Strength training? :(
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Message Arditarose. She may not post here but she will give you great info.0
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peachyfuzzle wrote: »Find a beginners program like Stronglifts, or Ice Cream Fitness. Watch form videos about all of the exercies until your eyeballs bleed. Then, start out your chosen program at the very beginning.
I'd do SL before ICF. SL is a little easier for a beginner. And once a 12 week round of SL is done, ICF os great to move to. But if shes new to lifting and the room is full of college age bros, SL is def the way to go IMO0 -
Dani, please get someone to advise you if you are going to do strength work. There is an elevated risk of injury if you work alone and especially so if you do not have someone keeping an eye on your posture and body-positioning techniques. Observe the others in your gym and ask the one who is the most sensible and knowledgeable to coach you.0
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It's not the most exciting video in the world, but Mendhi has Stronglifts A and B full workout videos on Youtube.
Stronglifts Workout A
Stronglifts Workout B
My big suggestion for first-timers is to write down every set you plan to do in the gym before you go - lift, weight, and reps - include every warm-up set and work set. Then check off each set as you complete it.0 -
Stronglifts is a great way to get your feet wet and get you comfortable in the weight room. As mentioned above, there's a ton of great info on form, including videos. Personally, I progressed pretty well, but moved on once I was very comfortable with the atmosphere in the weight section of my gym, just because I got bored.
I'm now doing The New Rules of Lifting for Women, and loving it. There's a steady progression of workouts which last about 6 months or so, and it changes up often so I don't get bored.0 -
I have been working through New Rules of Lifting for Women, and I will say that having a plan in mind when I went into the weight lifting session helped build my confidence. I knew what I wanted to do and what I needed to get to do my routine. i put in my ear buds and just focused on my own thing. And for the most part, that is what I see other people do too. We will be friendly and courteous to each other, especially if we need to share equipment, but otherwise we are all kind of in our own zone and focused on our own workouts. Hopefully it will be like that for you too.
But I cannot say enough about how much I have loved getting into the gym and especially the weight area. So I encourage you to take the look around, find a program that seems interesting to you, and take the leap into the weight room.0 -
I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.0 -
I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.
Machines are crap. You dont get the full benefit of the movements and some can do more harm than good0 -
I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.
Machines are crap. You dont get the full benefit of the movements and some can do more harm than good
Ok first off I suggested machines as a starting point to transition into free weights, this person has no prior knowledge of lifting.
Secondly I gave a list of major lifts to learn, and start doing in the free weight section. Did you just ignore the bottom half of the post completely?
Third machines are very useful, and have many purposes, i.e. muscle isolation, safety without a spotter, a little extra work at the end of a lifting sessions, and basic movement patterns for beginners. Body builders use machines to target mucles during training for competiton.
Finally I guess all I have to say to you now is... Do you even lift?)
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Lots of good advice already on weightlifting. I second the advice that most or all of the guys in the gym would be happy to offer advice. Still, if the whole idea seems intimidating, you can strength train in private using bodyweight progressions. This site has a program laid out. If you click on the links in the chart, it'll give specific progressions, from beginner to advanced/elite, as well as instructions for each:
startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html
Also note that strength training is strength training. Some people prefer lifting weights, and that's fine. But anything that overloads your muscles and offers progressive resistance, meaning that the exercises can get harder to perform as your muscles strengthen and grow, will do the trick.0 -
I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.
Machines are crap. You dont get the full benefit of the movements and some can do more harm than good
Ok first off I suggested machines as a starting point to transition into free weights, this person has no prior knowledge of lifting.
Secondly I gave a list of major lifts to learn, and start doing in the free weight section. Did you just ignore the bottom half of the post completely?
Third machines are very useful, and have many purposes, i.e. muscle isolation, safety without a spotter, a little extra work at the end of a lifting sessions, and basic movement patterns for beginners. Body builders use machines to target mucles during training for competiton.
Finally I guess all I have to say to you now is... Do you even lift?)
Honestly they should start with free weights and then transition to machines if they prefer iso work. And yes I do lift.
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I smell an opportunity to learn from and flirt with attractive guys who you have things in common with.0
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As a starting point for a completely untrained individual, it's fine.I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.
Machines are crap. You dont get the full benefit of the movements and some can do more harm than good
Relax. When do you get your trainer certification?
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As a starting point for a completely untrained individual, it's fine.I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.
Machines are crap. You dont get the full benefit of the movements and some can do more harm than good
Relax. When do you get your trainer certification?
Agreed. It may not be optimal, but it's ok.... depends on the type of machine or movement I guess.
Learning core movements on a smith machine for example, probably won't do much good translating over to their counterpart free-weight movements other than building improper movement patterns.
Something like a Hammer Strength machine for rows, lat work, pressing movements not as bad.0 -
I definitely don't recommend the smith machine, unless you're at planet fitness, and that's all you have. If someone must use a smith machine timed reps are something to study i.e. 4 secs at the top 4 on the way down, and 4 back up.0
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^^ Agree with all the good advice re machines/weights.
OP I found alot of it is a confidence thing when you start - do whatever you feel comfortable with at first, small steps, then build up to freeweights if that's what you want to do. Or don't - there's no need to. Give both a go and see what you prefer, and what will get you to the results you want.
This is how I started off- I had NO strength, so I couldn't even lift the bar! I built up some strength mainly on machines, and now mainly use freeweights, which I love. Whether you want to start on machines or freeweights though it might be a good idea to get a trainer to go through the basics with you - you can hurt yourself on either (but imo not more or less on either).0 -
I definitely don't recommend the smith machine, unless you're at planet fitness, and that's all you have. If someone must use a smith machine timed reps are something to study i.e. 4 secs at the top 4 on the way down, and 4 back up.
I'v just noticed one of the regulars at my gym who is a college athlete has started using the smith machine.
For calf raises.
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LolBroScience wrote: »
As a starting point for a completely untrained individual, it's fine.I suggest starting on the weight machines at your gym. This will allow you to get a basic understanding of the movements you'll be doing with free-weights.
After you built some confidence people watch the free weight section a little between your rest, check out some youtube videos on lifts.
My favorite lifts
1. Squats (rear)
2. Deadlift
3. Bench press (all variations)
4. Pull ups
5. Dips
6. Overhead press (dumb bells, and barbells)
7. Bent over barbell rows (over, and underhand)
8. Bicep curls
9. Tricep extentions
10. Calf extentions
That's my personal starting line up.
Machines are crap. You dont get the full benefit of the movements and some can do more harm than good
Relax. When do you get your trainer certification?
Agreed. It may not be optimal, but it's ok.... depends on the type of machine or movement I guess.
Learning core movements on a smith machine for example, probably won't do much good translating over to their counterpart free-weight movements other than building improper movement patterns.
Something like a Hammer Strength machine for rows, lat work, pressing movements not as bad.
DEFINITELY not optimal, but if that is the ONLY option, gofer it. Or if it's going to increases chances of adherence to a training regimen in the short term due to self confidence, hell yeah do it.0 -
Machines don't work stabilizer muscles or secondary support muscles. To simplify it as best as possible, you'll end up over stimulating and over training a big muscle and under training the little muscles that also help with the lift. You won't get "real life" stronger by using machines, as in, very rarely in your life will you be lifting, pushing, or pulling an object that follows a set plane in space like a machine forces you to do.
Use free weights every chance you can unless machines are your only option. Machines are only really good for adding to the end of a workout I suppose for a bit of muscle isolation.0
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