Question about strength training and overall fitness.

[EBE]

I just recently started doing some light strength training and don't know if I am going about it the right way. I would appreciate your thoughts. Not looking to bulk up, just tone up and add a little definition. I started this two weeks ago and have been doing this four nights a week.

Elliptical for 30 minutes to get warmed up.
3 sets of 10 reps on each machine on 4 different machines for upper body (60 lbs)
3 sets of 10 reps on an ab machine (70 lbs)
3 sets of 10 reps each machine on 4 separate machines for legs (weight varies from 60-200)

Do I want to increase the weight so that on the last set of reps on each machine that I can barely finish?

Help Please!!

 

[SuperChris]

that is almost my exact routine, sometimes I use the bike instead of an elliptical, it works for me, I am in much better shape than I used to be, I don't have the ideal definition I'd like but I think that has more to do with the fact that I enjoy unhealthy food than issues with the exercise routine

 

[noahpictures]

I just recently started doing some light strength training and don't know if I am going about it the right way. I would appreciate your thoughts. Not looking to bulk up, just tone up and add a little definition. I started this two weeks ago and have been doing this four nights a week.

Elliptical for 30 minutes to get warmed up.
3 sets of 10 reps on each machine on 4 different machines for upper body (60 lbs)
3 sets of 10 reps on an ab machine (70 lbs)
3 sets of 10 reps each machine on 4 separate machines for legs (weight varies from 60-200)

Do I want to increase the weight so that on the last set of reps on each machine that I can barely finish?

Help Please!!

There are many ways to modify your routine. Since you recently began your strength training my suggestion would be to increase the weight, decrease the reps. I would also switch to free weights. For strength the following exercises are ideal: squats, shoulder presses, dead-lifts, bench press, pull-ups. After warm up do five sets of five reps.

 

[Hards80]

There are many ways to modify your routine. Since you recently began your strength training my suggestion would be to increase the weight, decrease the reps. I would also switch to free weights. For strength the following exercises are ideal: squats, shoulder presses, dead-lifts, bench press, pull-ups. After warm up do five sets of five reps.

while I do agree with your advice on going to compound multimuscle free weight exercises, as they will build more functional strength as well as stimulating the entire body and nervous system which will result in more positive changes to the body, I think that doing a SL 5x5 type rep range may be a little too much weight needed to reach failure while trying to learn proper form on exercises that are new. Then after a few months, going to a 5x5 or similar rep range can be an option.

All-Pro over at bodybuilding.com has a pretty good beginner workout that has an easy to follow progression. Would be a good place to start for a few months.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=147447933

 

[smalltank]

the question is..what is your goal...to get toned or build muscle?..keep in mind your end result is 60% genetics..for example..if you are thin and wanna "bulk" up..it might be in your best interest as getting "toned as a better option for your body "type"

 

[Kentos]

Most people aren't lucky enough to be able to "bulk up". So unless you are a generic freak that can easily pack on muscle, work out as hard as you can with the resistance training to get the most results. If you are like most of us, a clean diet and consistant weight training will give you a toned body.

If you can get 3 sets of 10 I would say up the weight so it's harder to get your 3x10. When it gets easy again add more weight.

 

[Slash McCoy]

You can't get "too" muscular without pharmaceutical help. So just go all out and do at least one set of each exercise to failure. Failure is when, even with a gun to your head, you would be unable to complete the last rep. Many of us WISH we could become hulkish monsters through greater effort, but the fact of the matter is, we are programmed to only carry just so much muscle. You can get too fat, though, obviously.

Most common mistake is to do too much in the gym. Especially for smaller muscles like biceps and triceps. FWIW I do not directly train biceps at all. I never do more than 2 sets for triceps. These small muscles are activated while doing your compound exercises.

Try dumbbells for two or three months. WAAAAAY superior to barbell exercises, and dumbbells make it easy to put a home gym together. Just get cast hex dumbbells in a few sizes that you use a lot, and use 20" Olympic dumbbell handles and plates with good turnscrew type collars to make up dumbbells in other weights. Then you just need a sturdy flat bench, a calf raise block maybe, and something to do chins from. Dumbbells make you work harder to stabilize the weight. A barbell provides a rigid connection between your hands. Dumbbells are independant and require more supporting effort from nontarget muscles. And don't use lifting straps. You will have stick forearms forever if you do. Oh, and the reason to go with only olympic plates will become obvious if you ever add a barbell to your setup. You don't want two different types of incompatible plates. Waste of money.

