Anyone regularly go to gym? Just curious on what exercise sets have worked for you and thoughts on whats good to build certain muscle groups - I am gonna start to hit the gym, just got a corporate discount and possible thoughts on a good diets to build lean muscle mass -
thoughts appreciated
Right now I do cardio three days a week. But I haven't the past week. It helps with staying at my wieght right now. I do about 400 jumping rope, situps pushups, treadmill workout for 20m ins.
I do have a work out plan:
2.5 kilometers running
25 pull ups
100 sit ups
25 dips
30 decline push ups
30 leg throws
20 pull ups
20 dips
30 decline push ups
2.5 kilometers running
I used to do some benching and curls too but I like this exercise I do right now a lot..
You should consider consulting someone who works at the gym while you are there, because they can really show you how to do exercises properly without hurting yourself. Also, if you are very out of shape or have heart, lung, or blood pressure problems, consider talking with your doctor about what type of workout would be appropriate for you.
It is important to not only do cardio, but to build muscle. Muscle makes your body healthier (reduces stress on joints, burns more calories, helps you avoid injuries during activity, lets you do more, and helps shape your body). There are two strategies to building this muscle: toning and bulking. Toning is accomplished through stretching and weight lifting exercises that focus on completing 20 or more repetitions at a particular resistance. Toned muscles help tighten up your body and give that lean, trim physique. Bulking up is often more popular among men (and quite difficult for most women to do, even with effort). If you want to look like the guys in magazines or like a professional athlete, bulking up is for you. You won't end up like the crazy strongest-men-in-the-world guys without the right genes and working at it ridiculously hard for a long long long time. You should do the same resistance exercises, but aiming to really wear out the muscle with only 8-12 repetitions of the exercise (then repeating that set of repetitions again about a minute later).
No matter what you do for muscle training, variety and balance are key. After you've worked on a few exercises for a couple of months, consider about finding new exercises for the same muscle groups. In addition, try to strengthen both extensor and flexor muscles at each joint (triceps AND biceps, abs AND lower back, chest AND upper back, quadriceps AND hamstrings, etc.).
For the health of your heart and your comfort with sports or even just going up flights of stairs, you should also do cardio. This means doing something for an extended time 20 minutes or more that gets your heart rate up steadily. If you want to burn fat, use the following formula to predict about the heart rate you want to aim for: (220-Age)*0.65 = Heart Rate. If you want to improve your endurance and exercise your heart and lungs, aim for (220-Age)*0.75 = Heart Rate. For instance, for a 30 year old man, fat burning heart rate would be about 120 beats per minute and cardio workout heart rate would be more like 140 or 150. The reason the fat burning heart rate is lower is because that is about the heart rate at which your body's energy demands result in maximal consumption of fats (vs. sugars and proteins) for energy production. However, while fat burning might be your aim, spending some workout time at the cardio level will help your health.
Back in the day I used to do chest three to five times a week. I was stronger but muscle mass was roughly the same as it is for me now that I only do each muscle once a week. I also changed my protein intake from what I would get from meat to protein supplements up to twice my body weight. I am naturally an ectomorph so my metabolism is naturally high and my body normally is skinny. So I cut out running and make sure I eat at least six meals a day. Also make sure you drink water throughout the day.
I would give you my workout regiment but you need to tailor exercises to your body. Aim for four to five exercises per muscle group, and make sure each exercise works the muscle and requires max effort on your part.
Abs I do continuous set of five ab excersies for 15 minutes as follows:
hanging leg raises
rope crunch
crunch
reverse crunch
double crunch
oblique crossover
oblique crunch
do at least a set of 10 reps for each and keep rotating until 15 minutes is up.
