I have weightlifting as a class in high school and I just started, actually. I need some tips for everything I need to do to be able to become much bigger muscle wise.
do it constantly, dont burn yourself out, and cycle through 3-4 different machines so you dont constantly overwork your muscles. when you work on the machines, only do 8-10 reps and if your muscles burn by the 10th rep on the first cycle go down a step in the wieght. any more questions just ask :smile.gif:
Other than just weightlifting, you need to change your diet up a bit. Eat more protein and don't eat three big meals a day. Eat five smaller meals throughout the day that has a decent amount of protein. By decent I mean more than most people would eat.
There are a ton of exercises I find help when lifting weights. Try doing power squats or whatever they are called (A squat and an overhead weight lift mixed)??
Just don't stop, even if you don't do much in a day, just try to do it every day. I completely stopped during the summer and I haven't started again, and as you can guess I'm a lot weaker now.
Alternate. Do a lower-body workout one day, and an upper-body workout the next. Work in some core exercises, too. Stretch before lifting; a pulled muscle is no fun at all. Also, do some stairs and sprint workouts. Always eat a full meal within a couple hours after your workout. Above all, commit! You'll be in pain for the first couple weeks, but don't give up!
As far as protein intake goes an average male needs ~120g of protein daily. This is pretty easy to achieve if you just take notice of what you are eating. Lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs and tofu are your major foods, and there are plenty more that offer some amount of protein. if you are looking to bulk up you could increase this to ~180g but you would also need to follow a basic diet to ensure you get the right ratio of protein/fat/carbohydrates.
If you are after shakes, its best to talk to a nutritionist as different protein shakes are tailored to different workout styles.
I would avoid pre-workout shakes for the time being as these can really burn you out fast and you'll run out of energy feeling drained for the rest of the day.
Try and stick to Whey protein during the day or as a meal replacement and then a Casein protein at night. Whey is fast burning and works great from morning to afternoon. Casein is slow burning and therefore can easily be taken right before bed to allow a more greater muscle replenishment while you sleep.
Clean up your diet. That's basically it. If you're a beginner, you don't need supplements. I mean, you can take creatine supplements and jack3d if you want, but if you're a beginner, you're going to make gains fairly quickly regardless, so long as you're eating enough of the right foods, and lifting enough that you're feeling it. If you aren't sore the next day, that means you need to lift heavier weights or do more reps.
Just don't stop, even if you don't do much in a day, just try to do it every day. I completely stopped during the summer and I haven't started again, and as you can guess I'm a lot weaker now.
Unless he's going to focus on one muscle group a day, which he really doesn't need to do since he's just starting out, working out every day is a waste. Your muscles need time to heal.
Very true, make sure you rest your muscles or they won't grow, you will get stronger but not built. So which is it, are your trying to get stronger or built?
Also, as for your diet, if you are trying to build you need some extra carbs too, not candy bars, but real carbs. If you are trying to get ripped you need to back off the carbs big time, and never really lay off the protein. Again, all of this really depends on what you are trying to achieve.
If you lift to build, you want to start out with a weight that you can only lift 10-12 reps on on your first of 3 sets, increase the weight and obviously you will have to decrease the reps also. You can start in reverse order if you like, I always did it the above way though, just depends on what you like doing.
If you are trying to get ripped, it is a totally different regimen, you need less weight with a lot of reps per set. This will define your muscles, you also need to work your diet hard, the diet is going to do more for you than the actual work out. You will be starving, because you don't really want more than 1500 cal. a day if you can help it.
This is important, if you want to get bigger, then you need to do the build program, if you want to use supplements you can, I have worked out for 27 years without supplements and have had good results, just depends on if your trying to become a monster or just really fit with some extra size. Now, if you want to get ripped with some size, you are gonna have to build first, because as soon as you go on the rip program you will loose a fair amount of muscle in the process, so you are gonna want to have a goal in mind one way or the other.
