The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Best option to build strength
rabidshaman
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
I'm a seventeen-year-old female who weighs roughly eight stone/112 pounds (been a while since I last weighed myself) and is pathetically short at around 5f1in/156cm - I'm working towards getting stronger. As such, I've been lifting 4kg and 5kg dumbbells given to me by a friend, since that was about all the weight I could manage at the time without having a heart attack. (I've been supplementing the lifting with cardio and a good diet, to the best of my limited ability.) However, the dumbbells have been feeling pretty light for a while now, and using them is no longer the fun OH GOD I THINK I'M GONNA DIE trial it used to be.
And so, H/A, I come to you for advice - get heavier dumbbells, sell my existing dumbbells to fund a barbell, or buy a pull up bar? Being a student, I have limited funds, and so I can only really afford one option unless I find a great deal on the Internet, which, so far, I've been unable to unearth...I've also tried asking the Internet for help, but all that conflicting information makes it impossible to tell the sound advice from the bullshit. I'd go to the gym right near me to use their equipment, but there's only so much HAHA LOOK IT'S A GIRL TRYING TO GET STRONG shit you can take before you get put off working out in public forever.
I've been lurking for ages and your hive mind always seems to give good advice - please tell me which option will be the most useful for building strength/muscle, H/A!
And so, H/A, I come to you for advice - get heavier dumbbells, sell my existing dumbbells to fund a barbell, or buy a pull up bar? Being a student, I have limited funds, and so I can only really afford one option unless I find a great deal on the Internet, which, so far, I've been unable to unearth...I've also tried asking the Internet for help, but all that conflicting information makes it impossible to tell the sound advice from the bullshit. I'd go to the gym right near me to use their equipment, but there's only so much HAHA LOOK IT'S A GIRL TRYING TO GET STRONG shit you can take before you get put off working out in public forever.
I've been lurking for ages and your hive mind always seems to give good advice - please tell me which option will be the most useful for building strength/muscle, H/A!
rabidshaman on
0
Posts
Nothing wrong with starting squatting or deadlifting with just the olympic bar, and there's nothing wrong with doing assisted chin-ups/pull-ups. The only thing pride does at the gym is cause injuries.
Besides, any big dudes eying you up and down are more likely just eyefucking you rather then thinking LOL GIRL IN THE GYM.
I guess if you're really against working out in public, get an olympic barbell, 2x5, 2x10 and 2x25 lb plates, and 5, 10, 15 and 20 lb dumbbells, and a squatting rack and a bench.
...I don't know what's worse. o_O
--
I didn't have much else to mention, but I read something about plyometrics that you might enjoy. It seems to be stuff you don't need equipment for. Anyway, the fitness guys will probably be able to give you more useful device.
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0976805421
I recommend this
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/
read this thread
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=120140
and don't forget to EAT!
I personally would dump the dumbells and get an Olympic bar and some free weights. Better yet, see if your school gym have free weights and if you can use them.
Find something heavy and lift it over your head 100 times. Anyway...
Ideally, I'd recommend a combination of dumbell and barbell work, but without having much money, I'd agree that you should take full advantage of your school weight room.
Most people (who aren't assholes) appreciate seeing other people in the gym trying to better themselves. We don't laugh or point fingers, unless you are doing something obviously stupid and wrong.
On the other hand, we do have eye-sex with the females who prance around the gym wearing little short shorts or spandex.
There's a beginner program that I really enjoyed called "Built Like a Badass." It helped me to get back into shape after sitting out for a while.
The most economical approach, particularly in school where you don't have a garage / basement to house a gym set up is to work out in public at a gym. You just have to get over that initial nervousness. My girlfriend wanted to start lifting so I brought her to our gym with me a few times, showed her the forms, stressed the fundamentals and helped her start to weight up on her own.
She has more poise, focus, and finesse with that thing than I do and she sure as hell out performs the majority of your musclebound gym rats. She may only benchpress 55, but goddammit does she do it with solid form and full ROM.
