Things I wish I'd known when I started training

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Frodocious, Jan 25, 2011.

  1. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Work on doing chin ups...

    Dips, plyometics and chins will see you well.
     
  2. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    I have no idea how much I lifted when I started out. I started lifting (badly) when I was about 15, using a cheap vinyl weight set. I was doing 4x12 with probably around 10-20lbs.

    Don't be afraid of 'bulking up', it is incredibly difficult for women to do this without chemical assistance.

    If you can't do full chin ups, start by doing negatives. Jump up to the top position on the bar and lower yourself to a dead hang in as controlled a manner as possible. Doing sets of these should hepl you start to build the strength necessary to do full chin ups? If you have access to resistance bands you could use these to help with the chin ups.

    I'm a bit reluctant to recommend stuff for you as your back injury will limit what you can do and I'm not a physio, but have a look at the the thread below for some ideas:

    http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84178

    I would suggest starting a thread asking for some advice - state what your goals are and what the problem with you back is and what advice you've already been given. There are some really helpful people on MAP who may be able to offer advice. Are you still seeing a Doctor about your back?
     
  3. The Wiseman

    The Wiseman Valued Member

    I have a feeling that there are 60lbs pink dumb bells out there lol. Anyway, you are doing well. I would recomend crunches and what I call reverse crunches where you do a crunch with your lower back muscles(lying on your belly) for core toning. Push ups and chin ups are good. Push ups make you use only a portion of your body weight where as chin ups are gonna use it all, so keep hanging and TRYING and BELIEVING that you can cuz it's possible. That dude saying women should use weights like men is off his rocker. Saying everyone should do weights is the wrong idea. I use dumb bells at most and I am fairly strong. MA needs speed, stability, a little strength and a lot of coordination and timing. IMO
     
  4. Killa_Gorillas

    Killa_Gorillas Banned Banned

    take a look at 'rosstraining dot com' for some cool bodyweight workouts etc. also look at scott sonnon's flowfit.
     
  5. Microlamia

    Microlamia Banned Banned

    I think that was Frodocious, she's a woman, and she wasn't saying all women everywhere ought to lift weights. As far as I understand she was saying that for either sex, if you want to get strong, you use a heavy weight that will challenge you. Not 10000s of reps with a weight so tiny I could probably shadowbox with it and barely lose any speed.
     
  6. CosmicFish

    CosmicFish Aleprechaunist

    Can you clarify what you mean here? Are you saying that men and women should train differently? Also, what is your objection to doing weights?

    All the evidence I've seen makes it clear that men and women should train in the same way - with possible caveats like taking account of the increased Q angle in women when it comes to squats. Also, I see no reason not to do weights for MA. Weights can help build speed, strength and stability.
     
  7. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    As Coronavirus has stated, I'm a woman not a 'dude' and you blatantly have no idea what you are talking about. Women should and do lift weights the same way men do (with one or two qualifiers - based on anatomical and physiological differences). I never said 'everyone should use weights', weights are a useful tool, the same way bodyweight training is. How do you think you develop speed and explosive power? Well technique contributes to this, but so does strength training, ask any 100m sprinter.

    Also, crunches are not the best way to build core strength and for someone with a history of back injury are probably one of the exercises that should be avoided.
     
  8. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x

    Finished that properly for you Frodo :)
     
  9. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Dear oh dear.

    1) 'toning' does not exist
    2) weights make you faster, more stable, stronger more powerful, and can improve coordination
    3) the lower back exercise you recommended (superman) is very bad for the lumbar spine, it hyperextendes the lower back beyond healthy ROM, bad for a healthy back and I dread to think what it does to a bad back.
    4) I can think of no reason why a woman shouldn't lift with the same intensity as man, could you please enlighten me? Just incase you know something the rest of the world doesn't.

    Weights are not the only tool, but IMO one of the best.
     
