My top ten newbie training tips!

[Freefaller]

Some decent points, couple from me..

Slow down your negatives

Most microtrauma (and ultimately size) comes from the negatives portion of the lift.

Variation is the key

Nothing is going to keep working all of the time, your gains will diminish and stall the longer you keep doing the same thing. Some routines have a longer shelf life than others as they change the rep range or exercises as you progress. For example, don't flat barbell bench 3x10 for 12 weeks straight. Alter the rep range, change to close grip benching or DB benching, go into incline or decline.

Spot on. So many people over look negatives - it's just as important as the positive movement.

Variation is vital. I mix my incline, decline, flat, with DB and BB all the time for example. I mix t-bars, with BORs and cable row etc... you can do so many types of exercises. You've got to keep your body guessing.

Well from what I've seen 90%+ of people don't squat properly and are putting themselves at massive risk. Imho most people should either get some coaching to learn to do them properly or they just plain shouldn't be doing them.

Same goes for most compound exercises really. Some of the form I see in my gym is nothing short of comical, funny and downright scary!!

Tell me about it - however I do really like squats and DLs for core building and generally thickening of the body. They are both fantastic compound exercises if done properly. I'd like to think I do them properly...

I didn't get on with front squats the last time I tried them, i'll give them a go again soon enough.

They can be tough to get used to at first, I get a little bit of bruising on the shoulders, but I just use the "crossed arm" grip and just concentrate on the lift and worry about the bruises afterwards!

Definitely get more effect from them, especially as you can do them properly ATG.

 

[Jeffstar]

I didn't get on with front squats the last time I tried them, i'll give them a go again soon enough.

Didn't you suffer a nasty back injury Wardie? I think it would pay you to give fronts a real go. Start off real light of course

 

[Bakedgoods]

My back is still seriously funky.

If I don't squat or do anything like bent over rows then it's fine. If I squat, because my back/hips are so tight I get massive back pump and sometimes soreness.

I'm going to try get more regular physio and try improve things.

It's annoying to say the least.

 

[Jeffstar]

Good look with your recovery Wardie. I reccomend a holiday in the sun. Make sure she's the jockey

 

[Freefaller]

 

[Bakedgoods]

Haa

Not going away until Christmas for just over 3 weeks in Australia. Taking a week off shortly but i'll be stuck in sunny England..

 

[nero120]

Well from what I've seen 90%+ of people don't squat properly and are putting themselves at massive risk. Imho most people should either get some coaching to learn to do them properly or they just plain shouldn't be doing them.

Same goes for most compound exercises really. Some of the form I see in my gym is nothing short of comical, funny and downright scary!!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who must think some of the pretentiousness in this thread is mind boggling! I mean, come on - how are most people gonna know what the right way to squat is? It's not like it's taught in school, and most of the gym staff probably wouldn't know a proper squat either. How do you know you're doing it right?

I assume that after you've finished laughing your butt off at these comical squats you go over and give the individual some advice as to how to improve their form?

Why in the world do you expect people to have perfect form? It's like any exercise, not many people go and seek out from some wise old man in the himalayas what the perfect form of doing a dumbell curl is. Sure, squats can be more dangerous but it's an issue of practicality. I'm sure my form is far from perfect, but to be quite honest, I don't see anyone else in my gym doing squats, and I wouldn't know what the right form is anyone so what's the use of asking someone? It's a catch 22. You don't know your form is wrong until your injured!

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

snip!

Nah your missing the point m8, CW is a friendly and helpful chap so far as i can tell, the fact is you walk up to a bunch of lads and say "err lads your squatting wrong" and see what response you get. Now our chong warrior is a big lad, one of the best physiques on here, but to a gym monkey he has the physique that they will have in a few months time, that what the magazines tell them.

Its this attitude he is having a go at, and the fact that these people really believe they are using correct form for the most part too. Tellling them otherwise wont do any good. Smokers smoke and it has a good chance of killing them. Go up and tell one they shouldnt do it cos its bad and see how it goes down?

If people want advice on form they can get it, and they should, but the fact is most people dont respect the dangers of squats and deadlifts until its too late. You walk around in the middle of a road till someone tells you its dangerous do you?

