gym story ending with a plea for help

kps · Post by **kps** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:29 pm

I am a skinny 5'8 guy. I'm almost done highschool. I go to the gym regularly - 5 days a week 2 hours. What I am going after is getting big with lean muscle. Even though i'm skinny with a waistline of 31', I weigh 140 lbs approx. I think there's a bit of fat stored in there. I go to the gym with partner. He's fat weighing 178 but with 5'9 height he looks big. He has stomach fat. I am pretty low in strength while he benches 60lbs dumbells and curls 35 lbs. But he has a lot of problems. When he does his sets on something, he does them so fast...they hardly look like they're effective. I've been going for 2 months now, and a month ago i got the hang of the gym meaning...I do sets slowly but with considerate increasing weight of the machine or dumbells. I always feel sore the next day from the workout...while he hardly feels sore at all and sometimes no pain even.. I always have to go through his insults, when I struggle on a exercise, while feel pain from the other day. He isn't really the best partner always being so cocky. I tried to help him but his cockiness gets the better of him. He never listens to me thinking he's always right. He even tries to do chest and biceps on the same day. and back and triceps on the other day. I'm jus giving up on helping him. On top of listening to his insults and remarks on weakness, he doesn't even listen to me. I want to get stronger and gain more mass as soon as possible. I am ready to work extra hard to achieve goal. I am even willing to be patient to achieve goal. I have a good meal plan which i will post up later. I take protein shakes. Please give advice on how to become stronger.

HOUSTON TEXAN · Post by **HOUSTON TEXAN** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:51 pm

Read these

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1764218

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1765943

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:06 pm

the article will do you good but here's quick thoughts...

- training sessions are too long so cut in half at least
- if they don't look effective then they oprobably aren't
- you don't have to lift slow...the quicker you can move something the more relative strength you have which is the number 1 thing in book so lift as quick as you can but it needs to be controlled
- he sounds like a complete dick, and a very small one at that which probaby doesn't even work
- the easiest way to get stronger is to simply increase wt each session but only with the smallest loading you can

i've got a quite weekend so i might whip a "program progression" article for everyone here so keep an eye out

kps · Post by **kps** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:35 pm

thank you houston texan i'll check those out i appreciate it

thank you swanso ...he is a complete dick

i dun wanna say anything cuz i thought i must not let him get in way....he's always messing up the wrkout plan...so what you're saying is that if I can lift weights quicker(not too quick rendering them useless?) and feel it...thats the perfect rep?

um sry but what do you mean by smallest loading? like having a perfect controlled rep with as much weight as you can lift?

and how bout a 1 h 10 min workout excluding cardio for a few ex min.

HOUSTON TEXAN · Post by **HOUSTON TEXAN** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:11 pm

He is a dick. I kinda used to be like him never getting sore until I couldn't increase weight anymore and plateaued.

I personally believe in lifting every other day with full body workouts.

You should hit the muscle groups at this many times per week for maximum growth.

Back: 3-4
Chest: 3
Quadriceps: 3
Hamstrings: 2-3
Deltoids: 2-3
Biceps: 1-2
Triceps: 1-2
Calves: 1-2

kps · Post by **kps** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:45 pm

thank you houston texan

would that yield better results than a 5 day workout targeting a certain muscle group everyday? because most of the time i still feel the pain in some places for a week at most from a workout ...or maybe i'm jus weak minded

schedule so far is
Monday- chest/tricep
tuesday- Cardio/Abs
Wednesday- Forearms
THursday- Legs(full)
Friday- Back/BIceps

Will a 3 day workout yield better results? and sometimes partner messes them up....i might as well ditch him sumtime but i need a spotter for some exercises :'(

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:37 pm

- if he's a complte dick than get rid of him, he's not doing you any good
- by smallest loading i meant the smallest wt you can which at most gyms is 1.25kgs on each end (or 2.5pds) but if there is a smaller wt increase do that instead...with a 5pd increase your reps may drop so i would do an extra set for the same amount of reps if it is too tough to get all reps
- full body workouts are the way to go but i wouldn't bother with direct shoulder, arm or calf work, have someone teach you how to deadlift and squat and there's half your program there...coupled with rows, inverted rows, push ups, bench presses, shoulder presses and some stabilisation core stuff and your set...4 - 5 exercises per session, 3 x 12 for each exercise performed in a circuit x 3/week (devise 2 - 3 workouts and rotate through)...that should take 30mins max then you still have 20mins left for intervals w/ 5min warm up / cool down and your done in 60mins wher you can go home, chuck all his shit on the lawn and change the locks

kps · Post by **kps** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:52 pm

oh you mean the those add-on weight to the machines? and those small rings to the bars?
well I will get rid of him....he probably wudnt even do good as a spotter :/

thanx for your advice swanso

Boss Man · Post by **Boss Man** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:11 pm

HOUSTON TEXAN wrote:He is a dick. I kinda used to be like him never getting sore

The guy probably is a tool, if he's that cocky and unresponsive, but it should be pointed out that no DOMS, is not necessarily an indicator of poor training effectiveness.

When I was gaining, I never got DOMS, almost never, and I sometimes would get some mind boggling increases sometimes

.

I agree in many cases no DOMS can be a sign of low to poor training effectiveness, but it doesn't always figure it will be so.

kps · Post by **kps** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:16 pm

lol i always thought it was an indicator and is DOMS= day of muscle soreness right?

HOUSTON TEXAN · Post by **HOUSTON TEXAN** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:03 pm

DOMS are basically the way your muscles tell you to go to hell.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:02 pm

D elayed
O nset
M uscle
S oreness

this is nothing serious nor something you shoulf go out of your way to seek...it will come most often when you use a new exercise or increase the wt for a current exercise...stretch type exercises like flies, overhead extensions and chin ups where you go all the way down, will be the likely causes of this...big compounds generally don't cause this rtype of soreness as the stress is spread out over the body rather than being localised...i done reverse lunges for the first time in about 9 weeks mon ans was sore till thu when i had to train legs again...the best thing to do is to train through it if you do get it but if you never get it, EVER, then you probaby aren't stepping out of your comfort zone

kps · Post by **kps** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:48 pm

oh so it means delayed muscle soreness?

and it's good right? That means i'm confusing the muscle and trying new things....and i shudnt do the same exercises over and over again

thank u swanso ur so helpful

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:52 pm

well it's not great if you have it all the time...that means you're not recovering properly so you'll go backwards untill your body burns out and get chronic fatigue syndrome or something

i don't like too much variation really, not to frequently anyway or you don't know if your getting stronger or not which is major thing

kps · Post by **kps** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:11 pm

so the muscle soreness in each muscle group should eventually lessen so you can start over on it again on your next week schedule since i do a 5 day workout