What I'm telling you is old school stuff, it has always worked for me and anyone who has tried it, I learned this when I was in high school, we had two teachers that were pro, and they did this class every year. It was great, we went through the whole process, if you wanted to that is, and then at the end of the year they actually held a competition, whoever won received a year membership to Gold's Gym. It really was a good program, it has stuck with me for years, even brought to the Navy while I was in.
One last thing, I always break up my muscle groups into 3 days, with at least one day of cardio. Chest and shoulders, back and arms, and legs. Those combos work well together because they compliment, when you work your chest, you are working your shoulders, same with back and arms, legs are self explanatory. When you do the double groups, just alternate which one you start with, another words, one day you will start with chest, the next time it comes around start with shoulders. I say this because which ever you start with is going to get the heaviest of the work out, because the other is getting some work it will be a little weaker by the time you get to it. One last thing, the burn is good, means you are breaking the muscle down, someone earlier said stop, don't, get a couple of reps in with the burn, means you are doing it the way it needs to be done. Like I said, just make sure you rest your groups at least 2 days, and stay committed to it or you won't see results, or feel them for that matter.
do it constantly, dont burn yourself out, and cycle through 3-4 different machines so you dont constantly overwork your muscles. when you work on the machines, only do 8-10 reps and if your muscles burn by the 10th rep on the first cycle go down a step in the wieght. any more questions just ask :smile.gif:
I have a feeling you are a novice lifter, trying to pass as experienced. Don't throw your information at people if you don't actually know what you're talking about. 3-4 different machines? As in what, legs chest and arms? or three different leg machines on one day. If 10 burns, you should most definitely not decrease the weight, 10 is around the maximum you should do for one set unless its a warm up.
Very true, make sure you rest your muscles or they won't grow, you will get stronger but not built. So which is it, are your trying to get stronger or built?
If you are trying to get ripped, it is a totally different regimen, you need less weight with a lot of reps per set. This will define your muscles, you also need to work your diet hard, the diet is going to do more for you than the actual work out. You will be starving, because you don't really want more than 1500 cal. a day if you can help it.
That's actually a very common misconception, low weight high reps has nothing to do with you becoming more tone. The only thing it really does is add stamina to your overall fitness, which can be important, especially if you normally do high weight and ~ 6 reps. You will get the same level of muscle tone from either style of working out, but low reps has the added bonus of actually making you stronger, while at high reps/low weight you will stay at the same weight until you push yourself.
Other than that I agree with most of what you say. Cut out simple carbs, add in complex carbs (steel cut oats is a great example) increase the protein intake (if nothing else but to recover faster, a good protein shake will lower the rest time you need). Cardio is actually just as important for getting "tone" as lifting as most lifters problem is not that they have no muscle, but that they have a layer of fat covering the muscle, even if you don't seem fat. This could be where the high reps idea took footing, because high reps adds a little cardio to your workout that many lifters just ignore.
Like he said above me, 3 days a week would be a good starting number for a beginner, and the chest/shoulders, back/arms, legs is a good combo. Since you're in gym class I'm assuming you have 5 days to work, with one of them likely being strictly for cardio? You can split the shoulders from back then and focus on that as one day. Break up some of the back workouts and move them to your shoulder workout as well so it would be chest, shoulders, back/arms, legs, and cardio.
If you really are serious about lifting, you may want to invest in some supplements. Whey and casein are great, and both are important as far as protein supplements go. You could take whey before/after a workout and casein before bed/with breakfast. The main difference is it only takes whey ~ 1 hour to digest and hit the bloodstream, important for right after a workout. Casein gelatinizes in the stomach and takes 4-6 hours to digest and enter the blood stream. Great for fueling you early in the day, or while you are sleeping.
Other supplements like creatine do work, but are less necessary. Creatine will give you short, immediate gains, but nothing beyond the first 2-3 weeks and you will still need to keep taking it for the benefit. I can't speak on pre-workouts like jack3d, as I've never tried them. One of my buddies uses them and likes them, so do your own research if you are interested.