IMO all gyms that have free and smith squatting should have a selection of boxes or bands to enable people to get proper depth and thus form and posture. But the fact is who want to lift 100kg atg when they can lift 140kg with crap form.

 

[Tinders]

Good thread, especially point 9,Ive been going down the gym regularly again, with the intention of losing weight ,and doing a bit of weights at the same time, now the free weights at our place is filled with pretty boys and big hardcore lifters and its quite crowded, so I made the mistake of using the machines.Anyway I found that they were ok ish for chest/back, but for anything else i just didnt 'feel/see' any sort of improvement.I felt the cable machines were 'working' but nowt else.

Ive since bought some free weights (of ebay £25 for 60 kg metal weights, dumbbell and barbell) and the difference in the amount of weight I can lift is staggering, I was curling 40kg on a machine, i can barely do 12 on the dumbells! im never going back to machines.

I just need a compact incline bench now.

 

[Morba]

Ive since bought some free weights (of ebay £25 for 60 kg metal weights, dumbbell and barbell) and the difference in the amount of weight I can lift is staggering, I was curling 40kg on a machine, i can barely do 12 on the dumbells! im never going back to machines.

I just need a compact incline bench now.

machines are good though, its not just about the weight you are using, its about the intensity.
some people i know do not feel ez bar preachers as much as they do machine preachers, the machine is more intense for the bicep for them.

use both, it will benefit you in the long run :]

 

[nero120]

Nah your missing the point m8, CW is a friendly and helpful chap so far as i can tell, the fact is you walk up to a bunch of lads and say "err lads your squatting wrong" and see what response you get. Now our chong warrior is a big lad, one of the best physiques on here, but to a gym monkey he has the physique that they will have in a few months time, that what the magazines tell them.

Its this attitude he is having a go at, and the fact that these people really believe they are using correct form for the most part too. Tellling them otherwise wont do any good. Smokers smoke and it has a good chance of killing them. Go up and tell one they shouldnt do it cos its bad and see how it goes down?

If people want advice on form they can get it, and they should, but the fact is most people dont respect the dangers of squats and deadlifts until its too late. You walk around in the middle of a road till someone tells you its dangerous do you?

IMO all gyms that have free and smith squatting should have a selection of boxes or bands to enable people to get proper depth and thus form and posture. But the fact is who want to lift 100kg atg when they can lift 140kg with crap form.

I understand this, but my point is that how can anyone attain good form when there is simply little or no good advice available to you in the gym. How can you know if you are using good form or not - for all you know those people cw was laughing at might believe they are using good form, either because they assumed it or someone incorrectly showed them.

Believe me I would love for someone to show me exactly the right way to squat. Scratch that, they would have to train me as I don't think you could pick up good form just by being 'shown'. The last thing I want to do is pick up a potentially permanent injury. that's why I tend to air on the side of caution, and use lighter weights but full controlled motion. When I'm squatting or dead lifting, if my back feels weird the next day I would leave it a few days and go back to the online guides to check my form. Usually I don't have too many problems, I hope that's a good sign. Perhaps I might not be working it as much as I could, but in this area I would rather not take the risk, besides I'm still within my first 6 months of proper training.

Anyways, regarding the attitude on here I do find that some members can be quite holier-than-thou. I can understand that, with this kind of physical ability it takes a long time to aquire results so if someone is a littl protective, even arrogant about what they know then fair enough. Just don't expect people not to you!

 

[Freefaller]

Fortunately at my gym people pipe up and tell people when they are doing something wrong and there's a small group of us (about 6) who are considered the "regulars" and 9/10 people heed our advice. We're not professionals or experts, but we're well versed/read and have a lot of experience to share. The problem is a lot of people that come to the gym are either too proud or too shy to ask for help. I'm afraid I don't care about making myself known - I don't want someone hurting themselves and having the gym closed down for an investigation. They all do their inductions which is the statutory minimum that the HSE demand, but I'd rather make sure people are doing things correctly.

 

[Nate--IRL--]

machines are good though, its not just about the weight you are using, its about the intensity.
some people i know do not feel ez bar preachers as much as they do machine preachers, the machine is more intense for the bicep for them.

use both, it will benefit you in the long run :]

Been meaning to ask you about intensity for a while now Morba, as you keep mentioning it. What do you actually mean by intensity, short rest times between sets? Speed of sets?

