Hot answers tagged gym
15
I think everyone who has gone to the gym understands your situation, since we all were beginners at one time. Trying to figure out what a machine does can be kind of humiliating -- what if you're using it wrong? For that reason I recommend talking to a personal trainer just to get a primer on the equipment.
Some basic things I think everyone should know ...
13
It sounds like you've been focusing too much on high repetitions. 15-20 is an extremely high rep range for weightlifting. High reps don't increase strength. You need to do much more weight at lower reps to increase strength. After doing a low rep routine for several months, you should be able to have enough strength to do more than 15 bicep curls.
Here are ...
11
Short answer: no. Longer answer has to do with a bunch of factors.
First, after drinking a liter of beer, you are drunk--if not tipsy. You don't have full motor control, which means you can end up hurting yourself or others without intending to. There's a good chance you'll get kicked out of the gym (unless you own it).
Second, alcohol dehydrates you, ...
10
"Lower Body Exercises"
Let's define our terms. In lifting, squats and deadlifts are considered the primary "lower body exercises", but in truth they develop strength in the entire body. You could focus on "legs" specifically by using machines (leg press, leg curl), but that would be wildly inefficient and unproductive. Heavy barbell squats and deadlifts ...
9
Take a zip lock bag and 4 tablespoons of baking soda. Put gloves into bag after workout and shake it like a paint mixer.
Well bacteria thrives off of your sweat so baking soda will absorb the moisture and stop the stink.
Oh and i forgot but another way is to throw your gloves into the freezer it will kill the bacteria that causes the stink.
9
The answer you got on sports is pretty complete, although a bit off in the muscle explanation.
You want a good solid core and complementary arm strength, coupled with a solid foundation. I would suggest full body exercises such as pushups, squats, plank work, and to specifically work some of the rotational muscles I would add cable chops from high to low ...
9
I often heard myself that beer itself can be considered an isotonic drink.
I quote some interesting parts of this Royal Society of Chemistry's article, maybe the studies the DailyMail talks about are those linked at the bottom.
[Beers] high water content more than compensates for its dehydrating effects.
[…]
One other fact about beer that may come ...
8
Short answer is this: when in doubt, ask management. A longer answer includes some general principles:
Use your locker to store clothes, and anything you don't want in the shower with you. Lock your locker and take the key with you (if it's not a combination lock).
Wear a towel around your waist going from the locker to the shower. While no-one is ...
8
I've been in the martial arts for 25+ years (Isshinryu Karate and Aikido) and can tell you first hand, that if you do the standard weight training (bench, squat, dead lift, etc.) and go for the full range of motion and stretch, you WILL NOT have any problems with Kung Fu. Sounds like your Kung Fu instructor is old school, where weight training was ...
7
Really, the only equipment you need to gain strength is some floor space and something to hang on. And even the "something to hang on" is, in some people's opinion, optional.
If you can't afford, or don't want to, spend the money on typical gym equipment, then look into the various bodyweight exercises and plans. Convict Conditioning, Never Gymless, You Are ...
7
Pushing each other is good, within reason. In order to properly answer your question, you have to consider a few factors:
How much time was spent exercising and how much time was spent talking?
When you were done, did you feel like you could hardly move?
Is your belly expanding despite all the work you are doing?
Training with a partner usually ...
7
I would focus on getting stronger in general. Your golf-specific strength will grow faster by doing general-purpose whole-body strength exercises faster than trying to figure out what applies to golf and improving it. Once you have a baseline level of strength--say, after six months--you can decide what needs to be worked on for your golf needs.
If you ...
7
As with anything that hasn't been studied, you will find mixed reviews. Many people advocate the use of a sauna after exercise, claiming that it helps flush toxins from muscles, opens up skin pores for a more refreshing cleanse afterwards, and provides cardiovascular benefits. There are some restrictions, including alcohol use and certain types of acute ...
6
You've probably got a couple things going on at the same time. And it has to do with both nutrition and exercise. The fact that your aches and pains went away after you started going to the gym regularly gives you a hint.
Our bodies were meant to be exercised. Plain and simple. When you physically demand more of your body it responds in turn by ...
