Starting weight programme.

[Mr Punch]

I'm puny.

Well actually I'm pretty strong for someone who never does weights, but I'm nowhere near as strong as I'd like to be.

I'm 6'1" and fluctuate between 72 and 75 kilos on pretty much a daily basis. And, want to start doing a short weights programme.

I would prefer dumbbells cos they're cheaper and I have no space, but a barbell is an option too.

I want to improve my strength. I also want to gain weight and improve my muscle-tone, but these are very much secondary objectives because at my level these things will happen with a basic strength workout I reckon.

I could search the net for loads of different weight programmes and decide from there, but I'd prefer to hear from you guys if you don't mind... :)

What would you recommend as a short (maybe half an hour) starting workout?

I hate weight training, so variation is also quite important for me.

Thanks in advance.

[fa_jing]

First question: what kind of setup do you have? Do you have open space, do you have a bench or a power rack, are you able to drop heavy weights on the floor?

[IronFist]

I want to improve my strength. I also want to gain weight and improve my muscle-tone, but these are very much secondary objectives because at my level these things will happen with a basic strength workout I reckon.


Everything can't be a secondary goal. What is your primary goal? But you are right, if you are a newbie to weight training you will see all sorts of gains early on, but strength gains will come before size for noobs.

I'd say an average program that doesn't focus primarily on size OR strength would be good for you, if that's what you want.

How often can you lift weights? How many times per week, I mean. That will help us determine what would work best for you.

[Mr Punch]

First question: what kind of setup do you have? Do you have open space, do you have a bench or a power rack, are you able to drop heavy weights on the floor?Right now I have two things: jack and squat, and I'm not sure about how to go about the second!:D

I can train inside, in which case I have enough space to pick up a barbell with some extra. Inside I only have tatami mats, so if I drop a weight on them, it's only going to happen once!

Or I can train outside. I don't have much space in my garden either, but enough to drop things. I would prefer not to, because I'm a gardening freak and although there's nothing but bare soil in that area, it will impact the soil and make it highly unworkable for the next people who move in.

A power rack or a bench will be possible if there are some on the market which are fairly corrosion-proof... I have some time off next week so I'll investigate.

So in short, all I'll have to start with is myself, a barbell, and/or dumbbells.


Everything can't be a secondary goal. What is your primary goal?Wait a minute!! I thought you were one of those grammar nazis!!! :D :p The answer is in the bit you quoted my friend!

Notice the period at the end of the first sentence: this is to denote separation of one main idea and subsequent ideas (after the period). The 'also' in the next sentence is to introduce ideas to be considered additional to the first idea. As the strength of 'also' varies in accordance with the juxtaposition of the primary idea and secondary ideas, the 'but' is used to stress separation from the object of the first sentence. Thus, it is quite clearly stated that my primary goal is strength, and my secondary goals are gaining weight and muscle-tone!

Phew! What a *******! (Sorry, I'm an English teacher! :p) Right, now I've stopped being a smartarse... back to the subject!

If I have an interesting programme (and of course at first I'll be well into it) I can set aside half and hour a day (I'll tack this on to my bodyweight progamme which is largely Fish's first one plus some shooto exercises - sprawls and things, and my form training/shadow boxing - would it be better before or after?).

BTW, if you're interested in how this turns out, I'll measure everything from the start and turn this into a blog. I am your guinea-pig!

[fa_jing]

****, you're a great candidate for a kettlebell. Very simple, portable, and versatile. Too bad you can't get them there? If you can they might be fugged up and not usable.

I'd go with the best equipment available be it dumbell(s) or barbell with plates. Then we'll hook you up with ideas. Maybe you should get into resistance bands too? They are portable, inexpensive and such.

[FngSaiYuk]

Parallettes... GREAT number of excercises... Though I don't feel qualified to actually build someone else a routine w/'em, they're a wonderfull combination of low cost, portable, versatile and effective equipment.

[IronFist]

Wait a minute!! I thought you were one of those grammar nazis!!! :D :p The answer is in the bit you quoted my friend!

Notice the period at the end of the first sentence: this is to denote separation of one main idea and subsequent ideas (after the period). The 'also' in the next sentence is to introduce ideas to be considered additional to the first idea. As the strength of 'also' varies in accordance with the juxtaposition of the primary idea and secondary ideas, the 'but' is used to stress separation from the object of the first sentence. Thus, it is quite clearly stated that my primary goal is strength, and my secondary goals are gaining weight and muscle-tone!

