Author Topic: Going to start going to the gym - help (Read 8311 times)

EliteGamer83 · « **on:** April 26, 2009, 04:33:19 PM »

Yeah it may sound a bit dumb, but I have never been to a gym before or used gym equipment. Our school doesn't really have anything ether only pull up bars, we just do drills and such.

I was thinking about getting a gym membership but other then the obvious things like the treadmill I don't know how to use any of it. I mean is there any way I can get someone to show me how to use it? Also how do you get a spotter, is it something that most gyms like the Y (where I would be going) offers when you sign up for a membership?

P3nnyw1se · « **Reply #1 on:** April 26, 2009, 05:09:18 PM »

I'd just ask for someone to spot me, and well...benchpress and squats are pretty basic, so are curls and all that. Just google for weight lifting exercises, I'm sure you'll find some!

DarkShot · « **Reply #2 on:** April 26, 2009, 05:47:21 PM »

Yep do that. As well, don't rush yourself into weights. Take your time finding a good starting weight, and go at it. Just to give you an idea:

It's better to do 20 reps with say 15 pounds than 10 reps with 30.

It's good to work on stamina when starting out.

Jumbo · « **Reply #3 on:** April 26, 2009, 05:50:50 PM »

Start light. When i start warming up i use 5's. People say hah your a

until im doing 100 reps with 5's, and they cant even do 10 with the 30's that they pick up. Stamina>How Much you lift.

EliteGamer83 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 26, 2009, 07:44:26 PM »

Maybe it would be cheaper to buy some weights of my own. I'll go to walmart sometime this week and see how much they cost.

a membership to the Y is like $200 a year for one person if not more.

bustinthejustin · « **Reply #5 on:** April 26, 2009, 08:23:40 PM »

Just some 5/10 pound dumbbells will only cost you like 10, maybe 20 bucks max for two. MUCH cheaper than going to the gym. Unless you wanna do bench presses and all that fancy

.

Reaper · « **Reply #6 on:** April 26, 2009, 08:35:17 PM »

Quote from: Jumbo on April 26, 2009, 05:50:50 PM

Start light. When i start warming up i use 5's. People say hah your a until im doing 100 reps with 5's, and they cant even do 10 with the 30's that they pick up. Stamina>How Much you lift.

LMAO, if you never wanna actually gain any kind of mass on your body than yeah, go for stamina. If you want to really gain mass though you should be doing 5 sets of 8 reps with 80 percent of the total you can possibly actually lift. I work out daily on my bow flex, (its one of the old ones, I got it for like 100 bucks lol), and I've been exercising for about 5 years now, so I know a bit about what I'm talking about...

EliteGamer83 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 27, 2009, 05:45:57 AM »

Quote from: Reaper on April 26, 2009, 08:35:17 PM

LMAO, if you never wanna actually gain any kind of mass on your body than yeah, go for stamina. If you want to really gain mass though you should be doing 5 sets of 8 reps with 80 percent of the total you can possibly actually lift. I work out daily on my bow flex, (its one of the old ones, I got it for like 100 bucks lol), and I've been exercising for about 5 years now, so I know a bit about what I'm talking about...

Well I'll see how expensive the dumb bells are, I know they have up to like 150 pound ones which i won't be needing yet lol.

802Chives · « **Reply #8 on:** April 27, 2009, 06:41:59 AM »

dumbells probably arent the best place to start. I would suggest getting a membership, even if it is only for 3 months to start. The reason I say that is when you join a gym most of the time you will get a session with a trainer/lifting coach that will take you through the gym and show you everything as well as set you up on your own workout plan the covers what you want to cover. That will accomplish a couple of things, most importantly you will learn how to properly use the machines and come up with a well rounded routine that doesnt just cover ur arms and chest. It also puts someone in a position that they can monitor your workouts and give you crap if you start slacking.

The biggest problem with going to the gym is keeping your motivation to go, if you pay for a membership you will be more apt to use it then if you bought free weights, cuz the free weights arent going anywhere but the membership will run out.

On top of that the gym is a good place for socializing with people that have something n common with you.

robin1989 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 28, 2009, 04:37:39 AM »

i want to start the gym but havnt got £40 a month to spend on a membership so im trying to get the doctor to prescribe me a gym membership so that i can get it paid for by the NHS

Magic Monkey · « **Reply #10 on:** April 28, 2009, 06:20:09 AM »

I go to the gym twice a day once at lunch where I do massive weight and once on my way home where I do swimming and recovery.. im 198 LBS I virticle chest press 370 LBS I can bench 110 LBS dumbells in each hand. My arms are 17 1/2" around.. I can show you how to gain mass really fast and if your over weight that is actualy a better canvis to work with then a skinny person...

