New to Gym - Building strength

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Ashefajith
Ashefajith Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
Hi all,

I hope this is the right place to post this thread.
I have started exercising in May/April and have since be running regularly.
However, I now want to tone my body and focus on building my strength.
I went to the gym for the first time today where I was told how to use the equipment. But the only thing is I don't know how long or what I should use to tone my stomach and legs/arms. Should I do 5 mins of rowing then 5 mins of crunches ?

Any help would be very much appreciated !

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  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Tone comes from an overall reduction of BF%. You don't tone your arms and stomach through cardio (rowing) and crunches (no such thing as spot reduction).

    Does your gym offer a trainer? If so, that would be a good place to start. If not, look into some books, such as New rules for Lifting....

    Like I said, tone comes from a reduction of overall BF%. To reduce that BF% we need to eat in a deficit. In that deficit, our body loses fat, water, and muscle. Getting on a solid lifting program, such as new rules, helps prevent the loss of muscle so your body loses mainly fat and water. By doing so you're stripping away the fat from the muscle you're maintaining, thus uncovering that muscle which in turn improves your muscle definition (tone). Keep in mind that the scale won't move as fast this way. It's the whold muscle vs fat thing where you can lose quite a bit of fat without much success on the scale.

    Utilize the mirror and tape measure along with your scale to track progress. And remember that once you're starting to see the muscle and your lifts improve, you're not gaining copious amounts of muscle (if any), you're just starting to see what you're maintaining.

    EDIT: Abs don't come from doing high amounts of isolated ab exercises. Do it if you like, but they're pretty inefficient. Keep your deficit, get your cardio if you like it, and get on a full body lifting routine.

    You'll notice that quite a few people on here do very limited isolated ab work, if any at all.
  • pscarolina
    pscarolina Posts: 133 Member
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    RGv2 wrote: »
    EDIT: Abs don't come from doing high amounts of isolated ab exercises. Do it if you like, but they're pretty inefficient. Keep your deficit, get your cardio if you like it, and get on a full body lifting routine.

    You'll notice that quite a few people on here do very limited isolated ab work, if any at all.

    +1 lift heavy, pull those abs in while you do it - will make it easier & protect your back while working your abs. I do ab work in class, but I swear I work them harder when I'm lifting outside class.
  • Ashefajith
    Ashefajith Posts: 3 Member
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    Thank you guys.
    I am not that bothered about my weight so not seeing the proof on the scale is not a problem.
    Sadly, my gym goes not have a trainer available.
    I will have a look at New Rules in the mean time. =]
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    sometimes i see these questions and even though I know I can help, it would take 10 minutes to explain it only to be brushed off and it's too frustrating. It's been explained on the forums in so many different ways that Im sure if you searched the threads that are already here, you could learn a lot. You can also read the stickies in each category.

    the best way you can solve the problem you presented to us is by teaching yourself instead of asking someone else to do the research for you and hand it over.

    getting the results you want will require you to learn, through reading and through hands on and that's the only way you're gonna be able to own your strength workouts.

    Good luck!
  • Ashefajith
    Ashefajith Posts: 3 Member
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    I do appreciate the fact I have to "teach myself". Really. However, I have not find anything useful on the net, not knowing which terminologies to search for. Seems I used the wrong ones for this website too.

    This is not me being lazy, wanting the information "handed over", this is me being overwhelmed by the amount of information, not knowing where to start and tired from having worked so much the past three weeks. RGv2's insightful comment was enough to reassure me and for me to take the first steps in my own research. I certainly did not brush it off.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    If you are more specific in your goals we cant point you in a good direction. you'll need a program - start with strong lifts, starting strength or something that keeps you moving forward, not doing the same thing every time you go!
  • brooksie_cat
    brooksie_cat Posts: 2 Member
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    Hey man,
    I am not a professional by any means, but I suppose my best advice would be to start from the ground up. Look at articles explaining nutrients and macros so that you have a full understandjng about how your body takes in food and what foods to take in, getting a handle on food and how to use it as a tool is a big part of this.
    Then look up a basic fundamental training program, 3-4 days a week, watch videos and read blogs on the perfect form, master those basic movements (look up fundamental compound weightlifting movements) once you have done the research about how your body uses food, and basic weightlifting, you will have a solid base of knowledge and the rest will fall into place. Do lots of research, train your brain, it will save you lots of frustration and keep you from quitting.
    Cheers and Good Luck
  • RobertBray2015
    RobertBray2015 Posts: 2 Member
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    Everybody is new at some point to everything I have been a gym rat off and on for 30 years followed most advice and fads out there currently use body weight excersize wonderful for tone and easy on joints and don't need equipment and really aids in functional fitness check out Matt fury and others

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