I always find weightlifting a relaxing, yet focused and pleasantly 'goal orientated' therapy.
Not 'Bodybuilding' as such , more in the realm of Olympic style lifting - or the more attainable / healthier / cardio and strength based Kettlebell training.
how strict are you taking it? ie the 5 or 6 meals a day to get a steady source of protein and etc
I think I've been lifting weights for about a month now and doing the diet stuff, my body is certainly in better proportion, having bigger triceps makes a huge difference to my arms
need bigger weights now because current ones don't stress the muscles enough :(
Hiya JDC, :)
As my involvement has been over many years, I am not overly strict on the diet ; the main reason being that I follow a form of training that is meant to work ( for soldiers, martial artists - and manual workers ) on just about any food intake. I do of course pay much more attention to getting 'quality calories' than the average 'man/ woman in the street' - but compact, wiry, stronger than I look ' - is the objective for me. Also, as Pavel Tsatsouline's writings ( however over hyped and marketed his stuff is ) - brought to my attention a very different set of 'wisdoms' from the former Soviet Bloc countries ; I am training quite the opposite to the way I did in my 1970's Bodybuilding days.
Think more sets/ reps of 2 x 5 - or 3x3 , at about 85% of one's 1 Rep max, but frequent - and never to failure. To 'practice' the lifts - instead of training them. The legendary Reg Park used 5 x 5 extensively , and he was the inspiration for a young Arnold S.
Read this download of Pavel's most famous work / the thing that enlightened me :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3612825/Pavel-Tsatsouline-Power-To-The-People( If this link breaks any forum rules, then I'll delete )
Also Mark Rippetoe's 'Starting Strength' is good, as is the free e:book 'From the ground up' by Dan John.
It's all compound exercises really, very little ( if any ) isolation work. As Dan John reminds us :
" The body is one unt".
Think more Squat / Deadlift / Overhead press .
There is also a great free e:book from 'Stronglifts.com' about the whole 5 x 5 concept and a down loadable spreadsheet.
The 'Kettlebells' compliment and add conditioning , relevant to explosive sports and high power to weight ratio e.t.c. You don't have to do both, but there is certainly merit in both. Whilst I am certainly not affiliated with Pavel's relentless marketing machine - I can say that the above turned my own training around - and brought me more ( relative ) strength and speed at 50 + years old , than I could have dreamed of at 21.
I will add a protein supplement during the heavier parts of any given training cycle, and the 'wave cycle' method seems to produce the most sustainable gains. My own experiment is ongoing - and aims at me hitting strength / body composition targets in months and years ahead, not days or weeks.
A medication I have to now take for life, put me about 20kg of unwanted weight on very quickly - but I am now fighting back against that, so my campaign against these systemic effects must be 'sure and steady'.
There is a whole 'sub culture' built around these things, but I don't want to un-intentionally 'spam(ish) ' this revered forum with any more links or recommendations. If you should want more info - do P.M. me - but first read the link , as if you climb over the gimmicky 'hype' - the basic truths contained within really do work very well. You can still put on size with strength - if that's what you want, by following the 'Russian Bear' routine.
Like I said, there is so much to tell, but this is not the right place. It
is nice to hear of someone else that enjoys the 'Iron game' though. The only trouble being that I often find it much more enjoyable than sitting down and playing my guitar !
Cheers ! :)
* Edit*
Another thing JDC: Whilst you labour without sufficient weights to challenge you as you would like ; I always found shortened rest periods between sets, and
s-l-o-w negatives to make almost
anything seem heavy in a cumulative way.
Also , due the nature / type of the muscle fibres involved ( If you want straight hypertrophy ) , triceps seem to respond better to lower reps / arm biceps higher : Quads , higher reps, hamstrings lower. Go
relatively easy on the shoulders if also benching and rowing in the same workout ; as they will have already been pre - worked in the chest/ back work. As always , we are an 'experiment of one ' - but I assume you are much younger than me, so those Squats / Deadlifts / Clean and presses will really help stimulate the production of HGH and Testosterone.
I am always reminded of the rather stark reply reply given to a young chap ( on a weightlifting forum ) when he asked how best to put on size :
"
Squat till you drop,
eat while you're down there -
sleep when you're full " .... :lol:
