**Updated** Starting in the gym (General Fitness Tips)

Member Name: mpeh

Product:	General Fitness Tips
Date:	14/09/01 (542 review reads)
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I started working out in the gym at sixth form college. It was on campus and it was free so it was easy to get to and required no more effort than actually going and changing. I started as a complete novice but quite an athletic background and good fitness. I didn't really go all that often, maybe twice a week to start with but it soon adds up. Now there are a few types of people you find training in the gym, quite like people who write on dooyoo:

Those there for real personal furtherance, they actually want to be stronger for a reason or just for personal improvement. They genuinely aren't there to look good or because it's fashionable. I told myself this is what I was, everyone does.

Those there for fitness because they feel overweight and/or unhealthy and think the gym is the best way to lose it.

Those there to get super bodies to flash at the women as they seem to think women will tear their knickers off at the sight of a rippling bicep. Take it from me lads, this does NOT work at all.

Now, just like dooyoo, most people are in fact a mixture of these. I was genuinely in the gym because more muscle would help me sprint faster and I am a sprinter. Now in hindsight and with honesty I also started because having a decent muscular body appealed to me as well. Still does, and I'm not ashamed of that although society now makes me feel like I should be. I was fit when I started so not point two but most people who go to the gym are there, at least in part, to make themselves look good. Don't lie to yourself that's probably why you're thinking of going or going at the moment.

In this review when I talk about muscle groups I will not be using the term correctly. I will mean the large groups of muscles that tend to work together on exercises in the gym:

Pectorals, shoulders, triceps
Biceps, (shoulders)
buttocks, quadriceps, (calves)
hamstrings, (buttocks)

[those in brack
ets tend to be exercised less than the others in the group]

Before you do any type of exercise it is always advisable to warm up. With weights due to the specifity of he exercises this is even more true than usual. If you are visiting a gym then many have rowing machines. These are very good for warming up on as they use most of your main muscle groups. Take it gently until you feel yourself loosening up. After you are warm, ten minutes gently should be about right, then make sure you stretch your whole body. The easiest way to make sure you don't miss anything is to work from the top down. Stretch your neck, shoulders, both front and back of your arms- often a machine or stand is useful for this, the sides of your body from your armpits to your hips, your upper and lower back, quadriceps (the muscles on the front of your thigh), hamstrings, calves, shins and ankles.

When you go to the gym there are basically two options: Free weights, that's those unattached to anything that can be dropped and cause serious problems and Resistance machines, that's the other lot with seats and handles and weights on strings and pulleys and a whole load of complicated stuff. Different people will tell you different things but this is my opinion I will tell you what I think. There are basically two types of training people do in the gym, power and endurance. Power lifting is where you try to lift the biggest weight you possibly can once. Endurance is where you try to lift a smaller weight as many times as you can. Now I'm a power lifter by definition as I sprint but I have a lot of respect for endurance athletes. Usually each type will tell you that the other type cop out. This isn't true, there's no such thing as an easy option. If you're a man and want big muscles then you'll want to be looking at power lifting and if you're looking for tone and staying smaller, a wiry strength you might call it, generally what women are looking
for then that's endurance stuff. Now I'm not here saying that endurance training is girly (Oh by God no) or that power lifting is a man's domain, there are women who go to the gym at uni who happily power lift.

Now how to start. When power lifting it's better to use free weights, almost exclusively. This is because machines, especially when used for only a few repetitions, are very specific. They work only one muscle group in a relatively unnatural way. So if you use a machine for your triceps instead of exercising all the muscles around the back of your arm as well like a natural action would it only focuses on your triceps. With endurance work outs this isn't so much a problem as when you do lots of repetitions the way you lift changes gradually and you end up working the other muscle groups as well. Also because each lift does less the effect of specific grouping is diminished. In a good gym there will be a sign next to each machine or station (that's what you call the free weights sections) that details how to use it and which muscles the machine will work. Pay attention to these they are very useful. If they don't exist at your gym then make sure you get someone to instruct you on how to use each station it really is worth it, I know you've heard it a thousand times before but you can hurt yourself badly. I have pulled muscles in my back due to bad technique and it was agony, for days honest.

Right, like I said I'm a power athlete mainly, there is some endurance stuff in with what I do but it's sprint endurance as opposed to aerobic exercise. The main difference between power lifting and endurance training is whether you are allowing your muscles to get oxygen whilst they work or not. When you use your muscles effectively what they are doing is burning the fuel your body takes from food and as any science student knows to burn something you need oxygen. The reaction turns the fuel and oxygen into energ
y and waste product, one of which is carbon dioxide which we breathe out. When you train with large weights you immediately require your muscles to be working at close to their maximum allowing them to use oxygen straight away. When you do endurance sets because they take longer and start easier by the time your muscles are working at close to maximum you have already used much of the oxygen available. Power exercise is called aerobic and endurance is called anaerobic. Basically all weight training is about making your body used to a certain level of performance so that you can then push it a little further, then that level becomes more comfortable and so on. This means that if you are a runner you make your body work so hard in the gym that it's easier and more effective (thus faster) when you race.

