What exercises should I consider?

[IASGame]

I'm about 1.80 m and 65 kg, that is in Imperial units 5.9 feet and 143 pounds apparently.

I make the effort to do sports: cycling, skating, swimming and flexibility stuff like yoga and apparently have a decent set of lungs thanks to that. I enjoy martial arts but I lean onto the more technique-based ones, the brawniest one I have done was Judo and I can't say I was particularly fond of it.

Apparently every single advice regarding Game starts with getting extra fit.
I could really do with some extra strength as that comes in handy for picking up stuff (I mean objects, not girls).

As a disclaimer, I never went to the gym and I am not sure I will be into it but I'm willing to try.
I'm definitely game to do push-ups and abs though, particularly on an ongoing basis as unlike a gym that doesn't require a membership or having extra stuff around the house!

My own priority would be to get stronger overall (not just arms or upper body). I presume that would unavoidably make my muscles a bit more defined which is a nice secondary bonus. I'm not so keen on bulking up and although I guess that may be more effective in terms of what "girls like" I don't like the bodybuilder look myself and I'm not doing it for the girls. Further I think bulking up would also mess up my flexibility (correct me if I'm wrong).

So while I read up on myofibrillated hypertrophy vs. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and look around for more info on the boards, if anyone cares to make suggestions they are welcomed.

 

[foreverAFC]

try jiu jitsu, its not as hard on the body as judo and its pace is much slower. going to the gym and lifting weights is great, but that should be all extra work. you need a martial art to get into that will constantly push the your body and mind pasts its limits and keep your mind stimulated as well as helping you stay in shape.

lifting at a gym and using machines and weights should be all bodybuilding style, higher reps and sets, focusing on contracting muscle over lifting weight etc.....you want to build up your body and look young well into old age


check out this clip of bodybuilder kai greene explaining the difference between bodybuilding and weight lifting

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7e5_1342056496


also you wont look like a bodybuilder if you dont take steroids, as a natural guy doing bodybuilding you will get lean and muscular, not cartoonish big and your flexibility will be fine

 

[Who Dares Win]

The suggestion you got to practice jiu jitsu is good altough its not gonna give you any huge increase in size or swollen frame.

It will give you a great foundation in terms of cardio and gas but while you will get stronger you wont look like an athlete unless you have a good natural frame to begin with.

I was an ectomorph like you ( tall and skinny long limbs) and jiu jitsu made me stronger overall and more confident and calm, in control of myself and events but surely didnt make me look like a buff dude.

If you want to get a strong pumped body you have to change life style to begin with, a diet which provides all the nutrients you need and a training schedule which will provide you the right stimulus, whatever body you want to have check the athletes who have that body, a sprinter and a cyclist have different bodies because they get different stimuli.

If you dont have particularly high ambitions in terms of look any grappling martial art like jiu jitsu could be a good foundation while if you wanna look like the hot guys on iron man magazine cover you have to skip it and hit the gym seriously.

If you decide to start at the gym dont be afraid to ask for support to the veterans there, all of them was a newbie once and all of them got support from someone else.

To have a training partner or a friend coming with you depends on your personality, I liked it at the beginning for motivation and mutual support but right now I like it more by myself except the random spotter when I push at the bench.

 

[IASGame]

I have done Aikido (fun) and Judo (not so fun) for about 3 years concurrently but not Jiu-Jitsu. I'll give it a try within 1 or 2 months and report here, but I think it is too similar to Judo for me to like it - having other random people so close to me in grappling is a bit unsettling.

My fave has been Karate which I have done for more years, where my lack of strength is somewhat compensated by flexibility, speed and technical skill (when I was in Uni I was good enough to do well in Uni competitions). The problem is it won't take me out of my comfort zone, and from past experience doesn't really help me get that much stronger.

I also want to try the gym to see how it goes as I currently have good conditions to try without committing.

 

[IASGame]

Tried Jiu Jitsu, was ok but not great, they didn't do too much grappling in any case. Will try lifting soon, practically everyone's advice is go lift weights. Already paid the membership.

 

[SeymourCake]

If strength is your goal, then I would recommend incorporating overhead press, barbell press, squats, and deadlifts into your workout regime. Start by doing the SL 5 x 5 program. You add 5 lbs (2.5 lb plates on each side) every week and build strength by doing 5 sets of 5 repetition compound workouts. Your rep range and volume used in the exercise is crucial. Going 1-5 rep range is mostly for strength training, 8-12 is hypertrophy, and 12-15+ for muscle endurance.