Using terms like "bulk up" and "tone" make a lot of folks see red. Bulking is simply eating slightly over your caloric maintenance level, hoping to add muscle while adding as little fat as possible. Cutting is eating slightly less than your maintenance level, hoping to lose fat while losing as little muscle as possible. "Tone"? What is the definition of "tone"? Muscle is muscle. It doesn't get "toned". You might have more or less muscle, and you might have more, or less, fat. But muscle is just muscle. Drop "Tone" from your vocabulary and figure out exactly what it is you want without soccer-mom buzz words that don't mean anything.

FWIW here is what I am doing. I recently started training regularly again after hardly touching a weight since Katrina.

DAY 1 Shoulders. Some will say that shoulders don't need a separate day but I find shoulders and chest on the same day to be a bit much. Plus I like to prioritize shoulders. Big delts help to give the upper body a good wedge-like tapered appearance.
Arnold Press, 3 sets, to failure. Targeted rep range, 7 to 11 and weight and form are adjusted so that I achieve failure somewhere in that range. Same for all other upper body exercises. Keep the dumbbells slightly apart at the top so you don't lose deltoid activation through columnar support of the weight! The arms should never go completely straight. Forearms should be dead vertical at all times or leaning slightly ever so slightly outward. This prevents excessive triceps activation which is saved for chest day.
Dumbbell Shrugs, 2 sets Yes I know traps are more often associated with upper back, but I find myself activating traps while doing shoulder movements anyway, so I moved them to Shoulders day. It is easier to separate traps from back than to separate traps from shoulders, to me.
Laterals, lying laterals, front raises, mix and match... two sets only, total. These are isolation movements and should not be a focus of effort.

Day 2 Back. Don't confuse this day with lower back and legs work. These muscles are associated with the shoulder girdle. A wide back makes your chest look wide. Without a wide back all you will ever have is a barrel chest, which does not look graceful or athletic in the least.
Wide grip chins 2 or 3 sets. This is THE exercise for widening the lats and giving your upper body a nice wedge shape. Also hits brachialis etc
Narrow grip 2 sets Adds depth to the back and hits biceps
Bentover dumbbell rows 2 sets

Day 3 Chest. Don't be a BPK. (Bench Press Kid. You know... the guys who come in the gym every day and congregate around a barbell bench press station and do set after set, the "spotter" working his traps more than the subject working his pecs, writing down and recording weights and reps, etc who wonder why they still look like crap.) Leave the barbell for powerlifters and the BPKs. You want dumbbells.
Dumbbell bench press, 3 sets. Don't let the elbows go completely straight at the top. Keep the forearms vertical or leaning slightly outward. Going all the way to full extension at the top is undesireable as it creates a rest point where the arms are functioning as inert columns under compression instead of levers that stress muscles. ALWAYS seek to avoid rest points where weight is in columnar support or is hanging suspended. This will also help you to achieve failure with less actual weight, reducing your chance of injury.
Dumbbell flys 1 or 2 sets, never going above about 45 degrees, arms nearly straight.
French Press 1 or 2 sets, or bench dips with some weight in my lap, one or two sets.

Day 4 Legs
Dumbbell squats 3 sets rep range increased, 10 to 13 reps, to failure as always. With dumbbells, the line sort of blurs between squats and deadlifts.
Calf Raise 1 or 2 sets
Dumbbell standing leg curls, optional, 2 sets. Simply pass a web belt over and around your foot and ankle and dumbbell in a figure 8, so that the dumbbell is secured over the arch of your foot.
Hyperextensions or stiff leg dumbbell deadlifts, one or the other, 2 sets

Day 5 = day 4 again. No rest day needed.

No session lasts over 30 minutes. I eat immediately after training. If you take up this system, and you like to do cardio, do it in a separate session. NEVER do a prolonged cardio workout immediately after progressive resistance training! (lifting weights in this manner) You want stressed muscle to begin recovery. Growth occurs during recovery, not during training. Also, keep this in mind... cardio is nearly worthless for developing an athletic looking body. Very poor bang for the buck. Look at all the skinny guys with little pot bellies who run 2 or 3 miles every day, for an example. Cardio is valuable for one thing... developing and maintaining cardiovascular capacity and health. You have to run 6 miles to "burn off" one big mac. It is easier and more efficient to simply not eat the big mac. The metabolic boost from cardio quiclky goes away after exercise. The metabolic boost from heavy progressive resistance training lasts for hours, even days. The reason is obvious. Muscle consumes and expends your body's fuel EVEN AT REST. More so, when it is training hard or is in RECOVERY. Want to lose fat? Grow muscle! And train it... HARD.

