New to gym- Found my routine now how to impliment

MumboJumbo · 13 Sep 2009 at 23:36

Hey guys, well im going to uni in 6 days and ive already paid for my gym membership. Im looking to turn my weedy body into something more athletic.

Im thinking im going to go with the strong lifts 5x5 routine as it seems faily newbie friendly and well thought out. Obviously however i know next to nothing in the area so you guys might know if its a good idea or not.

Now im wondering how do i put all this into motion. I don't want to injure my self so im looking for advice. If i went into the gym and printed off the routine page and paid for a personal instructor and said look this is what i want to do can you show me how to do it. Would this be a sensible way of going about it? Will they show me how to safety and sensibly put it all in to practice.

Also i have another problem. I dont like fish/nuts/milk, these appear to be a large part of all diets. How would you suggest i go about this?

Thanks.

:EDIT:

Also im looking for general fitness for squash/badminton/tennis etc. Would adding treadmill work into the program be advisable as im presuming weight training doesn't add much to stamina around a court?

Morba · 14 Sep 2009 at 10:37

if you are really new then look at riptoes starting strength instead imo.

why pay for a personal trainer to tell you how to do an exercise? that is what the gym staff are there for

PT's are there to motivate you and do more than what a gym trainer can tbh.

MumboJumbo · 14 Sep 2009 at 12:31

Morba said:
if you are really new then look at riptoes starting strength instead imo.

why pay for a personal trainer to tell you how to do an exercise? that is what the gym staff are there for
PT's are there to motivate you and do more than what a gym trainer can tbh.

I didn't know i could just go up to the gym people and ask them to show me how to do the exercises. As for riptoes is there any reason why you suggest that over the other. They both look very similar, ive read into stronglifts 5x5 a lot and he seemed pretty confident it was best not to do dips in favour of pushups due to back pains etc. I do have a bad posture im also looking to improve.

:EDIT:

The difference to me seems to be less sets of 5 reps?

Participant · 14 Sep 2009 at 12:41

8igdave said:
Also im looking for general fitness for squash/badminton/tennis etc. Would adding treadmill work into the program be advisable as im presuming weight training doesn't add much to stamina around a court?

3 sets of deadlifts has me panting harder than most treadmill workouts I've done, but if it's proper cardio you want, then for squash and badminton I'd look at HIIT on the crosstrainer and rower as well as the treadmill.

Weights alone will improve your cardiovascular fitness a lot though in my experience.

MumboJumbo · 14 Sep 2009 at 13:13

Robbie G said:
3 sets of deadlifts has me panting harder than most treadmill workouts I've done, but if it's proper cardio you want, then for squash and badminton I'd look at HIIT on the crosstrainer and rower as well as the treadmill.

Weights alone will improve your cardiovascular fitness a lot though in my experience.

Deadlifts do look pretty hefty. I was thinking that some running would improve my stamina around a court but looking at the routine i dont really know where id manage to fit it in. Possibly a sprint after each gym session if my legs can hold me up long enough haha.

RimBlock · 15 Sep 2009 at 03:01

Morba said:
why pay for a personal trainer to tell you how to do an exercise? that is what the gym staff are there for

The only gym staff at the place I go to are PT's, counter / sales staff and changing room attendants. The PT's are the only ones with any real knowledge and even that is debatable

.

The same has been true for most of the gyms I have been to in both Singapore and London. The only exception was with Planet Fitness (now True Fitness) over here where during my trial session a member of the gym staff came over and offered some advice and exercise suggestions whilst checking / correcting my form. He continued to do this even after being told I was only trialling the gym and not a paid up member. Apparently here they are known for good gym staff.

The only problem with hiring a PT to check form is that they tend to only want to do things their way (i.e. with their program) and I think you will need to be pretty insistent on what you want and not be badgered into changing to suit what they generically give to every one else.

Saying that there are some stunningly good PT's out there I am sure, I just have not had the pleasure of training with any of them yet.

RB

Morba · 15 Sep 2009 at 19:56

RimBlock said:
The only gym staff at the place I go to are PT's, counter / sales staff and changing room attendants. The PT's are the only ones with any real knowledge and even that is debatable .

