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lifting weights...
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That's really bad advice. Unless you're a huge bodybuilder who needs to keep every last ounce of muscle and you always stay cut due to massive amounts of steroids, running is usually good.
I run all the time now, and as a result it helped my lifting. Running helps your entire cardio system and your endurance will go up, allowing you to train harder. Doing cardio is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of weight lifting. You should do both cardio and weight training, IMO.
SludgeFactory
Platinum Member
I tend to think that hitting a specific muscle once every 7 days is too infrequent for a lot of people. It's entirely too much of a "recovery" period for anybody. But that split is one of those things that's so engrained in recreational lifting that it will never die.
thechinesehero
Banned
48 hours is all you need for ur muscles to rest, you gotta be pretty weak or screwed something up to not be able to do it after 48 hours
James3shin
Diamond Member
when your trying to gain weight, your "fuel" intake should increase quite a bit. Don't lifters eat like 5 times a day? I'm not talking 5 full meals, rather 5 medium portioned meals chalk full protein.
apologetic
Senior member
damn, I'm surprised that people who nef at work and are currently sitting at home on the computer know so much about fitness!!
lavagirl669
Diamond Member
don't worry about what everyone thinks or you'll end up overstraining
and hurting yourself.
Just do what you can handle.
and hurting yourself.
Just do what you can handle.
Training questions will always get you lots of different answers, and all of them are not necessarily wrong. You have to figure out what works for you and stick with it. But since you have been doing bench once a week for 2 months, that means you've only benched 8 times total, perhaps in your lifetime. You're not going to be very good at the bench press after only 8 times.
I think most will agree that the variables are intensity, volume, recovery, and nutrition. You have to tweak it to find what yields results.
Here are my personal suggestions:
- do full body or upper/lower split, anywhere from 2-4 workouts weekly
- give priority to large muscle groups - quads, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, abs, chest, shoulders
- in line with prioritizing large muscle groups, perform lower body exercises
- perform compound exercises - they will work the most amount of muscles
Also, I would keep in mind that the amount of weights you lift is not an end, but a means. The weights are simply a stimuli for growth - the stronger you are, the more stimuli (weights) you need. So there is no need to worry about the amount of weight you use relative to another person, as long as you are using an amount of weight that is enough for you, in good form.
I think most will agree that the variables are intensity, volume, recovery, and nutrition. You have to tweak it to find what yields results.
Here are my personal suggestions:
- do full body or upper/lower split, anywhere from 2-4 workouts weekly
- give priority to large muscle groups - quads, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, abs, chest, shoulders
- in line with prioritizing large muscle groups, perform lower body exercises
- perform compound exercises - they will work the most amount of muscles
Also, I would keep in mind that the amount of weights you lift is not an end, but a means. The weights are simply a stimuli for growth - the stronger you are, the more stimuli (weights) you need. So there is no need to worry about the amount of weight you use relative to another person, as long as you are using an amount of weight that is enough for you, in good form.
PingSpike
Lifer
I'd stop comparing yourself to others at the gym. You've only been lifting two months. Its tempting to view it as a competition, but thats just a recipe for injury...and if you fvck up your shoulder trying to lift heavier than you can you aren't going to be making any progress. You should focus on improving every week, not obtaining some arbitrary number.
I think you should just go to geekfitness...there's a lot of crappy advice in this thread mixed with the good advice. You'll get different opinions for pretty much everything. And like some one else said...they aren't necessarily wrong if they work for some people.
Conventional wisdom, based on a lot of research seems to be this to me:
In general, you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. You want to go through bulking and cutting phases. To gain muscle, you need to eat a lot with the focus being on protein. 1gram per pound of body weight is the magic number of protein per day, many places will recommend signifigantly more but most stick with 1-1.25g. You want to eat several smaller meals throughout the day, usually about six. Drink plenty of water, take some vitamins and get plenty of rest. You need to eat a calorie excess to gain muscle, which means you'll also probably get a little bit fatter at the same time.
Lift heavy...different places recommend different things...I've seen 4-10 reps recommended for your work sets. Work a muscle group once per week and work it very hard during that session. A few lucky individuals and people on steroids will see progress with more than that, but for most its counter productive. Your muscles don't get bigger while you're working out, they get bigger when you're sleeping. And just because your muscles don't ache doesn't mean they're fully healed.
Cardio is good, but it should be reduced when bulking since it burns up calories that you want to be used to build muscle. If you have a very high metabolism, its often recommended to stop doing it altogether during a bulk phase. I suppose you could probably eat more to compensate, it makes sense.
When you want to lose fat, you continue the heavy lifting as normal but reduce your calories (but not at the expense of reduced protein) and do cardio on your off days. You probably won't make much if any strength gains while cutting...but the lifting during cutting is basically to tell your body not to burn the muscle for fuel. Your body is designed to survive famine, so when calories are reduced it turns to muscle for fuel first, then fat. You have to tell your body "Hey, I'm still using these muscles so don't use them as fuel."
Thats just my opinion on the matter.
I think you should just go to geekfitness...there's a lot of crappy advice in this thread mixed with the good advice. You'll get different opinions for pretty much everything. And like some one else said...they aren't necessarily wrong if they work for some people.
Conventional wisdom, based on a lot of research seems to be this to me:
In general, you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. You want to go through bulking and cutting phases. To gain muscle, you need to eat a lot with the focus being on protein. 1gram per pound of body weight is the magic number of protein per day, many places will recommend signifigantly more but most stick with 1-1.25g. You want to eat several smaller meals throughout the day, usually about six. Drink plenty of water, take some vitamins and get plenty of rest. You need to eat a calorie excess to gain muscle, which means you'll also probably get a little bit fatter at the same time.
Lift heavy...different places recommend different things...I've seen 4-10 reps recommended for your work sets. Work a muscle group once per week and work it very hard during that session. A few lucky individuals and people on steroids will see progress with more than that, but for most its counter productive. Your muscles don't get bigger while you're working out, they get bigger when you're sleeping. And just because your muscles don't ache doesn't mean they're fully healed.
Cardio is good, but it should be reduced when bulking since it burns up calories that you want to be used to build muscle. If you have a very high metabolism, its often recommended to stop doing it altogether during a bulk phase. I suppose you could probably eat more to compensate, it makes sense.
When you want to lose fat, you continue the heavy lifting as normal but reduce your calories (but not at the expense of reduced protein) and do cardio on your off days. You probably won't make much if any strength gains while cutting...but the lifting during cutting is basically to tell your body not to burn the muscle for fuel. Your body is designed to survive famine, so when calories are reduced it turns to muscle for fuel first, then fat. You have to tell your body "Hey, I'm still using these muscles so don't use them as fuel."
Thats just my opinion on the matter.
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