any workout plans or resources please do. :-) thanks for all your help.

[Verto]

I was under the impression doing crunches would not get rid of a "beer belly", they will simply build the muscles buried beneath the fat, and to a lesser degree burn some fat.

[Leareth]

Start with a body ball to get those core muscles back in shape before you try any heavy lifting.
combine with hand weights and bands for resistance on the ball and you would be surprised how well it can get you into good shape.

Then think about gym weight lifting.

[uspcommuter]

Hehehe

yes cruches are to replace some of the fat with muscles...at least thats what i think the conept is suppose to be.

as for playing around with a body ball...whats that? and what do I do on a body ball?

Thanks

[livingfortoday]

You're going to really need to add some cardio to whatever you're doing. I highly recommend running, as it'll take away the beer belly and help tone the rest of you. Or, you could try biking at the gym as well, maybe before and after weights, as a warm up/cool down type of thing. A little cardio goes a long way.

And crunches - they'll add muscle, but if you have fat over it, it'll just push it outwards, not replace it.

[MACDRIVE]

Start drinking Propel instead of soda. One 16.9 fluid ounce bottle has only 25 calories and tastes just like CoolAid.

[neocell]

Stretch: when warming up, you want to get your back loose so you don't hurt anything. Move till you feel the stretch and then hold for at least 15 seconds (count them out) and the go a bit father (hold) repeat ~3 times
Warm up: do about 10 minutes on a bike, very slow pace, just to get the blood flowing etc.
Light weights: Initially (first month or two) do your exercises with lighter weights and higher reps (15-20). You should be able to complete 2-4 sets of ~20 reps without too much strain in the first week or two (start off with 2 sets and with time increase up to 4). Then increase the weight and decrease the reps so that it's difficult to complete 10 reps of the last set.
Cardio: After the weights, do a good 30 minutes of cardio, (at least 70% of maximum heart rate, you should be able to talk but not easily) again start easy for the first couple of weeks, then build up duration and intensity.
Exercises: Too many to get into here, but I'm sure your club will have tonnes of examples. Make sure you do enough to cover all muscle groups. Start of with 1-2 exercises per muscle group (ie biceps: straight bar curls, & dumbbell curls). I would suggest to start off with one exercise/body group and do the whole body for a week or two, again very light just to get everything "woken up". Then when you move up to a couple of exercises per body group do half your body one day, then the other half the next, and when you setup your work out, do opposing muscle groups in the same day (ie if you do biceps one day, do your triceps the same day, back and chest etc.; exercising one group of muscle (biceps, flexors) will lead to a "loosening" of the opposing group (triceps, extensors) so you'll be able to work them to a greater extent.
Crunches: Do them consistently. They WILL NOT get rid of a beer gut, but with enough cardio and other exercises your metabolism will increase, burning more calories, melting away the fat so that when your rectus abdominus is exposed it will look washboard sweet.

NOTE: Your body will initially be pissed off with you. Muscle pain and stiffness will occur, so take it easy at the start, and build up. It takes about a month or two to get your nervous system to upregulate and the neuromuscular connects (giving you better control over you muscles) so might end up shaking a bit when exercising initially (lifting weights) but that will go with time (not due solely with increased strength, but a lot of increased synapic connects and training the brain)

All else, have fun. Try to make it lifestyle change, not something new and different that throws your "usual day" out of wack. If that happens it will be difficult to stick with an exercise program.

Cheers

[asxtb]

I would recommend swimming rather than running. It is less hard on the body. But it is all a matter of preference. (nothing against runners out there)

As for the crunches... Remember that ab muscles are just like every other muscle in the body. Most people think that doing crunches everyday is good while every other muscle group you should do every other day. Crunches should be down the same way as everything else.

[tobefirst]

Originally Posted by asxtb

As for the crunches... Remember that ab muscles are just like every other muscle in the body. Most people think that doing crunches everyday is good while every other muscle group you should do every other day. Crunches should be down the same way as everything else.

This is an important lesson I learned from my friend, a personal trainer. You don't do 150 reps on the benchpress, why would you do it on your abs? The key to ab training is technique and weight. He told me to do it this way: It should take me a full second on the up side of the crunch, then hold the crunch for 2 seconds, and then it should take 2 seconds on the down side of the crunch as well.

As those get easier to do, add weight to the crunches. Hold a light weight to your chest while you do the same 1-2-2 crunch.

[neocell]

Well the last couple of ab post are true, but not complete.
You have basically two types of muscle fibres in the skeletal muscle system. Fast-twitch glycolytic and slow-twitch oxidative (and the middle fast-twitch oxidative, though for ease of discussion we'll leave these guys out). Fast-twitch give you quick brute power, what sprinters would want developed in their legs, whereas slow-twitch gives you long consistent activity as what marathon runners would want. If you want to "bulk up" you're going to train the fast-twitch fibers more so, meaning high weights, low reps. If you want to train the slow-twitch you'll be doing low weight high reps. Basically all muscles have both fibre types, though differ in their percentages of each. Postural muscles have very high slow-twitch percentages, as these fibres need to be active though most of the day. Abs are postural muscles so they have a lot of slow-twitch.

Sooooooooo depending on what you want to do to your abs you adjust the training style. Bulk up: heavy weight, low reps. Increase endurance: low weight, high reps.

[lamina]

Wanna lose your gut?

Fall in love with a girl, go out with her for a year, and have her break your heart into a million pieces. Worked for me! I lost 20 pounds!

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally Posted by Leareth

Start with a body ball to get those core muscles back in shape before you try any heavy lifting.
combine with hand weights and bands for resistance on the ball and you would be surprised how well it can get you into good shape.

question about the bands... where can i find them (here in the US)??? i looked at sports authority and such and only found these little ones that are loops, whereas i'm looking for the long ones (like jump ropes, but stretchy) so i can do things like rowing exercises, etc... where can i get em? (not the overpriced, fancy ones...)

[Melrose]

Originally Posted by tobefirst

This is an important lesson I learned from my friend, a personal trainer. You don't do 150 reps on the benchpress, why would you do it on your abs?

+1. I do crunches with a weight and can do 15-20 reps if I watch my form..

I'd love to chisel my sides (you know, the cool "V" line) up a bit more, but they's tricky little devils to target ime.

I can't remember where I read it, but somewhere (a reputable source if i remember correctly) said you don't go to failure with your abdominals since they're a different type of muscle...? Input?