Bought some free weights today
Discussion
Just some dumbells :) Its been years since I gave up training - is there anything I can eat today to prevent the inevitable mega-stiffness thats probably going to leave me incapacitated with arms in plaster tomorrow? My arms already feel like they are floating away.
Anyone else train regularly with freeweights? I only really used the resistance machines in the past :o
Anyone else train regularly with freeweights? I only really used the resistance machines in the past :o
I regularly train with free weights. The best advice I can give is that tomorrow, but especially saturday, your arms will be in agony. absolutely horrific. And there's nothing you can do.
BUT...do it again, and again, and again, and they will not feel that bad. Indeed, I postively enjoy feeling it like that now - it means you've done yourself some good!
Don't worry - it's not that bad, and it all means something very good.
Congrats
BUT...do it again, and again, and again, and they will not feel that bad. Indeed, I postively enjoy feeling it like that now - it means you've done yourself some good!
Don't worry - it's not that bad, and it all means something very good.
Congrats
tonyhetherington said:
The best advice I can give is that tomorrow, but especially saturday, your arms will be in agony. absolutely horrific. And there's nothing you can do.
Pretty much...although stretching well afterwards will help somewhat, but you will be sore after doing weights after a long time out, and as Tony says, for alot of people the second day after is more sore than the first! It goes soon though...UKBob said:
is there anything I can eat today to prevent the inevitable mega-stiffness thats probably going to leave me incapacitated with arms in plaster tomorrow?
regularly use free weights here,
best option is light stretching then warm up muscles gently then stretching and more stretching,
then do weight regime, push as hard as usual,
more stretching, drink plenty of fluids before bed, and in the morning, and this should resolve it.
i get tight pains some days but increasing the stretching :-) (there is a theme here) will cure all. and light lifting with minimal weights will help get the blood flowing and clearing where you hurt.
also if the pain is always the same place check that the form is good, less weight with good form is better than more weight and bad form. Though i am sure you know all this
Do not train too vigorously at first otherwise you will not be able to train again for days. Just do a little until your body adapts to it.
It'll take the best part of a month to be able to train vigorously without too much pain.
You will always have a little aching though, if you haven't you're not training hard enough.
It'll take the best part of a month to be able to train vigorously without too much pain.
You will always have a little aching though, if you haven't you're not training hard enough.
Why don't you just a few exercises tonight and build up gradually over the weeks?
I recently started an ab programme and on day 1 it was 30 leg raises and 30 sit ups. The day after I was slightly sore but nothing major.
6 weeks down the line I'm doing about 200 leg raises and 200 sit ups and the following day I'm still only slightly sore.
If I'd have tried that on the 1st day then I'd have been in agony the next day.
I recently started an ab programme and on day 1 it was 30 leg raises and 30 sit ups. The day after I was slightly sore but nothing major.
6 weeks down the line I'm doing about 200 leg raises and 200 sit ups and the following day I'm still only slightly sore.
If I'd have tried that on the 1st day then I'd have been in agony the next day.
UKBob said:
Just some dumbells
Anyone else train regularly with freeweights? I only really used the resistance machines in the past
Beware of the DOMS.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and you can reduce the severity by a lot.
Simple really, go very light over the first few days and build up.
Warm up well, stretch the muscles before and after and also massage the muscle afterwards.
You mentioned arms, the elbow tendons are very susceptible to overuse at first. I remember having a layoff and came back, straight into my usual EZ bar curl routine and completely trashed the tendons, had arms bent at 90 degrees for about a week after.
tonyhetherington said:
I regularly train with free weights. The best advice I can give is that tomorrow, but especially saturday, your arms will be in agony. absolutely horrific. And there's nothing you can do.
Not an ideal solution for home, but a mixture of swimming, warming down and stretching properly helps a huge amount to reduce the day after pain.
I can't remember the last time I used a machine for weights... free weights are far superior
Never stretch cold muscles. Always warm up for 10mins on a cross trainer or rowing machine, or if not available, do 5mins+ of light reps of various free weights. I've been doing free weights for about 4 months now doing an hourly workout three days a week. I workout on monday, wednesday and friday focussing on different areas of my body each time so I don't overtrain certain muscle groups to others. For starting off just concentrate on a group of muscles, for example back and chest, arms and shoulders and legs. Warm up before lifting weights by running up and down the stairs a few times, a few pressups or a quick jog with stretches. When lifting the weights, go slowly, going quickly means you don't work out properly and their is an increase of injury as your body needs to adapt to lifting additional weight. Breathing is important here also, when relaxing or returning to a stationery position you need to breath in, when exhurting yourself breath out. Its quite difficult to do first off but it soon becomes second nature. If your trying to get back into shape its advisable to add other exercises into the workout like jogging, cycling, swimming. If you just want to put on muscle a good diet is recommended where protein is king and carbs are the devil. As for pain afterwards, you may be over exhurting yourself, this is called overtraining and is very bad for your body. The best thing to do if your tender for a few days after working out is to stop till the pain/soreness goes away. At the next workout use lighter weights but do more reps. I remember when I first started I done a complete workout on my legs and the few days I was walking like a penguin at work. Hope this helps
How may different muscle groups can you excercise with 2 dumbells, including squats to give the legs a little work out, and maybe those toe ups for calves?
I know a little about good form (whatever feels hardest usually
) but have never trained without a resistance machine before. I can think of about 6 different excercises but dont know what they're called, except curls 
I used to curl 100kg (both arms) on the resistance machine ears ears ago... 12kg in one arm is killing me after 3 sets of 10 reps!
I know a little about good form (whatever feels hardest usually
) but have never trained without a resistance machine before. I can think of about 6 different excercises but dont know what they're called, except curls I used to curl 100kg (both arms) on the resistance machine ears ears ago... 12kg in one arm is killing me after 3 sets of 10 reps!
Just thinking out loud, but I think I should get myself down to the gym. As with all things in life, learning proper form is something I should do now rather than later. The reason I didnt go to the gym is because with getting ready to leave, getting there, changing, working out, changing, getting back... takes 2 hours. I just dont have the time which is why I bought the dumbells.
As for working out daily, if I pace myself starting light, theres no reason why one cant work out 5-6 days a week is there (he says, knowing full well that mentally he is the king of sloths and is already praying he wont pack it in after a few weeks)
As for working out daily, if I pace myself starting light, theres no reason why one cant work out 5-6 days a week is there (he says, knowing full well that mentally he is the king of sloths and is already praying he wont pack it in after a few weeks)
I trained with them by slowly increasing the weight and number of repetitions and haven't had too many problems with muscle strains.
I find they are very good at exercising certain muscles, such as your biceps, but for a full work out you are better off with a gym.
I now combine the two.
I find they are very good at exercising certain muscles, such as your biceps, but for a full work out you are better off with a gym.
I now combine the two.
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