gym etiquette?

[88Stang331]

What are your goals?

If it is to lose weight?

Some ideas that don't involve going to the gym
- Stop eating 2 hours before you go to sleep
- While watching tv, during commercials do pushups sit ups or lunges (alternate between breaks)
- more reps, less weight
- CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO
- If you work in a office building, or live in an apartment and not on the ground floor, don't take the elevator, use the stairs.

Also if you enjoy sports, especially Soccer and Wrestling (even if its just with friends)

When i say hydrated, i mean you should be able to go to the restroom, and it shouldn't be bright/dark yellow, it should have a light yellowish tint (sorry for the details) Also if you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! This will protect yourself from getting heat stroke, and it will also allow your body to perform at peak physical performance longer.
- I strongly suggest you drink during working out also. But sip, don't gulp unless you want to puke and get cramps

If your goal is to gain muscle, your one of the lucky people as you already sound like a stalky guy, not fat, but one of those people i refer to as just plain big.

If that is the case, do low reps and alot of weight. When your muscles start to hurt, you know your working them good.

Also, always stretch before and after you work out.

Nutrition - Don't fall for that low carb diet garbage. If you are going to go to the gym by all means eat things like pasta before you go. However it is fuel for your body, and if your not going to use it, try to keep the carb intake down.

Also if you work out two muscle groups, and you get tired fast, use lower weight. Also when i go to the gym, i only usually go for about 45 minutes to an hour. No need to go to the gym for 2+ hours.

If you have any more questions, you can PM me.

 

[DerekStangGT]

What are your goals?

If it is to lose weight?

Some ideas that don't involve going to the gym
- Stop eating 2 hours before you go to sleep
- While watching tv, during commercials do pushups sit ups or lunges (alternate between breaks)
- more reps, less weight
- CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO
- If you work in a office building, or live in an apartment and not on the ground floor, don't take the elevator, use the stairs.

Also if you enjoy sports, especially Soccer and Wrestling (even if its just with friends)

When i say hydrated, i mean you should be able to go to the restroom, and it shouldn't be bright/dark yellow, it should have a light yellowish tint (sorry for the details) Also if you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! This will protect yourself from getting heat stroke, and it will also allow your body to perform at peak physical performance longer.
- I strongly suggest you drink during working out also. But sip, don't gulp unless you want to puke and get cramps

If your goal is to gain muscle, your one of the lucky people as you already sound like a stalky guy, not fat, but one of those people i refer to as just plain big.

If that is the case, do low reps and alot of weight. When your muscles start to hurt, you know your working them good.

Also, always stretch before and after you work out.

Nutrition - Don't fall for that low carb diet garbage. If you are going to go to the gym by all means eat things like pasta before you go. However it is fuel for your body, and if your not going to use it, try to keep the carb intake down.

Also if you work out two muscle groups, and you get tired fast, use lower weight. Also when i go to the gym, i only usually go for about 45 minutes to an hour. No need to go to the gym for 2+ hours.

If you have any more questions, you can PM me.

thanks for the tips.
i actually do drink a lot of water, about 2 liters per day. but my pee doesnt look watered down. its actually a neon yellow, due to the multivitamins im taking (im guessing/hoping at least).
i guess i should write an update too while im at it. my weight has kinda leveled off at -11 lbs and now i can really see a difference in muscle mass. i stopped using whey protein after my workouts b/c it was actually making me gain muscle too fast and i was gaining weight faster than i was losing.
ive upped my jogging to 1 mile, plus a walking 2/10 warmdown every monday, wednesday and friday.
i have another question though. is there any exercise that targets the chest area, and more specifically the pecs? what about obliques (sp?) aka love handles?

 

[squares98]

What are your goals?

If it is to lose weight?

Some ideas that don't involve going to the gym
- Stop eating 2 hours before you go to sleep
- While watching tv, during commercials do pushups sit ups or lunges (alternate between breaks)
- more reps, less weight
- CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO
- If you work in a office building, or live in an apartment and not on the ground floor, don't take the elevator, use the stairs.
Also if you enjoy sports, especially Soccer and Wrestling (even if its just with friends)

When i say hydrated, i mean you should be able to go to the restroom, and it shouldn't be bright/dark yellow, it should have a light yellowish tint (sorry for the details) Also if you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated! This will protect yourself from getting heat stroke, and it will also allow your body to perform at peak physical performance longer.
- I strongly suggest you drink during working out also. But sip, don't gulp unless you want to puke and get cramps
If your goal is to gain muscle, your one of the lucky people as you already sound like a stalky guy, not fat, but one of those people i refer to as just plain big.

