Basic weight/resistence training for maintianing health

[Unesh52]

I'm an 18 year old male, healthy weight (155), and shorter than average (5' 7''). Most of my weight is fat; I'm not very muscular. Since I'm already paying for gym membership at my school (part of the fees), I figure I should start exercising. I know about cardio techniques for fat burning, but I've never lifted weights in my life. I would just go and try it, but 1) I don't want to hurt myself by doing too much, and 2) I don't want to look like an idiot doing 10 reps with a 5lb weight when I could actually handle much more. I just want to keep myself fit, but to a lesser extent, it'd be nice if I could start looking sexier for my girlfriend.

Who do I ask about this? Should I consult with my doctor? Is there a good video or article (that is supported by doctors and medical science and isn't trying to sell me anything!) that explains what I should be doing?

[small]Note: I'd prefer if you could point me to a reliable source that enumerates proper muscle building practices, rather than telling me how you do it, or what you remember from health class. I still value those kinds of posts, but it's just much more reassuring when it's coming from an MD.[/small]

 

[evilgenius134]

You can consult your doctor as a checkup to ensure you are capable but I can assume you have no conditions or issues. Every human is capable of building muscle easily.

The most effective way is compound movements; this is most efficiently achieved through free weight lifting.

There are a few main exercises that you should start doing and get a hang of for about 6-12 months before moving onto anything more advanced, or deciding if you want to.

These are:

Squats
Deadlifts
Bench Presses
Presses
Cleans
Pullups

To build strength it is well known that lifting weight that is fairly difficult for a medium number of reps is best, approx 5 reps. Regular small increments to this weight week by week quickly builds strength. You must ensure you are lifting a weight that is difficult as part of the workout. Whilst maintaining good form. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that outline lifting form.

A website: http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html

Using weight machines is pointless, they do not help you at all for proper exercise.

Also you have to ensure you eat well. Vegetables, fruit, good amount of meat and fat to provide your body with everything you need.

 

[Cavan]

What confuses me is whether you gave your weight in lb's or kg, gonna assume lb because otherwise you have quite a big problem .

Anyway to the above, almost any weight training that is just moving in one dimension repeatedly is almost useless in the real world for anything besides 'looking' strong, since being healthy/strong and looking healthy/strong when it comes to weight training can be quite deceptive. I disagree that weight machines are any different than normal weight lifting, yes there's a bit less variety but they are very similar and machines are generally more accessible for people starting out.

Much better to have a sporting/cardio interest and supplement it with weight training than to have your entire routine consist of squats and bench presses.
Rule of thumb is that low reps high intensity builds muscle and med intensity increases cardiovascular/muscle efficiency and low intensity over longer periods of time burns fat.

Nobody will think you're an idiot if you pick up a weight that looks small , i'm 6 ft 1 and around 200lb and I still feel VERY small compared to the people who properly hit the weights, everybody is very used to seeing people start out and as long as you accept the phrase "everybody has to start somewhere" you'll be happy and you will very quickly move up the weights within the first month.

There are always people in the gym who's job is to give advice and make sure the equipment is being used properly and safely (in school gyms they're sometimes called P.E teachers! ) and to help you work out routines and walk you through your first time, don't be afraid to ask because they deal with these sorta things all the time.

Also most gyms have clubs and classes, i'm not sure if yours is included in the cost but if you check around they should be there. Those classes are very often much more well balanced and intensive than what people are able to do by themselves without somebody to motivate and guide them.

Press ups are indeed one of the best and most cost efficient thing anybody can do to start training their upper body, if you can start at 2-3 sets of 10-20 a day/every other day and ease it up in increments of 5 here and a set there that's going to cover most of your upper body by itself.

 

[evilgenius134]

Anyway to the above, almost any weight training that is just moving in one dimension repeatedly is almost useless in the real world for anything besides 'looking' strong, since being healthy/strong and looking healthy/strong when it comes to weight training can be quite deceptive. I disagree that weight machines are any different than normal weight lifting, yes there's a bit less variety but they are very similar and machines are generally more accessible for people starting out.

I don't understand what you said?

If you can lift a heavy weight how can that not help you in the real world?

If you back and core is strong then you completely reduce your chance of having back issues in your life. If your form is good, you'll experience no bodily issues in later life.

Machines are pointless, they are completely different to free weight lifting in that they are isolation movements, don't help balance and coordination.

