Weights questions?!

[Tilda]

I never thought i'd post such a thread!!

Well, let me explain my question.
Basicly i'm a tad skinny, in that i have no body fat. I havent worked out or been to the gym in over a year or so, and tbh dont want to go. I get enough exercise in daily life to keep me fairly fit and my legs are in good shape. However my upper body (pecs, arm/shoulder muscles) are a bit weedy.

Let me explain what I want.
I want a torso thats in proportion with the rest of my body, I dont want to turn into some crazy arnie body builder, I dont enjoy doing weights really, nor do I intend on joining a weights buddy thing where I can brag about bench pressing 500lbs yesterday! I just want to muscle out my arms/pecs a bit.

In aid of this, I ordered a set of weights from argos!
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3025343.htm
I anticipate this will be plenty. and no, I dont want to go to a gym to do weights because I feel all self conscious.

I know curls, and I know the ones where you lie on your back and move the weights like your putting your coat on that does your pecs.
Can anybody suggest any other movements I should do.

Or have any other interesting comments, suggestions, ideas about how many repetitions I should do, what I should eat (no i dont like egg, it would have to be in a cake or in a pancake ) to help me on my way?

Should I do an exercise that works my shoulderblade muscles on my back too?

Any pointers, advice etc is welcome

 

[old.Tohtori]

Should help

 

[Himse]

XD. I must say, start off light. wouldn't want to hurt yourself with over 1lb would we now Tilda hihi

 

[Krait]

For a six-pack (or just one ) lie on your back with legs slightly bent and fingers on side of head,then touch right elbow to left knee followed by left elbow to right knee (do'nt force head with hands or lift knees to head) repeat until knackered,then cry like a baby because your stomach hurts.
Do daily or give up and stay skinny.

It works though.

 

[Tilda]

I do situps already, I like my stomach

 

[Krait]

It's not a normal sit-up (not sure what it's called )

 

[Marc]

If you are naturally skinny (ectomorph?) then you will struggle putting on muscle unless you inject steriods (which I wouldnt advise). This isnt necessarily a bad thing as you will also struggle to put fat on your body, meaning any weight you do put on will probably be lean muscle. You need to eat protein rich foods and a hell of a lot of them!! I know you dont want to become some bodybuilder, but because of your body type, its the only way you will "fill out", if you get what I mean.

As for exercises, the best way is to just look on the internet. Just aim for 3-4 sets of 10 reps. As you are hitting the 9th and 10th rep you want to be struggling a bit. Do 3-4 exercises (3-4 sets for each exercise). I would also advise against doing any cardio for the 1st couple of months as you dont want to lose any weight.

 

[Marc]

*waits for Darksword to come and call me a *****

 

[Tilda]

I am naturally skinny, but I'm not sure I struggle to put on muscle. I went sailing last summer for 2 weeks and was constantly hauling sails, winching, pulling the anchor etc and my arms gained a bit. That was with practicly no effort. And no, I have absolutly no intention of injecting anything

Can you explain the sets/exercises distinction?
Does this mean I get my weights and do 10 curls with one arm, then 10 with the other. Then do that 3-4 times? Or do I then switch to some other move?

 

[confused]

Basically what ya gotta do is: 1. Eat about twice the amount you usually do, fat/protein/carbs etc etc 2. Do very little cardio work 3. Only train the seperate muscle groups about 2-3 times per week with atleast a day rest between the "work-outs" as that is when the muscle grows...

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/
yes i did just google it, but it'll probably help if you ask there more than here imo

 

[Marc]

Exercise means the exericse you are doing, ie, curling a dumbell. Reps means how many times, ie 10. Sets means how many sets of reps, ie 4.

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/dumbellexercises.html

Try this for some exercises

 

[Mikah75]

sets are for e.g.
5x10 sets of sit ups a day, = 50
basically you do a set, rest like 30sec so u dont die, as u cannot just sit there and do likeloads in a row for any exercise

make sure you're getting a lot of protein in your diet, best sources for meals i suggest fish, chicken or turkey .... i dont like fish, but im a chicken addict, can do anything with it
no fried foods or WHITE BREAD!!! no white bread or bagels... they're so bad for you it's incredible.

 

[Marc]

Creatine may also work for you Peter. SOme people it does, some it doesnt. Its strange

 

[evzy]

The other school of thought for bulking up is less reps, more weight - say you can do 4 sets of 10 at 20kg curls , instead do 2 sets of 6 at 40kg - same principle applies to both though - by the last one you should be struggling.

The sit up thing with legs in air slightly bent is called crunches I think - they are very good to be fair and do make you feel like someone has just extended your belly button to 2 foot wide using a stanley knife...

