# Starting to lift weights



## bonz (Jun 6, 2007)

Generally I'm quite an active person, I love mountain biking and swimming, as I walk a lot too so cardio is pretty good. I've always had trouble gaining weight though, even without exercising. I'm pretty short 5'6, and weigh in around 63 Kgs.

The odd thing is, my thighs, calfs, and biceps are freakishly big, always has been since I was a kid. But, my forearms, shoulders, chest, pecs, body frame has very little muscle mass, and I'm slim, so my body just looks out of proportion in an odd way.

My goal is to build my upper body, shoulders and forearms. I don't want to get real bulky, just to look average.

I have 5 kg dumbells, but not too sure about reps, sets and breaks.

So far I do 3 different types of push ups. Standard, shoulder length and tight to chest making a diamond with fingers.

I do 15 reps, 3 sets with 10 second breaks. Is that recommended?

I also do the same patterns for forearm curls back and front, lifting from shoulder above head, and bicep curls.

Is this a pretty good workout? I don't want to spend much time on this as I much prefer recreational exercise rather than weights. :um


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## WhatBITW (Jan 26, 2013)

I don't know man, you're probably going to find that doing few exercises like that is just going to firm up your muscles, maybe it'll add a little mass to start with and some definition but you can't keep making gains with one set of dumbbells. At least that's what I found before I joined a gym.


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## Romanenko (Oct 14, 2013)

High reps don't firm muscles contrary to popular belief. You can do high reps but you must progressively overload the muscle to stimulate growth. Stimulated muscles grow and the skin around them stretches causes them to appear "toned." So don't waste your time with firming exercies like that.


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## scribe (Mar 8, 2011)

I'm trying to build up my thighs but nothing seems to work. Squats didn't do crap for me, lunges either. I'm trying jump squats with dumbbells to see if that will do anything.


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## stewartoo7 (Mar 6, 2013)

you can try all body weight workouts look them up on youtube they will help you to get some good tone and bulk as 5kg dumbbells wont do anything


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## twitchy666 (Apr 21, 2013)

Really want fullsize punchbags
No skipping rope, please

I hate my spindly forearms
they are seriously difficult to work on - small muscles are hard to bulk on. 
I've had wrist and elbow trouble
No accidents. It's hard to live with long term symptoms - driven by my goal and didn't expect to harm myself

Pull-ups are my no.1 activity
deadlift from ground to overhead has no problem with any muscle, joint or connecting ligaments. That's a blessing. I can push anything
But either 35 solid years of mouse / keyboard usage and lifting my 70.9kg at 175cm tall in any coordination of hand wrist - behind or front of head and grips wide or closer in or perpendicular axis - palms toward ears or knucles up...

poor wrist

The elbow bursa, facing towards during bicep flex, is sensitive

I need a proper solution . GP next month


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## Francis91 (Oct 2, 2013)

I have found that eating right is a very important part of gaining muscle. One important aspect of eating right is avoiding processed foods and eating more natural foods. I think this has helped me gain more muscle recently.


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## Francis91 (Oct 2, 2013)

Also, there are some forearm exercisors on Amazon. I have the IronGym one.


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## lesedwards (Oct 7, 2013)

low reps high weight > high reps low weight

Because strength, mass (to an extent) and lean muscle. High reps is usually for more endurance stuff.

Make dem gains


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## bonz (Jun 6, 2007)

I think I'm just going to stick with mixed pushups and recreational fitness. I can't bring myself doing weights :|


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## arao6 (Jul 12, 2013)

Francis91 said:


> I have found that eating right is a very important part of gaining muscle. One important aspect of eating right is avoiding processed foods and eating more natural foods. I think this has helped me gain more muscle recently.


^ this.


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## ASB20 (Jun 5, 2013)

lesedwards said:


> low reps high weight > high reps low weight
> 
> Because strength, mass (to an extent) and lean muscle. High reps is usually for more endurance stuff.
> 
> Make dem gains


This, plus the nutrition one. Right on.

