I signed up for the gym for 3 months. This is my first time and my girlfriend signed up a few days ago, so I might as well go too. I haven't been to a gym to work out before so I need some pointers.

I just signed up to get fit and maybe turn my light layer of body fat into muscle. I'm 5'9" and ~ 160-165 pounds. I'm not looking to get ripped and buff like Arnold Schwarzenegger back in his days.

I need some tips on what machines to use, how to use them, etc etc. I already know how to work the treadmill and the bike machine :bigthumb: .

Go with someone who knows what they are doing (ie. not your girlfriend).

Yah listen to Ark, he's a Yoga instructor for 5 years now.

lol

That's the dream

Rent the movie "Pumping Iron"...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMjG2s6UOaw

Rent the movie "Pumping Iron"...

Did you run a Youtube search for "Arnold" + "Cumming"???

Be honest....



SNTP, I'd say stay away from the weight machines if you have no experience in a gym.. stick to the cardio and calisthenics. Running and doing several different varieties of push-ups and sit-ups will give you all the toning and useable muscle mass you could possibly want.

If you are completely sedentary than I'd say start doing your exercises in sets of 15.

Example:
- 15 regular pushups: Hands directly underneath shoulders or a few inches out. Emphasize correct form (back straight, head up, all the way down, all the way up) and breathing (breath in for three reps, out for three reps. Continuous breathing will greatly reduce muscle fatigue)
- 15 regular situps: Do this on a flat surface with your feet unsupported, curl all the way up, and all the way back. Keep your hands on your shoulders (don't hold your hands behind your head)
- 15 wide-grip pushups: Hands double shoulder width apart, same technique as regular pushups.
- 30 flutter kicks: Lay flat on your back with your arms above your head like you are going to dive into water. Compress your stomach to pull your shoulder blades off the floor, at the same time raise your feet off the ground and simulate the kicking motion you would do while swimming. Hold your feet 6 inches off the ground for 10-15 seconds after you have completed your reps, also keep your shoulder blades off the ground with your hands above your waist while "resting" like this.
-15 Diamond push-ups: Place your hands together on the ground forming a rotor shape under your chest, place your feet shoulder width apart (only for diamond pushups).
-15 side crunches: Assume the regular situp position, but place your right food on your left knee, put your right arm over your stomach and hold your left hand behind your head. Curl up and across your body to touch your left elbow to your right knee. Do 15 this way, than 15 crossing your right elbow to your left knee (you will do 30 total).
-15 one-to-six inch pushups: The hand positioning is the same with a regular pushup, difference is that your "up" position will have your upper arms parallel with the ground (elbow @ 90 degree angle) and the "down" position will have your chest barely touching the ground. Hold in the "up" position for 10-15 seconds after your set.

Do each exercise immediately following the one before it, no breaks till the end! This is one set (60 pushups, 75 situps). When you are first starting just do one set at the beginning of the workout after you've warmed up, than another at the end (do 10-20 solid minutes of cardio in between) before you stretch out and cool down. Increase reps by 5 every two weeks (I do 50 reps of each in my sets).

As for building up your cardio endurance. Do not focus on distance, focus on maintaining a consistant pace and judge by time elapsed. Start with a decent pace just above a jog and run for 10 minutes. If this is easy than keep going till 15 minutes. I'd stick at 15 minutes for the first couple weeks, you can gradually increase your speed first, than kick the time up to 5 minutes as you go and feel comfortable. Go easy on the running for your third or fourth week, you don't want to give yourself stress fractures at this point in the game.

Form and consistency are very important, DON'T BE LAZY, you're only cheating yourself if you cut corners and slack.

You will probably see pretty good results for the first month or two, than you will hit a plateau of sorts. Don't get discouraged, it's your body adapting just switch up our routine a bit and you will break through this quickly.

That's my $.02 for starting to work out...

Did you run a Youtube search for "Arnold" + "Cumming"???

Be honest....


Was the top result when I searched for "Pumping Iron". Shouldn't you be chasing some Ming hag out of a bar while screaming, "PRINCESS!!!" right now? :) :boobies:

Hehe, nah... That one was just straight trouble (she almost got my buddy in a fight after I went home by jumping, drunkenly, on him (he's got a girlfriend btw) and spilling some guys drink all over himself in the process).