Your diet is extremely important. Food is an addictive substance. Relatively recently in our evolutionary history, it was an advantage to have an instinctive urge to greedily scarf down all the food available, because our ancestors often would have days without finding food. A large deposit of subcutaneous and abdominal fat was a tremendous advantage and so our biological heritage has programmed our bodies to store fat and to cause our brain to crave food, especially calorie rich food. This is what makes those brownies and chips and ice cream and stuff so tempting, and why we eat until our stomachs are no longer empty but still continue to eat until they are full. The first place to cut calories is sugars, particularly refined sugar in any form. The next is starches, and again, the more refined, the more undesireable. White flour, polished rice, peeled potatoes, these are the first to go. Adjust your caloric intake with starches. To reduce total calories, cut the starches some more. To increase, when you are already getting so much protein you are farting all day long, increase the starches. Protein is sacred. If it ever had a face on it, EAT IT. Fats are needed, im moderation. With a zero fat diet, your testosterone levels would eventually drop. TestoSTERone. CholeSTERol. FAT. FAT FAT FAT! Some fat is needed for proper hormonal function. Just don't go crazy with it. Try to get lots of fat from fish, nuts, etc. Avoid trans-fats which are predominant in poisonous crap like margarine or shortening. In small amounts, real butter, lard, etc give food a better taste and texture and are actually healthier for you than the phoney stuff.

If you smoke, STOP. Don't "try" to quit. QUIT. Like Yoda says, "There is no TRY, only DO." Same with excessive alcohol consumption. Get your sleep. No excuses. What is more important than getting a good 7 or 8 hours of actual sleep in a day? NOTHING. Want to slow down your progress? Skimp on the sleep.

The best cardio is not steady-state crap like mindlessly pedaling a bicycle-to-nowhere or strolling on a treadmill. It is brief spurts of activity interspersed with slower activity that is not quite a rest period. For instance, a bag session. Put on some glove liners, bag gloves, or even comfortable work gloves to protect the skin of your knuckles. Whale on the heavy bag for 2 to 3 minutes. Stop and just run in place for a minute, then hit the bag some more. Duck and weave and dodge imaginary blows while you deliver combinations as if the bag were an opponent in the ring. A half hour of this is great. Or apply the same principles running. SPRINT as far as you can, then slow to a trot for a minute or three, and SPRINT all out some more. 20 minutes or a hlaf hour is great. Same principle for bicycling, whatever. Or circuit training on a universal machine, light weights, rapid motion, no rest periods between exercises. constant activity. Half hour and you should feel like you are gonna die. Separate this from your actual weight training by several hours.

Stress will delay your progress, too. Stress causes a release of a hormone called Cortisol which has the effect of helping your body to store more fat while also helping your body to break down muscle to use as energy. In times of severe stress, out ancestors survived better when they had less muscle (which requires and consumes energy) and a good supply of body fat, which is the body's emergency fuel supply and storage. Starving yourself can cause this, as well as a stressful environment or routine. TOO MUCH exercise, also. Which is why I always keep my gym sessions down to 20 or 30 minutes, and don't do endless redundant sets of multiple exercises for the same body part.

There is a balance between muscular growth and fat storage. A little extra body fat helps the body to pack on more muscle. Extremely low levels of body fat retard muscular growth. You have to find your tolerance zone. And remember, more muscle means you can more easily "burn off" more bodyfat. It is a big crazy cycle of interdependencies. If you are cutting, meaning you are eating less to lose fat, keep your losses down to a couple of pounds per week or you will risk bringing on the starvation reflex, and actually end up losing more muscle than fat. If you are bulking, meaning you are eating more to fuel muscular growth, your weight gain should be no more than a pound a week or most of your growth will simply be more body fat. These changes are very small, and to monitor them requires extra care. Weigh yourself every morning right after your morning whizz. Graph your weight. Draw a straight line near or through as many points as possible for the last 7 days and for any one day, your "virtual weight" is on that line and that day. This helps to even out the normal daily fluctuations and gives you something better to work with in adjusting your diet.

