Off Topic Exercise/Gym

This is follow on from my last thread about health and well being.

A few months a I bought a exercise bike and one of them multiple function weight sets.

I done 20 minutes on the exercise bike and I love found this little training routine which I do 5 times a week. Here it is.

• Bench Press – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Incline Bench Press – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Should Press – 3 x 6-10 reps

• Landmine Press – 3 x 6-10 reps

• Standing Tricep Extensions – 3 x 10 reps

• Barbell Skull Crushers – 3 x 10 reps



• 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Bent Over Row – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• T-Bar Row – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Barbell Curl – 3 sets x 10 reps

• Drag Curl – 3 sets x 10 reps


• Back Squat – 3 set x 6-10 reps

• Front Squat – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Straight Leg Deadlift – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Barbell Bulgarian Split Squat – 3 sets x 6-10 reps

• Barbell Roll Out – 3 sets x 10 reps

Just wanted some advice really. I don't want to be Arnie or even have a 6 pack. I just want to get healthier.

 

Good for you.

If you have developed a six pack please let me know as my partner has always wanted me to have one... fat chance...

 

How you must train depends on your genetics, your build, your general health, your aims and your time scale. You're better off paying for a 2 hour personal trainer session, with a recommended one, to check your technique, your body design and that your schedule fits the above factors - we're not all the same - if you're lean, tall and struggle to gain mass, you have to train differently from someone who is short, naturally muscular and overweight, for example.

If you're over 40, they'll probably advise you to reduce the weight and increase the volume of reps to reduce injury risk.

Good luck with it and keep going.

 

Great advise re a session or 2 with a PT, it'll really help set you off in the right direction

 

I'd keep away from landmines if I was you.

 

I go to the gym four times a week, one day I might even go in.


The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.

 

I used to go to the gym and really enjoyed just how good I felt after it. Problem was that I had to motivate myself to go. I was fine once I was actually there though.

I keep telling myself I’m going back but as yet haven’t.

 

I'm the same, absolutely love it once there and feel great, it's just the getting there thats difficult at times,

 

I found it better to go from work because if I went home first, I’d convince myself not to bother going later. The problem being the people I went with finished work later so I’d have to hang around or I’d have had to go home first.

 

I always try and do mine first thing in the morning, I tend to feel more awake during the day for longer when I do and also like you, If I get home on a night and then attempt to go back out, it's never happening haha

 

If you're male, as a generalisation, we're goal and data orientated and motivated. So it's important to set achievable targets, stages and then to document your progress via pen and paper or a spreadsheet or a smartwatch - this visual representation of the results and the aim will keep you motivated and prevent boredom and fatigue. It's the same process that computer games are so popular with men. Most men who train and don't have a target or a plan tend to give up eventually, especially because training isn't a consistent improvement - there are plateaus and backwards steps.

Women tend to be more holistic and stronger emotionally and so feel and understand the meditative benefits of training regularly and so don't need this so much, from my experience.

 

Good that you are taking time to exercise .

Your programme of 5 days a week seems like quite a lot. And there's some exercises there that are an injury waiting to happen if you don't know how to perform them properly & unless you perform them with really good form (eg straight leg deadlifts, roll outs, bulgarian split squats). Or maybe my assumption is wrong and you are more experienced and have the knowledge, I don't know.

If you are still relatively new to it, I would have expected 3 days a week, with 'only' 5 or 6 basic exercises (e.g. bench press, squats, shoulder press, row, curl). Reps & sets depending on your aims, but 3 x 10-12 ,is normal unless your aims are specific. Then cardio (your bike, run, whatever) on the other 2 or 3 days, with at least 1 rest day. Maybe varying it after a few months with 4 days a week (2 day split) for a while. Don't forget stretching too - valuable but so often overlooked.

It's hard to comment though, as we don't know where you are at. As others say, try to find a PT or even just a contact who knows his / her stuff who might give some free input.

 

I thoroughly enjoy squats.

 

Your two points of analysis should be firstly, is it damaging me and secondly, is it improving me. If you keep a log to track your progress, this will answer the second question and the first depends on your technique and if a compound exercise works for you - for many, it won't and there's always an alternative. It's 2023, all the information is out there and the gyms are full of equipment, there's no need to get wedded to one type of movement if it doesn't work as there's always another or even a machine and no one should get injured anymore training in a gym (unless you're a powerlifter or doing something competitive). Train clever and save yourself pain.

Someone earlier mentioned the overhead shoulder press, and from my experience, this is a bad exercise for 80% of ppl and a guaranteed cause of a rotator cuff injury, especially if done with a barbell. Conversely, if you have the physiology of a rugby prop forward, this can be a perfect exercise for you (short arms relative to torso, heavy build).

 

I’ve em barked on a golf fitness programme prescribed by a golf physio on the DP tour . I do a range of balance and leg strength exercises , plus upper body and hip mobility . I’m getting on a bit but have always run etc. I now go to the gym twice a week do Pilates aswell and my mobility for a golf has improved massively but it’s taken 6 months so far . I’ve had a lot of lower back trouble which has improved - you have to do a few exercises daily to keep that at bay .
I was told at Warners that once as fit and as strong as you want to be once a week keeps it at a decent level .

 

I stopped when my gym closed down at the Holiday Inn Marina. It was convenient for a lunch time session during work and if i went early enough I got to see Peter Levy naked in the changing room/showers.

I used to struggle to motivate myself but loved it when I was there and the feeling you've been is even better as you say.

I hate gyms full of posers so liked that one as it was always pretty empty. Probably why they closed it!!

 

Don't leave us 'hanging'...how big was his sausage?

 

As normal as it gets! Nothing interesting to report.
One of the first times I saw him in there I came out of sauna and he was sat in front of my locker with a towel wrapped around his lower half on the phone. I couldn't make eye contact with him to point at the fact I needed to be in the locker behind him. So I ended up stood there just staring at him feeling pretty awkward and he was deliberately not looking at me because he probably was thinking I was some star struck gimp wanting to talk to him.

I often think about that day and wonder why the hell I didn't just tap him on the shoulder and say 'I need to be in my locker'.

And he blocked me on twitter but I've got a new account now so even though he thinks he is safe he isn't.

 

I'm not sure why I hav not replied to this. I apologise.

I'm still doing to the same routine and enjoying it.

My main aim is to lose weight. I started at 18 stone and now down to 16 stone. I'm 6ft. My aim is 13 and half stone.

Also to add I average nearly 6 miles a day walking.

 

Great work mate - keep it going