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Advice on bodybuilding

I find that trainers (at least most) are for people who really don;t know what they are doing - I watch them when I am at the gym and they are not even showing how to do an exercise properly. Most also spend half their time talking to their clients. When I did work out with a trainer, he was someone that looked like he worked out. Most of the trainers don;t look like they ever workout. And most will use machines. I don't ever see anyone using free weights with their clients. I would say save your money, make yourself out a schedule of workouts and read these posts - look at bb magazines for ideas - THese posts probably have more knowledge than any trainer.
 
I find that trainers (at least most) are for people who really don;t know what they are doing - I watch them when I am at the gym and they are not even showing how to do an exercise properly. Most also spend half their time talking to their clients

witkowsd, I hear ya on that!


You guys are awesome!
I told the trainers I wanted to train like I was getting ready for a comp and I only wanted to train with the guys that have competed. So far I have, but I think most of the problem is they train me paired up with someone (usually a cute little house wife with make-up on or someone who wants to chat the whole time.:rolleyes:) I am not certain the trainers are ALL certified either, like they claim to be. I will finish the rest of my program but I doubt I renew.
 
I will only workout with someone that looks like they work out - there were 2 in my gym and one actually approached me and said that if I ever needed a trainer, he would love to train with me. And I did for a while, just for a changeup - and he killed me because he knew what my goals were - all free weights and pushed me to my limit. Unfortunately, him and the other trainer I liked are now gone and the only ones left are young kids.
 
I will only workout with someone that looks like they work out - there were 2 in my gym and one actually approached me and said that if I ever needed a trainer, he would love to train with me. And I did for a while, just for a changeup - and he killed me because he knew what my goals were - all free weights and pushed me to my limit. Unfortunately, him and the other trainer I liked are now gone and the only ones left are young kids.
 
Okay,
I had a little talk with the owner of my gym about the service I was getting from his trainers. I told him I have been disappointed during my 10 of 12 week sessions. I have lost 4 lbs and 3% bf.
I told the owner I have asked the trainers several times, if I should be increasing in training days (they told me no) and no one was paying attention to my lifting from previous weeks. He said I should have increased to 5 days of weights several weeks ago! Now the owner suggests I do 45 min of cardio in the am and 30 in the pm after weights, cause I can't seem to loose anything AND I need to do negative esentric movements reps of 20?
I want to compete:(
Any advice! I thought I would have much different results when I started this program. My diet is not a problem either.
The owner is training me for the remainder of my session. I am sore....that is a +.
I am completely discouraged to compete now though....
 
A couple things --- first indicate that you are interested in competing. Only talk to those who know what "competing" means. You are serious about what you are spending your money on and what you are training for. Don't go w/ someone who isn't qualified to TEACH you, not just take your money.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you might need to change your goals a little bit with regard to "I want to compete." I don't know how long you have been training. 5 weeks is an incredibly short time in the big picture. I might side with the trainer as far as how much weight matters if you don't have good form or understand what exactly you are training with each move. In that case adding more weight might cause you to compromise your form to push the weight and ultimately just hurt yourself.

If they have not considered presenting you with a change in your training program, then they are also ignorant. As you learn more, you should always be modifying your training regimen - like every 6-8 weeks. Dont' expect miracles in a 12 week program either. BB is a lifestyle, not something that you just go out and do immediately. You want to focus on the daily frequency of it but also grow and adjust your knowledge over time.

To give myself a guideline for when to up my weights, if I can execute 12-15 clean reps, time to increase the weights. If I can do 8-10 struggling reps, I'll wait for another week to pass, but I will try to go for 10-12 clean, tight reps before moving forward. This way I know my form is not being compromised by the increase in weight. My goal is to make sure I have improved my training in some way each day. Sometimes the improvement will be in weight. Other times it will be in increased reps, or perhaps tighter reps or even an alteration in how I am doing them. Remember that your body can adjust to a repeated routine and by not constantly challenging your body you are cheating yourself.