Everything you need to know about Strong Lifts 5 x 5 can be found in this wikipedia article. http://stronglifts.com/5x5/

Here is Routine A:

Routine B:

Really simple stuff.

Also, in order to gain strength, you also have to become heavier. The heavier you are, the stronger your lifts increases in correlation. I would suggest being on a caloric surplus. You can get the "MyFitnessPal" app on your smart phone to track calories. The free app also allows you to scan the barcode of the food and calculates the calories for you. It's a really neat app. I would recommend getting it.

There's actually an app for the SL 5 x 5 routine as well. I would recommend getting it. It's free, but it has features that requires a small amount of money.

"Workout A: Squat, Bench Press, Barbell Row
Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift,

You train three times a week, alternating workout A and B, and resting at least one day between two workouts. You never train two days in a row because your body needs days off to get stronger. Most guys train Monday, Wednesday, Friday. But you can lift Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. As long as you train three times a week, and take at least one day off between two workouts for your body to recover, you’ll get stronger. The first time you do StrongLifts 5×5 you start with workout A. Two days later you do workout B. So first week is A/B/A, second week B/A/B, third week A/B/A, and so on.
Read more: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/#Summary_of_Stronglifts_52155"

 

[IASGame]

Thanks for the tips Seymour.

Since WDW mentioned the ectomorph thing, I had looked online while the forum was down and was wondering about this:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ectomorph_pyramid_training.htm
10-8-6-15 program apparently.

5x5 (5-5-5-5-5) is easier to remember, certainly.

Frankly doing anything is better than wondering about it so I'll try to get started this week with whichever routine.

 

[ProDJ26]

It really comes down to what you're eating
Focus on the diet first then training

 

[IASGame]

I went to the gym today but it was chock full. The first time I want to go check out the power rack and figure it out, there weren't any free and frankly it was intimidating. I went home but I did push-ups and squats. Want to try to go to the gym early morning on Thursday to have a look at the power rack.

For a newbie like me, I want to also point the amount of detail that StrongLifts5x5 has on proper form is intimidating. As I'm starting out with the empty barbell (20 kg) for most exercises I think that I won't mess myself up, but damn. I already saw several videos and such but it isn't something that one just memorises in one go.

 

[AttackFormation]

For a newbie like me, I want to also point the amount of detail that StrongLifts5x5 has on proper form is intimidating. As I'm starting out with the empty barbell (20 kg) for most exercises I think that I won't mess myself up, but damn. I already saw several videos and such but it isn't something that one just memorises in one go.

What videos have you watched? can you link them?

 

[IASGame]

Sure, I mostly follow the link above for stroglifts5x5 and explored it.

Either click here
http://stronglifts.com/5x5/
and scroll down until you see the workout A and workout B video.

Or...
Workout A:

Workout B:

For the squats, I checked the page on form:
http://stronglifts.com/squat/
it is quite long with lots of stuff that can go wrong.

 

[thatfeel]

Don't think too hard on it, for squat, you should do a high bar squat instead of following low bar. Low bar squatting is kind of a meme these days. If your form isn't great at higher weight with low bar squat there is a greater chance of really hurting your lower back.

High bar squat(honestly, the high bar squat should just be called the "normal" squat..)trains the actual legs(like your quads) a lot harder and the movement is better for getting used to keeping your chest up, back straight, core tight, etc in the lift.

Only things you should focus on when starting squats or whatever are: start really light, literally, like just the bar. It doesn't matter if you're in the gym squatting just the bar, no one cares. Just get it done. "Break" at your knees and just sit straight down into the squat. The weight of the bar will force your ankles into the flexion required even if it feels like you aren't going to make it all the way down. Begin your ascent when your thighs are parallel/slightly below parallel to the floor. At the beginning of each lift(before you go down), take in a swift breath of air and push your abs/core out as hard as you can and maintain that through the lift. If you absolutely must breathe out do it at the bottom of the lift AND take in another breath/retighten before your ascent. Ideally you should be able to hold your breath for the duration of each rep. This "activates" your "internal belt".

The only two lifts out of SL that I would consider highly technical and warrant time being spent watching many videos are the overhead press and deadlift. Just look up "dead lift omar isuf" and "overhead press omar isuf" and watch his instructional videos.

