Humiliating feeling...

[MAR1984]

So... went back to the gym yesterday. Had a session with a trainer (one of two free sessions for being a new member at the gym). There were some good and bad aspects...

Firstly, working with the trainer was easier than working alone. There really is a big difference when there is someone there telling you what to do, pushing you, and spotting. I found that once we started working out, I didn't bother to glance around the weight room and worry about who might be watching and what they might be thinking. I was simply focused on the trainer and what I was supposed to be doing. Also good was that the trainer agreed with the type of workouts I needed to be doing - free weights, full body routines, utilizing the compound lifts.

However, there were some things I didn't agree with. I planned on doing the Starting strength - Practical Programming routine, or possibly the wichita falls novice program for the power cleans. I bought into the 3x5 mentallity, small weight increases each workout, not having to work to failure, and focusing on form. Well, the trainer didn't exactly agree with this. The trainer had me work to failure each set, and then add weight every set. And failure didn't simply mean losing form or needing assistance... First we did bench, and it went something like this: He put 135 on the bar (the amount I did 3x5 on monday) and told me to do 8 reps. I did the 8 no assistance, and he told me to do 2 more. On the 10th rep, I needed assistance. He then added 10lbs and told me to do 8 reps again. Well, I might have did the first 2 unassisted, and needed assistance on the last 6. Then the third set... he added another 5lbs, and told me to do 6 reps. I needed assistance on all 6 reps, and actually it felt more like I was just holding the bar while the trainer moved it up and down. Afterwards, I was told to do 15 pushups. Well, my arms and chest were shot. I couldn't even hold myself up in a proper pushup position, nor could I do pushups even on my knees.

Now, I'm not saying thats the "wrong" way to lift, but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. The trainer gave me the impression that was the only "right" way to lift though. When I told him about the starting strength program, he said he'd heard about it, but frowned and said it was too based on form, I wouldn't see much progress (hinting that it was a result of not working to failure), it would be boring, and I'd have to change my routine after 6 weeks to *confuse* my body, otherwise I would have adapted to the routine and stopped seeing progress. When I told him I believed I could see progress on the program for 6-12 months, he simply frowned again and shrugged and reiterated how boring it would be to do the same routine over and over again for so long.

We got through 2 other excercises in a similar manner. First was a new excercise I hadn't seen before. It was an olympic barbell with one end bolted to a swivel. Weight was added to the free end, and the excecise was sort of a combination of a squat to an overhead press, and meant to be explosive. Well, I liked the concept behind the excercise, but I didn't like the execution - still higher weights than I could do alone, still using assistance, and still going to failure. The last excercise we did were inverted rows. I never did them before, and it showed. The trainer had me do 2 sets to failure - one with an overhand grip, and one with an underhand grip.

There was more the trainer was going to have me do, but he said he didn't want to kill me too much. We then went over to talk about nutrition - which basically amounted to him telling me to eat breakfast to get my metabolism started in the morning, and eat 6 times a day because every time you eat, your metabolism goes up, and eating 6 times a day will keep my metabolism working all day. Even after telling him I ate 5 times a day, he basically told me eating 6 times a day was better. I pretty much just smiled and nodded throughout his explantion. He also hinted that I would get into the proper calories, protein/carb ratios, etc later on (implying that was if I paid for sessions.) Oh, another thing I hadn't heard before and wasn't too sure about - He said Breakfast should be the largest meal, and dinner should be the smallest. Didn't really give a good explanation why - said something about metabolism slowing down throughout the day. Anyone know of any rationale for why meals should be like this? I'm under the impression that all else being equal (calories, nutrients, # of meals, etc.), it doesn't really matter where the largest meal is.

So all in all, I feel like the trainer had everything about half right, according to my own beliefs. I scheduled my last free session for monday (although I'll be working out again on friday, I can't imagine doing another failure workout again so quickly). There are aspects about working with a trainer that I think would help me, but I don't think I'll be purchasing any further sessions. I think I'm going to stick with the starting strength methodologies, and see how I am able to progress for the first 3 months and then reevaluate to decide if a different type of program is needed. To me, it makes a lot more sense than what the trainer has me doing, as long as it works. I'm not saying I don't think I would make progress with the trainer, just that it makes more sense to have good form lifting unassisted weights I can handle, than sacrifice form, struggling to failure every set, and needing assistance just for the sake of adding weight to the bar every set.

