The Get fit club!

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I've been trying to get into shape over the past year. I did a year of pusbike couriering and have lost a lot of weight. I'm quite pleased with my current weight (11-12 stone; about 6 foot tall.) My legs are in good shape from the cycling but I have been wanting to build muscle on my biceps. Thats were I lack big time.

I have a set of dumbells which I'm starting to use but don't really know how to approach it. I've been doing 30 reps on each arm with a 4.7kg weight. This is about as far as I can go without pushing myself to go uncomfortabely further. I don't want to injure myself early on! According to my brother, who has been lifting weights for a few years and used to do body-building, its important to work your tricep too. The bicep and tricep work in pairs so you need to build them evenly.

Has anyone any advice then?

4.7kg sounds quite light. I have 9.2 Kg on my Dumbells and I do 2 sets of 20reps. I don't like any of the Tricep exercises I've tried. Do Push-ups work your Triceps?

[Garry Walker]

I've been hitting the chest for the past 9 months. I found a few online videos from a professional body builder, Milos Sarcev, and have seen a big difference in my chest muscles.

I see. I thought you would be able to bench a bit more, but if you have done it for 9 months then that is an okay result.

If anyone is interested: http://thefitshow.tv/index.php?optio...son1&Itemid=69

I will give it a look.

I have a set of dumbells which I'm starting to use but don't really know how to approach it. I've been doing 30 reps on each arm with a 4.7kg weight. This is about as far as I can go without pushing myself to go uncomfortabely further. I don't want to injure myself early on! According to my brother, who has been lifting weights for a few years and used to do body-building, its important to work your tricep too. The bicep and tricep work in pairs so you need to build them evenly.

Has anyone any advice then?

Why would you injure yourself? You need to understand what kind of pain you have when you are donig those exercises. If you have pain in your joints or wrists, then that issue you needs to be solved, for example with more warmup for wrists. Joints are always a different matter. But if you have muscle pain, the right pain, from the difficulty of the exercise then there is no danger of injury, but rather you are doing something right and giving your muscles a good workout. So in that case you should push yourself more. Just doing 30 reps without going further than that is not really worthwhile, because you need to push yourself. So you could do still the same amount of reps, just with lower pace and better technique or just go for more series and more reps per series. That said, for example I never do more than 8 reps per any series for biceps workout.

As for triceps, good old fashioned pushups are good enough, but there are other ones you can do. With your dumbbells, what you could do for example is find a bench (or you can do it on the floor even, no difference) and put your knees on ground, then put your weight on one arm and grab a dumbbell with your other arm and start straightning that arm backwards (if this makes sense, I cant explain it better). If you do it slowly and properly, it gives quite a good workout.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

As for triceps, good old fashioned pushups are good enough, but there are other ones you can do. With your dumbbells, what you could do for example is find a bench (or you can do it on the floor even, no difference) and put your knees on ground, then put your weight on one arm and grab a dumbbell with your other arm and start straightning that arm backwards (if this makes sense, I cant explain it better). If you do it slowly and properly, it gives quite a good workout.

The one I use for triceps is on a bench, you have the barbell above your ahead, and then straighten your arms backwards. I much prefer push-ups though, but because I'm so light they aren't very difficult.

[52Paddy]

4.7kg sounds quite light. I have 9.2 Kg on my Dumbells and I do 2 sets of 20reps. I don't like any of the Tricep exercises I've tried. Do Push-ups work your Triceps?

I guess it is light. Though they were just dumbells I had around the house. Thats the heaviest out of a set of 3

Why would you injure yourself? You need to understand what kind of pain you have when you are donig those exercises. If you have pain in your joints or wrists, then that issue you needs to be solved, for example with more warmup for wrists. Joints are always a different matter. But if you have muscle pain, the right pain, from the difficulty of the exercise then there is no danger of injury, but rather you are doing something right and giving your muscles a good workout. So in that case you should push yourself more. Just doing 30 reps without going further than that is not really worthwhile, because you need to push yourself. So you could do still the same amount of reps, just with lower pace and better technique or just go for more series and more reps per series. That said, for example I never do more than 8 reps per any series for biceps workout.

I don't complain of any current pain. It was always my assumption that stretching a muscle too much could damage it. I remember I had muscle pain before and it didn't go away for a few days. I thought I'd done something wrong but if it gives them a good workout, its nothing to worry about. Am I following you correctly?

As for triceps, good old fashioned pushups are good enough, but there are other ones you can do. With your dumbbells, what you could do for example is find a bench (or you can do it on the floor even, no difference) and put your knees on ground, then put your weight on one arm and grab a dumbbell with your other arm and start straightning that arm backwards (if this makes sense, I cant explain it better). If you do it slowly and properly, it gives quite a good workout.