SN!P3R · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2009, 07:06:03 AM »

how do you do it monkey?!?

PhenomenalDesigns · « **Reply #12 on:** April 28, 2009, 08:25:59 AM »

Quote from: Mactastic Mendez on April 28, 2009, 04:37:39 AM

i want to start the gym but havnt got £40 a month to spend on a membership so im trying to get the doctor to prescribe me a gym membership so that i can get it paid for by the NHS

Lol, a prescribed gym membership? Lol, just.. lol, its so random, like being prescribed a car lol

I might start going gym, but hey, im working out anyway

a few months ago I started doing pushups, as I noticed everybody was physically stronger than me

At the start I could do like 3 LOL, So I did 3 at night, then took a 1 min break, then done another 3, then go to sleep

A few months later, here I am, now I do 25 in the morning, 25 when I get back from school and 25 before I go to bed

StealthedHunter · « **Reply #13 on:** April 28, 2009, 09:10:06 AM »

yeah i work out 5 days a week. Just to let you know. it is definately not better to do 30 reps of 15 pounds than 15 reps of 30 pounds, go to bodybuilding.com. it has helped me out a ton. i wouldnt know half the stuff i know now w/o that website. Also monkey what is a verticle chest press? ive never heard of it. are you talking about an incline bench press?

i weigh 175 and bench 250, can curl around 125 both hands at the same time, and idk my max's for anything else, but i do a ton of other stuff thta i never max out in. I dont go to a gym i just have a workout room in my house with a good bit of stuff, but if i had the money i would way rather go to the gym. you figure 40$ a month and you can go as much as you like. they have swimming pools, rachetball, tanning beds, and tons of other stuff depending on the gym i guess though.

dragnrider6218 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 28, 2009, 12:42:45 PM »

Just make sure whatever you do that you have a proper diet. You can lift all the weight in the world and will not gain anything if you are staying catabolic from improper nutrition. Definately go check out bodybuilding.com. I learned a ton about nutrition from that site. Subscription to Muscle and Fitness would help too.

bustinthejustin · « **Reply #15 on:** April 28, 2009, 02:17:40 PM »

Eh thread jack now...

Been thinking about gaining some muscle mass too. Like Phen, I am much less physically strong than like everybody. I'm relatively skinny too. Any tips for me? I just wanna gain some muscle mass... I currently do karate, which is like, physical training for an hour, and then we do some karate stuff which is pretty physical too.

Reaper · « **Reply #16 on:** April 28, 2009, 06:56:10 PM »

Quote from: bustinthejustin on April 28, 2009, 02:17:40 PM

Eh thread jack now...

Been thinking about gaining some muscle mass too. Like Phen, I am much less physically strong than like everybody. I'm relatively skinny too. Any tips for me? I just wanna gain some muscle mass... I currently do karate, which is like, physical training for an hour, and then we do some karate stuff which is pretty physical too.

Sure, start eating a lot of protein and carbs, as well as a normal diet of all the other goodies (fruits and veggies). You want to work on bulking before you cut your muscles, which is a common problem a lot of kids have. I personally eat about half a dozen eggs every morning (usually egg sandwiches) and eat normal the rest of the day. It gives you a lot of muscle building nutrients, as well as giving me the ability to eat like a normal human every other meal.

Another tip, don't work out right before going to bed, in fact, the best time is in the morning if possible. You want to do sets with reps of 6-8, meaning as much weight as you can do 6-8 times (not as much weight as you can possibly do, but for the length of the set). When you find you can easily do 10-12 reps at the current weight, (usually a 2-3 week process) add another 5-10 pounds.

Another major tip is don't over work your body. I personally believe in working my chest/arms/legs and back every other day. However, you can work your abs every day if you are isolating them (crunches). My routine is
Monday- Arms, Chest, Abs
Tuesday- Legs, Back, Abs
Wed- Abs only
Thursday- Arms, Chest, Abs
Friday- Legs, Back, Abs
Sat or Sunday- Abs only, but I skip these sometimes.

I naturally get cut when I bulk (because I'm a smaller person in general @ 5'7") so I never had to do a million reps of 10 pounds to chisel myself, so no advice there =(

Anyone got anything else to add?

bustinthejustin · « **Reply #17 on:** April 28, 2009, 07:10:07 PM »

what do you mean "cutting your muscles"?