When power lifting there are a few types of workout that are suggested by various people. A pyramid system or ramp, and a triangular system are the two main ones for power lifting:

Pyramids or ramps. This is fairly simple and is what the name suggests. Starting an exercise with a weight you can easily cope with you do as many repetitions as needed to take you to about 80% effort. Then with a slight rest you increase the weight slightly, say 5kgs or 10kgs and repeat to 80%. Continue this cycle until you are at your maximum weight for only two repetitions. For example Bench press- athlete's maximum lift 110kgs:

60kgs 10 repetitions
70kgs 8 repetitions
80kgs 6 repetitions
90kgs 4 repetitions
100kgs 2 repetitions

This is the ramp. If you are using a pyramidal system then you would 'come back down the other side':

90kgs 2 repetitions
80kgs 4 repetitions
70kgs 6 repetitions
60kgs 10 repetitions

It is often wise to finish an exercise with a 'burn out' or a larger number of repetitions on a low weight to give some balance to your workout as this provides th
e endurance side to the power sets you've been doing. Even if only doing the ramp it may be useful, so in the example to work up from 60kgs to 100kgs and then maybe do a 'burn out' on 50kgs A ramp workout allows you to do more reps on the way up and thus is more power orientated. The pyramid workout is biased slightly more towards the endurance side and is for general fitness a more balanced workout.

In general these systems allow you to exercise most or all of your muscle groups in one visit to the gym. It is always advised that (unless you really know what you're about and have been advised otherwise) you should leave at least 24 hours between training the same muscle group and 48 hours would be better. This allows your muscles to recover and will mean they will perform better the next time you visit the gym maximising the effectiveness of your workout. Obviously there are a few options. You could work only half your muscle groups one session and switch to the other half the next session, this allows your muscles longer to recover and also will shorten the length of any one session in the gym, which may be necessary if you have a time limit or are just busy.

The other system I mentioned: triangular training, is geared to allowing muscle groups to recover. This tends to be a more intense way of working out and I would suggest that you only do this after you are fairly confident that you know what your body can cope with and how to use the gym. This system basically takes each muscle group separately and you then do three exercises in rotation on this one group. For instance the chest, shoulders and triceps (back of arm):

Bench press with a bar
Shoulder press with a bar
Bench press with dumbbells
Bench press with bar
Shoulder press with bar ...

As always it is sensible to warm up on each exercise with a light weight and then to raise the weight as you are comfortable. It is generally unwise to star
t at the maximum weight, make this your third or fourth lift. For example someone whose bench press maximum is 110kgs:

Bench press with bar 50kgs
Shoulder press with bar 25kgs
Bench press with dumbbells 15kgs (each)

Then raise the weight to around 60%:

Bench press 60-70kgs
Shoulder press 35-40kgs
Bench press with dumbbells 20-25kgs (each)

Then raise the weight to nearer maximum and start the rotations properly. You should be aiming to get at least three repetitions out on each exercise each time around the rotation and go around the rotation at least three times. If you cannot manage three repetitions then simply lower the weight slightly until you can manage. It is relatively easy to manage two major muscle groups per session when using this system, for example the chest shoulder group and the buttocks quadriceps group. This relies upon you being in the gym every day or every other day to ensure you work all your major muscle groups well and give them a decent (but not luxurious) time to recover. This is a good system to use if you have enough weights equipment at home as you can do one group in a relatively short time and maybe fit in two sessions on one day.

Right endurance:
Ahh this is where my op is curtailed slightly. Basically I have little experience of endurance training and so am not really qualified to tell you what is best to do in the gym. I will give a brief overview but not to the same depth as I did the power lifting. Many of the same principles apply, you should always give your body time to recover from a work out so as to be capable of achieving your potential the next time. The basic idea of endurance training is to get your muscles used to working on very limited oxygen supply. One of the major waste products from your muscles when they are working is lactic acid. With power training you stop working before too much builds up and so you give your muscles time to deal with it. When
doing endurance training you are creating lactic acid and then working further not only not allowing your muscles to deal with it but actually creating more. This training increases your muscle efficiency meaning that less lactic acid is produced and also that it is dealt with faster. Top endurance athletes can actually 'burn' the lactic acid to produce more energy. Basically this means that when doing endurance training you are trying to build up lactic acid in a particular muscle group and then work through it.

