Weight Training and other Exercise

I saw a topic on DT in regards to weight lifting, discussing what is the best way to go about it (machines vs free weights, how many sets/reps, how often per week), as well as whether it's good or not to mix in cardio on the same days you weight train, or do cardio on off days, or can you just achieve all your goals, whether it be health or how you look.. Just through lifting weights.

I'll start by saying, I just turned 40 and I've been lifting weights for 17 years, 4-5 days a week without ever having stopped besides for illness or vacations.. I consider the day I joined the gym in 1997 to be one of the most important days of my life, as that decision has helped me be a much healthier person at 40 than I otherwise would've been. And hopefully I'll be able to say the same for 50, 60, and 70. I saw in another thread that Buzzard is lifting weights at 73 and I think that's awesome .

Does anyone else here exercise regularly, whether it be weight training or cardio? I don't know a lot about the mechanics of how the human body reacts to certain things, I'm not one to buy books about it or watch the videos put out by experts... Everything I've learned has come from 1. Talking to guys at my gym who know more than me, or 2. My own experiences. In 17 years that's amounted to a lot but there's always much more to learn.

My favorite exercise is the sitting overhead shoulder press with dumbells. I still recall the day I started , I was using 20 pound dumbells and it seemed like a lot, and my final set now is with 90 lbs. Although twice I've tore a muscle trying to get those weights from resting on my knees up to my over shoulder just to begin the exercise. I can't figure out the proper way

Quote: michael99000

My favorite exercise is the sitting overhead shoulder press with dumbells. I still recall the day I started , I was using 20 pound dumbells and it seemed like a lot, and my final set now is with 90 lbs. Although twice I've tore a muscle trying to get those weights from resting on my knees up to my over shoulder just to begin the exercise. I can't figure out the proper way

90 pounds on each arm??? That's a hell of a lot of weight for overhead. I do this workout with a barbell on a squat rack. It's safer than dumbbells but admittedly not as effective. I'm just starting out again after years of atrophy.

I work out daily on Keiser pneumatic weight machines, and walk regularly.

Enough ... barely.

Yeah dude 180lbs seated shoulder press is a LOT. If you want to lift that weight I suggest you place one dumbell on each knee, push your knees upward and catch the weights on your chest before going into the press start position. Make your legs do the work to kind of catapult the weight onto your chest. After that, its all about your shoulders and triceps......still, that is a hell of a lot of weight.

I hope you weigh at least 220lbs and possibly have someone spot you?

Quote: Tomspur

Yeah dude 180lbs seated shoulder press is a LOT. If you want to lift that weight I suggest you place one dumbell on each knee, push your knees upward and catch the weights on your chest before going into the press start position. Make your legs do the work to kind of catapult the weight onto your chest. After that, its all about your shoulders and triceps......still, that is a hell of a lot of weight.

I hope you weigh at least 220lbs and possibly have someone spot you?

That's exactly what I'd been doing to get the weight up there, but if you use not enough of the knee kick and too much of the arm, its an awkward lift.. And its bad news for your triceps. Sitting down means no leverage and no other muscles being used besides the arms. My four sets are 12 reps with 55s , 9 reps with 65s, 6 reps with 80s and 2-3 reps with 90s. Since I hurt myself the second time I've stopped doing the exercise completely.. The only other way I can think of to get the weight up there is have a guy place each dumbell in my hand when its already in the start position. But I may just start using a straight bar and the smith machine and ditch the dumbbells altogether.
I'm 6'0 and my weight fluctuates between 215 and 235 depending on time of year.I always have someone spotting me on the last two sets but he provided no help in getting the dumbbells from my knees up over my shoulder. If you try to do an incline chest press with dumbbells you run into a similar issue but not quite as hard because you aren't moving the weight as high from your knees

One way that a spotter can help is by placing his hands just above your elbows when bent and supports the lift from that position. Many, many years ago when I used to lift weights of that nature, that is how my best friend and I used to do it. Use the knee kick to get the weights on your chest and then have your friend supprt your arm from above your elbows and help you push upward.