 

[MrJoyless]

personally i like free weights, i have a bench with 10 25 50 and 75 lb free weights at my house that i use for damn near everything and i try and do sprint ladders or burnouts for about 15 to 20 mins a day to up my endurance (ive found long runs hurt more and accomplish less than sprinting your ass off for as long as you can, 30 seconds rest, and sprinting again great for endurance)

the best advice i can give is, work out for a good 20 to 30 mins every day alternating upper body and lower body (on upper body days i still run hard on lower body days i still do push ups and lower intensity chest stuff and do a light 1 or 2 mile jog) and if you are starting to get burned out try and have fun like doing ultra light weight extreme reps (its funny as hell when you get to 150-200 reps with 5 pound weights and your arms are turning into jello like WTF!!! always made me laugh)

 

[Hader]

I won't say too much here, as some good things have already been said. But definitely start small and relatively slow to get a feel for where a good place to start is for you. And free weights are definitely the way to go, it's all I do anymore for weight training and it works just fine. Just need to find where you stand with it.

My main advice would be to always make sure you get yourself a proper warm-up. Don't jump right into lifting weights for a workout session without warming yourself up first. I start with a good run, get the blood flowing. Follow that up with some jumping jacks, windmills, and some good light stretches. If you want some extra conditioning, you can add what my old instructor simply called "KD's", or "Killer-Drills". Start off with a quick run between two points, not a long distance, just something that maybe takes 15-20 seconds to run. After you finish one run cycle, drop and do 10 pushups, then 10 crunches. And do them well. Repeat this process 15 times.

That drill is purely for conditioning though, we did it for hockey season and it had its uses, but if you are going for something different then don't bother with it. Just thought I would get it out there.

 

[Unesh52]

Wow, I went to the gym yesterday... and totally bailed. Something about working out in front of everyone really freaks me out. Looks like getting in the door may be the hardest part.

BUT! I went back today and this cute girl at the desk saw me looking confused, so she helped me find a locker and even signed me up for a basic weight training instruction session this week. I fooled with the treadmill for half an hour; I think I got the hang of it too Not the most intense work-out, but I went home sweaty.

What confuses me is whether you gave your weight in lb's or kg, gonna assume lb because otherwise you have quite a big problem .

Yes, I meant lbs (stupid American assumption, sorry). I had to laugh when I googled up the conversion though. More like a little problem.

 

[Counter_Southpaw]

Wow, I went to the gym yesterday... and totally bailed. Something about working out in front of everyone really freaks me out. Looks like getting in the door may be the hardest part.

BUT! I went back today and this cute girl at the desk saw me looking confused, so she helped me find a locker and even signed me up for a basic weight training instruction session this week. I fooled with the treadmill for half an hour; I think I got the hang of it too Not the most intense work-out, but I went home sweaty.

What confuses me is whether you gave your weight in lb's or kg, gonna assume lb because otherwise you have quite a big problem .

Yes, I meant lbs (stupid American assumption, sorry). I had to laugh when I googled up the conversion though. More like a little problem.

I'd advise looking into some of the bodybuilding websites that can be found on the net. Browsing the forums, you can pick up some great weight training tips. One of them is the website bodybuilding.com, which I frequent often.

Good luck with your lifting goals in 2011

 

[Cavan]

I don't understand what you said?

If you can lift a heavy weight how can that not help you in the real world?

If you back and core is strong then you completely reduce your chance of having back issues in your life. If your form is good, you'll experience no bodily issues in later life.

Machines are pointless, they are completely different to free weight lifting in that they are isolation movements, don't help balance and coordination.

Sorry if I wasn't very clear, using free weights has most of the same problems as using machines in that it doesn't cover a very large range of motion and encourages the muscle to build in such a way that discourages that range of motion even more, it also targets specific muscle groups in specific ways which can very often make the muscle you do build not ideal for simple real world tasks. Can also quite easily overstress joints.

Not to say that using weights is bad, just that using them as your only real form of exercise is kinda bleugh and that you'll do better to take up rock climbing/rugby/rowing/etc as a way of training your upper body as well as doing weights .

It's something of a personal annoyance watching people in the gym with very unnatural bodies, weight lifters as a whole tend to focus much too heavily on certain places especially their biceps/arms in general.

But since this thread is about getting into weight lifting my advice is also kinda offtopic in places, sorry about that.