6
According to exrx.net the barbell split squat primarily targets the glutes and utilizes other hip and leg muscles as synergists. They show that the common form of the back squat, using a high-bar placement, targets the quads primarily, using the glutes as synergists. However, using a powerlifting-style low-bar just-past-parallel back squat targets the ...
6
The first step is to identify what you expect from the gym. Different gyms provide different services, and can help you achieve your goals in various ways. So without further ado, you have to ask your self the following questions:
What's near me? If the best gym is too far away to go regularly, it's not really the best gym.
What services do I want? If ...
6
Whole body strength is helpful in martial arts; however, many people don't focus on whole body strength. They focus on what they like, as you can see by bird legged people with massive chests and arms. This is not balanced.
The best way to build whole body strength is to focus on full range of motion compound lifts like squats, standing press, deadlifts, ...
6
I truly believe dietitians are underrated. I would suggest seeing one, even if it might cost money. Some supermarkets even have an in-house dietitian who could help you determine how to alter your meal plans, and then give a quick "tour" of the store so that you know where to buy those items.
I do not think there is any one good time to go the gym. If that ...
6
You are correct to be suspicious of the "one muscle a day" prescription. While that method works fine, it is perfectly possible and very productive to do whole-body exercises every time you work out.
Many Olympic weightlifters do what's called Bulgarian training, which is training five or more days a week, sometimes several times a day. They use whole-body ...
5
This question might be a little vague for this forum I'm not sure, in any case it's an interesting topic.
I find the following considerations useful.
Before the activity
Some prior thought about the movement/exercise in the hours preceding the doing of it. I find just thinking about an ideal execution of the movement and its components a few hours before ...
5
If you're lifting heavy, chalk can help by preventing the bar from slipping in your grip, which pulls on the skin. Most commercial gyms won't allow this, but you can do it in a home gym or a powerlifting-friendly gym.
If you really want to remove existing calluses, a pumice stone will do the trick.
5
Well technically you're not gripping the bar right, but who does?
The top layers of calluses will eventually peel off, becoming a little smoother, but this cycle just keeps going.
So there are three ways to prevent calluses:
Stop all pulling exercises – not a good option
Wear gloves – not for me
Or grip the bar slightly above your calluses
That's why ...
5
I think you will be disappointed by your results with running. In order to understand why, you'll need to know where the weight would need to come from.
The number one class of people who have problems gaining weight are ectomorphs.
Ectomorphs burn fat quickly and easily, so the only way to gain weight is to build muscle.
Exercise is a specific thing, ...
5
I'm of the mindset that a Smith machine is better than nothing, but understand what a Smith machine does, and what it takes away from the exercise:
balances the weight for you
forces the weight along a predefined path. Straight up and down is better than slanted at an angle, but it is not a natural path. (I've seen Smith machines with both trajectories)
...
5
Potatoes, like corn are a very starchy food. As a result it has a higher carbohydrate content than green vegetables and other foods that are known to be more healthy for you. According to Self Nutrition Data potatoes have a decent amount of vitamins, and the proteins it has (while not much) are complete.
That said, the glycemic load is what you want to be ...
5
Just man up and realize that within 3-6 weeks you're be a regular also. MANY of the people at the gym will be more than willing to help/show you how to work any of the equipment. I've read a lot of blog entries and forum posts about bad gym etiquette, some good things to do:
getting in the way - find a corner/spot where you're not getting in the way of ...
5
I saw in your comment what you plan to do (and are doing now). That is a very reasonable course of action to get started with. Eventually, you will run into a problem with recovery. It's a fact of lifting for strength. I've recently had to make the transition from Starting Strength to an intermediate program which only provides gains once a week.
In ...
5
Even though stress can have a lot of negative effects on your mood and energy levels, a lot of these effects aren't directly caused by stress.
Instead it's the actions that stress causes which have the bulk of the negative effects.
A common pattern:
Bad Effect (i.e stress) -> Bad Action (i.e. poor sleep) -> Bad Result.
It's important to distinguish this ...
5
There is always a price to becoming stronger. It's a question of how badly do you want to be strong, and what kind of price you are willing to pay. The biggest price you pay has nothing to do with money. The basic principles to getting stronger are:
Progressive overload. If you aren't increasing resistance in some way, you aren't getting stronger.
...
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