Tips for toning up/building muscle

monokochan

Hello all,

Are there any threads floating around that give advice on how to tone up? Currently at the gym I do around 60 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of the muscle machines. I'd like to lower the amount of cardio I do and increase the amount of time I spend on working muscles but am not quite sure what type of exercises to do. Any tips would be appreciated.

ObsidianMist

the machines won't do much for you, honestly, because you're not REALLY carrying the weight, the machine is kind of carrying it for you, you're mostly just doing the motions. which, don't get me wrong, might help you get your strength up if you're a total noob to working out, but in the long run you'll be better off picking up some free weights or a barbell. there's tons of information and workout plans and things on the internet.

Spacemarine101

Compound exercises are best for majority of people. They work better then just doing bunch of isolation exercises (I learned this the hard way). Compound exercises include: squats, dead lifts, lunges, rows, pull ups, chin ups, push ups, dips, over head presses, bench presses... Depending on your goals you should be definitely doing some of these exercises. Also if you can, do this exercises with free weights instead of the machines.

Sheeeba

Are you at a gym where you can approach some staff or personal trainers for a free consultation? Alternatively if you're able to, do some research into the trainers at the gym and book a session with a trainer that aligns with your goals (ie. one with a powerlifting or bodybuilding background) and tell them what your goals are.

Form and technique (especially when it comes to compound movements like squat, bench and deadlifts) are very important so it's a good idea to get the right type of guidance.

socioseguro

@monokochan :
There is good information at the beginning of this message board. Most Helpful Post.
Here is a link
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308750/so-you-want-to-start-lifting-great/p1
Lifting weights is the best exercise for me. I love it.
Good luck in your healthy journey

jessef593

You will also want to look into nutrition along with bulk and cut cycles if you're interested in building some muscle

cgvet37

Spacemarine101 wrote: »

Compound exercises are best for majority of people. They work better then just doing bunch of isolation exercises (I learned this the hard way). Compound exercises include: squats, dead lifts, lunges, rows, pull ups, chin ups, push ups, dips, over head presses, bench presses... Depending on your goals you should be definitely doing some of these exercises. Also if you can, do this exercises with free weights instead of the machines.

My experience has been the opposite. I will do one or two compound exercises per muscle group, the rest isolation. My strength has increased more rapidly over doing strictly compound movements.