If that is the case, do low reps and alot of weight. When your muscles start to hurt, you know your working them good.

Also, always stretch before and after you work out.

Nutrition - Don't fall for that low carb diet garbage. If you are going to go to the gym by all means eat things like pasta before you go. However it is fuel for your body, and if your not going to use it, try to keep the carb intake down.

Also if you work out two muscle groups, and you get tired fast, use lower weight. Also when i go to the gym, i only usually go for about 45 minutes to an hour. No need to go to the gym for 2+ hours.

If you have any more questions, you can PM me.

I agree 100%, I'd also like to add that fast food needs to be nearly eliminated from your diet.
I eat fast food maybe once a week.
I cook a lot of chicken, fish, and turkey,
Lamb and Other Meats occasionally to Mix it Up

Save the pork for the holiday bbq weekends, as well as the tri-tips, and other beef cuts. Use Olive,Canola,or Grapeseed oil as a cooking alternative to Butter.

Good Low fat, healthy snack fod for the house:
Fresh Fruits
Reduced Fat Tortilla Chips cooked in Canola
Salsa


-No Ice Cream
-No Flavored/Fried Chips-Frito/Lays/Ruffles,etc
-No Hot Dogs, Bacon
-No Cookies
-LIMIT sodas


Everyone should drink a gallon of water a day, I drink 1/2 that on a inactive day, but easily a gallon when I know the body is supposed to be consuming that much. As well as Multivitamins. I consume vitasport GL6 glutamine for Recovery. Avoid L-Glutamine, Glutamine Peptides are the way to go nowdays.
And avoid the protein shakes since you are trying to lose weight. Replace that extra need with real food. Homemade soup is good to have around the house, its nutrient city.

 

[2001sleeper]

etiquette:
1-DO NOT work out immediately infront of the dumbbell rack. It is very
annoying.Grab your weights and get out of the way.
2-wear underwear, nobody wants to see your balls
3-wipe up after yourself
4-get a drink of water and get away from the fountain
5-put up your weights.
6-try not to blow ass throughout the gym

 

[csledd]

2-wear underwear, nobody wants to see your balls

ROFL!!!

I can't stand teh no carb diet thing.. omg, not eating carbs at all is so bad, it'll even mess with your head. My feeling on the whole thing is eat carbs in the morning and protein at night. You still dont want a whole lot of carbs, but they're great in the morning.

I've also heard alot about being careful on how much cardio you actually do. I dunno what the limit is but I've seen a lot of articles about being careful not to do TOO MUCH.. because you can actually burn muscle instead of fat :O

I'm usually at the gym for about 45 mins to an hour also, I don't see how people stay so long lol.. maybe they dont do as intense of a workout /shrug

 

[DerekStangGT]

I can't stand teh no carb diet thing.. omg, not eating carbs at all is so bad, it'll even mess with your head. My feeling on the whole thing is eat carbs in the morning and protein at night. You still dont want a whole lot of carbs, but they're great in the morning.

ive never heard that before, makes a lot of sense though. im gonna try carbs in the morn and protein at night (but not after 9pm )

I've also heard alot about being careful on how much cardio you actually do. I dunno what the limit is but I've seen a lot of articles about being careful not to do TOO MUCH.. because you can actually burn muscle instead of fat :O

im actually afraid im building too much muscle. reason is b/c initially i lost a good amount of weight, but then i kinda went up a little, and have leveled off for the past week or so, even though i know im getting stronger b/c i keep adding weight

I'm usually at the gym for about 45 mins to an hour also, I don't see how people stay so long lol.. maybe they dont do as intense of a workout /shrug

im at the gym for at least 1.5 hours. usually closer to two hours. ive heard not to work out longer than an hour, but no one has ever said why its amazing that so many "professionals" keep contradicting each other. anyway, i do workout pretty hard. i jog a mile when i first get there, so my heart rate stays high the entire workout. when i get done im dead tired. for example, walking out of the gym on monday, i had an itch on my nose and couldnt scratch it. i had to rub my face on my shoulder . then i got in the car, started it up, and instantly began cursing SPEC and STEEDA for making the stg II clutch so stiff, and the tri-ax so notchy

 

[csledd]

im actually afraid im building too much muscle. reason is b/c initially i lost a good amount of weight, but then i kinda went up a little, and have leveled off for the past week or so, even though i know im getting stronger b/c i keep adding weight[/img]

it's normal to lose the most weight at first.. and the less you have to lose the longer is takes.. but everyone is different and genetics will play a role in this. btw a lot of people dont weigh themselves and measure their progress like that.. a lot of people will take measurements inside to see how much they lose in inches, because of course, muscle weights more than fat does. and if you're building muscle then you'll gain weight. but muscle does burn fat and is GREAT for your metabolism. that's why you wanna lift weights and build muscle when you're trying to lose weight

 

[Craiger77]

It seems to me you are passing some of your first big hurdles in changing your lifestyle, which is keeping faithful to your work out and not giving up.
Congratulations and good job!!

