Best way to improve stamina?

Craterloads said:
Cheers guys

Your probably right, when doing the step up i was wobling a bit around the 5th rep, so maybe no weight may be better for now.

I was doing the ones when you keep the leading foot stationary on the stool. I was trying to do these, but looking at the video now i wasnt reaching back with my non lead leg. Just up and down, not reaching back with it.

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Aaah....pretty much a bench lunge really. Problem with those is that when you do start to tire you only have one leg to hold the entire weight of your body so when fatigued it will drop faster and with far less control, hence the impact i guess.
Seeing as you're doing lunges anyway, i'd not bother doing them until a few weeks have passed.
 
Banzai_Joe said:
Aaah....pretty much a bench lunge really. Problem with those is that when you do start to tire you only have one leg to hold the entire weight of your body so when fatigued it will drop faster and with far less control, hence the impact i guess.
Seeing as you're doing lunges anyway, i'd not bother doing them until a few weeks have passed.
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Theres a few different variations so ill try the straight up and down one, which isnt quite as similar to lunges?
 
Banzai_Joe said:
I agree with you, but I said it because its still a pretty advanced technique to try when the op is clearly inexperienced and generally unfit.

I'd happily suggest doing them once he'd been training for a few months and he figures out where he thinks his own imbalances lie, but at the start, nu-urr!
Can you imagine him being given a program by a gym instructor (not all of them are bad btw, and no, i'm not one, lol) on his first day and that being included? He needs to understand and feel the balance on both legs first imho, then address imbalances with individual legs exercises if need be.
Again, I don't think its a bad exercise, i just don't think it would be appropriate at this time in his training.
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Just no, this is terrible advice.

What is your justification for dubbing it an advanced exercise? That's just nonsense. If anyone can't do these, then they have problems. They aren't even that hard!

Also, what you're saying about feeling the balance on both legs first is just totally made up. This guy isn't a child learning to walk. Unless he has serious problems, he will have spent some time on one leg.

And you're suggesting that he train FOR A FEW MONTHS on imbalances and dysfunction before he thinks about addressing them? :confused: No, fix problems asap so you can learn correct motor patterns.


OP, read through this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18398834

All of the exercises I suggested are covered.

It shouldn't really matter what you're doing with your back leg on step ups, because there should be minimal force going through it as you step up. Put all the weight on your front foot.
 
icecold said:
OP, read through this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18398834

All of the exercises I suggested are covered.

It shouldn't really matter what you're doing with your back leg on step ups, because there should be minimal force going through it as you step up. Put all the weight on your front foot.
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Awesome thanks, lot of good info in there. What i find interesting is ive never seen most of them before. Ive joined the gym a few times a while ago, and all we use to do was obvious things like bench press, incline, flat, decline and the fly machine. You've got a massive variety there.

Do you do all these in one session for that paticular body part. For example do you do all the listed for lower body or just pick and choose stuff changing every week?

To be honest though Ice, i dont think i would have been able to do them today, i was pretty much spent just doing squats with no weight and the lunges. Even with the lunges i was falling over every now and again :p so i shudder to think what i would have ended up doing on one leg with dumbbels in my hand swinging about :D

Though i will give them a go next week but do them in the beginning when im not fatigued.
 
icecold said:
Just no, this is terrible advice.

What is your justification for dubbing it an advanced exercise? That's just nonsense. If anyone can't do these, then they have problems. They aren't even that hard!

Also, what you're saying about feeling the balance on both legs first is just totally made up. This guy isn't a child learning to walk. Unless he has serious problems, he will have spent some time on one leg.
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Then we'll agree to disagree, and i don't make things up matey, they are my opinions based on 20 years of training.

Because my advice differs from yours, its terrible advice?, Well ok, its up to the OP anyway.
 
Banzai_Joe said:
Then we'll agree to disagree, and i don't make things up matey, they are my opinions based on 20 years of training.

Because my advice differs from yours, its terrible advice?, Well ok, its up to the OP anyway.
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20 years of training counts for absolutely nothing with regards to your knowledge level. Your advice isn't terrible because it's not mine, it's because it's just bad. It's also not derived from good theory and flies in the face of common sense.