Well, I would kick your ass, but a) you're in Tokyo and b) you're right -- in that order. ;)


If I have an interesting programme

Really. I wonder what your favourite exercise will be. If you strain really hard, your face may turn the colour red. Haha. Do they use the British spelling in Japan? I'm totally curious.


I can set aside half and hour a day (I'll tack this on to my bodyweight progamme which is largely Fish's first one plus some shooto exercises - sprawls and things, and my form training/shadow boxing - would it be better before or after?).

I'd probably do weights BEFORE the other stuff, because if you're kind of tired from doing sprawls and stuff first, your weight lifting is going to suffer, and you could possibly injure yourself if your body parts don't tire at the same rate and then you try to lift. Or you could lift 3 days a week and do your other stuff on your off days.

I agree with fa_jing that you would be a good candiate for kettlebells, but you probably won't gain much size with those (after the initial newbie-gains).

I guess the question is, do you have enough money/resources/space to buy your own weights, or do you have a gym that you can join (make sure the gym has freeweights; none of those machine-only gyms), or what?

[Chief Fox]

An alternative to a kettlebell is clubbells. But I'm not sure if you could get one in Tokyo. I made two clubbells out of plastic bats filled with sand. Then I did a search on the web for clubbell workouts and found a bunch of resources including videos. I made both of my clubbells for less than $5 and they are great for grip strength and shoulder flexibility.

Other things you can do:
Pushup pyramids.
Hindu Squats.
Pullups
Handstands or Handstand pushups.

You could get yourself a weight vest to do all of this stuff with it to increase resistance.

[Mr Punch]

Really. I wonder what your favourite exercise will be. If you strain really hard, your face may turn the colour red. Smartarse!:D

Do they use the British spelling in Japan? I'm totally curious. They do if I'm ****ing teaching them!!!:D TBH honest it's really strange over here. Pre-war and just postwar English was just English. In the 1950s American became more popular in probably about two-thirds of the schools. Nowadays it's probably about three-quarters English teachers teaching about from two-thirds American books. Plus a fair few poor saps who've done some kind of top-rate write-away MBA from some backwoods hick bottom-of-the-league US university and therefore can't say anything they want to say or be understood in any language - including their own, but that's as much to do with being so busy they drink too many 'genki drinks' with loads of strange chems in!

The result is no-one is so great at English (or American!) but occasionally you come across someone with a really strong British or American accent!

Anyway, back to the subject!



I guess the question is, do you have enough money/resources/space to buy your own weights, or do you have a gym that you can join (make sure the gym has freeweights; none of those machine-only gyms), or what?

Money: not much problem, except I'll probably decide to get a heavy bag first.
Resources: bit short of coal and tin and tuna bellies but... er... what kind of resources were you talking about?!
Space: bugger all as mentioned. Would have to keep a barbell in the garden, so need to find fairly corrosion proof variety. Dumb-bells shouldn't be a problem.
Gym: no chance. Only time once a week, and that'll probably be taken up in the Shooto Gym.

I'll check out some options for weights to buy next week and post back with possibilities.

[fa_jing]

You'd get alot of mileage out of a solidly constructed adjustable dumbell. Those new ones from Bowflex are nifty.

[FooFighter]

Dear Matt:

I understand that your desire to gain weight and look muscular. In the past, back during HS and early in collge, I was very influenced by bodybuilding physical culture. I felt insecure and "puny" too, but things have changed for me and maybe in future you will grow to love who you really are and not what you think what you ought to be? In any case, if you are not primary concern with sport specific attritubes or increasing your martial performance, then you should research the proven effective methods of real world body builders and not professionals found in magazines and eating habits of those who know how to gain weight and not fat.

From my own experience, the HIT method works best in increasing muscular size and body weight and eating mini meals/ shakes every three hours through out the day. I used to eat 6-8 meals a day for 3 months and train 4 times a week at the gym and I gained a good 20lb of muscle mass along with some bodyfat. Since you are new to HIT and body building, the you should see and gain immediate results with three weeks if you are following a proper HIT exercise program, get enough resting, and follow an anaerobic based diet.

1. I would recommend, reading Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty Training. I believe this a good book for first timer. Follow his advice and keep to his simple routine.

2. I would recommend, reading Body For Life by Bill Phillips. Use the diet plan in that book. It will give you ideas on how to eat to gain weight.

3. Seriously, get yourself inside a gym. It doesnt matter it is cheap or expensive gym. Make sure it has the basic tools for your development.