And on topic, I felt better in the weight room yesterday than I did on monday. i got there about an hour or so earlier, and overall, there were less people lifting weights, and more average lifters (unlike monday, where it seemed like everyone there had been doing it for years.) I didn't feel so out of place. And I'm sure working with the trainer helped as well. I'll see how I feel on friday when I'm again working alone.

 

[timmy46975]

Hahaha!

Well, that is unless you're the asshole who is screaming and shouting and flinging weights about while he struts around in his cut off t, flexing. But I suspect he wants to be noticed.

Seriously I laughed for like 3 minutes after reading this because I remember a guy exactly like that at a gym I used to attend. Just looking at himself in the mirror like there was nothing better in the world than himself. When I was in the adjacent area working on the machines I would grunt out loud on purpose as though I was really working out hard but it was really to make fun of him, lol.

----------------------------------------------

On topic though, seriously, MAR, as much weight as you have already lost, any one of those people would be hard pressed to do better than that. You should be proud of what you have accomplished and know that with more and more strength training, you will get all the muscles you want too. I know it's easier said than done but to hell with what other people are thinking, what matters is what you think.

 

[fatty_doll]

Idk, Mar.. you prolly don't wanna be working till failure right away. You'll prolly damage some muscle tissue doing that. Also.. you might want to realize that not all trainners must be certified through the state.. some can just be any joe shmoe they find out on the streets.

Take what he said with a grain of salt. More or less you can do your own research on fitness and nutritien and are bound to be way better off.. (in fact, the people here seem to be awesomely informed)

 

[Jynus]

I can only speak for myself, but I use those kind of weight levels and focus on perfect form, slow movement, etc, and I am increasing strength and size of muscles. Its like yoga and weight lifting combined (sort of).

I am not at all interested in entering the 'heavy weights vs light weights' debate. I know what works for me. I am convinced.

oh i have no doubt it works for specific goals. but again, without getting too far into science, you're missing out on a vast part of training at such a light weight. your atp-cp energy systems in the body and white fast twitch muscle fibers are not being touched. Now again, it depends on what your goals are, and thats an individual thing. Since you mention yoga and don't seem to be about getting big, I'm assuming you're cool with having a smallish but lean looking appearance with little regard for strength or athletic performance. And thats cool, if thats your goal and end result then I fully support it, and am not going to judge someone going for what they want, and light weights will surely accomplish those goals...

But believe me when I say that no one is going to gain any degree of good hypertrophy or strength from lifting light weights. I agree it's not a light vs heavy weight discussion. Both have different applications. But if your goals are to get bigger, stronger, more powerful, better at sports, etc etc, then it's no question that you should be piling on the weight and squatting till you drop. Yes you will still gone some degree of benefit for those goals with light weights, but those lifting heavy with a proper compound movement training template will see much greater levels of progress. Pretty much end of story.

 

[Jynus]

However, there were some things I didn't agree with. I planned on doing the Starting strength - Practical Programming routine, or possibly the wichita falls novice program for the power cleans. I bought into the 3x5 mentallity, small weight increases each workout, not having to work to failure, and focusing on form. Well, the trainer didn't exactly agree with this. The trainer had me work to failure each set, and then add weight every set. And failure didn't simply mean losing form or needing assistance... First we did bench, and it went something like this: He put 135 on the bar (the amount I did 3x5 on monday) and told me to do 8 reps. I did the 8 no assistance, and he told me to do 2 more. On the 10th rep, I needed assistance. He then added 10lbs and told me to do 8 reps again. Well, I might have did the first 2 unassisted, and needed assistance on the last 6. Then the third set... he added another 5lbs, and told me to do 6 reps. I needed assistance on all 6 reps, and actually it felt more like I was just holding the bar while the trainer moved it up and down. Afterwards, I was told to do 15 pushups. Well, my arms and chest were shot. I couldn't even hold myself up in a proper pushup position, nor could I do pushups even on my knees.