Disagree with me if you want, but you'd be hard pressed to find a decent S&C coach who thought I was wrong.

Of course, the OP can do whatever he wants. I'm not even saying he HAS to do them, my major disagreement was with his and your reasons for not doing them. He would need a different hamstring exercise for a balanced workout though.

Craterloads said:
Awesome thanks, lot of good info in there. What i find interesting is ive never seen most of them before. Ive joined the gym a few times a while ago, and all we use to do was obvious things like bench press, incline, flat, decline and the fly machine. You've got a massive variety there.

Do you do all these in one session for that paticular body part. For example do you do all the listed for lower body or just pick and choose stuff changing every week?

To be honest though Ice, i dont think i would have been able to do them today, i was pretty much spent just doing squats with no weight and the lunges. Even with the lunges i was falling over every now and again :p so i shudder to think what i would have ended up doing on one leg with dumbbels in my hand swinging about :D

Though i will give them a go next week but do them in the beginning when im not fatigued.
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From what you listed, you were only working your chest. This is hardly ideal :p You've got absolutely nothing for your back and legs in there! But no, I would never do a workout with all of those exercises, the idea is to have a routine that hits everything at least once over the course of a week. Hammering yourself with loads of different exercises for the same muscles has a dramatic drop off in usefulness.

What I do is in my log, but it probably won't make much sense as I'm not following a traditional full body or body part split. You shouldn't be picking random exercises each time though, you need to work with a few so that you can track your progression through the weeks.

The fact that you're falling over is good! It means that you're now addressing weaknesses around your hips and knees. If you find you're **** at something as simple as lunges, then it means it's now very important to get better at them. I can still find ways to make myself fall over, there's absolutely no shame in it :D

Try doing the single leg RDLs completely unloaded at first, and then add weight slowly.
 
icecold said:
From what you listed, you were only working your chest. This is hardly ideal :p You've got absolutely nothing for your back and legs in there! But no, I would never do a workout with all of those exercises, the idea is to have a routine that hits everything at least once over the course of a week. Hammering yourself with loads of different exercises for the same muscles has a dramatic drop off in usefulness.
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Sorry what i meant was when doing chest thats all we did. We also did back and shoulders on seperate days, but never ever legs or lower back.
 
Anyhow legs are killing but i need to do chest today to keep on track.

Going to use dumbbells instead of bar, just prefer them.

Press ups - 3 x 10 as a warm up.

Flat - 3 x 10 / 40KG (20KG each side)
Incline - 3 x 10 / 40KG (20KG each side)
Decline - 3 x 10 / 40KG (20KG each side)

Fly's - 3 x 10 (not sure on weight yet)
Dumbbell Pullovers - 3 x 10 / 15KG
 
icecold said:
When are you doing your back and shoulders?

What about core?
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Monday - Shoulders
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Legs
Thursday - Chest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Back
Sunday - Cycling

Im also trying to jog 15mins on treadmil most days.

Where the hell am i going to fit core in?


mrthingyx said:
Oh, yeah... :eek: ;) :D
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I said training for my legs, not my butt cheeks :p What good can come from having strong but cheeks, i cant even sit on anything hard today without agony.
 
And workout today didnt go as planned. First couldnt use dummbels as my bench bars were getting in the way. Also my reps were all over the place.

Press up - 10 reps, 10 reps, 6 reps

Barbell Chest Flat (bar weighs 5KG) -
45KG x 10
45KG x 6
45KG x 6

Incline -

35KG x 6
35KG x 8
35KG x 6

Decline

35KG x 8
35KG x 8
35KG x 6

Incline Flys
10KG (5kg each side) - 3 x 10

Didnt do Dumbbell Pullovers as ran out of time, plus was burnt. I just couldnt get a constant 3 x 10 @ 45KG out of everything. I could have if i had a little support but obviously im doing this at home yet.