Though I *did* celebrate the 4th of July by reenacting how we fucked the shit out of the brits back in the 1770's ^_^ My ex- pimped me out to one of her friends, good fun.. lol.

If you decide to use some machines just start nice and easy on the weight... perfect form and use a good range of motion... try not to over-do it on the first week or so, after your first day of weight training you would most likely be pretty sore for several days...

there are lots of theories and routines floating around out there, and everyone will swear by theirs, but do what you feel gets you the best results...

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2820653

Which is actually why I prefer lifting by myself now. I usually have a lifting partner after work, but I've been starting to go solo again. I find that I can focus much more when I put on my headphones and crank some Pantera. There is no talking, no waiting around, just a high energy workout. I also find that I will totally burn out a muscle group in 45 minutes flat, averaging about 7-8 different exercises.

Speaking of intensity, I just got back from the gym and had the pleasure of seeing the biggest douche in the universe in action. Some dude laying on a flat bench with 20lb dumbells and doing butterflies....except he was grunting VERY loudly with each rep. It was to the point of being obscene, I had headphones on and could hear it. Another guy was standing there next to me, and we both stopped what we were doing to look and laugh. Someone asked him if he was alright and he just got up and looked real confused. He then proceeded to go to the incline bench, put two 10lb plates on the bar, and just yell his ass off with each rep.

Some people are so lame, it's hilarious.

Alpharetta, but yeah it is still metro Atlanta.

Excessive gym grunting is a guido attribute, see original "my new haircut" vid.

That is true, but the funny thing is that this guy was no guido. He had on a pair of short khaki shorts, and a tucked in t-shirt. He also had a combover, and was clearly a little southern boy.

He had on a pair of short khaki shorts, and a tucked in t-shirt. He also had a combover,

Who the fuck goes to the gym like that?!??

Epic Douche.

I've been hitting the gym for around 1 1/2 hours of cardio work everyday for 6 out of 7 days. I'm going to sign up for a personal trainer for evaluation and tutoring before I start doing weights and dieting.

^He's trying to get into shape, not look like he should have shrunken testicles.


some of these endurance runners drop dead at 45

Ever heard of a guy named Lance Armstrong? I'm willing to bed he would argue that Cardio's kinda good for ya...

Just saying... you can kick your ass in 10 minutes with weights to the point you just want to fall over... I'm not talking standard sets, I'm talking intensity.

Me personally, I get bored with the sets and all of that, if I'm going to work out, I'm trying to do damage, I just go as hard as I can until the muscles burn/arms just shake/can't grip anything, or until your sides hurt. You feel amazing afterwards.

If you want a quick workout, toss on some 16 oz gloves and hit a heavy bag as hard as you can, as fast as you can, for as long as you can. I guarantee you won't last a minute going as hard and fast as you can if you aren't used to it. This will show you how out of shape you are. :)

This is why most fights last under 30 seconds.

Most fights last under 30 seconds because your average person (retard) doesn't know how to fight. They've only watched action movies and think that qualifies them as a badass...

Most fights last under 30 seconds because your average person (retard) doesn't know how to fight. They've only watched action movies and think that qualifies them as a badass...
Most fights last under 30 seconds because people don't know how to fight? Is this your shameless plug to advertise you're a fighter or something? If you'd been around any fighting whatsoever, you'd realize the limitation is usually agility, fighting is hard work. Most people that are going to fight usually aren't in-shape people anyway.

What's a superset?

Most fights last under 30 seconds because people don't know how to fight? Is this your shameless plug to advertise you're a fighter or something? If you'd been around any fighting whatsoever, you'd realize the limitation is usually agility, fighting is hard work. Most people that are going to fight usually aren't in-shape people anyway.

Um.. no, that wasn't intended to be a plug of any sort. I don't get into fist fights, period... and I've had plenty of offers since I moved to England. That was me saying that fights are over quickly because most people don't know how... and/or they are satisfied with a bloody nose.

If you get two guys (or girls) who know how to throw down than the fight will not be over in a matter of seconds. By "know how to throw down" I mean being able to see/dodge and block attacks as well as throw their own. A half assed guard and being able to trade punches to the chin doesn't constitute a good fighter in my book.

But what do I know? I don't get into fights over trivial matters.

^ I fail... Pull-ups are the bane of my existence (working on them).. I don't do "chin-ups" though (where your palms are facing you), only with palms away.

