What role does exercise play in weight loss? Which sports really help you lose weight? Are there fitness clubs where overweight people can feel accepted and comfortable? Discuss these and other exercise-related concerns here.
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okay, at the gym i am a member of .. they are 99% machines with very little free weights (supposidly will be changing that within the year though) ...
i am still getting into the routine of things, we (me and my wife) go 3x a week.
start off with 10 min on a treadmill ... then moving onto the machines ... working upper first, then lower and then mid ... before another 10 min on the treadmill
i am sure that part alone could be tweaked to be better ...
the main issue i am having ... is the weight amount to use ... (most of them is around 35 to 60 before i feel any resistance)
i am uncertain if i should stick to the max weight that i can do easily (would take 4 to 5 sets of 10 before i start to feel anything in my muscles) or go up to the next step, which normally gets painful within 2 sets of 10.
i used to work out in high school .. but that was back in the early 90's ... it has been that long since i even looked at some exercise equipment .. never used machines back then .. so still learning ...
on the treadmill my heart rate is around 110 to 125 (i am male, 33, 5'7" , 259) should i try to monitor my heart rate during the other exercises as well?
i have read through the stickied threads ... but my head is still foggy when it comes to comprehension on some things ...
some questions relating to my workout. Post #2 (permalink)
Your resting heart rate should be taken first thing in the am - generally before getting out of bed - just after waking up... and it's suggested you take it for 3 days in a row and get the average...
some questions relating to my workout. Post #5 (permalink)
the main issue i am having ... is the weight amount to use
I'm sure Steve will have a much better answer than I can give... but you want this to work your muscles do you don't want to be doing a low weight - there's a bit of misinformaton on the web, that low weight high reputation is the most effective way to burn fat... that's not the case from what I understand.
You want to find a weight that's not too easy but doesn't cause a herniated disc either -before upping the weight you're using - you want to ensure that you've got proper form down on each of the exercises otherwise you could hurt yourself.
some questions relating to my workout. Post #6 (permalink)
Your resting heart rate should be taken first thing in the am - generally before getting out of bed - just after waking up... and it's suggested you take it for 3 days in a row and get the average...
i will start taking it this week each morning to see what the average is ....
some questions relating to my workout. Post #7 (permalink)
I'm sure Steve will have a much better answer than I can give... but you want this to work your muscles do you don't want to be doing a low weight - there's a bit of misinformaton on the web, that low weight high reputation is the most effective way to burn fat... that's not the case from what I understand.
You want to find a weight that's not too easy but doesn't cause a herniated disc either -before upping the weight you're using - you want to ensure that you've got proper form down on each of the exercises otherwise you could hurt yourself.
hmmm i guess i am one of those that falls into the misinformation part on low weight and high rep ...
i am still learning the right forms on the machines ... mostly by seeing how it feels with certain poss ... and going with what is the most comfortable ... (disadvantage of most all gyms in my area ... no 'trainers' to actually show you anything, and i have yet to find a book in the store that has decent illustrations and explinations for machines)
some questions relating to my workout. Post #8 (permalink)
A lot of people get hung up on this step; finding the right weight to start out lifting. It really doesn't have to be all that hard though. Here are a few general rules:
1. Many trainers will base a prescribed weight based on a 1RM or RM number determined during testing. Your 1RM is the max amount of weight you can lift for one repetition in a given exercise. Your RM is the max amount of weight you can lift for a given number of reps.
For instance, if you determined that your 1RM in the bench press was 200 lbs, and the number of reps you wanted to shoot for is 10, you might try a weight of 75% of your 1RM in the bench press.
