Your advice to rookies!!!

Most of us have been training for a longtime..If you had some advice to impart to newbies what would it be......

1. Forget what everybody else is lifting and concentrate on your own gig....study form...

Don't be afraid to ask gym staff for advice.....it's what they're there for : )

Solerina

Good point......although maybe approach an obvious bodybuilder as the staff aren't always clued up....

seek advice.....good point.

Train at home...

Don't ask lightsout for advice..another bit of "advice" to rookies

Trussman has a good point with the form, bouncing weights around and getting your body into all the wrong shapes while lifting is not such a problem with the lighter weights but sooner or later you'll get to a stage where you're doing heavier weights and something will have to give ....probably one of you're lower spinal disks or rotator cuff.

Nice one Truss I appreciate the support...

Be consistent

1.) Stick to compound or "big" lifts for the first 6 months. Deads,Squats,Shrugs,Military press, wieghted press ups, bench press.

2.) get good form - dont do 5 terrible reps at a weight just to look strong.

3.) EAT!! loads of meat and loads of carbs (assuming someone wants to bulk up)

And last but not least...... Never AND I DO MEAN NEVER listen to anything a personal trainer tells you or pay money for a session with one of these muppets.
If your a menopausal woman who wants to "tone up" then im sure doing 25 press's with a 1kg weight followed by a circuit on all machines at the lowest weight will really benifit you... anyone else tell them to do one

-Concentrate on form.
-Establish some form of routine, but never set it in stone.
-Don't worry about the amount of weight you lift, just give it 100% and sure enough you will get stronger.
-3 to 4 times a week is sufficient, don't go over the top whilst your new hobby is all fresh and exciting as you can easily kill it.

Truss do you like to spot the lads in the gym?

Truss loves to spot lads on the flat bench,they call him "the tea bagger"

Get enough sleep.

viewtothegym wrote:Truss loves to spot lads on the flat bench,they call him "the tea bagger"

He is always there with a helping 'hand'

Looks like we've ben invaded by idiots with no lives!!

Like others say,Dont try to lift the heavier weights if you cant,it leads to bad form and possibly injury.As much as you might think it nobody in the Weights room will judge you,we all have to start at the bottom and work up

Less is better.......low sets with maximum intensity and don't train the same bodypart more than once a week....

Slowly build a core......first!

Dont wear gloves, they are for wimps.

Stick to the basic compounds.
I would personally recommend stronglifts 5x5.
It focuses on form/technique, building up gradually (which is positive as you PB a lot initially), has methods to get through plateaus and only needs about an hour 3 times a week which leaves you feeling hungry to get back in the gym.

Always warm up.

Dont cut corners on your warm up - it could take you a year to recover if something goes wrong

I saw you recommended only working each body part once a week, I normally do chest twice a week at least. Why do you say that?

Max the burn

Because you're not giving it enough time to grow and working it when it's still in a state of repair..

Hence you are hindering growth!!

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Because you're not giving it enough time to grow and working it when it's still in a state of repair..

Hence you are hindering growth!!

A lot depends on the person. I used to deadlift twice per week and was able to recover and still see impressive gains. As long as you are getting the right recovery you'l be fine.

You weren't doing squats as well were you Mate??

Yeah...

Deadlift Monday
Squat Wednesday
Deadlif Friday

Recovery was tough but I got used it.

That's too much....crazy...No coach would advocate that....

Obviously couldn't have been drug free...

Never taken a steriod in my life...

Truss, it is all about what works for you.

Re the deadlifts, one session was heavy, 3/4 rep stuff, the other was 8/10 rep. Still hard, but helped my recovery no doubt. I've always been a quick to recover, my lass love me for it

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:That's too much....crazy...No coach would advocate that....

Obviously couldn't have been drug free...

Stonglifts and Starting strength has squats in each session so that's 3 times per week. Plus there'll be deadlifts every other session albeit just the one set. Most reasonabley atheletic individuals should be fully recovered from a workout within 48 hours.