in starting strength why wouldn't you work till failure? it's 3x5, the principle of which is you're pushing yourself to force the body to adapt to stresses it can't handle. if you can do 5 unassisted, up the weight, and try again. Using myself as an example, I do 5x5 for a lot of my big lifts. different training template, but same idea. First 3 sets i can usually hammer out, 4 and 5 I need help. Soon as I can get through the first 4 sets unassisted that week, I up the weight for next week.... However, his training philosophy is a lil lacking. You don't need to go to complete and utter failure repeatedly.

Now, I'm not saying thats the "wrong" way to lift, but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. The trainer gave me the impression that was the only "right" way to lift though. When I told him about the starting strength program, he said he'd heard about it, but frowned and said it was too based on form, I wouldn't see much progress (hinting that it was a result of not working to failure), it would be boring, and I'd have to change my routine after 6 weeks to *confuse* my body, otherwise I would have adapted to the routine and stopped seeing progress. When I told him I believed I could see progress on the program for 6-12 months, he simply frowned again and shrugged and reiterated how boring it would be to do the same routine over and over again for so long.

utter rubbish. Starting strength is an amazing program for beginners, and any trainer dismissing the likes of mark ripptoe is laughable. He's semi right about the body confusion thing, but is taking it to not really applicable levels. Tell any olympic lifter that he needs to stop doing oly lifts and do something else to confuse his body to see better gains. it's laughable. Thats the beauty of starting thrength, the "confusion" if you will is that it's a built in progress template where every lifting day you try and beat your old previous best. As long as you're consistently trying to better your lifts, you'll be seeing progress for months. Once you've reached the intermediate level of lifting, then you can look into breaking it up more when you start seeing progress stalls. But for any novice lifter, SS will do them good for months easy....

There was more the trainer was going to have me do, but he said he didn't want to kill me too much. We then went over to talk about nutrition - which basically amounted to him telling me to eat breakfast to get my metabolism started in the morning, and eat 6 times a day because every time you eat, your metabolism goes up, and eating 6 times a day will keep my metabolism working all day. Even after telling him I ate 5 times a day, he basically told me eating 6 times a day was better. I pretty much just smiled and nodded throughout his explantion. He also hinted that I would get into the proper calories, protein/carb ratios, etc later on (implying that was if I paid for sessions.) Oh, another thing I hadn't heard before and wasn't too sure about - He said Breakfast should be the largest meal, and dinner should be the smallest. Didn't really give a good explanation why - said something about metabolism slowing down throughout the day. Anyone know of any rationale for why meals should be like this? I'm under the impression that all else being equal (calories, nutrients, # of meals, etc.), it doesn't really matter where the largest meal is.

his lack of knowledge is starting to show. Your metabolism does not get boosted from eating 6 times a day... it stays pretty much the same regardless of the number of meals you eat.. The amount of food you eat per day is what matters to your metabolism, not how many times a day you eat. This is with some cavats however. In a caloric deficit, eating protein multiple times a day vs once shows some benefit at fat oxidation vs muscle oxidation. meaning while your metabolism stays the same, the calories burned are more likely to be from fat stores rather than muscle stores.

As for breakfast being the largest meal, I say the same thing too. It's not a hard rule though. As in, your body won't care if your largest meal is breakfast or dinner. However, you as a person will care in that the more you eat earlier, the less you will feel hungry later on. Making nighttime binges much more likely to be controled. Studies back this up too in that monitoring those who eat big earlier are much more likely to eat less throughout the course of a day than those who don't. But it's a moot point for those who count their calories...

just that it makes more sense to have good form lifting unassisted weights I can handle, than sacrifice form, struggling to failure every set, and needing assistance just for the sake of adding weight to the bar every set.

you can go to failure with good form. But yes, I agree with you. For things like squats, oly lifts, deadlifts, etc. When form breaks you're done, end of story. But you can learn to force good form in. I regularly go to failure on all my big lifts with good form. My knees starting to creep in on squats? I just grit my teeth harder and force them in line with my toes, regardless of much much more it burns.