4. Have an experienced lifter teach you the proper exercise form. If possible hire yourself a good personal trainer who specializing in bodybuilding.

5. Know yourself, plan your goals, get a training log book, and take action.

6. Train with like minded people and get motivated and support from your friends and family.

I hope this help you.

[fa_jing]

Foo - go back and read his post, please. He said that strength was his primary goal, and that gaining weight and improved muscle tones were secondary goals that he expected to achieve to his satisfaction by working a strength - oriented routine.

I would think a high volume powerlifting routine or "power bodybuilding" like some of the routines in Pavel's new book would be ideal.

[FooFighter]

fa_jing,

Ok, opps. My Bad!

Yes, the PTP bear program probably would work alright.

Bao


Foo - go back and read his post, please. He said that strength was his primary goal, and that gaining weight and improved muscle tones were secondary goals that he expected to achieve to his satisfaction by working a strength - oriented routine.

I would think a high volume powerlifting routine or "power bodybuilding" like some of the routines in Pavel's new book would be ideal.

[Mo Lung]

There's no need to join a gym right away. And if you're keen on the kettle/club bells idea but only have dumbbells, there's a good answer right there. Just load up one end of a dumbbell, et voila! ;)

[Mr Punch]

Thanks for the advice so far. Dumbells would seem to be the way forward, as I don't have space for the barbell.

I like the idea of kettlebells, but anyone any idea if there's anywhere I could get one Mail Ordered to Japan?

And what are the benefits of kettlebells over dumbell workouts?

My next question would have to be, given that I'd want a set I could use for a long time, if I go with dumbells, are there any recommendations as to what weight increments and up to what weight I should get? Fajing, what's good about the new Bowflex ones?

[spiraler]

do handstands against a wall and hold them for as long as you can,(static ex.)
do leg raises and v sits. remember its the the quantity of your reps, but the quality of them, when you do ab ex. tense every aware muscle you can in your abs, especially the lower belly are where it turns to your bladder, do stance training, OTHER RELATED ARTS>TAO. simple pushups, sets of ten or 20 up to 100 or 200, forget all the other stuuf, work on strengthening your basics and your foundation(legs).

[IronFist]

when you do ab ex. tense every aware muscle you can in your abs, especially the lower belly are where it turns to your bladder,

Bro, if you're talking about the rectus abdominus (the six-pack muscle), you've only got one muscle. You can't tense every muscle down there... you've only got one. You can tense it or relax it. That's it.

Unless you were talking about "other" ab muscles, like obliques and stuff, but I don't think you were.

[spiraler]

i was talking about the lowest part of the abs, the part that is usually neglected if you only do regular floor sit ups, of the part that burns when you do situp/legups.
the obliques are the muscles in the love handle region right? thats a hard one, you need some sort of resistance band for those .

[IronFist]

You can't selectively isolate parts of a muscle. Different muscles, yes. Different parts of the same muscle, no.

[spiraler]

explain then what the purpose of variation with abdominal exercises?,for instance in pilates you constantly tense the lower abdominals althogh you are using the whole abdominal muscle.

[Mr Punch]

Tell you what Spiraler, why don't you do a search and if you want to continue this conversation for the enth time please do on another thread. Until then, if you have any answers to my questions, please go ahead.

;)

[fa_jing]

"And what are the benefits of kettlebells over dumbell workouts?"

More versatility. You can grab it by the horn with one or two hands easily (great for pistols and hack squats), and there is a "rack" position where it fits comfortably. This is the key to the repetitive jerk exercise. It is not as comfortable to hold or catch a dumbell or two in the rack. Lastly, the center of gravity is off line from the handle, making it more difficult to get it up there, but easier to stablize once you do.

I would recommend the adjustable kettlebell from these guys :www.uskettlebells.com, but maybe you could import something from Russia, since you aren't that far away. You also should get a copy of "The Russian Kettlebell Challenge" by Pavel T. whether you get k-bells or dumbells.

The cool thing about the Soloflex adjustable dumbells is that you can change the weight with a turn of the handle bar. You just stick it in a special plate rack, turn the handle, and pick it up. The weights you selected automatically stick to the d-bell. I haven't seen one in person but from the TV advert, it seemed like solid contruction. You may want to look into further to make sure you can swing them around over your head and stuff. Hope that helps.

Oh, and check out the dumbell snatch clip I posted ****her down the page, if you haven't already.

[fa_jing]

PS being able to hold the k-bells in the rack is also good for the front squat.