Most people are able to muster the drive to start a workout for a week or so. However, if they don’t really have that will power to change most will soon drop off and return back to old habits within a short period of time.

My suggestion is try not to become fixated on your weight. Ask yourself, how do I feel? Do I feel better because of my workouts? It's easy to have unreasonable goals in losing weight. I suggest focusing on your level of fitness and diet. Let your weight play second to that. If you strive to have a high level of muscular and cardiovascular fitness, your weight (whatever that may be) WILL fall in line to that.

Having never met you, it sounds from your age, height, and self description you’re a larger framed guy. I'm guessing you have probably also been larger than most of your peers. The hard fact is, you MAY never be a 6'1 200 lb guy no matter how hard you try.

What I can PROMISE you is that if you have the determination and drive you will reach the point where you will be happy with your body and level of fitness.
I have seen 6'0 160 pound guys who couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag or run a brisk mile to save their own mother, let alone themselves. I have also seen 6'5 280lb guys run fast 10k's and launch those same 170 pounders across rooms.


I have been working out since I was about 15. I'm now 28. I'm 6'0 obo 220 and I can bench around 400lbs. All of it really doesn't matter, because in so many ways I, honest to god, still feel like a noob in the gym sometimes. Rarely does a month go by where I don’t see somebody doing some workout or exercise that I've never tried or thought of before and I have to ask them to show me or teach me something.

The second piece of advice I can give you is find a trainer that is committed to helping you reach AND maintain your goals. It would be wise to have a knowledgeable person teach you the exercises and techniques while you get started.
We can send you pictures and written description of how to bench and squat until your hard drive is full, but you will still have bad form because it’s hard for a beginner to learn those exercises without a good coach to guide you. At most, all you may end up with is a sore back and a bruise on your chest to go with the discouragement you feel.
Try a trainer for just a couple training sessions to learn basics and get good form and then have them help you formulate a GOOD workout that will challenge and improve you. The money spent will be worth it. If the Mustang has all the money, or there are no good trainers available then find someone in the gym that isn't a goof and knows what the hell they are doing and try to learn from them.

Words on trainers- find a good one. Just like bad mechanics or tuners, there are bad trainers who don’t know crap and will let you get hurt.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has a good book called the "Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building". Disregard the body building crap (unless you’re into it) and read the book. Inside is some great information that you can learn from. It’s written from the perspective that the reader has no knowledge or little knowledge of working out. I think it would benefit you as it includes good sections on diet and, of course, exercise.


Everybody here has given good advice. Just remember there are about a hundred different ways get the same results you are looking for. Nobody is completely correct or wrong and what may work for someone may not work for you. (You have already discovered that with running)

Good luck and keep to it. Don’t forget to reward yourself for the good work you have done. (Just don’t use food! I suggest mods for the 'stang)

 

[jstreet0204]

Low carb diet does have side effects, but they should go away after the first two weeks or so. The low carb diet DOES work, but is not a long term solution. Like I said early on in this thread, I lost close to a hundred pounds doing the low carb diet. If you need to lose weight quickly this is a good solution because the benefits of losing the weight will out weigh the side effects, but you have to taper carbs back into your diet after you've lost the weight. The better (but not as fast) way is to eat every three hours with whole grain carbs part of the first half of the day. Leafy green carbs the last half of the day. Protein at every meal.

I also said early on in this thread that you will see a lot of experts post in here with not so great advice. I was right. I would dispute about half of the posts in here particularly around the amount of cardio you need to lose wieght. I'm sure everyone that has posted has the best intentions, but I doubt many of them have gone from a 40+ inch waist to a 33 inch waist, and can bench press close to 500lbs.

All in all it sounds like you are on the right track. Staying motivated is the key, and it sounds like you are. Good luck and keep it up.