Another major part of endurance training is making sure you are working the cardiovascular system, your heart and lungs. This can be done on many of the machines available in most gyms, the rowing machines, climbers, stepper machines, bikes and a range of others. The one thing I would say here is not to use treadmills for running. If you want to jog do it outside for real. The reason for this is that the jogging machines are unforgiving and can do damage to your joints, ankles, knees and hips. It isn't that they will destroy you immediately (unsurprisingly) but that if you use one regularly you can slowly build up the level of damage on those joints. Another alternative to actually running outside in the real British weather is to use a machine called an elliptical walker. Although it is inadvisable to run on these machines you can turn up the resistance so that it is definitely as hard as running.

A note here, if you are overweight or think you are and are trying to lose it then firstly the gym is not the nest way. Jogging, cycling, and best of all just walking is the best way. Don't starve yourself and don't try to diet unrealistically. Eat sensibly and exercise regularly, walk to work or from lectures home or whatever. If you would have taken the bus or driven then cycle. Start small and work your way up. If you are going to use the gym for losing weight then the best option is the cardio vascular exercises. Take a
small weight and make yourself do the exercise a lot of times or use the rowing machine or do another similar exercise. Doing large weights, power lifting is not a good way to lose weight. What you will do is convert fat to muscle, or even just build muscle up. Fat is less dense than muscle and so this may result in you technically gaining weight although you would expect to see a gain in strength.

Often the most difficult thing about any type of training is just turning up ad making yourself do it. One way to help here is to work as a pair. Find a friend who will make you go, and make them go. This is often a good idea for power lifting as whenever you are working close to your maximum you should have someone to rescue you if you can't complete a lift, this person is a 'spotter'. If working in a pair and power lifting then you can simply take turns on a station and this is you5r recovery period. If doing a cardio vascular endurance work out then it may be better to both be doing different exercises at the same time. If there are more of you then try to split into pairs to do your workouts. If in a three one way of doing a power workout is to have two exercises going on at once and to rotate. There are three people A, B and C and they are doing two exercises Y and Z.

A does Y : B does Z : C rests
C does Y : A does Z : B rests
B does Y : C does Z : A rests
continue to rotate changing the weights as and when necessary.

If you do work in a pair then spur each other on. Always make sure that the person you are spotting or encouraging does as many lifts as they possibly can, don't let them drop the weight down too fast. Most people (myself definitely included here) can lift more than they do they limit themselves on confidence. Try and make them believe that they can lift more and you may find that they can. A little bit of competition can spur people on, if you are roughly the same standard then fine compete but i
f you work out with someone a lot stronger or weaker than you then work out how to help each other. If one person manages to increase weight then the other can take this as encouragement for them to do so too.

Just a quick update, more an addition:

Firstly no power workout is complete without squats. Do them they are really good for you.

I also forgot to say that when you start working out, especially if you use machines and /or are doing power lifting make sure you exercise all your muscles it's very easy to fall into teh trap of only doing arms, legs and chest. Try to do your back, stomach and calves, forearms. Do your back by lying face down on a bench and getting you spotter to sit on yor legs. Extend your torso off the bench and pick up dumbells or a disc weight and hold it against your shoulders. Lower yor body towards the floor and then raise to a little beyond natural postion. Be VERY careful when starting this, if there is a machine for this in the gym then I would make an exception to the general rule I stated earlier and use the machine not free weights for this one.

Your stomach should be done by crunching sideways, never sit right up it's bad for your back. I suggest lying on your back on the floor and placing a dumbell on your shoulder, hold it with the hand on the same side as yor shoulder and support it with the other hand. Make sure your arms are totally relaxed so they are not taking any weight. Crunch your stomach so that both shoulder blades come off the floor. Make sure you do this the sme number of times on each shoulder or you will have uneven abdominals.

To exercise your forearms (and improve your grip strength) get a bar and standing hold it with arms relaxed but so that if you extend your arms infront of you your palms are facing the floor. Bend your arms to raise the bar to your shoulders and as you do so flick your wrists so that the bar rests on your flat palms at the top. Lower teh ba
r and repeat. Eventually raise the weight of the bar. This is an exercise used to practice for clean and jerk.

Another way of exercising your forearm without doing yor biceps this time is to hold a dumbell in each hand whilst resting yor forearms on a flat surface. Simply rotate your wrists, never flick them like you do with the bar, the bar provides a balance and should stop you hurting yorself, the dumbells have no such orientation and you could sprain yourself.

When you do squats you can do calf lifts by pushing yourself onto tip toe and then down. The trouble with this is it can lead to being off balance and with the high weights you can squat this can be dangerous. As with the back exercises I would suggest you might want to use a machine for your calves.

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