I'm a weightlifter, and I can say that pushups are awesome. They're a good endurance exercise as far as your upper body goes, but they're also good for building (and maintaining) muscle without weights. I would, however, add a little more break time than 10 seconds. I usually like 30 secs between sets. With that, I'd see if you can move up to at least 20-25 reps a set. If you can't hit that just yet, make it a goal and slowly build up - add another rep to each set every day, for instance.

I like what you're doing as far as bicep/forearm curls and overhead press. I'd recommend, if you have a futon or something, extending that to dumbbell chest press as well, which will help build your pecs more. Additionally, overhead tricep extensions (one arm at a time) will help isolate and build tricep muscle, which will definitely add to your arm's mass.

You'll need to build weight over time, naturally - 5kg dumbbells won't cut it forever, so if you can either hit a gym or progressively buy bigger weights, that's awesome. If not, if there's a public park with a pull-up bar or something, take full advantage. Additionally, there are exercises you can do without weights (such as dips - I've done them on chairs, although that's not exactly the safest thing ever as far as stability of the chairs goes) that will help build your upper body mass.

But nutrition's huge. Make sure you get protein in between 15-40 mins after your workout (preferably towards the earlier time in that range) in order to take advantage of your body's repair of the muscle tissue. Drink a lot of water, too.

If you really want an exercise that doesn't require money but will build your upper body, take a cue from Michael Phelps and hit the pool. Slowly work your way towards swimming a mile straight, with different strokes (breast stroke's a killer for upper body).


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## dcaffeine (Oct 26, 2013)

Hey good to hear that you started lifting. Trust me, it is one of the best decisions you can make. If you have access to a squat rack, and a bench, i recommend Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. Focus on compound lifts, such as squat, bench, deadlift, rows, overhead press, and pullups. The rep range depends on what you are wanting to get out of lifting. But i'd look up the 5/3/1 program if i were you.


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## guppy88 (Nov 12, 2010)

bonz said:


> I think I'm just going to stick with mixed pushups and recreational fitness. I can't bring myself doing weights :|


Bonz please pm me. I'm a certified coach. There's too much silly bs to talk over on here.


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## guppy88 (Nov 12, 2010)

dcaffeine said:


> Hey good to hear that you started lifting. Trust me, it is one of the best decisions you can make. If you have access to a squat rack, and a bench, i recommend Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. Focus on compound lifts, such as squat, bench, deadlift, rows, overhead press, and pullups. The rep range depends on what you are wanting to get out of lifting. But i'd look up the 5/3/1 program if i were you.


Yeah, Jim Wendler kicks ***.


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## nrelax11 (Jun 9, 2013)

lesedwards said:


> low reps high weight > high reps low weight
> 
> Because strength, mass (to an extent) and lean muscle. High reps is usually for more endurance stuff.
> 
> Make dem gains


All depends on your ratio of muscle fibers in your muscles. Good way to test it for say biceps. Curl the heaviest weight you can for one rep and then curl 80% of that weight. If can only do a smaller amount.of reps, your muscle is mostly fast twitch and higher amount ia slow twitch. For fast twitch you want to go heavier with lower reps, like 4-7. I did this with my biceps and once I found out they were fast twitch and I worked them correctly, they started growing really quick and my strength has increased ten fold. You can do this with whatever muscle you want.


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## HanSolo (Jul 5, 2013)

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

lots of good info and experience there. I've had to slack right off the weights lately which is sad.....hope to start again soon


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I like doing 40-100+ reps for some reason.

I did pushups the other day first time in over a week some how I managed to do 120 reps 10 sec break another 20 10sec break 20 more drop down to my knees 20 girl push ups.

Waited 5+ minutes banged out 70 diamond push ups.

First set was 40% over my normal max 2nd set was 50% over my normal rep range.

I guess the extra long break I had help increased my range.

Then after that I was doing jump lunges all on my work break lol.

