[Zepp88]

Noted.

I'm joined with a friend of mine who has been going for a while, he said I have good form/technique I guess I'm okay it that department

[Pirelli]

Originally Posted by Zepp88

I guess strength training would be the type I'd want to go for? I really really don't want that huge disgusting body builder look....

This is a common misconception, especially with women, that if you lift weights for a few sessions you're going to blow up and look like Ronnie Coleman. If it was that easy to pack on muscle, don't you think there'd be more huge people walking around?

All those guys are on a massive amount of steroids/HGH/Insulin etc and if you are just eating well and training you aren't going to see massive gains quickly. You will still see gains of course, but don't stress about becoming "huge". Also, if by some miracle you wake up too big one day, losing muscle is very very easy to do, just ask anyone who hasn't trained in a while...

Sakiedo's post is awesome and I agree that you're better off goin the whole body workout 3x week and sticking to free weights only. Doing heavy squats/deadlifts releases human growth hormone which will help you build more muscle and recover faster. As you put on muscle, your metabolism will speed up causing you to burn more fat, so it will help you reach your lean goal also.

As Firedragon mentioned, the pain you're feeling is called DOMS, it's always at it's worst when you haven't lifted before, but it will quickly become less severe as you continue to train. There's research to suggest that a protein/carb shake will reduce it's severity/length if you take it around the time of the workout.

Also, theres research to suggest that static stretching before working out doesn't reduce the chance of injury and it will actually negatively effect your performance. You're much better off doing a dynamic warm-up. See if you can get your hands on a DVD called magnificent mobility by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson. Leave the static stretching until after you're finished, it will reduce DOMS also.

[Zepp88]

Rep to all who've given me tips

I think I'll not do upper body this afternoon and focus on the legs and cardio...

[Labrie]

Originally Posted by sakeido

I don't subscribe to the whole theory of high reps. To build muscle mass, do more sets of 8 or less (I do pyramids - 8 reps first set, 6 reps next set, 4 reps last set). I have never, ever had any success doing any more than that. Work out for strength; size and tone come with it, but to get bigger and continue getting bigger you need to have measurable improvement, and that will only ever be reflected in being able to lift more with each subsequent workout.

And by more, I mean complete more reps with good form, or be able to move more weight for almost as many reps. If you are working it right, you seriously will be able to increase the weight on most exercises every workout when you are starting out (if and only if you are using good form).

Also, I don't subscribe to the theory of a lot of workouts in a week. I go three times a week and do a full body workout each time. Research has shown that you need to release a lot of some chemical or other (it could be testosterone) for your muscles to rebuild larger than they were before; to do this, you need to work a lot of muscle groups. Your legs especially should not be ignored. For maximum effect, do squats every workout or at least every other workout. They are the king of all exercises for a reason - they are super effective at building muscle not only in your legs but supplying the fuel you need to build muscle in your entire body.

As far as your original question goes, that's normal. The feeling will eventually go away, but should come back every time you change your workout plan (Which should be every 6-8 weeks). It is important to *not* work muscles that are already sore from your last workout. That does more harm than good.

Other advice: don't use any machines, use free weights for absolutely everything. On machines, you can see gains, but then as soon as you go to a free weight that is not stabilized by a track, you will drop in weight a lot and it can be quite discouraging. Then you need to spend weeks building up all the stabilizing muscles while accomplishing no real growth in the bigger, more visible muscles. This is especially apparent with your chest and legs. Smithsonian Squat machines and pec decks are useless.

I could talk about this stuff for hours. One thing though, is that every trainer in this entire world unless they have a vast amount of experience (and then they are working for pro sports teams and celebrities - so you will not encounter these people) just recommends you either a standard plan you could find yourself on the internet, or the plan that worked for them (like I did here without asking). I may have ranted a bit but I have had a gym membership for four years and only have really done anything good with it in the past four months.

I used to spend a lot of time talking, researching, asking, looking for some kind of magic bullet to make big gains fast, and neglected to spend actual quality time in the gym. The real improvement didn't come until I decided to build my own plan, and then just get to it.

Pyramid sets and super setting are fast ways to gain muscle size and strength but if you want to tone up then lower weight/high reps is definitely the way to go. I've seen it work countless times.

I also don't agree with the whole body workout thing you mentioned. I've found my best gains are when I focus on only a couple muscle groups per day. For example, I'll do chest and maybe some back and then let that muscle group rest for at least a couple days before focusing on them again. Of course you'll always use a bit of every muscle group for certain excercises.

I wouldn't say machines are bad either. I find if you change it up every so often, it kind of shocks your body. If you always do the same exercises the same way, your body gets used to that. For example, I'll do a few sets of shoulders using free weights and then I'll go to exhaustion on the smith machine.

One thing I often see guys at the gym do, is they'll stop at 10 reps even if they could do more. I try not to focus on how many reps I do and just go to exhaustion. Usually I try for 8-10 but if I can do 15 then I'll add more weight for the next set.

As for the original poster, you might want to look into taking a protein supplement to help with muscle repair.

Always want to feel that burn

[sakeido]

Originally Posted by Labrie

snip for length

If you stop at 10 reps but could do more, you aren't using enough weight. You shouldn't be able to do an 11th rep if you are using the proper weight. If you can do an 11th rep, then next time you go to the gym, increment the weight as little as possible (so add 5 pounds for squats & bench, 2.5 pounds for arms, back, flies, etc.). This is something I did that prevent me from making gains for the longest time and left me stuck with a weak chest for years. I thought that I shouldn't move up weight until it was easy for the whole set. This will never actually happen. You need to bump it up until the last rep is nearly impossible and then aim to only have that one impossible rep every time. I know you are doing it right it , I'm just trying to spin that into advice for Zepp

Originally Posted by Zepp88

Cody, what kind of build are you going for? Bigger and more body builder esque, or very small and lean?