For example I can squat (ATG of course) 110kg with about 5-6secs between rep (3 deep breaths acually) For 3x10, However, i can only lift 3x10x90kgs if i don't pause at the top of each rep. (I acually do 3 sets of both with pauses and unpaused, kills me but i love it)

After each set, i'm in no hurry to get to the next set, It might take me upto 3mins before starting the next set, depending on how i feel. I'm of the opinion that i'm not putting a ~100kgs of metal on the top of my spine if i don't feel sufficently recovered.

So back to the question, Intensity, what exactly to you mean by it and how intense is intense?

Nate

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

intensity is a measure of how close to your maximum you are training, its rough opposite is volume. the most technically intense train you can do is 1rep training with your 1 rep max (rm)

5x5 therefore is moderately intense and 2x10 low intensity. However the weight used comes into play too. If you do 3x3 with 50% of your 1rm that would be low intensity. If you did 1x10 of your max for 10 that wouls be very intense.

Generally when choosing a workout you should decide beforehand on intensity or volume training and set the weight accordingly. For begginners however most of this doesnt matter.

Intensity can also be used casually as a term for a hard workout with little rest. But when used by bodybuilders it usually indicates how close to their maxes they were training in a given rep range. Dont forget you wont, or shouldnt, train to failure (ie max intensity) all the time.

 

[Morba]

Been meaning to ask you about intensity for a while now Morba, as you keep mentioning it. What do you actually mean by intensity, short rest times between sets? Speed of sets?

For example I can squat (ATG of course) 110kg with about 5-6secs between rep (3 deep breaths acually) For 3x10, However, i can only lift 3x10x90kgs if i don't pause at the top of each rep. (I acually do 3 sets of both with pauses and unpaused, kills me but i love it)

After each set, i'm in no hurry to get to the next set, It might take me upto 3mins before starting the next set, depending on how i feel. I'm of the opinion that i'm not putting a ~100kgs of metal on the top of my spine if i don't feel sufficently recovered.

So back to the question, Intensity, what exactly to you mean by it and how intense is intense?

Nate

Good questions Nate :]

from dictionary.com : 4.the degree or extent to which something is intense.

Now, that doesn't really tell you anything, so to just leave my answer there would be wrong (and bordering on offensive tbh!).

The way i see intensity is this:

You set your exercise, rep range, your rest time and your pause between reps, you also set the style of reps you will complete (be it slow negs and explosive positive or rest pause or lower half way then pause then continue or whatever).

You now have (for example) -
Exercise: BB bench press
reps: 10x3
rest: 60s
rep style: rest pause

So where does intensity come into that?

set 1, hit 10 reps, with energy spare.
set 2, hit 9 reps, bit of a struggle with the 10th
set 3, hit 7-8 reps, struggle with another, assitance with the rest or maybe a drop set or a couple of negatives.

Hitting 10x3 with no struggle : not intense enough
Hitting set 1 while struggling : too intense

form failure during middle of second set : too intense
total failure before completing any set : too intense

When you finish a set and take a deep breath, swig of water, wipe your brow and think 'phew that was a good set' : Perfectly intense

so, does that really answer anything? No!
How intense is intense? only you can answer that.

Not sure if that has helped or not, its another 'self knowing' thing imo.
All I know is i aim to do what i set out above.

Oddly I have never thought about it like that, but now I think about how I train it seems quite logical

 

[Nate--IRL--]

Thank you Gents, that's very informative. I think I'm on the right track so... I've always thought that 3X10 or sometimes 3x8 of any exercise should have you struggling, but able to complete the last reps of the last set, for any given weight.

Nate

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

Thank you Gents, that's very informative. I think I'm on the right track so... I've always thought that 3X10 or sometimes 3x8 of any exercise should have you struggling, but able to complete the last reps of the last set, for any given weight.