Good luck. Don't be a slacker. Take no prisoners. Put on your war face and get to it!

 

[azmark]

There is nothing wrong with muscle. Women tone my friend and even then it's still an incorrect term. The more muscle you have the more fat you burn and the easier it is to keep it off. You can't add definition without adding muscle.

The best thing for you to do is to be honest with yourself and see if you need more cardio than strength training. If you spend your time doing nothing but strength you are in for a long road ahead if what you really need is cardio.

And no, you will not add muscle by just "lifting." You need to beat your muscle down to make it grow and shape it. You will grow only as much as you want to and what your diet allows it to. My wife lifts weights all day and lifts hard and heavy but she finally got it into her head that she isn't going to look like a man from doing that.

Variety is everything. Your body fights to be in homeostasis place all of the time so if you do the same things all of the time it will get use to it. I change my routine EVERY workout and never have "set" days, meaning Mondays are only arms or only chest. Incorporate barbell and dumbbell weekly. The only thing I don't do is bench press with a bar because of a shoulder injury. I use dumbbells for bench and bench press in a smith machine for the extra support. Hammer Strength machines are excellent too.

Not doing bicep and tricep exercises are the silliest things I've heard of. Compound movements do not do enough to make those muscles grow. In just about every movement you use almost every muscle in your body to support that movement. If you do not workout a bodypart it will not grow, period.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Failure is when, even with a gun to your head, you would be unable to complete the last rep while maintaining excellent form

It's a nitpicky point, but because we're all guys here , I had to slightly fix that for you.

 

[Slash McCoy]

. Compound movements do not do enough to make those muscles grow. .

Yes they do. If you are doing them right. Do 4 sets of chins to failure, with a couple of all out partials each set, and tell me you didn't hit biceps. Your knowledge is faulty on that point. I don't know where you read it but my own experience says otherwise.

 

[Doc4]

I just recently started doing some light strength training and don't know if I am going about it the right way. I would appreciate your thoughts. Not looking to bulk up, just tone up and add a little definition. I started this two weeks ago and have been doing this four nights a week.

Elliptical for 30 minutes to get warmed up.
3 sets of 10 reps on each machine on 4 different machines for upper body (60 lbs)
3 sets of 10 reps on an ab machine (70 lbs)
3 sets of 10 reps each machine on 4 separate machines for legs (weight varies from 60-200)

Do I want to increase the weight so that on the last set of reps on each machine that I can barely finish?

Help Please!!

The first thing that occurs to me is that your warm-up shouldn't just be cardio ... it should be something that uses the muscles that you are about to use, but in a "light" way. So ... dynamic stretching and bodyweight exercises, and maybe a round on those machines at significantly lighter weight, to prepare the muscles for the work to come.

I'd move to freeweights and bodyweight exercises (rather than machines) sooner rather than later.

"Toning up and getting a little definition" ... so, don't want to "look like Arnold Schwarzenegger" (OMG, I think I just spelled Arnold's last name correctly the first time ... no little red Spellcheck line under it ... ). Definition? Remember, flab is the enemy of definition ... you can have washboard abs, but if you have a load of laundry on the washboard, no one will notice. (I also use the "paved over with asphalt" metaphor for those familiar with wear & tear on gravel roads ...)

 

[Pebcak]

Yes they do. If you are doing them right. Do 4 sets of chins to failure, with a couple of all out partials each set, and tell me you didn't hit biceps. Your knowledge is faulty on that point. I don't know where you read it but my own experience says otherwise.

Good govt answer time. I'd say that you're both right and you're both wrong. It all depends on your goals.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Good govt answer time. I'd say that you're both right and you're both wrong. It all depends on your goals.

Oh, what do you know?! You do lunch with Springs1!

 

[Pebcak]

Oh, what do you know?! You do lunch with Springs1!

Oh now that's just plain hateful.

 

[Slash McCoy]

The first thing that occurs to me is that your warm-up shouldn't just be cardio ... it should be something that uses the muscles that you are about to use, but in a "light" way. So ... dynamic stretching and bodyweight exercises, and maybe a round on those machines at significantly lighter weight, to prepare the muscles for the work to come.

I'd move to freeweights and bodyweight exercises (rather than machines) sooner rather than later.