 

[fatty_doll]

"Your metabolism does not get boosted from eating 6 times a day... it stays pretty much the same regardless of the number of meals you eat.. The amount of food you eat per day is what matters to your metabolism, not how many times a day you eat. This is with some cavats however. In a caloric deficit, eating protein multiple times a day vs once shows some benefit at fat oxidation vs muscle oxidation. meaning while your metabolism stays the same, the calories burned are more likely to be from fat stores rather than muscle stores. "

I've read that not eating in a more routine fashion will cause flexes in your metabolism. If you eat smaller meals at planned out steady intervals your body will be able to burn calories/energy more efficiently and at a steady pace.

This is just one website I found with some info i found when I googled the topic.

 

[usedtobefatmatt]

"Your metabolism does not get boosted from eating 6 times a day... it stays pretty much the same regardless of the number of meals you eat.. The amount of food you eat per day is what matters to your metabolism, not how many times a day you eat. This is with some cavats however. In a caloric deficit, eating protein multiple times a day vs once shows some benefit at fat oxidation vs muscle oxidation. meaning while your metabolism stays the same, the calories burned are more likely to be from fat stores rather than muscle stores. "

I've read that not eating in a more routine fashion will cause flexes in your metabolism. If you eat smaller meals at planned out steady intervals your body will be able to burn calories/energy more efficiently and at a steady pace.

This is just one website I found with some info i found when I googled the topic.

check out the "importance of meal frequency" sticky in the On Topic section. It's a great read.

 

[KaraCooks]

I'm actually getting interested in Intermittent Fasting ... I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking I might try it out. I need to figure out how I'm going to fit it in with my schedule but I think it might be the shake up I need to get going again.

But I digress ... all of that to say, lots of IF studies have shown some interesting and surprisingly healthy results from not spacing your meals out, but instead doing a period of fasting and condensing your entire calorie intake for the day into a 4 or 5 hour period.

Completely opposite the "eat 6 meals evenly spaced out" mindset.

 

[fatty_doll]

I'm actually getting interested in Intermittent Fasting ... I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking I might try it out. I need to figure out how I'm going to fit it in with my schedule but I think it might be the shake up I need to get going again.

But I digress ... all of that to say, lots of IF studies have shown some interesting and surprisingly healthy results from not spacing your meals out, but instead doing a period of fasting and condensing your entire calorie intake for the day into a 4 or 5 hour period.

Completely opposite the "eat 6 meals evenly spaced out" mindset.

Ya I dunno.. I still prefer to eat stuff equally spaced out.. If I eat 3 big meals a day I either end up too full or ridiculously hungry. Its incredibly hard for me to find the inbetween--but this 5-6 small meals a day thing has worked pretty good for me.

I'll def check out that sticky thread btw thanks!

 

[Jynus]

"Your metabolism does not get boosted from eating 6 times a day... it stays pretty much the same regardless of the number of meals you eat.. The amount of food you eat per day is what matters to your metabolism, not how many times a day you eat. This is with some cavats however. In a caloric deficit, eating protein multiple times a day vs once shows some benefit at fat oxidation vs muscle oxidation. meaning while your metabolism stays the same, the calories burned are more likely to be from fat stores rather than muscle stores. "

I've read that not eating in a more routine fashion will cause flexes in your metabolism. If you eat smaller meals at planned out steady intervals your body will be able to burn calories/energy more efficiently and at a steady pace.

This is just one website I found with some info i found when I googled the topic.

yes i've read that a lot too. but reading it on the web, and researching controlled studies are 2 totally different things. Like it or not, your metabolism stays the same regardless of how many meals a day you eat...... Trust me on this, I spent over 12 hours over a couple days looking at every study on the subject I could find. The results were always the same.. meal frequency has no impact in metabolism...

edit: again however, you should still eat multiple times a day... like i said, while your metabolism stays the same regardless, your fat oxidation level does differ from meal frequency... which i what your article alludes to..