2. All of that really isn't necessary though. Ideally with me, a client doesn't start out on the machines. They start out learning free weights from the get-go. This doesn't seem to be a possibility with you, but hear me out. When teaching the basic barbell lifts, I'll start the client out with no weight. Let them do a lot of reps with no weight just to get a feel for the movement. The first week or so isn't about the *effort* you put into moving weight. It's not even about having a positive effect from training, unless you label learning proper form a positive effect. Once it's obvious that form is understood, we'll start adding weight incrementally on each progressive set. This will be in this same workout session or the second. This is a touch & feel process... if the weight is going up with absolute ease, obviously you can make larger, incremental jumps in weight. We keep adding weight to the bar until there is a small breakdown in form... small being the key word. You don't want to push someone to failure... especially in their first bout. This could be something as little as a shaky rep. Once this occurs, you've found your starting weight to use from this point forward.
3. The same can be done with machines.... but I'm not sure it's necessary. There's a lot less chance of injury on machines. Or I should say, machines are a lot easier to learn. This said, I'd start out by doing the following:
a) pick a rep range you want to shoot for in each exercise. Remember, different rep ranges have different acute and chronic impacts on the body. For instance, high reps may lead to more volume thus creating a larger caloric expenditure. Low reps tend to have a greater impact on enhancing strength and muscle maintenance. It's not an either-or proposition.... in most cases a combination is best.
b) Once your rep ranges are decided, select a conservative weight to use for each exercise. By conservative.... the first week or so should not be difficult at all. This will enhance proper mechanics of each lift..... no sense in really pushing weight until you are certain you are doing the movements correctly. If you pick a rep range of 8-12, don't do more than that just b/c it felt easy and light. Instead, notate this in your training journal (which you should be keeping) and realize that next week you should up the weight a bit.
For instance, again, if your rep range is 8-12 and this is what your weeks look like for the bench press:
Week 1: 50 lbs for 8 reps
Week 2: 50 lbs for 10 reps
Week 3: 50 lbs for 12 reps
It's safe to assume that week for you could ramp the weight up a bit to keep you within your rep range.
Week 4: 55 lbs for 10 reps
Follow me?
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Really wordy, which I apologize for. In a nutshell, be conservative and build upon the conservative numbers. Shooting too high is a surefire way to leave yourself injured and/or plateaued.
some questions relating to my workout. Post #10 (permalink)
i understand on the free weights and using an empty bar to learn ... did that in high school ...
from the sounds of it .. i may need to start over from scratch and figure out my baseline on the machines ... (and write it down, yes i am guilty of not starting a journal ... i forgot all about it) and go from there .. to keep some consistancy in it and see the progress ...
my main interest right now of course is burning calories ... but i would enjoy building up a bit as well .. for a better look once i am down to my weight goal ... (and of course other benefits)
some questions relating to my workout. Post #11 (permalink)
Oh lordy! I'm in big trouble, I can barely find my pulse, none the less do all this math!
I just grip the heart rate handles every so often, hope they are working, and check out the chart they have on the machine.
Maybe I'm not doing things right, but I never worry about my heart rate, I just my sure I'm putting out some effort, I'm moving and grooving and go from there. Then again, I've never been very 'athletic'. I'm not saying that you should or shouldn't, just saying what I do.
Reebok University's Effort Scales for cardio vascular training uses a 1 to 4 scale:
Exertion Level 1 - Light to moderate effort. Mild increase in breathing rate.
Exertion Level 2 - Moderate effort. Noticeable increase in breathing.
Exertion Level 3 - Moderate to hard effort. Noticeable increase in depth/rate breathing. Difficulty talking in full sentences.
Exertion Level 4 - Hard to extremely hard effort. Unable to talk at all. Gasping slightly for breath.
While the RPE scale is considered to be fairly reliable as a means to measure intensity, approximately 10% of the population tends to over or under rate their exertion (Morgan 1981). Therefore it was not encouraged to be used as the sole means for determining exercise intensity.
some questions relating to my workout. Post #14 (permalink)
I prefer doing interval training myself - it makes it a little less boring - so level 2 is my "recover" level and I'll get up 3.5 for the intervals...
I'm still uncertain if it's more or less effective than steady state -but it's more challening for me and it brings out my competitive side which keeps me doing it...
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