Nate

until you are quite advanced training like that is fine. What a lot of intermediate and advanced trainers do is pyramid their intensity so say they start a 6 week plan it might go

week 1 10reps 40%1rm
week 2 10reps 45%1rm
Week 3 10reps 50%1rm
week 4 8reps 60%1rm
week 5 8reps 75%1rm
week 6 6reps 85-90%1rm

While you may think that he just wastes the first few weeks with loads he knows he can lift, it primes the muscle gradually for increased loads. Dont forget when your new to the game you might lift 10k more one day than another simply due to eating a better lunch or sleeping better one night. Once youve got your schedule chiseled in stone and your at a level where gaining 10kg on a lift takes months or years. This kind of priming cycle comes into its own.

 

[MTA99]

Nah your missing the point m8, CW is a friendly and helpful chap so far as i can tell, the fact is you walk up to a bunch of lads and say "err lads your squatting wrong" and see what response you get

Yoghurt to the face?

Believe me I would love for someone to show me exactly the right way to squat. Scratch that, they would have to train me as I don't think you could pick up good form just by being 'shown'. The last thing I want to do is pick up a potentially permanent injury. that's why I tend to air on the side of caution, and use lighter weights but full controlled motion. When I'm squatting or dead lifting, if my back feels weird the next day I would leave it a few days and go back to the online guides to check my form. Usually I don't have too many problems, I hope that's a good sign. Perhaps I might not be working it as much as I could, but in this area I would rather not take the risk, besides I'm still within my first 6 months of proper training.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and more people should do it. Your comment about teaching squats in schools is a brilliant example. You know *nothing* about training when you first step in the gym. You might have seen a few vids of Arnie doing some biceps curls or Worlds Strongest Man shoulder press but that's irrelevant to you. The sensible thing is to look in books, magazine and online or ask advice from a trainer or friend - basically educate yourself! Its the fact that people are either unwilling to learn or never even think to research it in the first place that's frustrating.

im not sure tho m8, i know physiology varies widely from person to person, but being 'unable' to squat sounds more like very poor hip mobility to me. Unless the person is genuinely disabled then there is no reason they cant squat even if not ATG, in fact it may be MORE important they squat. If i have trouble on an exercise i try to eliminate the weakness not the exercise.

NAIL.HEAD.HIT!

I've been squatting on freebar for a couple of years now but its only in the last few months that i've realised my hip, ham and lower back flexibility is very poor. At the bottom of a squat my back was rounding significantly despite the fact I *know* this is incorrect. I, like Wardie, am getting some help to improve the situation

 

[Chong Warrior]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who must think some of the pretentiousness in this thread is mind boggling!

I would hope you are... as I don't see any

I mean, come on - how are most people gonna know what the right way to squat is? It's not like it's taught in school, and most of the gym staff probably wouldn't know a proper squat either. How do you know you're doing it right?

Erm.... go and learn like the rest of us and not just assume you're doing it right? That in my eyes, is naive and stupid.

The internetz is great for learning, watch people in the gym - watch those who are doing it wrong and make sure you don't repeat those mistakes? Watch those who are doing it right... don't be scared, go over and ask them for advice, 99% of people will be only too willing to help... just don't be tapping them on the shoulder halfway through a set lol!

I assume that after you've finished laughing your butt off at these comical squats you go over and give the individual some advice as to how to improve their form?

Excuse me little Mr.Offended when did I ever say I was laughing?

I've been training about 18 years ( shut it MTA ) and in that time I've advised more people than you've had hot dinners... mate. So go take you're self-opinionated, unwelcome and undeserved comments and aim them elsewhere, thankyou

Also, and I'm sure all the other regular gym goers in here will agree, after a while it gets boring, not to mention annoying, when you go out of your way to help people and try to advise them. Only to see them carry on doing exactly the same things and repeating the same mistakes the second you walk away...

Now I only comment on peoples training when they ask for it, otherwise people generally don't want to hear it and I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

imagine how long youd be in the gym if you went around being lower back samaritan to every fatty thought he could squat a few. You'd never get anything done. When daniel wanted to train with Mr Miyage he had to earn it by prooving himself dedicated and commited. To all you newbies, go out and learn, go out and find out for yourselves how to do an exercise properly and dont expect to be spoonfed the basics. Then you will earn the respect of other lifters who will gladly help you out in the future.