 

[MAR1984]

in starting strength why wouldn't you work till failure? it's 3x5, the principle of which is you're pushing yourself to force the body to adapt to stresses it can't handle. if you can do 5 unassisted, up the weight, and try again. Using myself as an example, I do 5x5 for a lot of my big lifts. different training template, but same idea. First 3 sets i can usually hammer out, 4 and 5 I need help. Soon as I can get through the first 4 sets unassisted that week, I up the weight for next week.... However, his training philosophy is a lil lacking. You don't need to go to complete and utter failure repeatedly.

Well, right, I would still be pushing myself and adding weight every workout (the 3 sets are supposed to be done with the same weight). But, I guess the way I understand it is, once you need assistance with the weight thats on the bar, you're not really lifting all the weight thats on the bar, so you would be getting just as good of a workout with an unassisted workout with less weight. You're not really pushing your body to lift more than its used to if someone else is assisting, right? The way I read it, if your a few weeks or months in and reach a weight where you stall, you do the reps you can do, and then try again next workout. You're not supposed to lower the weight just for the sake of finishing all the reps, which is essentially what happens when you do the lifts with assistance.

I would still be pushing hard and going to failure, if by failure you mean at the end of my last rep of my last set, I couldn't do another unassisted rep. I would consider that working to failure. Theory goes, next time I should be able to add 5lbs and do another 3x5 completely unassisted, do to supercomensation, or something like that. What the trainer did was take me well beyond failure, to a point where I wasn't really lifting the amount of weight that was on the bar, so what was the point of there being that much weight on the bar then?


Regarding meal frequency, even after reading the sticky, I'm still not sold on there being any "right" amount of meals to eat, in general or for me specifically. For me, eating 2 bigger meals a day helped me to eat less. I could eat til I was full, and I never felt hunger pains or a need to snack in between. Problem was, I recently found out, I gradually kept eating less and less, until I was eating WAY to little on most days (some days I'm sure I didn't even hit 1000 calories, while still burning up to 600 calories in cardio, or so the machines said), and i'm not too sure if my weekly cheat meals made up for it since I wasn't really tracking calories. So I added meals to get more calories, and I'm tracking my calories (including cheat meals) to know exactly how much or little I'm eating. For me, increasing meals is dangerous, because I always used to eat until I was completely full, and just eating something small sets off a trigger that makes me want to eat more until I'm full. I think I've found a good compromise with 5 meals, and after a week or so of tracking what I'm eating, I'll know if I should be eating more, less, or differently. I don't yet know for sure, but I suspect the answer is going to be "differently" just from tracking a couple days. The actual meals I eat are too little calories, but weekly I probably make up the calorie difference in junk food/cheat meals, so I suspect the calories are balanced, but nutritionally I could be doing a lot better. I'll know for sure in a week or so, and then probably seek some help on the best way to adjust once I have a good understanding on what an average week is for me.



As for an update on my gym/workout situation, I'm planning to head back for a weight workout today on my own (no trainer). I'm going to do the 'B' workout today (squat, overhead press, deadlift) since I was supposed to do that wednesday, and my trainer's workout more closely resembled the 'A' workout. I did wake up with some unexpected pains this morning. My workout was on wednesday, so I expected the worst pains to appear yesterday morning. I felt exceptionally fine yesterday, so I figured I'd be good for today. Well, this morning, I woke up with a pain in my tricep near the elbow that hurts when I try to completely bend or extend my elbow. I suspect this is DOMS? I've been trying to stretch my arm out all day, and the pain goes away for a short while if I hold my elbow (through the pain) completely bent for 30 seconds or so, but also quickly tightens back up after a few minutes if I don't keep continually stretching the muscle. I'll be sure to be careful today in case its something more serious than just the standard beginner muscle pains. The only lift today that might bother it is the overhead lifts, so I'll probably take it extra easy.