 

[DerekStangGT]

Low carb diet does have side effects, but they should go away after the first two weeks or so. The low carb diet DOES work, but is not a long term solution. Like I said early on in this thread, I lost close to a hundred pounds doing the low carb diet. If you need to lose weight quickly this is a good solution because the benefits of losing the weight will out weigh the side effects, but you have to taper carbs back into your diet after you've lost the weight. The better (but not as fast) way is to eat every three hours with whole grain carbs part of the first half of the day. Leafy green carbs the last half of the day. Protein at every meal.

I also said early on in this thread that you will see a lot of experts post in here with not so great advice. I was right. I would dispute about half of the posts in here particularly around the amount of cardio you need to lose wieght. I'm sure everyone that has posted has the best intentions, but I doubt many of them have gone from a 40+ inch waist to a 33 inch waist, and can bench press close to 500lbs.

All in all it sounds like you are on the right track. Staying motivated is the key, and it sounds like you are. Good luck and keep it up.

thanks for the advice, youre my e-motivator since you lost so much weight. thats what i need. so what would you recommend for cardio? more or less than everyone is suggesting? im jogging a mile every mon, wed and fri. should i be doing more?

also thanks for the motivation Craiger

 

[jstreet0204]

im at the gym for at least 1.5 hours. usually closer to two hours. ive heard not to work out longer than an hour, but no one has ever said why its amazing that so many "professionals" keep contradicting each other.

Work out as long as it takes you to do it. If it takes you too long you may be resting a little too long between sets. Start paying closer attention to that. On lighter weeks you shouldn't be resting more than 45 seconds between sets. On heavier weeks about 2 minutes. My workouts usually run about 1.5 hours. Most people that say don't work out longer than an hour could not hang with my workouts.

 

[jstreet0204]

thanks for the advice, youre my e-motivator since you lost so much weight. thats what i need. so what would you recommend for cardio? more or less than everyone is suggesting? im jogging a mile every mon, wed and fri. should i be doing more?

also thanks for the motivation Craiger

I have a bad knee so jogging was not an option for me. I did NO cardio when I lost that weight. But I made sure I worked up a good sweat while lifting. Now I do cardio a couple of times a week, but I walk on the treadmill at the highest elevation for about 30 to 45 minutes, or I ride the bike with the resistance way up. It is much easier on my joints. I'm not saying dont do cardio. A moderate amount is fine if it doesn't cut into your wieght training. but weight training is the key, because it has a much greater impact on your metabolism.

BTW, if I haven't already mentioned it, I REALLY reccomend a book called "The Abs Diet" I got it on amazon.com

 

[88Stang331]

im at the gym for at least 1.5 hours. usually closer to two hours. ive heard not to work out longer than an hour, but no one has ever said why its amazing that so many "professionals" keep contradicting each other. anyway, i do workout pretty hard. i jog a mile when i first get there, so my heart rate stays high the entire workout. when i get done im dead tired. for example, walking out of the gym on monday, i had an itch on my nose and couldnt scratch it. i had to rub my face on my shoulder . then i got in the car, started it up, and instantly began cursing SPEC and STEEDA for making the stg II clutch so stiff, and the tri-ax so notchy

Sorry i haven't been more active in this forum. But i had to comment. First of all, sounds like your doing a great job sticking to your goal/s and sticking with it, after all getting in shape/losing weight doesn't happen over night. Secondly I know EXACTLY how you feel after you get done with the gym. I went to the gym with a friend of mine, and we lifted for about an hour or so, then we went back and did a burn out (low weight/as many reps as you can possibly do) and when it came time to leave i had to ride home with my friend because i couldn't push the clutch in (stock clutch at the time) much less put my car in gear or turn the steering wheel. But anyway, hats off to you for not being another "statistic" "america is one of the most overweight countries in the world". However when you live in a world of telecommuting to work, or sitting behind a computer all day, fast food, and two starbucks shops on every corner, it makes it hard to stay/get in shape.

 

[DerekStangGT]

thanks for the bump 88stang. i guess its time for another update. after my initial weight loss of 11 lbs, i gained back ~3 (im guessing from muscle building). anyway, since then ive been kinda fluctuating weght gain/loss. right now im at a total loss of 7 lbs, but ive gained a lot of muscle. my whole body shape is starting to change, and people i know have commented on it, so im not too dissapointed in my minimal weight loss so far, i know more will come. anyway, i dropped one pant siz/two belt notchs and my shoulders are broader, arms more defined, stomach flatter and less flabby (still a log way to go though). so im pretty happy to date. so far im 1 month 17 days in. only struggle is with my diet. i found it very hard and time/money consuming to eat super healthy i.e. boiled chicken, steamed veggies, etc. lately ive been eating a lot of salads and high protein foods. still avoid sweets and sodas.