Weight Lifting Guide - Everything You Need To Know - Page 22

quote Justin

Hey! I stopped going to the gym routinely but would still like to work on abs. Is there any work outs I could do just at home for and and still develop them?

Key word is at home here. I still go to the gym here and there, but I'd like a more permanent way of working out on abs.

Can you define, 'work on abs'? Do you want to keep a visible six pack without going to the gym? If so, doing an easy couple of sets of abs per day and being very meticulous with your diet is the most important thing. Keep in mind that without working out your other muscles, they will shrink and you may lose muscle elsewhere on your body, depending on what your body was like before you started working out.

I suppose you need to decide why you don't want to workout any more. Is it the cost of the gym membership? Are you bored with your routine? Is it taking up too much of your time? Depending on the reason, there are many possible solutions, such as working out at home, getting a cheaper gym membership, swapping to a less time consuming routine etc.

If that's the case, depending on your current physique you may be surprised how little you need to do to maintain a decent amount of muscle with say a chinup and dip bar at home, plus some other bodyweight exercises and maybe a few pairs of DBs. Sure you can't do everything, but a 30 minute full body workout 3x/week at home would help keep you leaner and muscular than just a few ab exercises each day.

quote someguyrocks

Zeek

Hey awesome guide man so cheers for your hard work!
i was just wondering tho, i know deadlifts work both your back and hamstrings but my back pulled up a bit sorer than i thought it would after the work out i had yesterday.
i didn't feel as though the weight was too heavy but maybe you have some tips or advice which could work this out for me?

It could just be your body adapting to the stress of a new exercise (which is why you should always start light on a new exercise and build up) or it could be a technique problem. Can you take a video of yourself doing the lift and post it?

quote someguyrocks

quote HBK619

quote someguyrocks

Zeek

Hey awesome guide man so cheers for your hard work!
i was just wondering tho, i know deadlifts work both your back and hamstrings but my back pulled up a bit sorer than i thought it would after the work out i had yesterday.
i didn't feel as though the weight was too heavy but maybe you have some tips or advice which could work this out for me?

It could just be your body adapting to the stress of a new exercise (which is why you should always start light on a new exercise and build up) or it could be a technique problem. Can you take a video of yourself doing the lift and post it?

actually yeah that sounds about right, i think i started off a bit heavy and it was my first time in a while so i'll just start off light and build up. I don't actually have any equipment i can use to tape myself doing the deadlift but i try to maintain a straight if not slightly arched inwards back whilst doing it
cheers for ur help man

Your phone doesn't have any video recording function?

Otherwise here is a good quick video, this book provides a lot of technical detail on how to do the lifts, or if you want more visual instruction, this DVD covers the five main lifts very well.

Random question HBK619. This may be an overly obvious question.

The past few weeks I've dramatically reduced my carb intake as I'm cutting (never really done this before). Aside from a bowl of cereal in the morning, the rest of my diet is nearly carb exempt. All I eat is meat, milk, veggies and fruit. I also reduced my caffeine intake. In addition to working out, I'm going on more runs. The past couple weeks I've noticed that I have very little energy throughout the day. It always hits me right after eating meals. It's becoming exhausting, lol. Could it be because I'm eating hardly any carbs? On the plus side, you can really see my abs now. ;D

quote SimpleBurden

Random question HBK619. This may be an overly obvious question.

The past few weeks I've dramatically reduced my carb intake as I'm cutting (never really done this before). Aside from a bowl of cereal in the morning, the rest of my diet is nearly carb exempt. All I eat is meat, milk, veggies and fruit. I also reduced my caffeine intake. In addition to working out, I'm going on more runs. The past couple weeks I've noticed that I have very little energy throughout the day. It always hits me right after eating meals. It's becoming exhausting, lol. Could it be because I'm eating hardly any carbs? On the plus side, you can really see my abs now. ;D

You've reduced your caloric intake, cut out a stimulant, and increased your activity levels, sounds like you're burning the candle at both ends. I'd do one or the other, eat a very restrictive diet and just lift a low volume of heavy weights 2-3x/week, or eat a more moderate diet and train really hard, with extra cardio thrown in. Doing both at once (reducing food, increasing workouts) is often a road to short term results and long term problems. So yeah, I'm not surprised you're tired haha.

I'd log 2-3 days of calories in fitday.com or some similar free calorie counting site, workout how many calories and how many grams of protein you're getting. For fat loss if you want to go the low calorie, low activity path, 10 calories per lb (so 2000 calories for a 200lb person, 1500 calories for a 150lb person etc) and 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight (200 grams for a 200lb person etc etc) would be a good starting point, if you want to go the moderate calorie, high activity path, 14 calories per lb of bodyweight and same protein as above would be a nice place to start. Also, no reason to cut caffeine when dieting, just cut out the extra sugar, cream etc you put in it. Black coffee is excellent on a diet, and you'll probably feel it's effects much more too.

Is this a good routine to get started with? I work out occasionally, but don't really have a structure. I want a full body workout for strength & gaining muscle. I lost around 75lbs over the last year, mostly fat, but I know I've lost strength as well.

Assuming that routine is fine, is it best to do all workouts on all three days or split it up somehow?

HBK619