 

[KaraCooks]

DOMS is usually worse on the 2nd day. Yeah, gentle stretching helps and working out again will also help. You might find you won't be able to lift as much today as you were on Wednesday ... don't freak out about that. It's pretty normal.

As far as meal frequency - I really really really believe that this is a personal choice issue. I know when I first started out losing weight it helped me to eat 6 or 7 times a day. I found if I didn't allow myself to get really hungry, I never felt the overwhelming need to eat a huge meal. It worked for me for a long time and it worked for me to maintain in my mid 170s for nearly a year.

Now that I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and lose that last 30-35 lbs, it's not working for me anymore. Not psychologically, anyway. I've gotten so used to my maintenance level of snacking that I am having a hard time losing that mindset.

So I've decided to try IF (Intermittent Fasting) working on a 19/5 eating schedule. (I've been doing a LOT of reading on it this past week). Since my "problem" time with eating is in the evenings, that's when my 5 hour eating period will begin. I'll start with a pre-workout meal at 5 p.m. (I workout around 5:45 or 6) and then go home and have a snack. Eat my dinner later (which is normal around my house anyway - to eat around 8:30 or 9 p.m.), and then maybe finish up with another snack around 10 p.m. It's a lot of food to pack into a 5 hour time frame, since I need to get in a good 1600 calories to be healthy ... but it's the time I get the munchies the most anyway and it's the time that I find myself sabotaging my weight loss by adding evenings snacks anyway.

I don't think there's any magic weight loss to IF or to 6 meals a day or to any "schedule". What I do think is that there's a psychological element for all of us. If you need to have 2 meals that leave you FULL and you're ok between meals, then that's what you should do. If you need to never feel hungry, then you should graze. If you know that evening times are your worst time, then plan ahead so you can eat more in the evening.

It's all about setting yourself up to succeed. At least that's how I look at it. As long as you're eating healthy foods in healthy quantities, I don't really think it matters WHEN you get them in.

 

[fatty_doll]

ya I can understand that now.. btw that sticky topic WAS an interesting read. I'm gonna have to go look up fat oxidiant levels now though lol so that I'll understand those better too.

And Kara I totally hear you on the night time snacks.. I try to keep myself busy and away from the kitchen if I can. Its not that I'm hungry when I go to snack like that.. its more or less out of habit and bordom. I've just got to retrain myself from a lifetime of neglectful eating habits!

 

[MAR1984]

DOMS is usually worse on the 2nd day. Yeah, gentle stretching helps and working out again will also help. You might find you won't be able to lift as much today as you were on Wednesday ... don't freak out about that. It's pretty normal.

Thanks for the heads up! Its been so long since I've regularly lifted I've forgotten about all the little "normal" pains.

I'm still in a bit of a transitional period as far as my diet and excercise program goes. My initial goal was to lose as much weight as possible for my wedding last month. I lost a bunch, but I was basically starving myself and doing too much cardio. As I got closer to the big day, I found this site while researching what I was going to do in the next stage to keep losing weight, and make sure I didn't explode back up like I have in the past. Thats when I realized I needed to eat more and start weight training. Well, first there was my honeymoon (a cruise) where I of course overate every day. Then since getting back, I've been working on changing my diet to increase my calories and repair my metabolism, while trying to start this weight lifting program, with the goal to keep losing weight (well, losing fat instead of just weight). I know I need to get stronger and probably put on some lean muscle mass, and at the same time I'm trying to reprogram myself to not believe progress has stalled or failed if I don't keep seeing the number on the scale go down right now. And of course, having a full meal, appetizers and dessert at the cheescake factory last night with one of the wedding gift cards doesn't help either . And yeah, I'll probably share a bucket of popcorn and a box of snowcaps tonight at the movies with my wife tonight , but I've done that once a week for the last 10 months while still losing weight...