A comment about cardio -- to keep things in perspective -- for me, I can lift all day, every day for months on end and not really lose a lot of body fat. I "need" cardio to really put a dent in my bodyfat, though I can get a pretty serious pump going from the lifting. JJ and Slinky are national & international level competitors who already have low body fat and I'm sure their off-season body fat is something I would kill for at this point in time (;)) There is absolutely NO need for them to do any more cardio than they do. This may not apply to you. Again, if you are just getting going with the whole training thing, and noting that you indicate bad knees --- first, don't run. No need for high impact cardio like that. Mix it up - I think you should focus on keeping the cardio going to kick start some results. But mix it up -- do HIIT 2x/week along with some extended slower cardio. Sometimes doing a long walk session the day after a brutal leg day can be a nice recovery so you don't cramp up from the previous leg day, but you still give your muscles a chance to recover.

Also I don't want to blow your excitement to compete, but I'd be willing to bet you haven't been to a bodybuilding show before to really know what "competing" means (I may be wrong but don't take offense - some people just get all caught up in the "I want to compete" thing and have never even seen a show.) I am also willing to bet that you may be more interested in doing a figure show than a bb show. Big difference in the requirements between the two. So don't get ahead of yourself. If you want to compete make sure you know what it means to compete. Frankly there's a whole art to just doing competitions above and beyond training for them.

Where you need to focus is educating yourself on good training & diet. Extend your knowledge by constantly looking for more ways to tweak your current training knowledge to ensure that your body doesn't become complacent with the routines you have done. And don't get ahead of yourself complaining about the trainers. Probably they are just there to make a living and arent' going to give you what you desire. But also remember that it takes time to change your body. I don't know what your body type is - but I use myself as the constant comparison - I've pushed my training to the top to compete. I would say I accomplished alot, but I also have not made it a constant priority in my life to say that I am a "competitor" at this stage of things. I've had some weird crap happen to me in the last 2 years since I competed and I've got some serious weight to dump. BUT I also can claim that I've been lifting for close to 20 years and I've got an awesome base to build on. I am still learning new and different ways to train to see how I can improve what I have, perhaps correct things that I do now that could actually be causing problems and and discovering new ways that actually complement my body the best. And then there's diet. Oh man, the diet. This is what will make or break you in competition. You can't speed up ANY of this stuff - there are two components to it -- there is HOW you do it and there is also HOW CONSISTENTLY you do it. You are shaping and molding both your muscles and your metabolism. Both take time. They will respond to the things that you change, and they may rebound from things you change too. A simple example is if you change your diet, i.e. clean it up, cut carbs, whatever, and then you see an amazing weight drop in the first few weeks, then nothing. It isn't that your diet stopped working. Its that your body just dumped a bunch of water weight because you aren't giving it the usual amount of carbs to hold all the water that you just dumped. You didn't lose bodyfat but you did lose weight. Another change may be that your weight may have actually increased even though you've been lifting like a mofo -- guess what? Muscle weighs more than fat -- so its a good thing, even though the scale isn't appearing to say that.

So, what am I saying? Invest TIME into what you are doing. Its probably a good thing to let the trainers know that you arent' paying them to be your babysitter. Learn about diet & exercise. Constantly test yourself. Make sure that you do have the correct form on a move and then see if you can reproduce the same move on a different machine or free weight to work the same muscle. This is how you go from learning "how to use the machines" to "how to work your muscles". This is POWERFUL knowledge because then you will know if you still have the correct form even though you have changed the way you exercise your muscle. (e.g. a cable row vs a machine row vs a free-weight row). The goal is to NOT need a trainer to take you around the gym. I'll hire a trainer every now and then to learn a few new moves, but not so they can stand there and count my reps for $60/hr.

If you keep the competition stuff as a goal in the back of your mind and go to see competitions when they are in town, you will learn so much more. If you focus on doing a competition in a year, that sets your timeline to 1 year. You really need to be looking several years down the road. Competition will come at the right time - it may be in a year or in 20. But if you have the knowledge & the consistency down first, you will have the better goal accomplished.

Your accomplishments so far sound great!
 
"I told the owner I have asked the trainers several times, if I should be increasing in training days (they told me no) and no one was paying attention to my lifting from previous weeks. He said I should have increased to 5 days of weights several weeks ago! Now the owner suggests I do 45 min of cardio in the am and 30 in the pm after weights, cause I can't seem to loose anything AND I need to do negative esentric movements reps of 20?"