All in all though, you just need to stick with it. Keep at it and you will see improvements even if you don't think you are achieving anything. The biggest thing is not to be discouraged by others in the class. I remember when I was in high school and I saw people benching 135, and I could only do 95, I was embarrassed to even try to lift. Now 135 isn't even a warm up and I start at 225 and work up from there. Its a matter of persistence. Listen to your instructors, they likely know a good deal about what they are talking about. Never focus on one muscle group to much (I.E. biceps and nothing else) I've gotta run so I'm going to cut this off here, but I'll check back later. Good luck!
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Quote from Intelligent Christian »
The Minecraft term for using children as sex slaves is "griefing".
I have a feeling you are a novice lifter, trying to pass as experienced. Don't throw your information at people if you don't actually know what you're talking about. 3-4 different machines? As in what, legs chest and arms? or three different leg machines on one day. If 10 burns, you should most definitely not decrease the weight, 10 is around the maximum you should do for one set unless its a warm up.
That's actually a very common misconception, low weight high reps has nothing to do with you becoming more tone. The only thing it really does is add stamina to your overall fitness, which can be important, especially if you normally do high weight and ~ 6 reps. You will get the same level of muscle tone from either style of working out, but low reps has the added bonus of actually making you stronger, while at high reps/low weight you will stay at the same weight until you push yourself.
Other than that I agree with most of what you say. Cut out simple carbs, add in complex carbs (steel cut oats is a great example) increase the protein intake (if nothing else but to recover faster, a good protein shake will lower the rest time you need). Cardio is actually just as important for getting "tone" as lifting as most lifters problem is not that they have no muscle, but that they have a layer of fat covering the muscle, even if you don't seem fat. This could be where the high reps idea took footing, because high reps adds a little cardio to your workout that many lifters just ignore.
Like he said above me, 3 days a week would be a good starting number for a beginner, and the chest/shoulders, back/arms, legs is a good combo. Since you're in gym class I'm assuming you have 5 days to work, with one of them likely being strictly for cardio? You can split the shoulders from back then and focus on that as one day. Break up some of the back workouts and move them to your shoulder workout as well so it would be chest, shoulders, back/arms, legs, and cardio.
If you really are serious about lifting, you may want to invest in some supplements. Whey and casein are great, and both are important as far as protein supplements go. You could take whey before/after a workout and casein before bed/with breakfast. The main difference is it only takes whey ~ 1 hour to digest and hit the bloodstream, important for right after a workout. Casein gelatinizes in the stomach and takes 4-6 hours to digest and enter the blood stream. Great for fueling you early in the day, or while you are sleeping.
Other supplements like creatine do work, but are less necessary. Creatine will give you short, immediate gains, but nothing beyond the first 2-3 weeks and you will still need to keep taking it for the benefit. I can't speak on pre-workouts like jack3d, as I've never tried them. One of my buddies uses them and likes them, so do your own research if you are interested.
All in all though, you just need to stick with it. Keep at it and you will see improvements even if you don't think you are achieving anything. The biggest thing is not to be discouraged by others in the class. I remember when I was in high school and I saw people benching 135, and I could only do 95, I was embarrassed to even try to lift. Now 135 isn't even a warm up and I start at 225 and work up from there. Its a matter of persistence. Listen to your instructors, they likely know a good deal about what they are talking about. Never focus on one muscle group to much (I.E. biceps and nothing else) I've gotta run so I'm going to cut this off here, but I'll check back later. Good luck!
Thanks for the update, I have heard that but I'm old school. I will most likely update myself soon. I never had the problem you did, I have always been strong, one of those freaks. I love watching those people who go in and everyday work on the same muscle group, lol. Anyway, thanks again, good to see real info here.
Thanks for the update, I have heard that but I'm old school. I will most likely update myself soon. I never had the problem you did, I have always been strong, one of those freaks. I love watching those people who go in and everyday work on the same muscle group, lol. Anyway, thanks again, good to see real info here.
Hey, if what you're doing is working for you, then there's no reason to change it. I'm just saying in general, low weight high reps doesn't really improve you in the long run and more than the opposite as far as muscle tone goes. Everyone's different though, some people benefit from things most wouldn't, and of course the opposite is true. Maybe high weight low reps wont do much for you at all.