So, what I'm trying to say is, I still don't yet know what right for me, because I haven't yet fallen back into a good routine since the wedding, and I haven't seen any progress since then either (actually, I put on, say, 10-15lbs as a result of the cruise - some of which I'm sure was just water weight though, right?). I can't really judge *any* method until I give it an honest try and see if I can make any progress again. So I guess you can say I'm at a plateau right now (even though I know its pretty much self inflicted), and I'm trying to stay patient so I don't revert to the cardio/starvation plan I was on before. I know I can lose *weight* that way (at least another 70 lbs, down to what I was before), but I also know I wasn't successful at keeping it off before. Now that I don't have a set timeframe, I'm trying to set myself up for a permanent (and better!) change this time.

 

[Jynus]

You're not really pushing your body to lift more than its used to if someone else is assisting, right? The way I read it, if your a few weeks or months in and reach a weight where you stall, you do the reps you can do, and then try again next workout. You're not supposed to lower the weight just for the sake of finishing all the reps, which is essentially what happens when you do the lifts with assistance.

There can be some benefit to going well beyond what your body can lift. It's a technique used by powerlifters to bust through plateaus. A weak link in a lift can be a variety of factors from primary muscle drivers to assisting muscle drivers. overloading can force adaptations that otherwise wouldn't be touched at a manageable weight. Negatives for example, where you go at a weight above your 1 rep max, and just try to prevent the weight from crushing you as you give 100% intensity lowering the weight. But it for sure isn't needed for a novice. Thats moreso for once you've established plateaus and want to bust through them.... And even then, there is a variety of methods for identifying true plateaus and cures for them. chains, negatives, reverse bench, etc. But again as I said, you don't need to work past failure with every set. Overloading is not needed as a beginner. Work to your limit and you'll be fine.

In the trainers defense however, one aspect i've noticed is that a majority of people give up well before they are truely at failure. A lot of people seem to think failure means as soon as it starts getting hard i'm done. It's an aspect of training i'm actually having a hard time working around currently trying to find ways to dealing with people who honestly are cheating themselves out of workouts. It's very possible that your trainer is just not used to dealing with people who truely can push themselves 100%.

Well, this morning, I woke up with a pain in my tricep near the elbow that hurts when I try to completely bend or extend my elbow. I suspect this is DOMS? I've been trying to stretch my arm out all day, and the pain goes away for a short while if I hold my elbow (through the pain) completely bent for 30 seconds or so, but also quickly tightens back up after a few minutes if I don't keep continually stretching the muscle. I'll be sure to be careful today in case its something more serious than just the standard beginner muscle pains. The only lift today that might bother it is the overhead lifts, so I'll probably take it extra easy.

negatory. doms is a muscle soreness. not pain... anything that restricts range of motion or is swollen or has sharp pain is indicative of injury and needs to be rested. Follow the RICE principle. Since it's your elbow and delayed in your noticing it i'm going to guess a mild tendon strain. Nothing too serious, but should be rested till it goes away. Since you were doing bench, i'm going to bet poor form is the main cause. Willing to put money that your elbows flared out when you got fatigued which in turn put extra stress on your elbow joint. your wrist to elbow should always be perfectly vertical and perpendicular to the ground during the full range of motion on any flat banch. for those new to bench, it's not uncommon for the elbow to flare out a bit when the chest gets fatigued and do a little bit of a tricep extension as the tricep trys to overcompensate for the chest. i'm assuming thats what happened here and you slightly strained your elbow. This is subjective however as over the net is hardly a good way to diagnose injuries.

 

[MAR1984]

No More Humiliation!

So, last time I posted in here, I said I'd give my new work out routine an honest 1 month evaluation before judging... well, its been a month more or less, so here is my report.

First off, my early posts in this thread sound really silly when I go back and read them . I no longer worry about who else is in the gym, or what they're doing. I focus on me and my workout. Fortunately for me, since I do squats every workout, the lone squat rack has been available everytime I've gone into the gym. Seems most are afraid of real squats and would rather use the smith machines.

Secondly, I have seen some huge improvements in just a short time:
squats-115lbs to 170lbs 3x5, no stall yet
bench-115lbs to 150lbs 3x5, stalled once at 150, but tried again yesterday and punched out my sets/reps with relative ease.
overhead press-65lbs to 95lbs 3x5, stalled at 95lbs, and will make my second attempt at it tomorrow.