  10. Doublejab

    Doublejab formally Snoop

    He is ironically named fo sho
     
  11. Jezzikial

    Jezzikial Valued Member

    Sweet, thanks for your help. I will try those negative chin ups. Still see my doctor about my back as I am unfortunately still on meds for it so I may ask him what he recommends. I pretty much know that the only thing I can do for it is to strengthen the rest of my body to compensate, and so far it seems to be helping. I'll check out that thread too, cheers!

    Thanks to everyone else for your help too. Sorry that I seemed to open up a can of worms in regards to weight training :)
     
  12. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Don't worry, the internet pulls up lots of strangeness.

    Atleast no one called us nazi's yet.
     
  13. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    It's not a can of worms, it's a fairly commonly held misconception that women should only train with light weights and high reps. It's completely wrong of course, but often spouted by clueless 'personal trainers', women who don't want to get 'big' and blokes with low self esteem, who can't handle a woman lifting more than they can! ;) :)

    Nazi! ;) :D
     
  14. righty

    righty Valued Member

    This is tricky for me as I always want to know everything right now. But then I realise most of the things I have learnt as I go have come at the right time. And if I knew it ahead of time it would have just been information overload.

    But what I really wish I knew is the huge role diet plays in, well, pretty much everything. I used to think I could eat wantever I want, I'd just train more. Not quite.
     
  15. 36chambers

    36chambers Valued Member

    personally other than bench press free weight i would prefer using a machine instead of using stabilising muscles for free weight in general as your putting more effort into stabilising your weights with other muscles than directly working the muscles u want. for example dumbell curls (FREE WEIGHT) your using more wrist and fore arm with your bicep, where as i have stoped as much dumbell curls and moved onto a machine with a 1 hand grip and a wire and straight away you feel the bicep worked harder than you would free weight dumbell
     
  16. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x

    Sounds more like body building than strength training
     
  17. tonyv107

    tonyv107 Valued Member

    You haven't learnt a thing then if you honestly believe machines are better then freeweights/compound movements. Some isolating is fine but it should never make up the majority of your training.

    In martial arts what movements are ever isolated? When throwing a punch you stabilize your core, push off your foot, turn your hips and extend your arm. I know bench press or Squats don't copy this movement entirely but they are still compound exercises.
     
  18. 36chambers

    36chambers Valued Member

    i didnt say they were better as i said i freeweight bench press! ive bodybuilt for around 9 years and along with bodybuilding u gain STRENGH , if you lift weights you are basically bodybuilding simple. Q. in weightlifting what martial arts are ever isolated? if you wana gain slight strengh still be quick then stick to push ups chin ups ect i myself lift and press ups 150 evry morning thnx:)
     
  19. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Since this is a newbie section I'm putting a disclaimer on this comment

    Warning the above statement is wrong, compound free weight movements continue to reign superior, if you want effective strength training do the opposite to what is posted above.


    The more muscles involved the better dude. This is strength training with a sports specific goal, isolation is rarely if not never used.

    Had we been talking about bodybuilding the preacher machine does indeed give a great linear tension compared to a standard preacher curl, but even in BB compounds are used as a mainstay for hypertrophy.
     
  20. Jabby Mcgee

    Jabby Mcgee Valued Member

    No, strength training and bodybuilding are not the same thing. Whilst there is some overlap, the effect on the body's muscle fibres is completely different, provind different results depending on how you lift.

    Bodybuilding tends to induce more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which involves the growth of sarcoplasm and non-contractile proteins that do not directly contribute to muscular force production. Basically, the muscles grow, without any signifigant increases in strength.

    Strength training on the other hand tends to induce more myofibrillar hypertrophy which occurs as a result of an increase in the number of myosin/actin filaments in the muscle. This leads to greater filament density and the synthesis of contractile proteins, which effectively means greater force production.

    With regards to using machines over free weights in order to isolate muscles, this is not particularly beneficial to either strength training or bodybuilding. A lot of isolation work should only be do by elite competative bodybuilders who aim to define certain areas of their body. Focussing solely on isolation exercises from the start however is akin to attempting to carve a statue with a very small chisel, instead of a large bolster one, when in reality you need to do the bulk of the work with the large chisel (compound movements), and then refine details using the small chisel (isolation exercises).
     

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