Still, there really is never any use for pushing that much weight if your only goal is to stay in shape and have excellent muscle tone. however if you are looking at building more muscle then you are on the right path.

It all depends on your goals I guess.

I'm 216 and 6'1". I do mostly super sets now in order to try and strip down to about 200lbs. My doctor told me last week to lose 40lbs and I told her she was crazy in the head and she should not stand that close to the drain cleaner :)

I'm a fan of StrongLifts 5x5.

squats, all day err day.

Free weights vs. machines. I don't know which is more effective, but I find that the free weights and benches are normally available when I need them making for a more pleasant work out.

I think what will work for you depends on a couple of different things, including what you want/need to accomplish, your body type, and what you like to do. I know that the results from person to person will vary depending on what they did v. what they tell you they did, etc., and I myself am no expert in kinesiology, but I do think some general principals are overall agreed-upon.

If your goal/need is to lose fat, the single most important thing you can do is watch your diet to the tune of your diet is 75% - 80% of the issue. I know this goes against the whole aerobics/running craze way of thinking, but what can I say ... nutritional and exercise science has advanced. This is not to say that you can't lose fat by eating cheesecakes while lifting and running a lot every day. It's to say that your diet is the largest single factor by far and I think any trainer you ask would agree that you can't out-train a bad diet. An excellent book on the topic is "The ME Diet" by Teta. You said you don't like books but I might make this exception.

If your goal is to gain strength, then of course weights and strength training, although you want to take special care about using correct form. It's easy to move around large amounts of weight and feel good about it, but if you don't do it right, you're really not getting stronger and you could injure yourself.

If your goal is to strengthen your heart, lower blood pressure, exercise your dog, etc., then cardio is the way to go.

If your goal is the beach body, you'll want to watch your diet carefully and do strength training in high intensity intervals/bursts. Besides losing fat, your diet can also help you change your metabolism depending on your body type (the diet book helps with this). When diet doing this combines with exercise doing this, you can work out for 30 minutes and still be burning fat (i.e., metabolizing, which is not the same as sore muscles)) for a day or two afterwards.

While all athletes watch their diets pretty closely, the ones with the beach bodies (sprinters, basketball players, etc.) do the interval training. Basic interval exercises are things like squats, burpees, lunges, pushups, pullups, sled-push, etc. The marathoners, while in excellent shape and low fat, are definitely not beach-body athletes ... their bodies suit their sport well but isn't the beach body.

As far as how to get there, I would recommend getting help from a reputable trainer. I know $700 - $1,000 is a lot to throw around, but honestly, my best results have come when I've had a trainer for a month followed by exercise on my own for about 5-6 months, then hiring a trainer for another month and so on. I'm not sure if a gym membership is worth it as you can generally do the interval exercises using about $100 of equipment from any sporting goods store. I have the following equipment at home which cost about $150 and does about 80% of what I do when I'm with the trainer:

* 2 20-lb dumbbells
* 2 5-lb dumbbells
* 20-lb tension tube
* 10-lb tenstion tube
* 10 lb medicine ball
* sliders
* yoga mat
* platform with four supports

Anyway, hope that helps. My $0.02.

I'm all over the place with this I'm 90% Cardio now. I ride my bike to work so that's 40 miles round trip at least 3 days a week. The other days I run 5-8 miles and a long run on Saturdays I did 13 miles last week but usually just do 9-10 I do some wights after my runs but I still have very little mass. I really want to work on getting stronger over all to bump the weight up but I love being light for the rides and runs. This is me in Vegas last year. too small.

Quote: kmumf

I'm all over the place with this I'm 90% Cardio now. I ride my bike to work so that's 40 miles round trip at least 3 days a week. The other days I run 5-8 miles and a long run on Saturdays I did 13 miles last week but usually just do 9-10 I do some wights after my runs but I still have very little mass. I really want to work on getting stronger over all to bump the weight up but I love being light for the rides and runs. This is me in Vegas last year. too small.

.

You have that lower ab v cut that's so hard to get, though. I really need to stop abusing alcohol.