Usual ratios of lifts (Squat vs Bench, etc.)

[vlf445]

Drum&Bass, do you mind posting up a bodyweight routine I could do to help prepare for weights? In one week I will not have access to weights for a month anyway, so I may as well take the time to get myself ready for the next step especially if it will help out with my form. I've already been doing pull ups n chin ups for over a year, with my max at about 13 and 15 respectively. I haven't been doing any other bodyweight exercises however, and could use some help in that area.

Currently I do not belong to a gym, I do all these lifts off of a bench press rack I have. My primary focus is form, but I doubt myself as to whether I'm doing it all correctly. I haven't hurt myself yet....but that could just be YET. I have pretty bad posture and wonder how much this affects my lifting form. I do everything in front of a mirror I set up but as a noob I'm probably a terrible judge of what everything is supposed to look like, no matter how many times I have watched videos of each lift.

Since I'm not at a gym, I don't know who to ask about my form. Also, the gym I used to belong to, Lifetime Fitness (one of the only gyms around here) may not be the best place for advice unless I chose the person carefully. There are tons of teenagers runnin around just havin fun instead of lifting seriously. I'm wondering if I should stick to bodyweight stuff for the summer and wait til I'm back at school.

 

[CarlitosWay]

Learning off the experts is a surefire way to learn things quickly and correctly, the only problem is that depending on the gym he goes to, the so called expert may actually be a fool. I know in the commercial gym I used to go to, the biggest/strongest guy there was a loud mouthed bench press hero with chicken legs. And the gym I'm at now, most of the people there are morons with terrible form who make up for it by taking roids. The actual big, strong and clever experts are hard to find amongst the large amount of broskis. So the to the OP, definetly ask for advice at people in your gym, as long as you know that you are at a reputable gym, and the guy you are asking is actually an expert.

So you can always learn a thing or two from any one, they don't have to be "experts". Maybe that big/strong loud mouthed guy could teach some one how to build their upper body/bench up. I know a guy who can't build up his calves (high insertions) for **** and they still suck, rest of his legs are enormous as he trains them real hard regularly, his upperbody mass is his best feature though, yet if he was wearing baggy shorts you would think he's another "bench press hero".

How do you know most of them are taking roids? Just curious, do you actually train with those guys or talk to them regularly? Or just e-ranting?

Anyways OP, Lifetime Fitness, is a huge gym with a big variety of people going to it. You should be able to spot an experienced lifter here or there once in a while.

 

[CaptainJ]

Ofcourse I try to find out more info behind the people before I make judgements.

Yeah I talked with bench press hero once, he said he had been training 5 days a week for the past 10 years. Now if it had taken him 10 years to reach a well developed upperbody, then I'd disregard most of his training advice as it's not efficient or well balanced. The only good piece of advice he gave was one that I already knew, and that was to eat ****loads. Ofcourse this was spread around some of his other gems like "Squatting below parralel will destroy your knees". Yeah I could have learnt a thing or two from him, but those nuggets I would have learnt would have set me back about 8 years in terms of strength training. How is a new guy going to be able to decipher what is good advice and what is bad advice. There's so much broscience at the gym that it's a very hard place to know what's what.

As for my gym, it's got a pretty big rep for the people training there taking roids, my friend knows the staff there who also corroborate this reputation, plus it becomes pretty obvious when you get a lot of guys openly talking about their roid habits there.

Also on the soreness thing, training through soreness is perfectly fine. There's no bad effects from it. Soreness is simply an indicator that your muscles have done something new. So the if it's the first time you have trained in a while, then you'll get sore, but as frequency and consistency increase, that soreness disappears.

 

[Jitterbug]

Learn the basics off a reputable coach first. Then you'll be able to spot the experienced lifter who knows what he's doing. There are plenty of big strong guys who are big & strong DESPITE of how they train.

 

[Drum&Bass]

Drum&Bass, do you mind posting up a body weight routine I could do to help prepare for weights?

A body weight routine isn't necessary. Just do body weight exercises ALL the time, EVERDAY. Be creative on how you do them and have fun with it.

Develop your UPPER BODY first !! work on your legs AFTER you have built up your body.

Follow this basic template:

- Pull Ups and all variations of pulling and rowing exercises FIRST
- Push Ups / Dips and all variations of pushing exercises SECOND
- Legs and all variations of Squats, lunges etc, both quads and hamstring THIRD

- Jumping and Explosive Exercises (clapping push ups, clapping pull ups etc) should be done as much as possible.


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