But low weights/high reps is important to mix in because if you don't, your stamina for lifting will be extremely low. I know when I do heavy sets for a few weeks in a row, then try to do low weight high reps, I can lift the low weight just as many times as I could the heavy weight before I get tired, strange, I know.
And yea, the people that go in every day and do bench/biceps and nothing else always make me laugh. First of all doing antagonistic muscle groups on the same day is foolish unless you know what you're doing, and they trick themselves into thinking they are accomplishing something by doing biceps everyday. To each their own I guess, I just hate when they take up a squat rack or something just to do curls that they could do anywhere else in the gym.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Intelligent Christian »
The Minecraft term for using children as sex slaves is "griefing".
I have weightlifting as a class in high school and I just started, actually. I need some tips for everything I need to do to be able to become much bigger muscle wise.
I go to the gym twice a week and work out for a good hour, and I'm not noticeably "big". If you're expecting to take a few month's worth of classes and be as huge as a NFL player, then you're setting your standards too high. I've not grown in muscle size, but muscle strength.
Glad I could help.
This advice got me through four football seasons.
If you are after shakes, its best to talk to a nutritionist as different protein shakes are tailored to different workout styles.
I would avoid pre-workout shakes for the time being as these can really burn you out fast and you'll run out of energy feeling drained for the rest of the day.
Try and stick to Whey protein during the day or as a meal replacement and then a Casein protein at night. Whey is fast burning and works great from morning to afternoon. Casein is slow burning and therefore can easily be taken right before bed to allow a more greater muscle replenishment while you sleep.
Unless he's going to focus on one muscle group a day, which he really doesn't need to do since he's just starting out, working out every day is a waste. Your muscles need time to heal.
Also, as for your diet, if you are trying to build you need some extra carbs too, not candy bars, but real carbs. If you are trying to get ripped you need to back off the carbs big time, and never really lay off the protein. Again, all of this really depends on what you are trying to achieve.
If you lift to build, you want to start out with a weight that you can only lift 10-12 reps on on your first of 3 sets, increase the weight and obviously you will have to decrease the reps also. You can start in reverse order if you like, I always did it the above way though, just depends on what you like doing.
If you are trying to get ripped, it is a totally different regimen, you need less weight with a lot of reps per set. This will define your muscles, you also need to work your diet hard, the diet is going to do more for you than the actual work out. You will be starving, because you don't really want more than 1500 cal. a day if you can help it.
This is important, if you want to get bigger, then you need to do the build program, if you want to use supplements you can, I have worked out for 27 years without supplements and have had good results, just depends on if your trying to become a monster or just really fit with some extra size. Now, if you want to get ripped with some size, you are gonna have to build first, because as soon as you go on the rip program you will loose a fair amount of muscle in the process, so you are gonna want to have a goal in mind one way or the other.
What I'm telling you is old school stuff, it has always worked for me and anyone who has tried it, I learned this when I was in high school, we had two teachers that were pro, and they did this class every year. It was great, we went through the whole process, if you wanted to that is, and then at the end of the year they actually held a competition, whoever won received a year membership to Gold's Gym. It really was a good program, it has stuck with me for years, even brought to the Navy while I was in.
One last thing, I always break up my muscle groups into 3 days, with at least one day of cardio. Chest and shoulders, back and arms, and legs. Those combos work well together because they compliment, when you work your chest, you are working your shoulders, same with back and arms, legs are self explanatory. When you do the double groups, just alternate which one you start with, another words, one day you will start with chest, the next time it comes around start with shoulders. I say this because which ever you start with is going to get the heaviest of the work out, because the other is getting some work it will be a little weaker by the time you get to it. One last thing, the burn is good, means you are breaking the muscle down, someone earlier said stop, don't, get a couple of reps in with the burn, means you are doing it the way it needs to be done. Like I said, just make sure you rest your groups at least 2 days, and stay committed to it or you won't see results, or feel them for that matter.
Hope this helps you in some way.
