help badly needed for clueless newbie

rheddmobile

psuLemon wrote: »

rheddmobile wrote: »

Don't be afraid to lift heavy. Do read New Rules of Lifting for Women. Choose compound movements which work multiple muscles over machines which work one. In particular doing leg curls and so on instead of squats and deadlifts is neglecting your stabilizing muscles in your core.

I would also note that recent studies have found that static stretching on the same day as lifting slows down muscle recovery.

Excessive static stretching before a workout can hurt performance. People are better off doing it after a work if anything. Below is a pretty good write up on stretching/warming up.

http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/blog/warming-up-prior-to-resistance-training-an-excerpt-from-strong-sculpted/

Yep. Thinking on this subject is evolving so quickly that believe it or not, this information is already outdated. The discovery that static stretching before a workout doesn't benefit performance or prevent injury is fairly new, and got most pros to swap their recommendation to static stretching after a workout. Then even more recently studies looked at doing it after a workout and found that it reduces blood flow to the muscles, slowing recovery and potentially increasing DOMS. The most current recommendation is to do it on a different day entirely.