Uuuh, no. Like everyone else has said here, I say you save your money and educate YOURSELF. Nobody does 2 cardio sessions a day unless they're an idiot, a marathon runner, a cardio bunny or a BB competitor 4 weeks out from a show (or maybe more, if they're like me and misjudge their timing, lol). As a beginner, yes, you could have lost a fair bit more than 3% in 12 weeks, but on the other hand, a loss is a loss.

So, now I would like this owner guy to explain just what you will do after you increase to 5 days of weights, and then plateau on that? Increase to 7 days a week? Double sessions? No. How are you going to maintain an escalating amount of time in the gym over a lifetime? A more intelligent thing to do would be to drop back on volume a bit, (or drop one day) throw out the silly kickback type moves, start doing heavy deads, squats, benches etc like slinky said, and do them as if your life depends on it. Chatting between sets should be difficult - wear a watch with a second hand and WATCH that hand.

"ECCENTRICS FOR 20 REPS"!!!!!!!?????? That has to be the craziest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. This is BEGGING for immune system collapse and for a rapid trip back to square one. Most successful trainees add in MAYBE one or 2 eccentric reps at the end of a set every 2-4 weeks. People who can do more than this, and who can train 5-6 days a week are generally taking large amounts of performance enhancing substances, so please don't follow this guy's advice.

Oh, and what you lift from week to week is VERY important, and if this week's trainer isn't looking at last week's, and the previous weeks' lifts, they're an idiot and should be fired.

I sound harsh, I know, but I'm sick of seeing idiots blithely leading clients up the road to injury. I see them all the time in the gym - it makes me cringe with nausea what I see some folks doing - I'm no expert or anything, but I have enough training behind me to know foolishness and ignorance when I see it.

All of what sassy and the other girls said is very good - go and watch some shows - they're a thrill to watch and even more fun to do, but they take an incredible amount of drive and discipline. Focus for now on gaining some mass - you'd be surprised how little there is of it left once you diet down - and choose a date a year or more from now.

One other thing - slow controlled movements are fine for learning impeccable form, but explosiveness will make you strong, and big - some moves are not made for explosiveness (like SLDL's), but slow and controlled all the way up and all the way down will just tire your muscle, not stress it.

Good luck, hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions that you need help with, that you can't find in the search - that's what this board is for :)
 
BeeUnique said:
That's what I thought. I told them I need to increase my weights.
There are some compounds in there.
Anyway, here is a sample of excercises I have been doing over the 5 weeks:
Leg day: lunges, leg extensions, hack squats, ball squats, standing leg curls

Back: lat pull down, hammer strength wide rows, close grip pull downs, close grip cable curls
Bi's: barbell curls, hammer seated curls
Tris: Tricep bar press down
dumbell kick back
Abs: ball crunches, leg raise bench

Chest: delt fly, flex pec dec, bench press, dips
Shoulders: side lat raises, fromt raises, flex press

2-4 excercises per group, 3-4 sets of 12-15+ reps.

So I should maybe do 30 min cardio as opposed to 45min? I do between 3.5 - 3.8 mph on a slight incline.
My current stats are 5'3, 140lbs. and bf of 29% (should be lower since I lost 8inches though)

Thanks for the reply Slinky, this is valuable info cause I do not want to wast $$ or time going in circles!



My .02......

DUMP YOUR TRAINER!

Build muscle with proper weight training and loose fat via diet and cardio. The more muscle you build the more calories you will burn at rest as well.

WAY too much volume for a natural trainee and way too much isolation work. That much volume will reduce intensity of effort. You CANNOT train high volume and be training really hard, especially in the upper leg and dealift department.

You will grow to some extent and then NOTHING will happen and you will be using the same weights in each exercise for YEARS to come.....speaking of weights>> progressive poundage increases in small and then tiny increments IS VITAL and the "golden Fleece" of lifting for muscle especially as a natural.

Read my Sticky post above and give it a real good try. If you add steroids at some time then you could do slightly more volume and train every other day on a three way split at most.


TRY THIS.... MONDAYS

Walk on the tread mill at incline for 5 minutes.

1.SQUATS.....2-3 progressively heavier warm ups of 5-6 reps and then 3 all out sets of deep barbell squats for 10-15 reps. DO NOT push yourself on the warm ups...they should be easy to do. The first working sets uses your TOP weight and that is a fair bit more than you last warm up. ie: warm ups...95 X 6, 125 X 5-6 then maybe 145 X 5 and then go all out on 165 X 10-15. I can get away with only two warm ups.