There are many different schools of thought when it comes to acheiving a good workout, and they all probably work for different people. I'll have to chose the best plan to go for the build that I want, which is very small and lean.

When I started working out, I just wanted to gain size, and it worked. I put on about 15 pounds in two months using NO Xplode and lots of protein. Now I am kind of stuck at 168 but I am still steadily gaining in strength and for some reason size too. But now that I have been successful in the gym for awhile, I just work out to get stronger and stronger. I'm not going for the body builder look, I am aiming for around 175 pounds at the most. I'm lucky in that my fast metabolism means I can pig out and just eat Lots of food to gain weight, and end up gaining all that weight as muscle mass instead of fat, so I managed to gain 15 pounds and stay pretty toned the whole way

To get the toned look, you need to have the underlying muscle size in the first place. You can't actually tone your muscles; they will build the same way no matter how many reps you are doing, so that's why I recommend a low rep, strength building program to gain size first and foremost. THEN, once the size is there, you can start doing increased cardio and higher rep workouts (which actually burn more calories, so it seems you are building tone when you are actually just reducing body fat).

But you should stick to a 6-8 week rotation on your entire workout plan. As you go to the gym, your body can get acclimatized to your workout and it will become too routine for it to be challenged and continue building muscle. So you could do something like this; the first one is the plan I am on right now.

Everything - 3 sets. First set 8 reps, second set 6 reps, last set 4 reps. Use a spotter!

First pair: Squats & Flat Benchpress
Second pair: Incline flies & Decline Benchpress
Third pair: Standing free weight press (see below) & Seated Rows
Fourth pair: Bicep curls & Tricep presses

When I say "pair" I am referring to what is called a superset. I do this because it feels better, and reduces the amount of time you have to spend at the gym while increasing recovery time. You do one set, say squats, and as soon as you are done the set, you go and do benchpresses. Then you wait 60 seconds or so in between and do it again. There is a lot of research that advocates shorter workout times. Its not practical to do a good full body plan in 30 minutes, so 45 minutes is my personal goal for how long I stay in the gym. After that, you start to exhaust your body's energy stores and you can't work hard enough to build muscle anymore.

The "standing free weight press" is a name I invented because I can't remember the actual name of this exercise. Its in this month's issue of Men's Health. You take two small free weights, smooth sides out, squeeze them together with your hands in front of you, and extend your arms out all the way. Its hard to describe - I'll see if I can find a picture.

Then for a toning plan, you don't need to switch to any isolation exercises, but you do need to switch all the exercises you are using to shock your body into growing again.
Four sets of 8 reps
First pair: Deadlifts & Pushups (with your feet on an exercise ball or bench)
Second set: Incline Benchpress & Bench Dips
Third set: Lat pull downs & Bent over rows
Forth set: Chin-ups (if you can do them) or negative chin-ups - no super set

One thing I still can't do is a full set of proper chin-ups. So instead, I do negative chin-ups. You go to the chin up bar, put a bench or something underneath it, and use that to jump up above the bar. Then you slowly lower yourself all the way over 6 seconds and repeat 5-8 times for a set. Once you can do 8 reps of 6 seconds through all three sets, you should in theory be able to do a real set of chin ups.

[Labrie]

Originally Posted by sakeido

I put on about 15 pounds in two months using NO Xplode and lots of protein.

Amen to that. I added NO explode to m protein/creatine stack and it's been awesome so far. In the last month I've pushed my bench from like 185lbs to 225lbs and I'm still gaining. I find the NO explode really helps me push out those few last reps that I normally wouldn't get.

[sakeido]

Definitely. No Xplod is fantastic stuff, I've starting taking Cell Mass too and noticed it is helping a bit. I finally might be working out of my plateau, but I still have a ways to go before I am going to be happy with how strong I am (I rep 165 on bench now but am aiming for at least 185)

Another thing is, !!especially!! for bench presses, is have a spotter handy. You actually are stronger (they did a study that showed you were 15% stronger with a spotter handy, even if they weren't helping at all) for some reason, and that way you can really push it without worrying about getting stuck under the bar. I noticed without a spotter I am really skeptical and tend to top out 10 pounds lighter on the bench than I can when I do have a spotter.

[Jason]

Not sure on everything that has been said..seeing I didn't read it all BUT.. I suggest doing a light 2-5 min jog on the treadmill for warmup.. To get your blood flowing then do some light stretching then hit the weights FOLLOWED by cardio.

Doing cardio after helps to burn the lactic acid buildup on yoru muscles and in short help to not be as sore.

[Labrie]

Yeah I agree with the spotter or working out with friends. It's a mental thing, you're always afraid to push yourself because you don't want all the weight landing on you lol.

I tried a sample pack of Cell Mass once...obviously one serving isn't going to tell you whether it worked or not, although I haven't heard the greatest reviews on CEE. I'm using a tub of cell tech right now....I know I know muscle tech = ew but it was on sale cheap and I know it works. I gotta start taking weight gainer again..I'm so underweight lol

[7 Strings of Hate]

i just heard a study on the news that streching doesnt make any differance as to injuring your muscles, personally i dont see how streching couldnt help, but thats what a bunch of norwegian scientists said
one thing that i can reccomend for you to get in shape, and this is no shit, i'v said this for years, fill a back pack with rocks and run your ass up some hills, then add more rocks, it will work every fiber in your being and make you a hard ass, and come to find out, alot of mma guys do that, they will tie some random shit to them like a tire or something, and just drag it around, it works all your muscles, your cardio, and makes you even look like a bad ass, i mean, come on, if you were driving down the street and looked over and a guy was dragging a refridgerator behind him, wouldnt you think he was a bad ass?