 

[IASGame]

Started SL5x5 today, was more fun that I thought it would be.
I had a bit of trouble with the barbell rows. Need to figure out the form on that one, I think I was sort of doing more work with the legs than I should.

The overhead press and deadlift are a bit scary, for workout B.

 

[thatfeel]

Did you do the rows with the empty bar or did you use the proper weight as instructed in the documentation. Key things for the rows are, keep your back as parallel to the floor as possible, explode on the way up. Ideally you want the bar to touch your nipple line. Keep in mind these are actually pendlay rows not conventional barbell rows, you should be performing each rep from the floor with a slight pause.

good vid:

Also, if you're starting SL5x5 as a complete newb, you should really try and focus on keeping everything tight through all of the lifts. Those habits will carry over and help you out A LOT especially when the weights get higher. This is a big thing on bench press. I see way too many guys in the gym using the most lazy and sloppy form, their backs flat against the bench, legs just kind of out there, half reps. Etc, all garbage.

So for example the optimal "stance" you would take for a bench press is to retract your scapula as hard as you can and drive them into the bench. Arch your lower back just enough for a flat hand to pass under it and use this to drive your feet into the ground. You would be surprised at how much better your bench can get by using something as simple as proper leg drive as opposed to just picking the bar up off the rack and trying to get it back up. It really helps when you get to higher weight. The key with everything here is control.

It's kind of like riding a motorcycle. The instructor I had for the riding course would always tell us that our "input" into the controls of the bike would dictate the "output" we got from the bike..., e.g. sudden and jerky application of brakes, sporadic and jerky throttling, turning the handlebars too aggressively in too short of a time frame all leading to sub-optimal riding conditions and outcomes. The same concept applies, if you're loose and not tight, and if you don't have control over the movements and the weights, you're going to end up leaking a lot of power and force.

Try not to pvssy out, lol. I just saw your other post in the thread about how you went home cause the gym was full. No one gives two ****s how much weight you can lift. Hell, people actually care more about watching people use proper form than they care about how much weight they lift. Not even just yesterday as I was waiting for the rack to free up, this tool was squatting like ~260 or something, of course, doing half reps(not even hitting close to parallel). When he finished I stripped all that **** off, warmed up, etc, got up to my working weight which was 145lb(the most I've ever squatted was 255 but I got lazy and haven't lifted for like a year). Had good form etc. When that guy left some other dude came up to me and told me how painful it was to watch that other guy squat half-reps and how it was hilarious that he tried to use so much weight with such garbage form, and, commended me on my form. But again, no one really cares. Everyone in the gym is inside their own head.

 

[IASGame]

Damn it now that I think of it I did it with 40 kg by mistake. It was supposed to be 30 kg but I had a green plate on each side. No wonder I was having trouble with form.

I was alternating with a guy that arrived after me and didn't think twice, just removed his extra yellow plates and kept 10 kg on each side (should have been 5 on each side).

 

[IASGame]

About continuing fair point, although I think it was still fair to get out the first time. I actually don't care that much about what other people think about me, it was still intimidating for several reasons. I never even had seen a power rack and fumbling around on it if I had asked someone to let me alternate would make me feel crappy regardless of what others were thinking about me.

Today I had an empty rack when I arrive so I was looking around at it for a few mins. Because the gym was half-empty a guy nearby on one of the machines came to me, asked if I wanted help and showed me how to adjust the rack height. Then I asked him about the safety pins and indeed there were pins but they were lying on the floor next to another rack.

With everything mounted on I was looking at the tablet for videos on form while sitting on the bench and another guy came and asked me if I was using the rack. I told him I was about to start, but he could alternate with me (the dude from SL 5x5 videos said to ask to alternate if you got to the gym and the rack was in use so I thought that was fair enough to let others do it when I had a rack). It was good for me as he helped me out a bit re-adjusting the height of the rack and so on - worth the little bit extra waiting time, although I have to say it was a bit annoying moving the bench in and out when I was bench pressing.

At a certain stage a guy came to ask if the bench was in use and I told him I needed for a couple more times, he spotted I was doing SL5x5, smiled and showed me the app on his phone as well.

I'm posting the above so that if any other newbies read this to be encouraged to go for it and try.