If you are naturally a rake as well you may want to look into diet as well as exercise as you may find eating the right foods will help almost as much as doing the exercise.

Enjoy and welcome to sore all over land!

 

[confused]

max reps you should really be doing are 4-6 anything else and you're using too little weight

 

[Vladamir]

max reps you should really be doing are 4-6 anything else and you're using too little weight

Wrong

4-6 reps = Strength
6-8 reps = Mass
8-15 reps = Definition

Personally Tilda with 26kg on a barbell, you'd probably have very little trouble benching that. I'd stick to press-ups for chest. Though with a barbell you could probably do upright rows to do your rear deltoids (shoulders). If you can get hold of a chin-up bar to go in a doorway it's good for your 'lats.

With regards to diet. Eat clean. Cut the processed crap. I started training heavily and eating strictly about 6 weeks ago, am up over half a stone in that time, i'm a skinny fuck (or was ). You'll put on some excess fat but if you're doing cardio you'll burn it off most likely. Increase your protein and carb intake, most lean meat is full of protein and low in fat = ideal. Try and eat more 'slow' carbs, oats, wholemeal stuff etc.

Anything else just drop me a line

 

[Elkie]

XD. I must say, start off light. wouldn't want to hurt yourself with over 1lb would we now Tilda hihi

you dont know shit ur the big version of gollum i will pm you with info tilda need advice on weights u pm me

 

[Saveus]

tilda u still havnt answered ure pm from me awhile ago....

 

[Bugz]

You won't get a six pack through just doing curls or whatever by the way. Six pacs are also based on body fat. Cardio will help to get a six pac but unfortunately you often lose weight around the rest of your body too so I wouldn't suggest this just yet.

If you want to make muscle and retain it then you need to be training hard and eating alot of protein. The best protein is whey protein, which is mostly recognised for it's ability to retain muscle. Since whey protein is quite hard to get into a diet, I'd recommend something like this:

http://www.monstersupplements.com/store/product_detail-93-lang-1.html

That offers 79 servings per container but I'd suggest 2 scoops instead of the recommended one if you intend to build alot of muscle mass. That's 19 pounds every 40 days. Not too shabby and it will help alot.

As for foods, just stick to the stuff you eat now and slowly build up your calory intake. Bananas, pasta, rice, meat, bread and anything rich in carbohydrates/protein are your main targets. Calory intake is nice but since your main objective isn't to put on weight but rather muscle mass I'd recommend protein over anything else. More protein = more muscle tissue growth.

Now, as for creating the muscle, you need to tear the muscle you already have. This is where alot of people go wrong. I've had so many mates go up to me and say 'I did 200 reps of a 2kg weight.' That's great mate but you just wasted that time in achieving nothing. To tear weight, you need to put yourself to the limit. However, you should use a weight which you can do 10-15 times before it gets challeging. Personally I do 20-30 but I could reduce it to 10-15 if I increased the time I left the weight for each time i rep'ed. As for the amount to use, I use 9kg on a single hand and I only do 2 exercises because I only wish to work on the arms and pecs.

Start off slowly however and don't try to put too much into one night. Rest periods should be 24-48 hours and aching in your arms the morning after your workout means your tearing the muscle which is good.

Finally, work out how to get motivation. You will need it to keep up with weights constantly.

 

[Vladamir]

If you want to make muscle and retain it then you need to be training hard and eating alot of protein. The best protein is whey protein, which is mostly recognised for it's ability to retain muscle. Since whey protein is quite hard to get into a diet, I'd recommend something like this:

http://www.monstersupplements.com/store/product_detail-93-lang-1.html

Yowza, thats pretty expensive stuff :O. I got a 10lb tub for 30 quid about 6 weeks ago, only about half way through it and i'm going through about 150g a day.

As for foods, just stick to the stuff you eat now and slowly build up your calory intake. Bananas, pasta, rice, meat, bread and anything rich in carbohydrates/protein are your main targets. Calory intake is nice but since your main objective isn't to put on weight but rather muscle mass I'd recommend protein over anything else. More protein = more muscle tissue growth.

Your body can only absorb about 60g of Protein every 2 hours or so from what i believe, any more than that and you'll just piss it out. Careful with over-indulging in banana's too, high in potassium, too much is known to cause heart problems over time .

Start off slowly however and don't try to put too much into one night. Rest periods should be 24-48 hours and aching in your arms the morning after your workout means your tearing the muscle which is good.

Good, although not a sign of a good workout as such. You don't *have* to be so sore you can't lift your morning cuppa to your mouth in the morning. Being megasore often means you're overtraining (good) but not resting enough (bad).