If its any consolation, the atmosphere of gyms has never been more welcoming with entry programs, private instruction, etc. Most other people at the gym are just trying to look a little better and just like in life, there is always someone else better at something than you are.
Read the sources eThugs listed, watch videos on the form, grab a barbell in front of a mirror and start going through the motions, it's a lot of fun.
Don't be self-conscious. Focus on what you're doing and you'll see results. Besides, if people were happy with what they had, they wouldn't be at the gym.
Does your school have a gym/weight room? That seems like a good place to start.
Nah, my college is pretty underfunded, we have no weight room or anything like that. However, I guess I could brave the gym again. Like Megaman said, I might try bringing a friend along as a shield from all the...uh...eyefucking. (Fucking fantastic term btw!)
Cheers for all the advice!
do you live on a planet? Then you can use that planet's gravity to do pushups!
not good for your back, shoulders or posture. I wouldn't recommend it.
and if funds are an issue (hell, even if they're not), you have a free option: using your body weight! Push ups, sit ups, pull ups (just find something sturdy to hang on), these are things that use your body weight as resistance. I've seen some pretty ripped people who don't use any sort of equipment.
Even using the waist strap? Oh well, all those straps still make it a convenient tool for lifting exercises.
Well, let's put it this way: even if it is a viable form of strength training, there are healthier and more effective ways of doing it.
Whatever you do, you can supplement with pushups, inverted rows, pullups, situps, dips, etc. You don't need a pullup bar if you can get to a playground with monkey bars.
As a fellow girl, I can say it's worth braving the gym. Yes, some people give you a "What are you doing in my gym, lady?" look, but it doesn't really matter. You're a student just like them, so you have the right to use the same facilities. Besides, the guys who are really serious about fitness are invariably supportive of women, I've found; it's the lazy ones who give you shit.
http://numberblog.wordpress.com/
You gotta get rid of that anxiety of going to the gym though.
just go! nothing sexier than the butt of a girl squatting
guys like you are probably why she doesn't go.
My current girlfriend is also petite and is trying to build strength, but she hates being "eyefucked". We found a gym that has optional female only rooms, so that is what she has been using (though lately she's just been working out at my place...I have tons of equipment).
P.S. Working out with your boyfriend/girlfriend is tons of fun.
Why do you give a shit? If you do it right, after three months of working out you'll probably be stronger than 90% of those guys. Then you will be the one laughing "HA HA LOOK HOW SKINNY YOU ARE"
Very much this.
OP, if you go to the gym wearing a t-shirt, sports bra, a pair of basketball shorts, and sneakers then the only folks who'll be talking to you will be easy to pick out - if they show up flirting, put on your headphones and give them a 'buzz off' look. If they seem like they ONLY want to talk, could be a way to make a new friend, though most folks I've met in gyms aren't that interested in striking up a conversation. If they are instructors, they probably just want to help you to not hurt yourself or damage their equipment.
That is literally impossible.
This is true. I think Celandine is stronger than half the guys I know. Go team barbell
Strength is the ability to displace heavy weights. Pushups will not get you far at all in terms of strength.
But this is all largely academic. Get your ass to the gym and do deadlifts/squats, you'll soon have dat ass and your girlfriends will pester you for your secrets
http://numberblog.wordpress.com/
I'd say a barbell / pair of dumbell bars with adjustable plates is a good investment. As you get stronger, just buy more plates to make your workouts harder. Also, a $10 inflatable yoga ball is better than buying a bench that just sits there. Plus you can do other workouts with it that don't involve weights.
But the equipment is only part of the equation. A proper workout regimen with good form, as well as good nutrition is very important as well.
Way to not read the OP carefully. She's seventeen, which means she'll be going to college soon most likely, so she'll have to leave all that behind. She also said she doesn't have that much spare cash, and you are telling her to spend that on a barbell, dumbbells, and keep buying more plates as she gets stronger?
Why not just spend 20-25 bucks a month for a gym membership and have access to a ton of different equipment?