"Toning up and getting a little definition" ... so, don't want to "look like Arnold Schwarzenegger" (OMG, I think I just spelled Arnold's last name correctly the first time ... no little red Spellcheck line under it ... ). Definition? Remember, flab is the enemy of definition ... you can have washboard abs, but if you have a load of laundry on the washboard, no one will notice. (I also use the "paved over with asphalt" metaphor for those familiar with wear & tear on gravel roads ...)

+1

Yeah I too would ditch the elliptical. Warmup should be a light compound movement that hits the targeted muscle in a meaningful way. I saw a study once that seemed to indicate that stretching was actually not a good idea. Nevertheless, lots of folks do it and love it and it can't be THAT bad for you in moderation. But I don't think anyone will deny that a warmup set, high reps and low weight, is good for priming the muscles, ligaments and tendons, etc which should increase performance and reduce injury.

+1 on switching to weights and bodyweight exercises. Machines, especially cable type machines, have a couple of faults. First of all, every pulley that a wire passes over, adds to total rolling friction losses. The lift becomes less efficient the more sheaves the wire passes over. On USCG exams, in problems in the actual question pool, the examinee is told to assume each sheave contributes a 10% increase in resistance due to rolling friction. That might be a bit much but even if you go with half of that, and a wire passes over say 3 sheaves on a nominal 100lb lift, you are applying 115 lbs worth of effort to lift the 100 lb weight. No problem, right? Riiiiiiight.... except you also must lower the weight, and the negative is more important than the actual lift. And instead of the sheaves adding resistance, when lowering they subtract resistance, because the friction serves as sort of a brake. So the percieved weight is only 85 lbs on the negative, which as I just said, is even more important than the positive. Okay, now you have 115lbs perceived weight on the up stroke and 85 lbs of weight lowering it. NOT GOOD! It would be beautiful if you could reverse this, but you can't. With free weights, at least the perceived weight is the same both up and down. Also, machines of course constrict the movement to one specific plane or arc. It is not always the natural one that your body would normally follow. Worse, no stabilizing muscles are involved. Free weights, especially dumbbells, require a great effort from nontarget muscles to control the weight, as the target muscles do the actual lift.

Plus, lets face it... machines are sort of lame.

Just about everybody already has a six pack. Only trouble is, if you carry a lot of fat, nobody will ever see it even if you do 2000 situps a day, until the autopsy or when they disect your donated cadaver at a medical school near you.

 

[_MementoMori_]

Slash, are you a robot? Is there anything on earth you don't have in-depth knowledge on?

(I was reading some of your posts in the muscle car thread)

 

[Slash McCoy]

Slash, are you a robot? Is there anything on earth you don't have in-depth knowledge on?

(I was reading some of your posts in the muscle car thread)

LOL! I wouldn't say I have in-depth knowledge. I just dabble in a lot of different things and I used to watch a lot of TV. Ask me how to get peak performance out of a 1970 Charger and I will tell you go to the experts. Ask me how you can make a '63 Nova run like a whipped monkey, and I can tell you cause I had one. Ask me how to prep for a bodybuilding contest and I can't tell you much, nor much about competitive powerlifting. Ask me how to get looking good enough to pull some chicks and I'm your man. I just got little bits of knowledge here and there. Hey, I'm 53 and I watched all the right movies.

 

[Doc4]

Hey, I'm 53 and I watched all the right movies.

It's 106 miles to Chicago, I have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and I'm wearing sunglasses. What do I do?

 

[Slash McCoy]

It's 106 miles to Chicago, I have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and I'm wearing sunglasses. What do I do?

Pull over at the first bar. Light up a cigarette. Walk in the door. Knock the crap out of the biggest guy sitting at the bar, knock him good, make sure he stays down. Take his stool. Order a double bourbon and toss it down. Look around the bar. give the eye to the hottest chick in the place. Tilt your shades up just a little, in acknowledgement. Walk over. Tell her you are 106 miles, that is, about an hour drive from Chicago, and you want her to come with you. Leave a fat tip on the bar cause that's what cool cats do. leave with the chick. Stop in Cicero and get a cheap room and make the 20 toes with her. Take the shades off before you shower and get dressed. Leave her your number. Put your shades back on and leave.

 

[Slash McCoy]

But only if they are RayBan Wayfarers.