Gym Advice

[navier_stokes]

Looking to join a gym soonish for the first time in a long time - anyone got any recommendations of the best of the commercial gyms, or any others in the Derby area?

I'm 6'4" and ~15 stone so not exactly fat but by no means toned; I do the usual push ups and situps at home and am reasonably active, lots of walking, cycling etc. I'm looking to get back into cycling proper, so will be doing that mainly for cardio stuff outside of the gym, and using the gym mainly for weights and trying to get a bit more toned etc. However I'm not so familiar with what routines/exercises I should be doing per session and over a longer period of time - are PT's at commercial gyms generally numpties or will they be able to help me with this?

Also looking at British Military Fitness as a cheaper alternative but they're fixed sessions so not sure I'll be able to keep going as regular depending on my work finishing hours. Anyone got any experience of what these sessions are like?

Any advice for a gym newbie would be great, cheers

[LividSV]

I just joined a small local gym, having never experienced the chain brand gym, i cannot really comment. However i enjoy knowing the vast majority of the members, and being able to speak to the staff and owner, and Socialise with them out of the gym.

You just need to pick the gym that suits you, the big chains suit everyone really, but with a small independant you need to decide if you want a power lifting gym, or a fitness gym..

Even at my gym all the workers need to have all the training and coaching qualifications and can recommend what you need to do to meet your goals.

Obviously if you want to be the next Arnie you are best going to a power lifting gym... Ohh and btw steroids are readily available in power lifting gyms lol

[navier_stokes]

Any advice on the best full body weight routines for the beginner?

[Matt_N]

navier_stokes said:

Any advice on the best full body weight routines for the beginner?

Id go for a split routine, that way you wont overtrain each muscle group.

If your going to do a weights session 3 times a week, a popular split is:

Day 1 - back and bicep
Day 2 - rest or cardio
Day 3 - shoulders and legs
Day 4 - rest or cardio
Day 5 - chest and tricep

For each day the exercises could be something like:

Day 1 - deadlift, bent over row, single arm rows, hammer curls, 21s
Day 2 - overhead press, raises or reverse flys, single arm dumbell press, leg press, calf raises
Day 3 - bench press, chest flys, incline dumbell press, skull crushers or dips

If your going to aim for more toning than overall size Id go for a higher number or reps on a lower weight, maybe 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

[Steve-O56]

Try either atlanta on west meadows industrial estate of full force off abbey street. They are your typical sweat pits but they are pretty cheap and have no monthly fees so you can just go and train. I started training at atlanta a year or so ago mainly because I wanted to see if I would stick at it without having the burden of a 12 month contract round my neck, believe it or not I now prefer training there as aposed to using mainstream gyms. Newbie wise, the guys who run both places are very keen to help newbies, even some of the regulars like to show you the way

[raebomb]

You say you want to be 'toned' - you can't really tone as such, you either build up muscle, or loose fat to make you more defined.

Find a split that works around you. I train 3 nights a week but I have a 5 way split:

mon - chest/calves
wed - shoulders/traps
fri - legs
mon - arms
wed - back
fri - back to the start

If you are just starting off i'd recomment a 3 way split of push/pull/legs

So on your Push night you would do pushing movements like bench press/tricep dips/shoulder press etc.
Pull night would be Lat pull/chin ups/bent over and/or seated rows/deadlifts/arm curls etc.
Legs night - Squats/leg press/hack or front squats/leg extensions/straight leg deadlifts/hamstring curls/calf raises.

Focus on the big compound moves to build initial strength, don't worry about isolation exercises for the first few weeks. Things like deadlifts/squats/bench press and shoulder press will get you off to a good start working the majority of your muscles.

The most important thing is - sort your eating. No matter how hard you train if you don't fuel your body right you wont grow. Second most important thing is to get into a good sleeping pattern, alot of people are under the impression that you have to blast the gym to grow - the growth comes from food and recovery time, as long as you're working hard in the gym too. at least 8 hours every night.

Sorry about the big post, but I see so many people doing the wrong thing, get the basics sorted and then all you need is patience, the results will come with time.

HTH!

[bales]

Matt_N said:

navier_stokes said:

Any advice on the best full body weight routines for the beginner?

Id go for a split routine, that way you wont overtrain each muscle group.

If your going to do a weights session 3 times a week, a popular split is:

Day 1 - back and bicep
Day 2 - rest or cardio
Day 3 - shoulders and legs
Day 4 - rest or cardio
Day 5 - chest and tricep

For each day the exercises could be something like:

Day 1 - deadlift, bent over row, single arm rows, hammer curls, 21s
Day 2 - overhead press, raises or reverse flys, single arm dumbell press, leg press, calf raises
Day 3 - bench press, chest flys, incline dumbell press, skull crushers or dips

If your going to aim for more toning than overall size Id go for a higher number or reps on a lower weight, maybe 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

No No No, novices to gyms should never do split routines!