Screw smoking.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

dont to 5/3/1, 5x5, or full body routines please

do push pull legs, or a similar brosplit instread.

get a gym subscription for 20 dollars a month if you can afford it. if not then you'r egonn have to find a park and do bodyweight stuff or go to a local school


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> I like doing 40-100+ reps for some reason.
> 
> I did pushups the other day first time in over a week some how I managed to do 120 reps 10 sec break another 20 10sec break 20 more drop down to my knees 20 girl push ups.
> 
> ...


video of you doing 70 diamond pushups and 120 pushups please

i dont believe you lol


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## aidenmoore (Aug 10, 2013)

I can't even do 1 proper push up.. I suck q-q


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

legday said:


> video of you doing 70 diamond pushups and 120 pushups please
> 
> i dont believe you lol


Well I don't have any video to validate my claims lol. I was withdrawing off smoking that might of helped a bit and the weight I've lost recently. I used to be able to do 140 pushups at 170lb and have a 240lb benchpress 2-3 years ago.

I dunno if I could bench that anymore.

I just been diving into the 179lb range. I'm aiming for 140-165ish weight.

Recently I've been doing weighted dips with 50lb and chinups no weights yet. I kinda don't like how they develop the back and chest they give ya that inflated chest and lat syndrome but they increase strength the most I think.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> Well I don't have any video to validate my claims lol. I was withdrawing off smoking that might of helped a bit and the weight I've lost recently. I used to be able to do 140 pushups at 170lb and have a 240lb benchpress 2-3 years ago.
> 
> I dunno if I could bench that anymore.
> 
> ...


i think your form/depth is bad, sorry bro but you dont have much muscle; 140pushups? I don't believe


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

legday said:


> i think your form/depth is bad, sorry bro but you dont have much muscle; 140pushups? I don't believe


As I said normally I do 80-90 push ups and 30 diamonds+ the lengthen break I had in combination with quitting smoking gave me extra strength and endurances.

Nothing impossible. If you can get into 140 rep range with pushs up at 170 you could probably bench 240lb all those reps translate into strength upsteam.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> As I said normally I do 80-90 push ups and 30 diamonds+ the lengthen break I had in combination with quitting smoking gave me extra strength and endurances.
> 
> Nothing impossible. If you can get into 140 rep range with pushs up at 170 you could probably bench 240lb all those reps translate into strength upsteam.


no.. some things are impossible, for instance someone with almost no muscle do over 30 diamond pushups after 90 pushups. Hell I bet you can only do 20 normal pushups.

should be easy to set up a camera from phone or computer while you do it and then post it


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

legday said:


> no.. some things are impossible, for instance someone with almost no muscle do over 30 diamond pushups after 90 pushups. Hell I bet you can only do 20 normal pushups.
> 
> should be easy to set up a camera from phone or computer while you do it and then post it


Oh really lol. You calling me out?

Muscle mass is irrelevant the boby is mostly water and muscle retains memory you don't need to be huge to be strong. In the end what would you rather be 140 or 300? Honestly I think the lighter dude could move twice as fast as the bigger guy and is probably way better in the sack and probably have less health problems down the road.


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## Bookashade (May 22, 2013)

There is a difference between strength, mass and endurance, a skinny guy with alot of endurance can probably do more pushups than a mass monsters with all his weight.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> Oh really lol. You calling me out?
> 
> Muscle mass is irrelevant the boby is mostly water and muscle retains memory you don't need to be huge to be strong. In the end what would you rather be 140 or 300? Honestly I think the lighter dude could move twice as fast as the bigger guy and is probably way better in the sack and probably have less health problems down the road.


uh.. LOL

offensive lineman can run faster 40 times than your *** buddy

and I never said size = strength, but size does help strenght for sure. Pushups however become harder with size bcus you're moving more weight. I still don't believe that you can do 120 pushups or whatever you said because you look completely unathletic and out of shape.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

You lookin at the right picture lol.

So line man can run 400 miles per hour ya right.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> You lookin at the right picture lol.
> 
> So line man can run 400 miles per hour ya right.












that you? the kid with the flat line of a back who isn't even flexing correctly?

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/2/...ults-top-offensive-lineman-40-yard-dash-times

I bet you run a 5.5 or greater lol


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

Here's an old pic of my back. This is not a great back. Granted the camera this was taken with is quite poverty, my back in this picture wasn't very thick.