Rest 4 minutes between sets. You should break parallel so that your sacrum dips down and engages the powerful glutes, hips and hams. Believe it or not you will squat more weight going low. Try a shoulder width stance or slightly more. If you have long legs relative to torso the you might want a wide stance. Angle feet out at 20-30 degrees. Use a belt only on the working sets.
Do them in a rack and set the pins so that if you fail in a rep you can just let the weight down on the pins.
Work VERY hard...the working sets, properly done, take a long time to do as you huff and heave between reps.

Place the bar on your traps and not the neck. Pinch your scapula together. Take a DEEP beath and HOLD IT . Head up. Back solightly arched. The first movement is a sitting type movement...pretend you are going to sit on a chair behind you but don't lean forward too much. There is some forward lean in the squat but not excessive. The lower legs will move forward a bit but never let them go way forward over the toes. Some can squat with an almost verticle lower leg ..some cannot.

Many power lifters will place the bar on top of the rear delts and bend forward more but they are trying to lift as much weight as possible and the leverages of this style make for a bigger total. For general training don't do this as the more typical high bar squat is better for quad developement IMHO. HOWEVER, if you want to do power squats then get instruction from a power lifter...you can get plenty all round developement form power squats.

Descend to slightly below parallel although some can safely go lower. Keep you back straight and don't lean forward as you come up. Drive HARD out of the bottom "pocket". EXHALE in a hiss or grunt as you feel yourself getting through the sticking point. Try to keep your knees form buckling inward. Don't use knee wraps as this will weaken your knees and take the stress off the quads.

WHY SO MUCH SAID ABOUT THE SQUAT?? Because it is BY FAR the best over all upper leg exercise you can possibly do. The squat and the deadlift also stimulate growth in the entire body. You will NEVER see optimal upper body growth unless you squat and deadlift in some form.
The squat works every muscle in the upper leg very hard. SHAPE and DEFINITION is body fat related and genetic.

Thats it for quads.....WHAT no lunges , leg extensions, hacks etc etc ...YUP ...3 very hard sets of squats will work the entire upper leg. The isolation work will do nothing for you trust me.

Next hams......OH...deep squats work the hams very well too.

2. do 1 set of leg curls to failure at 8-10 reps.(optional)

3. Next come the mass builder. Stiff leg deadlifts. 1 warm up of 8 and then 2 all out sets of 10. Rest 3 minutes between sets.
Head up. Bar close to the legs all the time. Knees slightly unlocked. Wrist straps for sure. Keep back straight all the time. Descend by PIVITING the hips and sticking your butt back. Do not reach forward with the arms. Go down to mid shin MAX and most get a full ham stretch going to the knee. Do the movement slowly and smoothly. Work very hard but don't go to complete failure as it is too risky.
You can stiff leg deadlift A LOT of weight once you know how to do them well. In time you should be able to use 75- 80% of your squat weight for reps. My wife stiff leg deads MORE than she squats.

4. Next 1 set of back extensions with weight for 10-12 reps.

5. After a few months start doing 2 sets of any type of shrugs. The deadlifts work the traps too.



DONE! now crawl home and eat and rest.

The above workout will exhaust you and do FAR more than the BS routine your trainer gave you in stimulating gains. Do not add exercises and sets....work harder.

If you trained with me you wouldn't want to do ANYTHING after the squats let alone more leg work.

WEDNESDAY

Work sets mentioned only. Work them VERY HARD!
Don't forget to warm up but keep it simple and don't get carried away with warm ups sets as they will drain you. I only do one warm up for each compound movement except heavy benches and then I will do 2-3 sets of 5.

1. Pulldowns with wrist straps and with a barbell curl grip. Pull smoothly arch the low back a bit. 2 sets of 8-10 Push very hard.

2. Some type of strict rowing for 2 sets. Hold the weight in the fully contracted position for a second.

3. Okay you get to do an isolation exercise...but only to pre fatigue the deltoids so fresh triceps can push the compound exercise hard. 2 sets of 10 of laterals

4. Some type of over head press. machine are fine. I like hammer. If you use free weights then use a bench set at about 80 degrees and press to THE FRONT. This movement works ALL the heads of the deltoid. 2 sets of 8

What no rear delt work?...HA! the press works them and rows work the hell out of them.

