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First Time Gymmer - Advice and Tips

Discussion in 'Fitness' started by dogeatdog, Dec 19, 2019.

  1. dogeatdog

    dogeatdog Fapstronaut

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    Hi guys, as the title state I recently started going to the gym with a couple of my buds who have been gymming for a long time. I plan to keep on going as time at the gym means time with my good friends, and exercise makes me feel good. Right now, I'm focusing on losing the fat around my belly and to improve strength in my arms. I'm looking for some general tips when going to the gym and answers to the specific following questions:

    1. If I want to lose weight, is the gym the right idea and if so what machines or weights do I go on?
    2. For losing weight, should I eat before or after going to the gym?
    3. What are some reliable exercises that build arm muscles.
    4. Is it normal that I can lift 8 kilograms with my arms but can barely benchpress the bar (around 10 kilos)?
    5. Should I warm-up before working out and if so what are some good warm-ups to do?

    Again, this is a no-shame thread as I just tarted going to the gym and really have no clue on what to do. I am however a little bit too embarrased to ask these questions to my gym buds. Thanks for answering and I'd also appreciate any general tips when going to the gym!
     
    Asgardian36, Dim Meadow and Espi1971 like this.
  2. cadia guardsman

    cadia guardsman Fapstronaut

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    If you want to loose weight do cardio, alot of cardio , 30 min +- cardio is what makes you loose more weight

    If you dont eat nothing before going to gym, you Will feel like shit and have no energy its too hard , you can eat light but eat always before gym

    Bro i dont know what are the most reliables but what i do is arm curl with weights, arm curl with bar and weights , and armn curl in a machine i dont know The name ahah , basically for bíceps os arm curl, at least on my experience altough im not an expert on gym but on 1 year my bíceps perimeter went to 31 to 37.2 so its going on the right way . But you should focus also on tríceps and basically all your muscles body , not just arms.

    Yep perfectly normal , same happened to me , because the bar works more your chest muscles

    Cardiooooo


    Im not an expert bro , but i usually do 6 exercises of 2 (3 exercises for each muscle) types of muscles with 3 séries of 10 reps , after i finish 2 exercises i do also abs . Ive being doing this for an year and its going very very well for me ! Ive got very good results altough i do also other sports that also help .and i take suplements, Protein and Creatine , for loosing weight L-Carnite is a good helper
     
  3. I would combine cardio AND weight lifting. The reason being that while cardio burns calories, weight-lifting burns fat AND increases muscle mass. The increased muscle tissues in turn burns more calories.

    So, for starters I would do 1 upper body workout per week plus 1 lower body workout per week plus 45mn/1 hour of light cardio in between, with one or two rest days for stretching ans relaxing and such.

    Or maybe 2 upper body workouts with one dedicated to chest and triceps and one dedicated to back and biceps. But the split is not good for the overall muscle balance in the body and cam result in injury (as per my physiotherapist).

    I would strongly advise against training just one body part (for example just the arms). This is a good way to increase risk of injury.

    The back is very important. And it looks good to have a strong back. Also legs workout is good to burn a ton of calories.

    Finally, take care about what you eat. Increase your protein intake and reduce your carbohydrate (pasta, rice, bread, etc). Always eat to a max of 80% of your capacity. Don't eat until you're full.

    Eat most carbs preferably in the morning, lunch and preferably before your workout.

    Please do warm up before exercise (look up how to warm up on google).

    Please don't simoly train youe arms. It's normal you can't bench shit. Your chest muscles are weak as they've never been used before. Try to start bench pressing with an empty barbell. Do slow but controlled movements. The key is to not rush it. The mastery of the movement is the key to growth without injury.

    PS: A barbell usually weighs 20kg.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2019
  4. dogeatdog

    dogeatdog Fapstronaut

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    Thanks for the advice guys, good pieces of information and I'm going to apply them today. I also forgot to mention that I'm going to the gym three times a week for an hour, meanig 3 hours total. Is this not enough to fit in the suggestions that you guys gave?
     
  5. cadia guardsman

    cadia guardsman Fapstronaut

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    I think your 3 teams a week and 1 hour is very decent , specially for a begginer is a good balanced timeline
     
    dogeatdog and Espi1971 like this.
  6. Espi1971

    Espi1971 Fapstronaut

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    @dogeatdog congratulations on getting into the gym 3 times a week! In my opinion this is more than enough time to yield some great results, and your mind and body will thank you for it.

    Everybody has different ways of training. For arms I prefer neutral-grip pullups, skullcrushers, and lots of pushups. I personally believe that EVERY upper body lift trains arms; even when you're not targeting them, your arms get plenty of ancillary work. So I encourage you to train not only your arms but also the rest of your upper body as well: chest, back, and shoulders.

    And don't forget your lower body :) I like deadlifts, squats, and the Stairmaster.
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  7. Dim Meadow

    Dim Meadow Fapstronaut

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    I don't use a gym so I might be biased a bit but here's what I know:

    1: Like others said, cardio is for weight loss. HIIT or Circuit training is great for all your body to move and burn extra calories. Treadmill running works too; I know some models have "workouts" on them that you can select or create or change the treadmill as you're running.

    2: Eat before the gym but not right before as your body needs time to digest it a little. What I do is eat 1-2 hours before working out and then a fruit 30 mins before.

    3: Presses. Bar bell press, overhead press, press-ups (admittedly they're more chest but they'll work your arms too). Also tricep dips (it's a matter of how you lean).