Notice however, that it is much better than your back


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## Beingofglass (May 5, 2013)

This thread started out with good intentions but then.. lol.

Internet tough Guys.


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

Don't forget to protein up


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

legday said:


> that you? the kid with the flat line of a back who isn't even flexing correctly?
> 
> http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/2/...ults-top-offensive-lineman-40-yard-dash-times
> 
> I bet you run a 5.5 or greater lol


For one I never even trained my back. I just thought I put some back pictures on cause I liked them. lol the pose is suppose to be back and triceps.

2nd Your pictures is so blurred wtf.

I don't do shrugs I don't do deadlifts. I do some back rows with cables and just started doing chin ups. I can do 8 now. I don't like how chinups are developing my lats so I might stop those next. Some muscles just look better under develop I think.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> For one I never even trained my back. I just thought I put some back pictures on cause I liked them. lol the pose is suppose to be back and triceps.
> 
> 2nd Your pictures is so blurred wtf.
> 
> I don't do shrugs I don't do deadlifts. I do some back rows with cables and just started doing chin ups. I can do 8 now. I don't like how chinups are developing my lats so I might stop those next. Some muscles just look better under develop I think.


1) if you dont train your back you're a potato
2) yeah the camera is bad andi was probably shaking a little
3) dont have to do deadlifts
4) you should do shrugs for traps
5) you should do barbell rows or bent-over dumbell rows, and also lat pull downs at least
6)that pose is not in any bodybuilding magazine, I think you went full potato with it


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Well I do eat potatos with every meal. But! I am not a potato lol.

Think I like rows the best standing ones with the cables and the cross arm dual cable pull for the rear of the shoulders and the back. I think im gonna try light weights with super high reps this and next week before jumping back on low reps heavy weight.

I don't get how I can do so many push ups but only rep 165 5 times. I get way more jacked from them pushups tho. 165 hurts way more. 

Is there anyway I can cross train super high endurance and strength? Like 2 sets endurances 2 sets low reps would that work?


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## aidenmoore (Aug 10, 2013)

I like potato..


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## fitnesstips (Nov 6, 2013)

Perform exercise pairs in alternating fashion. So you'll do one set of first, rest, then one set of second, and repeat for the prescribed sets.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> Well I do eat potatos with every meal. But! I am not a potato lol.
> 
> Think I like rows the best standing ones with the cables and the cross arm dual cable pull for the rear of the shoulders and the back. I think im gonna try light weights with super high reps this and next week before jumping back on low reps heavy weight.
> 
> ...


you arent anywhere close to being jacked, your workouts are awful, i hope you make progress but im not sure u will


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

legday said:


> you arent anywhere close to being jacked, your workouts are awful, i hope you make progress but im not sure u will


You ain't jacked either spaghetti back.

I'm cutting if you didn't know gaining well cutting is a lot harder then bulking. I make progress everytime I've worked out.

I'm just coming off 3 weeks of smoking so my endurance and strength are back at a all time high.

I've lost 40lbs in 4 months and your on here giving me lip lol.

What makes you think you know what my goals are? I'm just aiming for good health and could care less how much muscle I have only how well I feel is what important.

Honestly your lats and traps made me wanna vomit. Freak.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

GotAnxiety said:


> You ain't jacked either spaghetti back.
> 
> I'm cutting if you didn't know gaining well cutting is a lot harder then bulking. I make progress everytime I've worked out.
> 
> ...


LOL spaghetti back? what the **** is spaghetti back and you haven't even seen a pic of my back thats from like a yr ago.

fact of the matter is you should hvae beginner gains for lifting and your back looks like it has no muscle at all; your form on pushups and many other exercises is chit which is the reason you aren't buliding muscle.

losing weight has nothing to do with lifting, it's all dieting.

and if you dont care about muscle then you shouldn't be giving advice on lifting, because lifting is a movement designed to gain muscle. Especially when you don't know chit about lifting. Boy i probably curl more than you shrug


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## Cold Blooded (Nov 5, 2013)

Everything has pretty much been covered but just wanted to say good luck. Exercise is a great confidence booster.