If she's going to college soon then she really doesn't need to worry about this as most colleges worth going to are going to have gym access to the students for free.
The gist I got from that was that she doesn't feel comfortable at the gym.
Maybe her college will have a weight room she can use? Might be cheaper than going to a gym.
Now you're making exercise sound like sex. Strength is not only about lifting higher weight, but about volume too. You can't just lift a small amount of weight and expect to gain muscle.
Something as insignificant as a backpack, whose weight will distribute to her legs, won't provide the resistance needed for real muscle gains. Doing the exercises you describe could be just as easily done at the school's gym with the added benefit of not fucking her back up.
Fat people don't gain muscle by walking with an extra 200 lbs around their waist. What makes you think an extra 40 on your back is any different?
EDIT: Body weight exercises are only OK for building base strength, and at that point you can consider adding resistance. If she's starting out, pushups will be hard enough to gain muscle.
This is a load of goosery.
Pretty much everything Rye has said is a load of goosery.
Try doing handstand pushups, then tell me its only "OK" for building base strength. NFL player Herschel Walker did nothing but bodyweight exercises. Try one-legged squats, under-box tricep presses, commando pullups, burpees.
There's a place for both weight training and bodyweight training.
There's a reason you can probably only name a few people who do only body-weight exercises: It's really tough to maintain form and it's a large commitment.
I never said body weight exercises have no place in a strength routine. I was saying she SHOULDN'T jump to added resistance and that body weight training itself is MORE THAN SUFFICIENT. Maybe I was being confusing.
The anatomy of my original post:
A) Using the backpack as a weight to just "carry around" is a bad idea.
C) You can do body weight exercises WITHOUT the added resistance of the backpack.
People do gain muscle from carrying around an extra 200 lbs around their waist. Observe the legs of an active overweight person after they drop the weight. They tend to still be larger than "normal". I never really did much for leg pressing or squats, and I can squat 275 lbs and leg press near 600.
Additional weight is a good idea for building muscle endurance and strength, especially in the form of backpacking and hiking.
ugh... Burpees
Body weight excercises are great, and even better you dont need other equipment (usually)
Can we please talk about this in the context of the OP? A young girl needn't do excessive "backpacking" to put on strength. You are suggesting extremely unconventional means to gain muscle mass. Stop. that shit's for Rocky Balboa and professional athletes, not 17 year old girls interested in more muscle gains.
Yes, handstand pushups and palanche pushups are sweet. They are not for the OP. The OP would be better off doing SIMPLE body weight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, planks etc.
You're trying to make yourself sound right by claiming I take the opposite position - straw-man. It's HARD AS FUCK to gain significant muscle doing only body weight exercises. Why would you suggest that to someone who's comfortable with weight training and has access to a school weight room?
Jesus, I try to make it simple and say 'body weight exercises are for base strength,' and all you can do is come up with some of the most technically difficult and grueling exercises (which are the exception) as "evidence" to the contrary. The truth is, most body-weight exercises become obsolete once you reach a certain base level of strength.
Why didn't you just suggest some simple body weight exercises that work instead of calling me a goose for trying to help? Instead, you decided that, "Oh, that's fine to fuckup your posture carrying excessive weight on your back." I was being practical, you were being petty.
Anyone who suggests to a workout novice that an efficient way of gaining strength is to perform commando pull-ups is an idiot.
In fact, anyone who suggests to a workout novice that the best way to start building strength is to perform some of the most acrobatic, demanding, and difficult exercises is an idiot.
These suggestions will just lead a novice to becoming frustrated and lead to failure of the workout.
Rabidshaman, follow the instructions laid out on the first page. Read Starting Strength, calibrate your lifts properly, work with good form and resist the urge to add too much weight too early and follow the guide.
Once you get your squat up to body weight, your bench press to body weight, and your dead lift up to something like 180 pounds, you will have already made up your own mind and have the experience to add whatever ridiculous exercises you want to.