What's your gym routine?

sponge999 said:
That's the thing, I can't do 20mins running n stuff because of my lower back. I need tips on strengthening that first
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To strengthen your lower back then you want to deadlift. Unless you have really ****ed your [back at some stage in life.

Just start Light and build up from there working on form before you gain bigger weights.

Just make sure you get the form right because you dont want to mess it up if you already have a sore back
 
Zip said:
To strengthen your lower back then you want to deadlift. Unless you have really ****ed your [back at some stage in life.
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I'd be ultra careful with anything back related - I don't think anyone could say with all certainty that a particular exercise will work without knowing if the individual has any underlying issues.

Speaking personally, I have an issue that stems from my back problem whereby my upperbody-right side is weaker than my left (I'm right handed) and lowerbody-left is weaker than the right - my body has been compensating for an injury and I need to strengthen before getting back into big weights. No way would I have known this.

I'm no expert and not wanting to correct, just merely point out that advice over the internet, no matter how qualified/experienced, shouldn't be taken over a professional actually there to identify any underlying issues.

Agree - deadlifts are great!!!
 
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boxman2000 said:
I'd be ultra careful with anything back related - I don't think anyone could say with all certainty that a particular exercise will work without knowing if the individual has any underlying issues.

Speaking personally, I have an issue that stems from my back problem whereby my upperbody-right side is weaker than my left (I'm right handed) and lowerbody-left is weaker than the right - my body has been compensating for an injury and I need to strengthen before getting back into big weights. No way would I have known this.

I'm no expert and not wanting to correct, just merely point out that advice over the internet, no matter how qualified/experienced, shouldn't be taken over a professional actually there to identify any underlying issues.

Agree - deadlifts are great!!!
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You do have a good point.
Thats why i made sure i wrote unless his back is ****ed from an old injury, which if it is then he will need to find some other way to strengthen it.
 
I actually wouldn't recommend that he deadlift at this point, considering his back... It's a tricky situation to advise on really without knowing exactly what condition your body is in, and also potentially a frustrating time for the OP as it might be worth spending some time just working on very basic conditioning and core stability.

OP do you have a training partner? If not I would say leave the deadlifts for now, there is far too much scope to do it wrong and make your back worse. What you probably want to do is some conditioning and some core work. This might not be your thing, but probably the strongest core I know of (pound for pound) belongs to my brother because he rows at club level. He's also a qualified coach, so I'll ask him to post up some kind of beginer's core routine. He also swears by erg training (the rowing machines in the gym) for strengthening up your core, but I think that would require proper instruction to get it right too.

Then along side this you could do a basic free weights routine. But depending on your back you might need to be careful. For example, sqatting or standing over head presses might not be a great idea, and bent over rows probably a definate no-no. Unless of course I'm over estimating how bad your back is...
 
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Absolutley, doing good mornings and deadlifts is only going to make it worse. Cardio is your priority at this point.
 
Hi guys, thanks for the advice. I just have a weakness in my lower back (basically from sitting on my arse and doing nothing for ages). I'm not fat, I am 5ft 10" with quite a muscular build. Not from weights it is just what I was born with. I think the best thing for me to do as a few of you suggested is to just ask the instructor at the gym to show me a few routines to get my core strengthened. I went to the physio not so long back and she gave me all these useless exercises that have not helped in the slightest.
 
In that case I think you'll have the fairly standard problem of not being able to activate your back properly, which means the exercises I mentioned above will at the very least require very light weights at first.

Definately do some core work, and in the mean time concentrate on ALWAYS having proper posture.
 
I was thinking, prehaps if your back is that bad maybe do 50 non weighted good mornings when you wake up and before bed aswell. Maybe do this for a week, then go for a run then see how your body is holding up...

Do the good mornings slowly aswell, 2 secs up & 2 secs down.
 
I wouldn't recommend good mornings personally. Seeing as decent hamstring flexability is required and they're ime not the best choice of exercise. Also it'll give him very bad DOMS and serious pump doing 50 reps first thing in the morning. Not to mention he'll be stiff as a board after being asleep so hamstring flexability will be at its worst.

