A friend of mine also started working out. He says he just wants a bit of everything (strength, muscle, toning), and uploaded a video on YouTube recently. Can you please judge his training? Please keep the bashing, laughing to death and flaming to a minimum, he's just starting out! lol
Here's the vid:
I'm currently following StrongLifts 5x5 program in our uni's gym (Thank you AoN.DimSum!) but I'm not quite sure if that would suit him much (equipment-wise), he apparently has only some sort of bar and plates.
(not posting to youtube because I'd get lost in the cacophony of retards sounding off with hatred and bullshit)
Tell him not to swing the weight around during reps. Ex. when he's doing bicep curls, he's using the momentum of the weight to power the weight upwards. He's cheating himself.
Really, he needs to learn proper form from a professional trainer. At some point it becomes a safety issue.
He is benching wayy too fast, needs to slow it down. Like number1gog said, he is using cheating himself by using momentum. It's the same with the benchs as well. He is gaining that momentum by a fast rebound. Yeah also of course same with the biceps. He needs to start at one point, lift up, pause ever so slightly, then back down to the same point. If he can't do it slow that means he needs to go down a weight.
Just tell him to slow down his reps and really focus on the muscle contraction. It's better off to go slow with a low weight and do a proper rep than doing incorrect reps with higher weight.
Edit:
On October 01 2009 13:29 SanguineToss wrote: 'your friend'.
yeah that's why he looks the exact same in the video as in his profile picture -.-
everyone knows to be a ripped sc player you just need to reach 100 pushups and do lots of cardio to get ripped. There's some 100pushup site you can google to do it.
I would reccomend ditching that dumb bench press machine, that's just for ego lifters
I also think a vegetrian diet is optimal for muscle growth as it much more healthy for you.
Your friends bench form could need a little help. Tell him to arch his lower back (you should be able to put a fist under your lower back), and to make sure hes doing the full range of motion (the bar should touch his chest just under the nipples. Also, I'm unsure on what his goals are, but for strength and hypertrophy training he should slow down on his presses (something like 2 seconds down, 1 second up).
He's gonna need more equipment too. or atleast a make shift squat rack, and some type of floor that he can drop the weights on.
tell him ab building is futile unless he plans to drop his body fat to about 10-12%. If he can do that, props on him.
:3. work hard, and get huge like nada mang.
edit:
book suggestion!
Starting Strength my Mark Rippetoe
its easily torrentable, and within a single read of it you can point fingers at 60-70% of people in a gym and see how inefficiently/improperly they're working out...
wouldn't doing 100 pushups just increase your endurance, heart and give you some toning? i'm not quite sure it would buff you up or strengthen you better than if you had started out doing a moderate amount of reps (8-12) with progressively increasing weights?
lol @ those thinking that is me, why would I want to show myself off benching 30lb? XD
I don't even get what the shit is going on in this video. He's "curling" some sort of brick? He's not even using his muscle at all, he's just swinging his arms around. I thought he was stretching when I saw that or something, just windmilling his arms, then I realized that was supposed to be an exercise. Surely he can feel that he isn't actually using his muscle whatsoever to do that. When he's benching, you can see that those weight plates would just fly off if they weren't connected to the bar.
Invest in some actual weights if you don't intend to go to the gym. Holding onto some flat pieces of whatever they are to do curls is not at all optimal.
Slow down. Bench heavier weight, slower rep. Needs a more balanced approach. Look up some workouts you can do with free weights only. Probably want some curls, hammer curls, skull crushers, bent over rows, all that shit.
It's a lot easier to just go to the gym (if you are in school [college], you probably have a free gym you can go to.
Pokepill I don't get it; how is a bench press for "ego lifters?" It's like the most basic compound lift.
On October 01 2009 15:04 NoobsOfWrath wrote: I don't even get what the shit is going on in this video. He's "curling" some sort of brick? He's not even using his muscle at all, he's just swinging his arms around. I thought he was stretching when I saw that or something, just windmilling his arms, then I realized that was supposed to be an exercise.
On October 01 2009 15:01 fEAthEr wrote: post above imho doesnt gym at all.
Your friends bench form could need a little help. Tell him to arch his lower back (you should be able to put a fist under your lower back), and to make sure hes doing the full range of motion (the bar should touch his chest just under the nipples. Also, I'm unsure on what his goals are, but for strength and hypertrophy training he should slow down on his presses (something like 2 seconds down, 1 second up).
He's gonna need more equipment too. or atleast a make shift squat rack, and some type of floor that he can drop the weights on.
tell him ab building is futile unless he plans to drop his body fat to about 10-12%. If he can do that, props on him.
:3. work hard, and get huge like nada mang.
edit:
book suggestion!
Starting Strength my Mark Rippetoe
its easily torrentable, and within a single read of it you can point fingers at 60-70% of people in a gym and see how inefficiently/improperly they're working out...
pick 7 excercises for each body part (bis, tris, legs, chest, shoulders, back)
split days like this 1 - legs 2 - back 3 - off 4 - chest (don't bench the top 15% of the rep otherwise you work your shoulders) 5 - shoulders 6- arms 7 - off etc.
Do 15-20 total sets each day ranging from 7-12 reps per set. You should have 4-5 diff. exercises per bodypart except tris and bis, which should be 3-4 Throw in calves/ abs every other day and do 6-9 sets of 2-3 excercises (if you feel these necessary; i trained calves for a year and a half with very minimal results and now i just skip them entirely) I usually put deadlifts on my back day, but every now and then i'll do stiff legged deadlifts on leg days
Eat 200 calories above your maintenance (what you'd eat to stay the same weight) Pretty simple.
He should learn to do the full range of motion for everything. You know like pushups actually ALL the way down, and bench press all the way down. That'll probably help him slow down, because he must think working out is a race.