I have a feeling you are a novice lifter, trying to pass as experienced. Don't throw your information at people if you don't actually know what you're talking about. 3-4 different machines? As in what, legs chest and arms? or three different leg machines on one day. If 10 burns, you should most definitely not decrease the weight, 10 is around the maximum you should do for one set unless its a warm up.
That's actually a very common misconception, low weight high reps has nothing to do with you becoming more tone. The only thing it really does is add stamina to your overall fitness, which can be important, especially if you normally do high weight and ~ 6 reps. You will get the same level of muscle tone from either style of working out, but low reps has the added bonus of actually making you stronger, while at high reps/low weight you will stay at the same weight until you push yourself.
Other than that I agree with most of what you say. Cut out simple carbs, add in complex carbs (steel cut oats is a great example) increase the protein intake (if nothing else but to recover faster, a good protein shake will lower the rest time you need). Cardio is actually just as important for getting "tone" as lifting as most lifters problem is not that they have no muscle, but that they have a layer of fat covering the muscle, even if you don't seem fat. This could be where the high reps idea took footing, because high reps adds a little cardio to your workout that many lifters just ignore.
Like he said above me, 3 days a week would be a good starting number for a beginner, and the chest/shoulders, back/arms, legs is a good combo. Since you're in gym class I'm assuming you have 5 days to work, with one of them likely being strictly for cardio? You can split the shoulders from back then and focus on that as one day. Break up some of the back workouts and move them to your shoulder workout as well so it would be chest, shoulders, back/arms, legs, and cardio.
If you really are serious about lifting, you may want to invest in some supplements. Whey and casein are great, and both are important as far as protein supplements go. You could take whey before/after a workout and casein before bed/with breakfast. The main difference is it only takes whey ~ 1 hour to digest and hit the bloodstream, important for right after a workout. Casein gelatinizes in the stomach and takes 4-6 hours to digest and enter the blood stream. Great for fueling you early in the day, or while you are sleeping.
Other supplements like creatine do work, but are less necessary. Creatine will give you short, immediate gains, but nothing beyond the first 2-3 weeks and you will still need to keep taking it for the benefit. I can't speak on pre-workouts like jack3d, as I've never tried them. One of my buddies uses them and likes them, so do your own research if you are interested.
All in all though, you just need to stick with it. Keep at it and you will see improvements even if you don't think you are achieving anything. The biggest thing is not to be discouraged by others in the class. I remember when I was in high school and I saw people benching 135, and I could only do 95, I was embarrassed to even try to lift. Now 135 isn't even a warm up and I start at 225 and work up from there. Its a matter of persistence. Listen to your instructors, they likely know a good deal about what they are talking about. Never focus on one muscle group to much (I.E. biceps and nothing else) I've gotta run so I'm going to cut this off here, but I'll check back later. Good luck!
Thanks for the update, I have heard that but I'm old school. I will most likely update myself soon. I never had the problem you did, I have always been strong, one of those freaks. I love watching those people who go in and everyday work on the same muscle group, lol. Anyway, thanks again, good to see real info here.
Hey, if what you're doing is working for you, then there's no reason to change it. I'm just saying in general, low weight high reps doesn't really improve you in the long run and more than the opposite as far as muscle tone goes. Everyone's different though, some people benefit from things most wouldn't, and of course the opposite is true. Maybe high weight low reps wont do much for you at all.
But low weights/high reps is important to mix in because if you don't, your stamina for lifting will be extremely low. I know when I do heavy sets for a few weeks in a row, then try to do low weight high reps, I can lift the low weight just as many times as I could the heavy weight before I get tired, strange, I know.
And yea, the people that go in every day and do bench/biceps and nothing else always make me laugh. First of all doing antagonistic muscle groups on the same day is foolish unless you know what you're doing, and they trick themselves into thinking they are accomplishing something by doing biceps everyday. To each their own I guess, I just hate when they take up a squat rack or something just to do curls that they could do anywhere else in the gym.
I go to the gym twice a week and work out for a good hour, and I'm not noticeably "big". If you're expecting to take a few month's worth of classes and be as huge as a NFL player, then you're setting your standards too high. I've not grown in muscle size, but muscle strength.