I think I can get 3 or 4 slow pull-ups, with good form, from elbows locked straight to the bar resting near my collar bones.

I really need to work on that, lol!

I can do about 30-35 dips before wearing out, and maybe 4 wide grip pull ups. That is definitely my weak spot as well.

If you are doing "chin-ups" than that is a WORLD of difference Mark. Swap your hands around and give it a go then. Different muscles.

no, that's what I meant, wide grip pull-ups, the same motion as a lat pull-down machine...sometimes I use a 20 lb dumbell for added resistance...I knew one guy that strapped a 45 lb plate to his belt and knocked out 12 in good form

My cousin used to do the world's most insane pullups... She'd do wide grip pullups, but when she got her shoulders even with the bar, she'd keep going until the bar was at her waist.

Of course, she was a world class athlete at the time...

no, that's what I meant, wide grip pull-ups, the same motion as a lat pull-down machine...sometimes I use a 20 lb dumbell for added resistance...I knew one guy that strapped a 45 lb plate to his belt and knocked out 12 in good form

Did you take him out for flax seed enhanced soy milk afterwards?

4? that's all? I thought the 12 I was doing wasn't very good

Like I said, that's my weak spot. I've got a lot of weight to pull off of the ground.

Did you take him out for flax seed enhanced soy milk afterwards?

Thanks, I laughed out loud. I approve this thread.

pull ups absolutely destroy me... i have not done them in FOREVER... dips i was good with doing 15 reps with a 35lb plate for resistance until i started getting an sharp and constant pain where a vein crossed one of my collar bones... i since have taken a couple month break from the gym while i do landscaping... and with how wrecked my back is... i think it will be a whole lot stronger...

I rememeber when I started working out in jr. high,


And now we all know why you're short... :peace:

I can deadlift a lot of weight, just can't do a pull up. Upper back needs work.

I can deadlift a lot of weight, just can't do a pull up. Upper back needs work.

Hit the pool.

Seriously, it's a damn near perfect exercise. Swimming freestyle (or crawl) will help develop the same muscles you use in pull-ups. Not to mention it will help you drop weight and cut up a good bit, making moving your body weight even easier :bigthumb:

Just masturbate a few times a day. Gets the blood pumping.

Hmm. Not that im a workout feind, but i find climbing 200,300,500 foot towers with 50 pounds of gear a few times a day most days a week gives me nice arms and chest. Not huge, but nicely cut. To bad the belly is still pudgy.

what does climbing do for your pecs? nothing....the best exercise is incline benches...most people are surprised how much less weight they can handle relative to flat bench

I think you'll find that when you do a job that is physically demanding (not that analyzing grey water isn't, mind you) your body will naturally build itself up to cope with what is required.

A weight room is NOT required to build muscle...

And the problem there is.... what?

I'd rather be diminutive in size, with rock hard, dense as fuck, highly useful muscles while retaining agility and flexibility than somebody who has no neck and screams "meat head".

Going out of your way to be massive like that is (imo) like some chick who doesn't need to, but wears WAY too much make up anyway... It screams low self-esteem in my book.

I'll joke on a guy like that in a bar any day of the week. And you know whats sad? They usually bitch out as soon as they see that you aren't intimidated. Size purely for the reason of size is dumb imo.

what does climbing do for your pecs? nothing....the best exercise is incline benches...most people are surprised how much less weight they can handle relative to flat bench

I did something for me. Before hand, i was just downright skinny. I've filled out a bit... not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but my friends have noticed, as have the ladies. Woo! Being paid to work out rocks! I figure once i move to AZ and im not doing tower work anymore I want to start an exercise regiment. The sort of things you can do around the house, push-ups, sit ups.. military-esque stuff. I'm not looking to be a meat head, but being cut, fit, and strong so i can carry heavy things when need be will be nice, and theres nothing wrong with wanting to look good.

If you want a quick workout, toss on some 16 oz gloves and hit a heavy bag as hard as you can, as fast as you can, for as long as you can. I guarantee you won't last a minute going as hard and fast as you can if you aren't used to it. This will show you how out of shape you are. :)

This is why most fights last under 30 seconds.

God yeah, half hour of different high speed punching exercising is a real workout. I used to do that once a week, with lifting for the rest of the days. Start putting on wrist weights, whoo.

I'm so out of shape, I think I would last 30 seconds in a fight.