    4: I can't say for certain because I'm not sure what you mean by "lift 8KG". Like the others I'm gonna say it's more than likely normal since a: the 10Kg works your chest more than your arms and b: you're probably using slghtly different muscles for the two exercises which could have varying levels of strength or be smaller in size (again, not sure what you mean by " lift")

    5: Yes you should warm up before exercise. Avoid stretching before working out however, it's better if you do that after.

    I'm no expert but this warmup has worked for me so far:


    You can also do "warmup sets" but I don't know how to do those.

    Also A: work on your grip strength. You'd be surprised at the difference it makes and B: pay attention to your form so you don't injure yourself, though it sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. :)

    Great thread! Can't wait to learn from it myself!
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
    Espi1971 and dogeatdog like this.
  8. dogeatdog

    dogeatdog Fapstronaut

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    Thank you for the absolutely overwhelming amount of advice guys. I'm gonna try all these things and watch the warm-up video on Monday because I'll its ARM day that day. I'm gonna be honest, skullcrushers sound like the worst thing on Earth! But I'll do research and attempt them next week.
     
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  9. dogeatdog

    dogeatdog Fapstronaut

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    Hey all, I've been using the tips you guys gave me and am honestly starting to feel some gains. I've comfortably moved from six kilogram dumbbells to eight kilograms and really feel great about it. I'm back on this thread looking for more advice: how can I lose the belly fat and my love handles?

    Though I'm gaining muscle mass, I don't really think I'm losing belly fat which was one of the original reasons why I started going to the gym. Are there any workouts or machines that I can use to help lose belly fat? My current belly-fat losing routine is 40 minutes of cardio (stationary bicycle thing and the treadmill), and 20 minutes of sit-ups. I alternate in between e.g. doing 15 minutes of cardio followed by sit-ups. Is this a viable method of losing belly fat and if not what other exercises can I try? Thanks for the help guys and I'll update this thread with my progress.
     
  10. Anonymous86

    Anonymous86 Fapstronaut

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    What is your form like for when you lift the 13 lb to 17 lb dumbbell weights?
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  11. gordie

    gordie Fapstronaut

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    If I were you, I would do 30 minutes of cardio on your off days. So 3 days a week weightlifting and run on the days that immediately follow those. I also wear 2.5 wrist weights when I run, which I hear you're only supposed to walk while wearing, but they help.
    Also, can you elaborate on what you mean by having trouble benching the bar? How many reps are you doing? You can do low reps/ high weight and get some big muscles pretty quickly. High reps/ low weights tend to tone.
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  12. Have you changed your nutrition? You need to cut the carbohydrates (rice, pasta, etc). But you won't lose your fat overnight. It's a long process. If you keeo working out and changing your diet, there has to be some result.

    Try to slowly increase the intensity and length of your workouts too.
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  13. dogeatdog

    dogeatdog Fapstronaut

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    I really have no idea about my form - I guess I'm just standing upright and lifting the things up to my chest, curling the dumbbells kinda, and repeating it.
    I'm pretty sure it was just my form, because I can comfortably bench the barbell with 10 kilograms extra. I'll start dong the cardio thing at home as we already have a treadmill in the house. I do around 8 reps and 4 sets (please correct me if I'm mixing those two up; I do 8 and then break and then another 8 etc).
    Yeah, I'm slowly cutting carbs from the diet for now. Soon enough, me and a few mates are gonna go on the keto diet and we've got it all planned out. I've done the diet before and managed to drop a ton of weight with exercise just once a week over the course of a year. I'm hoping for the weight loss to be more permanent this time.
     
  14. Attentively watch videos on youtube to look at proper form.

    I recommend the YT channel called Athlean-X. This guy is all about injury prevention. He is a very knowledgeable physical therapist
     
  15. cadia guardsman

    cadia guardsman Fapstronaut

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    You can use the rest bettween exercises to do some abs, also if there is a machine that looks like a chair of those used on parks, rollerkoster (i think that isnt the name in English) use it , that machine os specific for abs, use that one

    Also you have to BE careful with your diet, eat Protein and eat less carbon hidrats, also really avoid cakes and trash food
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  16. Boost

    Boost Fapstronaut

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    Do let your ego dictate how much weight you try to lift and don't to to lift more to impress people.
     
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  17. 1. If I want to lose weight, is the gym the right idea and if so what machines or weights do I go on?
    Compound movements
    Deadlifts
    Benchpress
    Bent over row
    Squats
    You burn al lot of calories with it because you use the big muscles in your body
    It is also the best way to get stronger if your just starting out
    High intensity training is also a good idea for example if you go on the stationary bike you do 1 min on 70% and the next min on 100% and do that until you reach 10 min
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  18. 2. For losing weight, should I eat before or after going to the gym?

    for weight loss it doesn’t matter if you eat before or after but after your training you should consume something with a lot of protein so that your muscles can recover faster
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  19. 3. What are some reliable exercises that build arm muscles.

    Bicep curls
    Tricep extensions
    but if you’re just starting out it’s better to focus on compound exercises because you also use your arm muscles during these exercises if you’re more advanced you should incorporate isolation movements like the 2 exercises above
     
    dogeatdog likes this.
  20. 4. Is it normal that I can lift 8 kilograms with my arms but can barely benchpress the bar (around 10 kilos)?

    No your chest muscles should be a lot stronger than your arm muscles because they are a lot bigger but if just keep doing the bench press your chest will be a lot stronger than your arms in no time
     
    dogeatdog likes this.

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