 

[IASGame]

Workout B complete. I had a bit of trouble with form on Overhead press and Deadlift but I'll improve. On the press, my wrists were tending to go backwards but I kept mindful of that. On the deadlift I got confused with myself whether to bend/unbend the knees before or after using the hip, going up and down is in the reverse order for proper form.

I thought the Deadlift was going to be harder (given that it starts at 40 kg - although I did the Rows with 40 kg by mistake as said above).

This is good stuff but I have to ask, I travel a lot and that gets in the way of rigorously going to the gym 3 times a week (sometimes I'm even away for some weeks). What can I do about it other than just unweighted squats / push-ups and other body weight exercises? Going to a gym away from home is not economical or convenient...

 

[thatfeel]

Is this travel apart of your job? I can't imagine a position with any employer where you're required to travel a lot for work and where you don't make decent bank. Companies don't tend to spend a lot of travel expenses on their less-paid employees AFAIK. If you make decent money I would honestly just deal with the fact that you might have to pay one time fees for gyms when you're on the move.

Anyway, some tips on the lifts.

OHP is a bit tricky, it's really easy to turn it into a standing incline bench press, not kidding, lol. Absolutely lock your legs shoulder width apart, keep them as rigid as possible and your core tight. This is a little weird to describe but when you're standing straight up, push your hips/ass forward to the point where your entire body is completely aligned top to bottom. When you unrack the bar for the OHP and are getting ready to perform, your starting position is always right on your clavicle. The bar should be in your palms more or less, this makes it easier to ensure you're lifting with your upper body and NOT your lower back. When you breathe in keep everything as tight as possible and control the weight on the way down.

For deadlifts, it helps a lot of people to think of it as a traditional "pull" exercise(like a row or whatever). The reason for this is because, to help keep your form strict and good, you want to keep the bar as close to your body as you can throughout the lift. The "pull" part comes into play when you begin the lift. So think of the lift as if you're "sitting back" and pulling the bar towards you(even as you begin to stand).

Typically you begin to extend your legs into the locked out standing position as the bar reaches your knees, keeping your spine in a neutral position, not rounding and not hyper-extending. Same applies when you're resetting the weight, you lower the bar keeping your spine neutral and bend the knees again as the bar reaches your knees. Take in a breath right before you perform the lift and tighten everything, exhale at the end of the lift(when the weight is back on the floor) or at the top if you need to, just be sure you re-tighten before you lower the weight again.

And for god's sake, don't be one of those guys that tries to rep out their DL's with garbage form, it's a DEADlift, not a tap-and-go-lift. Reset the weight, reset your body, and go again, thinking of it always like a pull towards you.

With regards to your grip on the bar in relation to your shoulders/lats, grab the bar with your scapula retracted, don't ever let your shoulders roll forward. It weakens your overall position in relation to the bar and the bar path, and, it also increases the range of motion.

Hope that helps at all.

 

[RecoveringNiceGuy]

Personally, I never made much progress on 5x5. I think it doesn't have enough volume or frequent enough workouts.

I workout with 8-12 sets increasing the weight for each set. I start with 10 reps, then the next workout for that body part 8, then 5, then 3, then 1.

For example, on Monday I did bench press for:

135x3
185x3
195x3
205x3
215x3
225x3
235x3
245x3
255x3
265x3
275x3
290x3

Then today I did pretty much the same workout, just with singles all the way up to 320 lbs and maybe Tuesday I'll do sets of 10 up to 255 or so. Same with the other exercises, overhead press, deadlifts, squats, rows, and of course the best for last, curls!

Of course, if you're new to weight lifting just focus on form and consistency right now, but if in a few months your progress starts to slow definitely consider adding more sets and sets with lower reps if you're looking to build strength.

 

[thatfeel]

5x5 tends to work a lot better for beginners then it does for advanced lifters as the purpose of the routine is to add weight every workout. The annoying guy who made the SL 5x5 workout has a quote that's like "now obviously you can't add weight indefinitely, that would be too easy". Implying that once you start to get the point where deloads and what not aren't helping you progress, you're ready for an advanced routine. 5x5 helped me get a decent base quickly for my relatively small size and given the fact that I don't really eat much, but I had trouble getting past 250lb for 5x5. Imo, for me, there just wasn't enough recovery to cope with that in respect to how little I ate. (wasn't starving myself or anything but I wasn't on an active bulk or whatever...just ate regularly)