Not picking holes Bugz, just giving my input too

 

[Punishment]

If u just wanna put on some extra mass then id recommend any protien shake

Also if u want to build muscle then take some protien shake 1-2 hours before u go to bed every night do a 30mins-1h session of whatever u feel comfortable with while pushing yourself <slightly> as u progress , so that the when u sleep and your body is cooling off it utilises the extra protien and helps u bulk up .

P.S. Carbs in huge quantities are a nono as they build fat ... not muscle , lean protiens and oily fish are the best way to build muscle slowly and in a natural way , whenever u feel like u are hungry and want some nasty excess carbs try a high fibre cereal ... works for me

 

[Steffan-]

With the pole, you can do loads of nice excercises, here's just a couple. First one is nice for shoulders, and you can also do it by going down in front of your head.

The last one is for biceps, and this one can also be done opposite, by holding your hands the other way around.

Dunno if this is of any help, but I were just bored and thought i could make some very nice stick figures in paint xD

PS. the hands are the black "paint" by the pole, and are there to indicate how you should hold em xD Hope you get the picture

 

[Bugz]

Yowza, thats pretty expensive stuff :O. I got a 10lb tub for 30 quid about 6 weeks ago, only about half way through it and i'm going through about 150g a day.

Got a link?

And is it whey protein? ^^

 

[Elkie]

You won't get a six pack through just doing curls or whatever by the way. Six pacs are also based on body fat. Cardio will help to get a six pac but unfortunately you often lose weight around the rest of your body too so I wouldn't suggest this just yet.

If you want to make muscle and retain it then you need to be training hard and eating alot of protein. The best protein is whey protein, which is mostly recognised for it's ability to retain muscle. Since whey protein is quite hard to get into a diet, I'd recommend something like this:

http://www.monstersupplements.com/store/product_detail-93-lang-1.html

That offers 79 servings per container but I'd suggest 2 scoops instead of the recommended one if you intend to build alot of muscle mass. That's 19 pounds every 40 days. Not too shabby and it will help alot.

As for foods, just stick to the stuff you eat now and slowly build up your calory intake. Bananas, pasta, rice, meat, bread and anything rich in carbohydrates/protein are your main targets. Calory intake is nice but since your main objective isn't to put on weight but rather muscle mass I'd recommend protein over anything else. More protein = more muscle tissue growth.

Now, as for creating the muscle, you need to tear the muscle you already have. This is where alot of people go wrong. I've had so many mates go up to me and say 'I did 200 reps of a 2kg weight.' That's great mate but you just wasted that time in achieving nothing. To tear weight, you need to put yourself to the limit. However, you should use a weight which you can do 10-15 times before it gets challeging. Personally I do 20-30 but I could reduce it to 10-15 if I increased the time I left the weight for each time i rep'ed. As for the amount to use, I use 9kg on a single hand and I only do 2 exercises because I only wish to work on the arms and pecs.

Start off slowly however and don't try to put too much into one night. Rest periods should be 24-48 hours and aching in your arms the morning after your workout means your tearing the muscle which is good.

Finally, work out how to get motivation. You will need it to keep up with weights constantly.

Hmm u seem to know abit but you are really scratching the surface protein shakes ect do shit all you need to be old school, also bugz i suggest as you are still 15? that you lower your self down with the weights as it can cause damage and also would be better to consult a trainer

 

[Bugz]

Hmm u seem to know abit but you are really scratching the surface protein shakes ect do shit all you need to be old school, also bugz i suggest as you are still 15? that you lower your self down with the weights as it can cause damage and also would be better to consult a trainer

I never recommended protein shakes. They are fuckin expensive ^^. I mentioned whey protein.

I use a trainer. My dad xD

 

[Elkie]

I never recommended protein shakes. They are fuckin expensive ^^. I mentioned whey protein.

I use a trainer. My dad xD

thats ok then but if your dad is not qualified then hmm unles ofc he has had past experience. When i can get tilda on vent i can draw out a full day plan for him but as you said previously it takes motivation desire and will

 

[Sparda]

when i trained i used to eat a handful or 2 of nuts about a half hour before i started. Lots of protiens low in bad fats and carbs to help you while you workout. everything else the other guys said seams to be spot on

on and 1 more thing, like all pains your body can get used to the ache from training. Just because it doesnt hurt as much the day after doesnt mean your not training as hard. Be very carful you dont over do it or you may pop an elbow, or colar bone.

Trust me that hurts

 

[liloe]

this is a good post =) I got the same problem and it's in the family

 

[Nullifidian]

Here, check out these bad boys.

Don't waste your money on weights Tilda.

 

[Saveus]

waste them on surgery that can keel u! and get infected