SO i think my first goal is to do 3 x 10 of what i originaly intended to do a few posts up, and when i can do that comfortably then i will join gym. Atleast ive got my first goal :)
 
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Craterloads said:
Monday - Shoulders
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Legs
Thursday - Chest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Back
Sunday - Cycling

Im also trying to jog 15mins on treadmil most days.

Where the hell am i going to fit core in?




I said training for my legs, not my butt cheeks :p What good can come from having strong but cheeks, i cant even sit on anything hard today without agony.
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Butt cheeks are the tops of your legs, and are the main drivers in dead lifts, big players in squats... ;)
 
To be frank, stick it in your Chest day as you're doing a load of... Everything pec in there to the point of hindering your gains.

Cut out the various inclines and just do planks, side planks, barbell rollouts... Start off with a minute for each plank in sets of 3/4. Practically, I'd work core stuff into each of your workouts:it's that important.

For the chest workout, drop the vast number of inclines and crank up the weight for the regular bench. Bigger is better (well, if we're talking total volume, anyway).
 
mrthingyx said:
To be frank, stick it in your Chest day as you're doing a load of... Everything pec in there to the point of hindering your gains.

Cut out the various inclines and just do planks, side planks, barbell rollouts... Start off with a minute for each plank in sets of 3/4. Practically, I'd work core stuff into each of your workouts:it's that important.

For the chest workout, drop the vast number of inclines and crank up the weight for the regular bench. Bigger is better (well, if we're talking total volume, anyway).
Click to expand...

Is this the plank your reffering to?


Barbbel rollouts


Side Plank - Theres a couple of variations on this, one holding still and one a crucnh type?




And should i lower rep count and go for 6x heavier weight? or should i stick to 40kg and get my 3 x 10

How does this look?

Press ups - 3 x 10 as a warm up.

Flat - 3 x 6 / 50KG
Decline - 3 x 6 / 40KG

Fly's - 3 x 10 (10KG total)
Dumbbell Pullovers - 3 x 10 / 15KG

Planks - 3 x 1Min
Side Plank Left - 3 x 1min
Side Plank Right - 3 x 1min
Barbell Rollouts - 3 x 10
Click to expand...

Doesnt the chest workout look a bit bare now?
 
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I'm not the best when it comes to spec-ing programmes, but if you're not burning after 5x5/4x6/3x8/2x12 reps, you're not lifting enough weight.

And going for variations on a theme (i.e. bicep curls -> concentrators -> standing cable curls -> preachers) is not going to help you 'build' any faster.

What works best for me is a complete mix... something along the lines of:

DAY 1:

- goblet squat, reverse lunge, pullup, barbell roll-outs;

DAY 2:

- deadlift, bench press, dumbell/barbell row, plank;

DAY 3:

- step-up, chin up, side plank, shoulder press...

SUNDAY:

- Cycling.

Or variations on a theme...

However, my lifting totals are pants, so take what I say with a pinch of salt. Despite having a background in sports science (a looooooooooong time ago), I've only been lifting since consistently since the beginning of Feb this year (started in September last year, had a massive car accident in November and spent the intermittent time in rehab).

The thing you have to remember is that the weights you're using should be mean you're knackered at the end of each exercise (i.e. after 2x12 of reverse lunges). The split between days will give those muscles and nerves time to repair and adjust before getting hit again in the same pattern.

This allows them to grow and develop properly.

What you then have to match your training regime with is a decent diet and rest regime. If you don't eat enough of the right food and don't rest enough (i.e. get enough sleep each night), then you won't recover between exercise days and you will accumulate damage and tightness in your muscles as a result, and wind up giving up because you hurt too much.

There are a lot of people on this forum who have lifted longer than I have, lift more than I can, etc., and will give better advice regarding a routine than I can. At the end of the day, the fundamentals will be consistent:

- Eat enough and of the right food;
- Rest enough;
- Train like a mother******, to use FreeFaller's vernacular.

The pattern for the training is - to a certain degree - dependent on what you want to achieve (i.e. big muscles? Or big lifts? Or cutting fat%?), so will vary according to your requirements.

To answer your question, however, the linked videos are the correct exercises. :)
 
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