I'll try pushups. I was already doing a version of your second exercise. Except I wasn't lying down. I was standing up and lifting the weight vertical. I usually look in a mirror to make sure its properly vertical (my arm). But the two you suggested sound more fool proof. Cheers

[Garry Walker]

The one I use for triceps is on a bench, you have the barbell above your ahead, and then straighten your arms backwards. I much prefer push-ups though, but because I'm so light they aren't very difficult.

Do you mean French Press? or are you not lying down? I always had problems with that exercise, because my elbows did not like it. But its a useful exercise.

You have access to gym, right? In that case there are so many machines there that you can use for triceps that you dont really need to do pushups.
Or the alternative is that you just put some weight on your back and try to do pushups then. Almost like adding a weight to yourself before trying to do pull-ups.

I don't complain of any current pain. It was always my assumption that stretching a muscle too much could damage it. I remember I had muscle pain before and it didn't go away for a few days. I thought I'd done something wrong but if it gives them a good workout, its nothing to worry about. Am I following you correctly?

Well, here you need to understand the pain and I suppose if you are not experienced you want to avoid pain. Lets say you are doing an exercise for triceps. In the middle of it, you start to feel a really weird feeling in your triceps, like they want to explode and there is pain. In that case, keep going, you are working the muscle well. Dont give up. If you have a bit of soreness the next day, that is good too. Means you have worked your muscles. But if you are doing an exercise for biceps and feel that your shoulder is hurting, then stop. You are obviously doing something wrong or you have an injury somewhere. Obviously, I cannot feel your pain so i cannot tell you if what you are experiencing was just normal after a good workout or a little injury, but if the muscle group that you worked out is the one that is causing pain, then there is a good chance you just have soreness and it will go away soon and you should be happy.
I remember when I first did some exercises for shoulders and my body was not used to that at all, the next 3 days I was in such pain that I thought I had really messed up my body bigtime. I couldnt move my head almost at all. But then it went away and the next time it was lesser and as the body got used to it, it never was like that again. Just a bit of soreness the next day.
But of course, when one gets more seriously into training, little injures and little pain will always be a part of it. Just comes with the territory.

I'll try pushups. I was already doing a version of your second exercise. Except I wasn't lying down. I was standing up and lifting the weight vertical. I usually look in a mirror to make sure its properly vertical (my arm). But the two you suggested sound more fool proof. Cheers

Pushups are a fool-proof method to get fitter when you dont have gym access. They work your body well, but just remember, dont start doing 50 pushups at once, always warm up a bit before starting.

[52Paddy]

Well, here you need to understand the pain and I suppose if you are not experienced you want to avoid pain. Lets say you are doing an exercise for triceps. In the middle of it, you start to feel a really weird feeling in your triceps, like they want to explode and there is pain. In that case, keep going, you are working the muscle well. Dont give up. If you have a bit of soreness the next day, that is good too. Means you have worked your muscles. But if you are doing an exercise for biceps and feel that your shoulder is hurting, then stop. You are obviously doing something wrong or you have an injury somewhere. Obviously, I cannot feel your pain so i cannot tell you if what you are experiencing was just normal after a good workout or a little injury, but if the muscle group that you worked out is the one that is causing pain, then there is a good chance you just have soreness and it will go away soon and you should be happy.
I remember when I first did some exercises for shoulders and my body was not used to that at all, the next 3 days I was in such pain that I thought I had really messed up my body bigtime. I couldnt move my head almost at all. But then it went away and the next time it was lesser and as the body got used to it, it never was like that again. Just a bit of soreness the next day.
But of course, when one gets more seriously into training, little injures and little pain will always be a part of it. Just comes with the territory.

I follow. I never realised that before about muscle pain. I'll keep on top of it.

Pushups are a fool-proof method to get fitter when you dont have gym access. They work your body well, but just remember, dont start doing 50 pushups at once, always warm up a bit before starting.

Ok. I understand how important a warmup. I used to do an IT Band stretch in the morning but only after I cycled into work. I've read and heard from people that it is not good to wake up and start stretching a 'cold' muscle. Some light warmup before hand is always recommended.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I just went for a run for the first time in a long time and now I feel ill.

[52Paddy]

I just went for a run for the first time in a long time and now I feel ill.

Was it freezing? Were you wearing suitable clothing?

[MrJan]

I had a crack on the exercise bike last night and plan to again tonight. I've really let myself go (even more than when I was 16st 9). I'm cutting back on the beer and trying to get on the bike a bit more often. At the minute it's about doing stuff to lose weight and get a bit of my lung capacity back.

[52Paddy]

Well I had my bike messenger job back for the past 7 weeks so that's being keeping me active during the day. It's back to college on Sunday however and feel the lazy student lifestyle will drag me back in if I'm not careful over the next few months

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