5. Barbell curls. 3 all out sets of 8-10. Work verry very hard. Do them very strictly. I like to do rest pause reps after going to failure...that is after going to failure I put the weight down for 10 seconds and then do another reps. I do this 1-3 times. I like to do them on calves to and other exercises as well.

6. wrist curl 2 sets.

DONE!

FRIDAY

1. Some type of shallow incline press. I like hammer. 2 sets of 8-10
2. Some type of decline press. I like hammer. OR you could do dips in a amchine with elbows flaired outwards.

WHAT no peck deck and cross overs...HA! they will do SHIT except drain you of recuperative energy.
3. Toe presses in leg press machine. 4 sets. rest only 90 seconds between sets. Reduce the weight a bit for each working set. Do rest pause reps. ALL the way up and ALL the way down...DON'T RUSH THE REPS. THE PAIN!!!!!!!!

What no seated calf raise. HA! the toe press works the hell out of the soleus too....but if you insist you can do one set.

4. Choose ONE of these and alternate them from workout to workout. Dips in a machine with elbows close to sides. Lying tricep extensions with an EZ bar. 3 sets HARD!


What about ABBS...do them once or AT MOST twice per week. I think the best moevements are cruches with a rolled towel under the low back for more pre stretch or crunches on the swiss ball. Also hanging knee ups..curling the torso up high.
do 4 sets of 10-20 and use weight if you can do more than 20. I get the best abb SIZE with sets of 10-12.


Don't forget to MICRO LOAD...using progressively heavier weights each week. Do this in small jumps first and then TINY jumps as the going gets really tough.
SEE MY STICKY POST ABOVE.

Try to get down to 20% body fat and even 15 if you can. You will have to do cardio and sometimes a lot. I recommend 45 minutes on the tread mill 5 days per week. Set the incline at 13% and walk at 3.5-4 miles per hour.
After you loose weight you can drop the cardio to 3 times per week and do 30 minutes per session...this will allow for better recuperation from the weights and you will grow more muscle as a result.


GOOD LUCK!

Oh and stop reading the BS Weider magazines as the advice there is ONLY for the HEAVY steroid using genetic freak(mostly). Look at the pictures but that is it.
It is a shame that the best advice in the typical gyms comes from power lifters. Most bodybuilders just do not know how to train for muscle growth without using a shit load of steroids. Use enough gear and you can do anything and grow...not so for the natural or even those using modests amounts of steroids.

RG













:)
 
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just curious, what were your previous stats, and your present. i read you lost 4 lbs (weight is so meaningless) and lost 3% bf? how much muscle did you gain? since you lost roughly 8 inches, it sounds like more bodyfat than you may percieve. were the inches in all the right places? hips, waist, thighs, upper arm? did you maintain any areas during the process?

what did your diet look like? cals? ratios?

too often too much emphasis is placed on the training program to perform all the miracles. also, to play devil's advocate, many times certain exercises are put into place due to coordination issues, flexibility issues, balance or time constraints. could a trainer be lazy? yes. could the client be clumsy? yes. could there be flexibility, balance or safety issues? yes. too many factors.

if your goal is to lose bodyfat, and you eat for it, then thats your goal. if your goal is to gain muscle...you will eat for that accordingly. you wont do both with a great deal of success on either end at the same time. lean out if that is your priority, then build your base. right now your training is designed to preserve muscle, increase coordination and strength and burn calories. if you arent eating for growth (caloric surplus) then dont expect miracles in muscle gain. exercise selection isnt to blame. all too many times a trainer is the first to blame, but remember everyone on here gets the full lowdown from the client and not the trainer. many times there is a communications breakdown when the client expects the trainer to know everything going on, every step of the way.(though it may not be the case here)

i say all of this...because i deal with it constantly. i hear every excuse and know there is no perfect client. there are adherence issues with everything, from effort in workouts, to fear of overload, to eating issues.

all i can say is make sure you have all your ducks in a row, then check your trainer's credentials, and training background. ensure you have good communication lines and can vocalize the types of things you want, if you still arent satisfied, then look elsewhere.
 
"They tell me weight does not matter it is all in how slow and controlled you do it."

That's total bullshit.

W6
 
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