I also do seated cable rows and assisted pull ups/chin ups. I do the cable rows at 120lbs 3xF, and I'm close to adding the next plate. I'm a bit further off on the pull ups, but my reps are going up. I need to use the full 160lbs of assistance, and just yesterday, my 3 pull-up sets were 8-5-5 to failure.

Thats pretty much all I do in the gym. Workout A: Squat, Bench, Assisted pull ups/chin ups, Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Seated Cable Rows. Alternating every other workout, 3 times per week. I do minimal cardio now - I do 10-15 minutes of intervals on the treadmill immediately after weightlifting 2 or 3 times a week, and nothing on the off days. I started the month with my intervals at 3.5mph for 1:30, 7mph for 1:00, and now I do 4.0mph for 1:00, 8.5mph for 1:00, so despite how little cardio I've been doing, I've seen what I'd call an incredible improvement there as well.

On top of all that, I've stayed in a calorie defecit, and have lost ~10-12lbs during the month. However, my muscles, specifically my pec muscle feels larger. When I pushed I my chest before I started lifting, all I could feel was flab and bone. Now I can feel some meat, and some definition hidden under there when I tighen my pecs.

On another note, I'm starting to see some other benefits as a result of weightlifting. First off, my posture is improving. I'm finding more and more that I want to pull my shoulders back and sit up straighter, rather than slumping over and resting my elbows on my thighs. The other big change is that its noticeably easier to stand from a seated position. I used to have to use my hands to "push off" of a chair, or I'd have to roll to my knees to get up off the floor. Now, I can really just stand up without the effort. Its funny how you can take just being able to stand up for granted... my dad is a big guy and has some knee problems, and because of that has problems just getting himself up out of a chair. It encourages me to know that the actions I am taking today are going to ensure that I don't have those same problems 20 years down the road when I'm his age.

So thats about it. I can see myself continuing this program until it runs its course - that is, until I no longer see any strength improvements. Hopefully I'll be able to drag it out at least until I get down to my body fat % initial goal (I'm shooting for <20%). From there I'll decide if I want to try to gain muscle or continue dropping fat, and that will probably determine what type of lifting program to switch to. But now I'm starting to get ahead of myself and ramble a bit

 

[KaraCooks]

Whooo hooo. This is such an awesome post to read. Yay for you!

This just put a big smile on my face for the day!

 

[Matt2]

Seriously?

'Cause I walk into my gym and see body builders curling 20 lbs dumbells like they were small children (granted, they've focused on that muscle for probably an hour and a half) and they still walk around like they're the shit, flexing at people who give them a funny look.

If you're lifting low weight, chances are people will think "oh, he's using medium to low weight and high reps focusing on a single muscle or muscle group to attain muscle mass" not "pfff, what an idiot! My 5 year old can bench that!" Unless they're stupid. Then you can look at they're crappy workouts and know you've got knowledge on your side.

 

[leecordova]

Well Mar, it seems like you're on the right track and your attitude is definitely improving from the very first post. I started reading your post and it was quite a heart wrenching story. And that personal trainer--what a bonehead. I'm surprised he even works there. When I was reading that part, I was cringing for you. You've come a long way. I'm glad you're sticking to it.

Just remember that no one cares how much weight you're using so long as you're using proper form. The only time I stare at people in the gym is when they're form is horrendous. It's hard not to stare in these situations because you just feel like going over there and telling them that they're going to end up hurting themselves if they keep doing it that way.

I mean, I've seen people load up the oly bar in the squat rack and proceed to perform the worst quarter or half squats ever. Not impressive at all. I'm more impressed by the person who can deep squat (leave a stain on the floor deep) with 135 lbs.

 

[M_Marie]

Hey there! Big congrats on your big loss so far!!! You are incredible woman!!!!


I wanted to write you one because i havent met you yet through these forums...

best of luck in your weightloss!!! You are doing great girl!!!