Just remember not to neglect your legs, too many people just focus on their upper body.

Squats, squats and more squats


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

legday said:


> LOL spaghetti back? what the **** is spaghetti back and you haven't even seen a pic of my back thats from like a yr ago.
> 
> fact of the matter is you should hvae beginner gains for lifting and your back looks like it has no muscle at all; your form on pushups and many other exercises is s*** which is the reason you aren't buliding muscle.
> 
> ...


Dude you don't know chit either then. So your saying I can't lift weights well cutting down. Okaay then how do body builders maintain musclemass well there getting ready for a contest they keep on lifting duh. So shut your hole.

Shruging is one of the easiest exercises to do any retard can hold 400+lb with there grip strength. I bet all your gains are from hitting puberty. I don't train traps or lats cause I think they look gross.

Why don't you post a current picture then mucho man lol.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

when did i say not to lift while cutting? YES you lift, but the difference between bulking and cutting is DIET.

to lose weight, you dont have to lift, you just have to eat less than maitanence calories; lifting is just for muscle.

and lol id love to see a video of you shruggin 400lbs; and my avi is a recent picture


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Yeah I know my lifting weights had nothing to do with my weightloss it was my diet of course. I did gain strength and muscle in some areas well losing weight it just comes much slower then a bulk. Mostly changed my diet on the discovery of food allergies and the weight dropped effortlessly.

What rep range do you like to train in?


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

depends

Sometimes I will try to pyramid up to a max for compound exercises; generally I will be in the 8-10 rep range, though sometimes I'll work 12-20 reps for shoulders and warmups.

I try to work my way up each workout and push myself to go heavier while keeping good form and staying at at least 6-8 reps unless i specifically am trying to max out which is rare.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I dunno what the hell I've been doing lately. I gotta get back into the game and get a job that has a 2pm starting shift so I can lift in the mornings and work in the evenings. I think that would be the best instead of this 9-5 crap. Evening workouts are kinda chapped unless I go for a nap before I go or something. Only manage to workout Monday and Tuesday this week.

Im trying something different I wanna incorporate the way I train my chest to every muscle but I wanna include strength reps.

Last time I went to the gym I did alternating dumbbell lifts with 20lb for high reps like 50 each arm it made my arms so vascular compared to low rep's then after that i hit them with the 25 same way then I tried doing low rep's but was to tired to do them.

Im gonna test out a new training style of 1-3reps 80-100%rep maxium with 10-15reps 30-50% rep maxium rest pause 10-30 second break to failure then I can hit both muscle fibers in one mega set for strength endurance. I tried this last night and I literally couldn't do anymore after 5 minutes my arms was tanked even with a 10min break after my arm was dead for a 2nd hybrid set.


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

not going to try to convince u but ive never heard anyone get big on 50 rep sets

20 reps is the max i've heard of, and I didn't even believe in that until recently.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

What are your lifts at?


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## legday (Nov 3, 2013)

Bench: 80pd dumbells x3
Squat: 245pds (sucks cus of injuries, im getting it back)
ROMANIAN deadlift (different than standard olympic deadlifts): not sure exactly, 225ish

my strength isnt very good, but my buddy is gonna help me with it even though i dont really care.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Yeah I was something similar to that. I'm trying something new so I'm not gonna focus on numbers yet. The bottom heel of my foot been bruised and injured I'm walking with a limp cause it hurts. I might need to go to the doc and get an xray I dunno wtf going on with it. It been hurting for a month.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

Just lifting alot of heavy things has helped me gain strength and build a little muscle.


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

What did I just...


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## DeeperUnderstanding (May 19, 2007)

Good for you!


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## Anton22 (Apr 15, 2013)

I'm trying to develop up my hip and legs but nothing seems to perform. The squat didn't do junk for me, runs either. I'm trying leap squats with weight loads to see if that will do anything.

premierfitnessolutions gym


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