Dorsal raises or hyper extensions would be a better option. All you need is a floor and something to hook your feet under. Providing you actually want to do these I'd do them before bed if you're not currently exercising otherwise just do them when you're at the gym.
 
BennyC said:
I wouldn't recommend good mornings personally. Seeing as decent hamstring flexability is required and they're ime not the best choice of exercise. Also it'll give him very bad DOMS and serious pump doing 50 reps first thing in the morning. Not to mention he'll be stiff as a board after being asleep so hamstring flexability will be at its worst.

Dorsal raises or hyper extensions would be a better option. All you need is a floor and something to hook your feet under. Providing you actually want to do these I'd do them before bed if you're not currently exercising otherwise just do them when you're at the gym.
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True. It's hard to gauge how bad is back is though, i mean doing 50 non weighted good mornings is a pile of p*ss. It's not like you need flexible hams to do a few good mornings, just go to 75 degrees and back if you wanna make it easier.
 
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Monday: Weightlifting - 30 mins involving Supersets.
Tuesday: Cardio - 30 mins involving Intervals.
Wednesday: Cardio - 30 mins involving Intervals.
Thursday: Weightlifting - 30 mins involving Supersets.
Friday: Optional 30 mins involving Interval Cardio, basically i'll do it if i don't go out to the pub.
 
BJJ 3 times a week
5 x 5 stronglifts
BJJ specific explosives (kettlebells and bodyweight)
BJJ secific stretching program daily.

Got bored of training for training's sake, its nice to focus away from vanity for once :)

Ant :cool:
 
I'm finally going back to the gym tomorrow after about 6 months off. I think I will just ask the instructor for core muscle strengthening exercises. And stick to whatever he tells me to do
 
I do tony starts old 4 day split

Pretty high volume could be seen as over doing it but it always left me feeling like I had worked out afterwards and felt decent gains from it.
 
Ok I went to the gym for the first time in ages on Monday. Asked the instructor what i need to do for my core. He first got me working on one of those big ball things(no idea what they are called) doing sit-ups on it (3x10), then he got me doing some deadlifts with 15k on each side (3x12). Then I did my usual routine of bench press 15k each arm(3x15) then used the easybar for biceps, 10k each side (3x10) and a little bit of tricep work. As you can tell I'm going easy to start off with. However, I am still aching from all this tonight. I said I would be going 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But I was wondering do I risk going tomorrow morning even though I am still aching? Or wait until it gets better.

Cheers
 
Your aching because your muscles are recovering from the micro tears caused by the lifting so i'd give it a days break. Generally if you go every day you're working different muscle groups each day so that doesn't always apply.
 
I'm on a 3 day split this week:

Tuesday was Biceps/Triceps

Thursday will be Chest/Back/Shoulders

Saturday will be Legs.

I couldn't get on the Smith Machine (yet again) and it's a very poorly equipped Gym, so I'm going to be doing 6:30am Mornings from next week on - this will be my last week of Evenings. Before the contract finishes (or I might end it early, only needs 30 days notice) I'm going to look around for a better equipped Gym.

I'm also going to be doing a 5 day split from Monday next week, then it's going to be as follows:

Monday - Legs; Squat, Leg Extension, Leg Raise, Calf Extension, Leg Press;

Tuesday - Biceps & Triceps; Dumb-bell Curl, Tricep Dip Machine, Close-grip Benchpress, Skullcrusher

Wednesday - Chest; Incline Benchpress, Decline Benchpress, Chest Fly Machine

Thursday - Back; Bent-over Row, Lat Machine, Pull Ups, Deadlift

Friday - Delts & Traps; Behind Neck Press, Shoulder Press, Upright Row, Barbell Shrugs

Saturday - Cardio; Running Machine 30 mins, Bike Machine 30 mins.
 
$loth said:
Your aching because your muscles are recovering from the micro tears caused by the lifting so i'd give it a days break. Generally if you go every day you're working different muscle groups each day so that doesn't always apply.
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That's the thing, I don't know what exercises to do for each muscle. Like the post above^^^, not a clue what half of what he's doing is! Would love to do all that.
 
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