And thanks, that sounds useful. Anything else with lots of protein and carbs? Meats?

Reaper · « **Reply #18 on:** April 29, 2009, 03:19:21 AM »

Quote from: bustinthejustin on April 28, 2009, 07:10:07 PM

what do you mean "cutting your muscles"?

And thanks, that sounds useful. Anything else with lots of protein and carbs? Meats?

Cutting is a term that means making the muscle more defined and gives it it's shape, rather than just being large.
It's the difference between

and

The idea behind it is like carving and ice block, if there's not a lot of ice, you can get a nice shape out of it, but if you keep adding water to the block every day for a few weeks/months before you chisel it and the block grows bigger, you can have a much larger nicer shape out of it.

About protein intake, if you are going hardcore weightlifting, you should shoot for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight every day. That means if you weight 120 pounds, you should shoot for 120 grams of protein per day. The remainder of your calories can be divided just about evenly between good fats and good carbohydrates. Remember that's what weightlifters do, so doing less won't be too bad of an idea, but if you want to try doing this like the pros then that what you should do.

Kilokk · « **Reply #19 on:** April 29, 2009, 03:36:49 AM »

@_@ am I the only out of shape person on this site?

robin1989 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 29, 2009, 04:29:51 AM »

Quote from: Kilokk on April 29, 2009, 03:36:49 AM

@_@ am I the only out of shape person on this site?

no your not - im very out of shape

EliteGamer83 · « **Reply #21 on:** April 29, 2009, 06:32:36 AM »

I don't know about building muscle or anything right now O.o. But I am very healthy and in shape and naturally skinny just not ripped or muscular looking. >.< lol.

dragnrider6218 · « **Reply #22 on:** April 29, 2009, 04:48:22 PM »

In reply to working out in the morning being best this is not true. A recent study showed that working out later at night is better for you as far as building mass. However make sure to have a good 2 hours before bed after your workout. I know it sounds silly and I thought so until I tried it myself. The reason behind it is that your body has had all day to stockpile nutrition as well as a full day having some effect on the brain that causes a larger amount of some hormone, which I may be wrong but I think it's IGF-1. Also make sure to get in a fair amount of fats. Aim for about 15-20% of your calories a day being fats in a ratio of about 70/30 unsat/sat fats. The male body needs a certain amount of cholestoral in order to make test, which if you want real size you need higher test levels. The supps I use include different Gaspari, Muscletech, MHP, and ON supplements. If one is on a budget they can use plain jane supplements and still get results. There are far too many to list here. Just do your homework and decide whats best for you. Beginners will not need alot of supps compared to a bigger guy who hit a plateu with growth. Go to Bodybuilding.com and study. It's a great place and Forum. Anything you might need to know can be found there. Good Luck.

Reaper · « **Reply #23 on:** April 29, 2009, 08:36:35 PM »

Also, make this your bible...
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Blazinkaos · « **Reply #24 on:** April 30, 2009, 01:36:51 AM »

Quote from: dragnrider6218 on April 29, 2009, 04:48:22 PM

In reply to working out in the morning being best this is not true. A recent study showed that working out later at night is better for you as far as building mass. However make sure to have a good 2 hours before bed after your workout. I know it sounds silly and I thought so until I tried it myself. The reason behind it is that your body has had all day to stockpile nutrition as well as a full day having some effect on the brain that causes a larger amount of some hormone, which I may be wrong but I think it's IGF-1. Also make sure to get in a fair amount of fats. Aim for about 15-20% of your calories a day being fats in a ratio of about 70/30 unsat/sat fats. The male body needs a certain amount of cholestoral in order to make test, which if you want real size you need higher test levels. The supps I use include different Gaspari, Muscletech, MHP, and ON supplements. If one is on a budget they can use plain jane supplements and still get results. There are far too many to list here. Just do your homework and decide whats best for you. Beginners will not need alot of supps compared to a bigger guy who hit a plateu with growth. Go to Bodybuilding.com and study. It's a great place and Forum. Anything you might need to know can be found there. Good Luck.

Mmm in the middle of the day is fine just dnt do anything else rest of the day that will strain you. I been working for past 5 years and you just gotta eat good food to keep ur muscle up and take up a lot of calories before working out you need them to burn.

Kilokk · « **Reply #25 on:** May 02, 2009, 12:29:12 AM »

Quote from: Mactastic Mendez on April 29, 2009, 04:29:51 AM

no your not - im very out of shape

WEWT! FAT PEOPLE UNITE!!! lol jk

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Author Topic: Going to start going to the gym - help (Read 8311 times)