Working out in a gym

[gran guerrero]

Hi yeah, I had a free session with a trainer in the gym. I worked on my arms and back. I learned how I should conduct my routine. But I'm not paying a shit load of money just to train my body into a toned shape. Any of y'all who knows how it goes, can you describe to me the best way to work on my legs and abs, the gym has all the machines and shit i believe, so throw in the name you know and i could probably figure it out.

[Chao.]

You know not go more than 3 or 4 times a week right?

[Izor]

Legs:

I usually do: squats, leg extensions, hamstrings, and the little calf machine

Squats are good to start off with I've found, since they drain you pretty bad. I recommend doing them on a smith machine to start off with in case you cant do all that weight and you just flip the bar forward to not get crushed

Abs:

Depends really on how you want to go about working them. Just make sure that you do some stuff for the lower abs, like leg raises. I prefer using a few machines and just keep bouncing between them until im pretty damn tired. What you find works for you might be something totally different though.

The main thing not to neglect is cardio though..it may or may not be a problem with you, but from my personal experience I know I prefered weight training as a form of exercise cause I really dont like running and being out of breath. When I started having to do cardio cause im going to boot camp I noticed the difference that it makes firsthand, but unfortunately I also started putting on muscle weight quickly now I'm over my max, so my fat ass is running in the heat wave to stay qualified

[Evasive]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/

[phata$$]

Bowflex baby.

Yeah, for your legs, squats, deadlifts and the leg press machine are your friends.

I don't go to the gym for my abs because I am pretty skinny. For sculpting, I work with a training ball and do some crunches. I am not sure if they have a training ball at your gym but it helps.

[Barton]

You know not go more than 3 or 4 times a week right?

thats not true.

for every muscle group, you need to do 4 exercises to get your body in shape.

[WinnieTheBum]

1) the first rule of bodybuilding:
you weill not get big muscular arms without doing excercises that dont train your arms, like squats and deadlifts.
Practically all base excercises are linked to almost all muscles in your body.

So if you're gonna do only bench press, biceps lifts and french press WITHOUT squats and deadlifts your gonna have your progress stopped much sooner than your potential expires. And every man has a huge potential - up to 180 kilograms without any chemistry.

2) second rule of bodybuilding:
you are gonna have big problems with your health (and progress) if you wont do the excercises with proper technique. Like always keep your back straight in dead lifts and squats and practically in every excercise!! ALWAYS!! ANd breath right so you wont have heart problems in far future. Ask your treiner for more info.

3) the three base excercises of bodybuilding:
a) bench press (hardest progress, but most fun to do)
b) squats (down to the point where your leg's biceps is parallel to the floor! dont cheat)
c) deadlift (I hate this one, but its really important)

4) Newbies in bodybuilding (and a newbie counts 1-2 years of experience) should not do excercises, isolating only one muscle. THat's just jacking off, and it wont do you any good. You're gonna do these kinds of excercies when the resources of base excercises are expired.

5) Secondary base excercises:
a) vertical press
b) press on a bench thats about 45 degrees to the floor.
c) pull of a block to your chest (works out your lateral muscles, which you can see under your armpits. THey're also called "wings"). Remember to keep your grip wide!
d) bench press with narrow grip (about 40 centimeters vs the usual 65 cm grip in usual bench press)
e) shrugs (this is a very funny excercise, try and you'll see why )
f) breathing pullover. It's purpose not to train your muscles but to enlarge your chest and its also great to recover your brath after excercise.

Personally I do 2 lists of excercises:
1) becnh press
2) bench press on a bench thats 45 degrees to the floor
3) squats
4) pull of a block to the chest
5) biceps lifts
6) french press
7) abs (I fold my body on a bench thats about 80 degrees to the floor WITHOUT touching it with my spine)

and

1) shrugs
2) deadlift
3) bench press with narrow grip
4) bench press with narrow grip on a bench thats 45 degrees to the floor
5) pull of a block to my nape with a wide grip (it help with my pullups)
6) vertical press
7) abs

I train 3 times a week and if I have two even lists of excercises, the second must be weakened. So if during monday I did squats with, say, 60 kilograms, during friday i do it it with 50 kg.

Remember to leave minimum a day between workouts. Eat and sleep well, and dont do two same workouts in sequence. Dont try to get fast results, you cant add to your bench press more than 5 kg a month. If you do that, your progress will soon stop dead instead of slowly going sky high.

For more info ask your treiner.

[WinnieTheBum]

Barton
actually 3-4 times is the best and I doubt you could do more. If you workout hard you just wont have any strength to do it more than that

[Kawrae]

You know not go more than 3 or 4 times a week right?

I go 4 or 5 and it's all good since i work different muscles each day.

[Uridium]

personally cardio needs to be done in moderation throughout the session so as to keep up heart rate - i tend to use runners or bikes while having water and watching the cricket (call me sad, w/e england are kicking Pakistani ass)

as for legs i dont bother, as i play enough football and other things to keep them strong enough. But def squats are probably the best.

3 times a week at the gym is the optimum in building muscle tone and strengh, any more and u risk injury.

[D1st0rt]

1) the first rule of bodybuilding:

you do NOT TALK ABOUT BODYBUILDING

[Nickname]

just for the record, before i give any advice, how big are you (height, weight) and how good of shape are you already in? Also, what kind of shape do you want to be in? Like cut, shred cheese on your abs, what?

[genocidal]

You can go everyday - you just can't work out the same muscles everyday. One day do cardio workouts, the next muscles/abs, whatever. I don't even work out and I know this.

[Sir>elim_killer!]

This is funny...

Almost 90% of the ppl that posted dont know shit. First off you can workout 5-6 times a week and be fine anyone else who says otherwise is an idiot and is typing this as they sit on there ass. All you need to do is break up your workouts, and give a bodypart atleast 48 hrs to heal. I suggst in the beginning sticking to using machines until your body gets use to the strain of working out. Then in a month stick to weights, and cables. Me personally workout 6 times a week. My routine is mon-back/abs, tues-chest, wed-rest,thurs- bis/tris,fri-quads/calvs,sat-shoulder/abs,and sun-hamstring/forearm.

Here is a good website to show you exercises for each body part, and it shows you how to perform them.
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Lastly focus on your diet cause that is the most important thing when it comes to working out. If you dont diet all that work you put in the gym is worthless.

EK

[Izor]

Me personally workout 6 times a week.

tarzan :P