 

[Jamieson 90]

If you are interested in improving your general fitness then I recommend swimming. If you do a variety of strokes then you work all the muscles in your body. It wont burn off a lot of fat and it wont increase your muscles significantly but it will help.

As for building muscles then you can go about it in two different ways. You can lift heavy weights in low reps which will increase your muscle mass or you can lift low weights with quite a few reps, which will increase how long you can use that weight etc. We can't really tell you what to lift because we don't know you but ask someone at the gym or an instructor or something. Also have a look at your diet to see if it will help your fitness or prohibit it.

 

[evilgenius134]

Sorry if I wasn't very clear, using free weights has most of the same problems as using machines in that it doesn't cover a very large range of motion and encourages the muscle to build in such a way that discourages that range of motion even more, it also targets specific muscle groups in specific ways which can very often make the muscle you do build not ideal for simple real world tasks. Can also quite easily overstress joints.

Not to say that using weights is bad, just that using them as your only real form of exercise is kinda bleugh and that you'll do better to take up rock climbing/rugby/rowing/etc as a way of training your upper body as well as doing weights .

It's something of a personal annoyance watching people in the gym with very unnatural bodies, weight lifters as a whole tend to focus much too heavily on certain places especially their biceps/arms in general.

Free weights have the ability to not only develop muscles, but balance and coordination which machines can never achieve.

Muscle development has evolved to never get in the way of our range of motion, if you exercise you will never reduce your range of motion.

Proper form with free weights means you achieve a massive range of motion, a proper squat goes from standing to near your hamstrings resting on your lower legs. Squats develop legs, back and core muscles, no specific ones in those regions.

A Deadlift goes from a bent position with the back straight to a full standing one, that is a massive range of motion and is the heaviest lift you can achieve since it uses pretty much your entire body; legs, back, core, shoulders, arms.

Overstressing your joints is a fallacy; joints are meant to be able to perform the full range of motion under fairly reasonable stress, otherwise they are worthless for survival.

Machines; which perform isolation movements and very advanced free weight exercise target specific muscles but they are designed for use after many years of more basic training.

With correct form free weight training is the optimal way to exercise

 

[Cavan]

Free weights have the ability to not only develop muscles, but balance and coordination which machines can never achieve.

Muscle development has evolved to never get in the way of our range of motion, if you exercise you will never reduce your range of motion.

Proper form with free weights means you achieve a massive range of motion, a proper squat goes from standing to near your hamstrings resting on your lower legs. Squats develop legs, back and core muscles, no specific ones in those regions.

A Deadlift goes from a bent position with the back straight to a full standing one, that is a massive range of motion and is the heaviest lift you can achieve since it uses pretty much your entire body; legs, back, core, shoulders, arms.

Overstressing your joints is a fallacy; joints are meant to be able to perform the full range of motion under fairly reasonable stress, otherwise they are worthless for survival.

Machines; which perform isolation movements and very advanced free weight exercise target specific muscles but they are designed for use after many years of more basic training.

With correct form free weight training is the optimal way to exercise

Saying joint injuries from weightlifting is a fallacy is like saying cancer from smoking is a rumour...weightlifting is not "reasonable stress" by any standards..the whole point being to focus high stress on your muscles in a way that will force them to compensate by becoming stronger faster. The most common injuries being elbow and knee injuries, followed by the joint in the shoulder. Yes you can things to limit the risk if you're careful but weightlifting joint and muscle injuries are still common, but then injuries and exercise go hand in hand whatever you're doing.

And yes it is very easy to damage your range of motion through weightlifting, let's just say that lifting weights isn't exactly yoga. Muscles contract and become shorter after intense workouts, and many weightlifters don't put nearly as much effort into stretching as they do maxing out their weight(and even if they do the nature of the exercise they are doing is against them), there's a good reason why weightlifters look significantly different from atheles who don't use weights anywhere near as much.
I agree that free weights offer better control and range of motion than machines and after doing some research and talking to friends and instructors, I was wrong to suggest them as a beginners choice.

And to clarify, taking up a sport or something that will force you through a wider range of dynamic motions than lifting weights could ever hope for is a better way to exercise than weight training. Weight training should NEVER be your main form of exercise if you are actually interested in your own health.
Free weights are the best way to "build muscle" not the best form of exercise.

 

[GoldenEyedScout]

If you're looking for a good "guide" for weight lfiting, I would suggest picking up the Men's Health big Book of Exercises. It's got the obvious exercises (duh), as well as nutrition and general fitness advice.