Absolute bulls**t......

I squatted Saturday and my legs still hurt now......

You cannot work your legs properly and be fully recovered in 48 hours or else you're not training to failure!!

Delusional to suggest even the biggest roid merchant would train the same bodypart three times a week...

Crazy.........

Your muscles need time to repair and then grow....

Well it depends on intensity, weight, volume, etc but are you telling me you know more than the thousands and thousands that have done these training programs or those that designed them?

I've squated over 200lbs for 5*5 this evening, I'll play non-competitive football tomorrow night and I'll be squating over 200lbs again Thursday. And again on Saturday.

3 months ago I would never be squatting that. So 'delusional' and 'cowpat'? I think not.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Absolute bulls**t......

I squatted Saturday and my legs still hurt now......

You cannot work your legs properly and be fully recovered in 48 hours or else you're not training to failure!!

Delusional to suggest even the biggest roid merchant would train the same bodypart three times a week...

Crazy.........

Your muscles need time to repair and then grow....

Give it a rest Trussy, I explained that one session was lighter with higher reps. You are also ignoring the fact that deadlifts use back and legs, not just legs.

I dont have to prove anything to you, that is how I trained and I got great results, dont like it then jog on.

Maybe I was over the top.....

But you've reached great heights overtraining in my opinion.....

Certainly have immense recovery powers.....

Re-iterate that no text book trainer would suggest such a gruelling schedule..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Maybe I was over the top.....

But you've reached great heights overtraining in my opinion.....

Certainly have immense recovery powers.....

Re-iterate that no text book trainer would suggest such a gruelling schedule..

Except that's rubbish.

No it isn't.....

Only a fool does deadlifts and squats three times a week...

Advice to rookies..ignore this guy or you'll end up in hospital..

Body needs rest to recuperate and rebuild damage tissue...

Please look around on the internet and be sure to check MY advice out!!!!

More rubbish.

Scientific research has shown that optimal recovery of a muscle worked on should take between 48-72 hours and some experieneced weightlifters can in fact recover in 30 hours. This is research conducted using muscle protein synthetic rates which shows muscles return to their 'routine housekeeping' within the 48-72 hour timeframe.

Medhi the author of stronglifts, Olympic trainer Glenn Pendlay and Reg Park - mentor of Arnie are all advocates of the 5*5, and all stress the importance of having squats in every single workout as the excercise is almost full body workout on it's own. You will not end up in hospital doing it 3 times per week - unless you have poor form.

This information is not coming from me, it's all from those mentioned above and people who actually conduct thorough research. It is so easily available all over the internet - it bascially common knowledge. I have rarely seen anyone advocate 1 body part per week as that is an extremely slow and outdated view on weightlifting, but heh whatever works for you. Personally, I'd rather have an open mind. That way I'll keep learning new things.

what advice would you give to someone who wants size but at the same time wants cuts? Is it possible to train for both at the same time or would you say get the size first and cuts after?

Anybody who deads and Squats every 48 hrs is crazy...end of

Well from a personal experience if I was going heavy...or even just having a good session, id not repeat a session in the same week. One should be enough if your doing it properly.

I have the same argument with circuit training...some people do two or three classes on in a night one after the other...I tell them they're not pushing hard enough in the first one.

Makaveli, if you want to cut...diet is probably the.best thing...but.if.you want exercises...do some hi intensity bodyweight stuff...burpees etc..put a good session in once or twice a week.

All in all train sensible

I agree a heavy squat session.......and I'm feeling it three days later..

Went to the gym the other day and wanted to some smith machine hack squats..Only one smith machine....

Some scrawny kid must have done about ten sets of bench on it........and none of which I could see that went to failure.........Felt like dragging him off it.........In the end I used the hack machine of which I never feel comfortable on......But it wasn't satisfying..

Rookies three sets to failure is more than enough..