The same has been true for most of the gyms I have been to in both Singapore and London. The only exception was with Planet Fitness (now True Fitness) over here where during my trial session a member of the gym staff came over and offered some advice and exercise suggestions whilst checking / correcting my form. He continued to do this even after being told I was only trialling the gym and not a paid up member. Apparently here they are known for good gym staff.

The only problem with hiring a PT to check form is that they tend to only want to do things their way (i.e. with their program) and I think you will need to be pretty insistent on what you want and not be badgered into changing to suit what they generically give to every one else.

Saying that there are some stunningly good PT's out there I am sure, I just have not had the pleasure of training with any of them yet.

RB

Are you telling me that gyms in london that you have been to have 0 normal gym staff at all?
That the only people that can show you anything are those that will charge you more?
Really? you must goto some exclusive gyms because 99.99% of gyms in the UK will have someone who can show you form.

Participant · 15 Sep 2009 at 20:42

Morba said:
Are you telling me that gyms in london that you have been to have 0 normal gym staff at all?
That the only people that can show you anything are those that will charge you more?
Really? you must goto some exclusive gyms because 99.99% of gyms in the UK will have someone who can show you form.

You mean 99.99% of gyms in the UK will have someone who can try and show you form. My experience of gym staff showing me form is frankly embarassing. They show me pausing in the wrong place, bouncing off the end of the rep, too fast a tempo, poor ROM...

I guess some are lucky with their gym staff and some are not.

Morba · 15 Sep 2009 at 20:45

Robbie G said:
You mean 99.99% of gyms in the UK will have someone who can try and show you form. My experience of gym staff showing me form is frankly embarassing. They show me pausing in the wrong place, bouncing off the end of the rep, too fast a tempo, poor ROM...

I guess some are lucky with their gym staff and some are not.

regardless, there should be someone there!
I have only been in one where there wasnt a member of gym staff and that was because there was NO staff at all, i miss that gym

RimBlock · 16 Sep 2009 at 02:26

Morba said:
regardless, there should be someone there!

Agreed but in my experience there is generally no one walking around who is staff and not PT who does not work behind the reception desk, clear the locker rooms or sell memberships.

It could be that there are some and that they wear the same clothes as the PT's and hang around with the PTs all the time and so are mistaken for PT's. That could be very possible..... but I have only been to one gym where there was a clear indication between PT's and fitness staff who were there for advice and who were actually walking around the gym and giving advice.

I wouldn't say the gyms I have used on and off were that exclusive;
Cannons - Cannon Street - London - UK - (10 years ago - swimming only so cannot comment on gym staff availability).
The Broadgate club - Liverpool Street - UK - (around 5 years ago).
Fitness First - Suntec - Singapore - (this year)
True Fitness (used to be Planet Fitness) - Suntec - Singapore - (This year - this one had helpful gym staff).

You will of course notice that they are either big chain gyms or very expensive. I would imagine the more independent smaller gyms may not have this issue so much.

Of course this is only my experience.

RB

Participant · 16 Sep 2009 at 09:01

Morba said:
regardless, there should be someone there!

Yes and there should be free massages with happy endings for all, but the reality is sometimes different.

RimBlock · 16 Sep 2009 at 09:12

Robbie G said:
Yes and there should be free massages with happy endings for all, but the reality is sometimes different.

Depends where you live

.

Still can't find the gym staff though.....

RB

Morba · 16 Sep 2009 at 23:59

RimBlock said:
Cannons - Cannon Street - London - UK

RB

i would be absolutely amazed if cannons didnt have staff somewhere, all the ones i have been in (which is plenty as i used to have free all uk access and used to travel quite a bit) have had normal gym staff out on the floor!
even more so now that they are owned by nuffield

RimBlock · 17 Sep 2009 at 02:46

Hi Morba,

Sorry, you are quite possibly correct. When I went to Cannons I went for the swimming pool and not the weights gym so I cannot comment on their availability of staff able to help.

It would have also been around 10 years ago and so could have changed.

I will modify the original post to highlight this fact so as not to tarnish the possibiliy good name of cannons.

Cheers
RB