This seems to be a common misconception, their muscles are not developed enough to benefit from this sort of routine, unless you are a body builder there really isn't much point. You would be much better off working large muscle groups to start off with and develop a base level of 'strength'

Squats, deadlifts, benchpress, military press all work your large groups of muscles which is what most beginners need to develop.

The best way initially is splitting your sessions into push/pull sessions so you are working concentric/eccentric contractions.

There are loads of good sites on the internet to get programs from, but you do not start off training straight away as if you are a body builder! You won't develop anywhere near as quick if you isolate all the muscles so specifically.

[996 sps]

bales said:

Matt_N said:

navier_stokes said:

Any advice on the best full body weight routines for the beginner?

Id go for a split routine, that way you wont overtrain each muscle group.

If your going to do a weights session 3 times a week, a popular split is:

Day 1 - back and bicep
Day 2 - rest or cardio
Day 3 - shoulders and legs
Day 4 - rest or cardio
Day 5 - chest and tricep

For each day the exercises could be something like:

Day 1 - deadlift, bent over row, single arm rows, hammer curls, 21s
Day 2 - overhead press, raises or reverse flys, single arm dumbell press, leg press, calf raises
Day 3 - bench press, chest flys, incline dumbell press, skull crushers or dips

If your going to aim for more toning than overall size Id go for a higher number or reps on a lower weight, maybe 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

No No No, novices to gyms should never do split routines!


Squats, deadlifts, benchpress, military press all work your large groups of muscles which is what most beginners need to develop.

The best way initially is splitting your sessions into push/pull sessions so you are working concentric/eccentric contractions.

quote]

You would work all muscle groups in a concentric/eccentric contraction regardless if you were pulling or pushing, that comment does not make sense, a beginner would need a really good coach and a light weight to start with compound moves such as deadlifts, our guys would really struggle to do those exercises correctly straight away. The OP needs to start with base endurance exercises and build himself up with body weight exercises before he moves onto weight.

As for British Military Fitness it all depends on your instructor and group you'll be issued with a certain coloured vest which divides you into groups of intensity levels, if you go red you'll get beasted and if your green you'll get more games and less of a thrashing, good fun good social and no poser's just people who want to get stuck in with cardio and muscular endurance.

Edited by 996 sps on Thursday 8th October 22:57

[bales]

996 sps said:

bales said:

Matt_N said:

navier_stokes said:

Any advice on the best full body weight routines for the beginner?

Id go for a split routine, that way you wont overtrain each muscle group.

If your going to do a weights session 3 times a week, a popular split is:

Day 1 - back and bicep
Day 2 - rest or cardio
Day 3 - shoulders and legs
Day 4 - rest or cardio
Day 5 - chest and tricep

For each day the exercises could be something like:

Day 1 - deadlift, bent over row, single arm rows, hammer curls, 21s
Day 2 - overhead press, raises or reverse flys, single arm dumbell press, leg press, calf raises
Day 3 - bench press, chest flys, incline dumbell press, skull crushers or dips

If your going to aim for more toning than overall size Id go for a higher number or reps on a lower weight, maybe 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

No No No, novices to gyms should never do split routines!


Squats, deadlifts, benchpress, military press all work your large groups of muscles which is what most beginners need to develop.

The best way initially is splitting your sessions into push/pull sessions so you are working concentric/eccentric contractions.

You would work all muscle groups in a concentric/eccentric contraction regardless if you were pulling or pushing, that comment does not make sense.

Right this is the problem with on here, I can go into depth or just talk in laymans terms - but if you do that people pick you up on it, but yes you are correct in that every movement naturally requires the opposing muscles to contract in a eccentric/concentric manner.

However in terms of training there is definately a split in terms of working eccentric or concentric movements as you will be focusng on the muscle you are trying to work.

As I am sure you know, a deadlift, clean without a catch, the down portion of the squat are all working the concentric action of the muscles i.e shortening whilst under tension. Sprinting is mainly an eccentric movement which is why we train plyo's, box jumps etc etc as we need the elastic component, but there are benefits to training both types.

There have been numerous studies on the differences between training eccentric only muscle contractions compared to conventional resistance training working both eccentric and concentric.

I am not sure how much in depth I need to get but eccentric and concentric contractions have different effects on the muscle, and how it is developed.

The sarcomeres which are the building blocks of your muscles are what you add more of when you get stronger and your muscles become more developed. It has been shown that additional sarcomeres can be added either in parallel or in series, and the stimulus for this is the difference between eccentric and concentric contractions. It has also been shown that the number of these in parallel relates to force and the number of them in series relates to velocity, so you can see that depending on what you want to achieve your training will differ.

Hence why doing a very heavy squat which you lower yourself very slowly to a box and then stop the movement, is a very different exercise to the conventional squat where you go down quick and 'bounce' up quickly!

[996 sps]

Few errors there downward movement of a squat is eccentric, the quads are lengthening not shortening, actin and myosin will work differently under certain contractions, and if I analyise the movement of a sprinter there is also concentric actions, however eccentric loading through plyometrics would of course enhance the explosive power of a sprinter. Can t waffle on to much as on my phone writing this.