Joined a gym, help me!

mistercrabb · 23 Jun 2011 at 19:42

Hi all, after ages of promising myself that I would get more fit, I have actually gone and joined a gym. Bye bye money

I do a bit of downhill mtb racing, and I get very tired on race weekends (2 days of putting in runs, basically, nothing ridiculous). Also I sort of collapse if the track is longer than about 1.5-2mins and high intensity.
Then again, my strength is pretty shocking too. I have some dumbbells at home I use occasionally, but I'm only using about 7-8kg for curls at the moment (up from 5 though - progress!)

My long term goals, in order of importance:
>Increase stamina (a lot)
>Increase overall strength
>Bigger muscle mass/definition (don't care tooo much about this one. visible abs would be fine)

So, does anyone have any tips or routine suggetsions (GordyR's)? I'll be going 2 or 3 times a week, and I normally ride on the weekends (if it's very wet I will probably hit the gym).
I'm currently looking at GordyR's sample routine, but I need cardio as a priority really, and I'm not sure if cardio and bodybuilding is a good idea anyway?

Diet wise, I'm not sure what to do. It's reasonably healthy (imo) and I stay at 11st with exercise only at the weekends at the moment. I can't really split my intake into 6 meals/day unless perhaps I fit some nutrition (bars?) in between meals, or just add protein shakes after workouts, I don't know!
Perhaps I'm just over thinking things, and I should just eat smarter and pick a simple gym routine.

Sorry if this post is a bit jumbled by the way, feel free to berate me for not knowing what I'm talking about! Or give me useful advice. Whatever you feel like

Skillmister · 23 Jun 2011 at 19:51

A lot of people here follow a 3 day split routine i think, something like;

day1 - chest + triceps
day2 - rest/cardio
day3 - back + biceps
day4 - rest/cardio
day5 - legs + shoulders

obviously everyone is different so things such as muscle groups on what days etc will vary. You could also think about trying stronglifts 5x5 or similar, ive got no experience with those routines but im sure someone who has will be along soon. Nothing wrong with cardio and bodybuilding, but if you are wanting to increase muscle mass you will need to make sure you eat enough i.e over your maintenance amount so take cardio into account when working this out.
Also you dont need to eat 6 meals a day, 3 is fine but as before, its about how much you eat not when you eat. Protein shakes are a great way to add cheap easy protein to your diet, but its best to work out what you are getting from whole foods first before adding supplements. www.dailyburn.com is good for that.

Morba · 23 Jun 2011 at 20:10

Get out on your bike on the road and do some HIIT stuff and some longer rides.

Stuff · 23 Jun 2011 at 20:20

Best way to get your stamina up is to just run, run and run. I've lost nearly a stone in the past month and can run so much longer than when I joined the gym in January. When I started, I could barely do a minute of constant running (11 km/h) but can now do over 10 minutes, and improving each time I go

Note: I know 10 minutes isn't really that long, but bare in mind I'm 6 foot, around 16st, and built like a rugby player. Running really isn't something that comes naturally to me!

mistercrabb · 23 Jun 2011 at 20:36

Sadly my 40lb DH bike is not really suitable for long-distance road riding, let alone HIIT.

Skillmister said:
A lot of people here follow a 3 day split routine i think, something like;

day1 - chest + triceps
day2 - rest/cardio
day3 - back + biceps
day4 - rest/cardio
day5 - legs + shoulders

I have a running machine at home, but I was really hoping to get all my exercise into the 3 days, so I'd have the others free. I don't mind taking a little longer to reach my goals if I can do this (I could even focus on cardio for 6 months then switch to body building if that will be better).

Thanks for the bodyburn link by the way

Skillmister · 23 Jun 2011 at 20:51

I'm sure you can try get it done in 3 days, i just know that i cant manage cardio and weights on the same day without seriously underperforming in one

mistercrabb · 24 Jun 2011 at 20:57

Right!
Just got back from my induction/first session.
They set me up a HIIT routine on my cool electric gym key thing, and I got about halfway through before my lungs gave in..
Question - my heart rate goes over 180bpm near the end of a routine, and the machines moan about it, how bad is that?

Also I don't think I can manage cardio and weights properly in one sitting, you were right Skillmister! Unless I just man up..
We shall see.

Either way I'm happy with gymming and it's not too busy there at 6PM so that's great