Do I need to get a gym membership?

MiSo_SeXy

I use hasfit.com just just follow the hasfit videos on YouTube. Coach kozac is great!

robertw486

You never NEED a gym. But it's nice if it has equipment, classes, or other motivations that will get you to exercise more. When I was in the military, usually out of sheer boredom, we would often fashion DIY weight lifting stuff out in the field. And it worked just fine.

But it's a personal choice really. Some people can exercise at home or outdoors and appreciate the saved time and money of not driving to or paying for a gym. Some people will see the advantages of a gym useful and worth the time and money.

robertw486

rabbitjb wrote: »

lisaloolovesblue wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about a gym membership, as there are lots of exercises (both aerobic and anaerobic) that you can do from home!

However, don't shy away from the strength training! You can build muscle (which will help your metabolism) without it being bulky. I've heard a lot of recommendations that to build lean muscle, use less weight and do more repetitions. But you'd honestly have to do a lot of work to get bulky. Try it, you just might love it!

Those recommendations you heard were wrong, absolutely wrong.. To build muscle (it's not lean or fat, it's muscle) you need progressive resistance (generally at a calorie surplus) which means go heavy and heavier and more repetitions so at a low weight just builds stamina

I've personally experienced quite a bit of muscle growth through high repetitions of lower weights. It might not be as quick as heavy lifting, but I find it hard to believe that people think it takes heavy lifts to build muscle. There is a reason that the average person on a construction site or any other semi physical job has more muscle than those with desk jobs, but personally I've never been on a construction site and seen people going for max weight and low repetitions.

Sued0nim

robertw486 wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

lisaloolovesblue wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about a gym membership, as there are lots of exercises (both aerobic and anaerobic) that you can do from home!

However, don't shy away from the strength training! You can build muscle (which will help your metabolism) without it being bulky. I've heard a lot of recommendations that to build lean muscle, use less weight and do more repetitions. But you'd honestly have to do a lot of work to get bulky. Try it, you just might love it!

Those recommendations you heard were wrong, absolutely wrong.. To build muscle (it's not lean or fat, it's muscle) you need progressive resistance (generally at a calorie surplus) which means go heavy and heavier and more repetitions so at a low weight just builds stamina

I've personally experienced quite a bit of muscle growth through high repetitions of lower weights. It might not be as quick as heavy lifting, but I find it hard to believe that people think it takes heavy lifts to build muscle. There is a reason that the average person on a construction site or any other semi physical job has more muscle than those with desk jobs, but personally I've never been on a construction site and seen people going for max weight and low repetitions.

I said progressive

I'd like to see how much hypertrophy you'd achieve doing 100 reps at 5lbs which is what people often mean unfortunately

robertw486

rabbitjb wrote: »

robertw486 wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

lisaloolovesblue wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about a gym membership, as there are lots of exercises (both aerobic and anaerobic) that you can do from home!

However, don't shy away from the strength training! You can build muscle (which will help your metabolism) without it being bulky. I've heard a lot of recommendations that to build lean muscle, use less weight and do more repetitions. But you'd honestly have to do a lot of work to get bulky. Try it, you just might love it!

Those recommendations you heard were wrong, absolutely wrong.. To build muscle (it's not lean or fat, it's muscle) you need progressive resistance (generally at a calorie surplus) which means go heavy and heavier and more repetitions so at a low weight just builds stamina

I've personally experienced quite a bit of muscle growth through high repetitions of lower weights. It might not be as quick as heavy lifting, but I find it hard to believe that people think it takes heavy lifts to build muscle. There is a reason that the average person on a construction site or any other semi physical job has more muscle than those with desk jobs, but personally I've never been on a construction site and seen people going for max weight and low repetitions.

I said progressive

I'd like to see how much hypertrophy you'd achieve doing 100 reps at 5lbs which is what people often mean unfortunately

Well I'm hoping nobody thinks 5 lbs qualifies as "heavy". I'm just pointing out that there are very few absolutes. I put quite a bit of muscle into my shoulders and upper arms tossing around stuff at work that was mostly only 10% or so of my body weight. There was heavier stuff in the mix as well, but less of it and less frequently. But not even close to maxing out anything.

segacs

robertw486 wrote: »

Well I'm hoping nobody thinks 5 lbs qualifies as "heavy".

Hah! I've been in "toning" classes for women at the gym where they give each person 2lb, 3lb and 5lb dumbbells and tell you to just use the "heavy" 5lb dumbbells for certain exercises.

Those classes are a total waste of time. But the myth persists that if you lift heavy-for-you weight, you'll get big. Even though it's been completely debunked, lots of women still believe it. Just as they believe that doing a million crunches will help them spot-reduce their stomach. There's an entire fitness industry of ill-informed trainers, media and self-described gurus perpetuating these myths.

robertw486

segacs wrote: »

robertw486 wrote: »

Well I'm hoping nobody thinks 5 lbs qualifies as "heavy".

Hah! I've been in "toning" classes for women at the gym where they give each person 2lb, 3lb and 5lb dumbbells and tell you to just use the "heavy" 5lb dumbbells for certain exercises.

Those classes are a total waste of time. But the myth persists that if you lift heavy-for-you weight, you'll get big. Even though it's been completely debunked, lots of women still believe it. Just as they believe that doing a million crunches will help them spot-reduce their stomach. There's an entire fitness industry of ill-informed trainers, media and self-described gurus perpetuating these myths.

I've never really dug into where the weight vs reps would end up with no gain, and agree on many of the myths. But as I said above, from my personal experience you don't really have to lift heavy either. I was doing stuff as part of my job that built a decent bit of muscle only lifting 10% of my body weight with a lot of reps.