Note to Mods: Not sure if this was GQ or IMHO, but I figured there might be an actual “factual” answer to this one.
I am at the point where I have the time and money to actually start exercising at a health club. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Here’s my situation:
I’m a 23-year-old male, 6’2", 165 lbs. Basically, a beanpole. I have hardly any muscle definition, and this is the first thing I want to fix. I don’t want to be buff, but I would like something close to what I’ve heard called a “swimmer’s body” – lean yet very well toned. I know this won’t happen quick, but I would like to get started.
Key fact: I have asthma that requires me to take medicine twice a day. My doctor has told me that I shouldn’t let this hold me back, and I won’t. What I’m wondering, though, is are there any exercises that will make my lungs stronger and increase my overall stamina? Some people have told me that if I simply strengthened my lungs, I could shake this asthma thing entirely.
So basically I want two things: muscle tone and stamina. I can’t afford a physical trainer, so I thought I’d look for advice here. Any tips?
Really - it’s a great workout, easy on the joints, and will improve your lung capacity in a big hurry.
Failing that, do weight training, with a focus on muscle building - high weight, low reps - when you can increase your reps, it’s time to increase your weight.
However, I still think swimming would be your best bet…
IANAProfessional Trainer, and this is from memory, but…
If you’re sold on weights, for musle tone & stamina, the general rule is high reps, low weight. At least 5 sets of 10 (or 12) on a weight that will tire you out right about the fifth set. Start with large muscles (pectorals, deltoids, quadraceps, hamstrings, etc.), work toward smaller muscles (biceps, calfs, triceps, etc.). Try to alternate top and bottom of the body (e.g. bench press, leg extension, butterfly, toe raises, etc.), and break your sets (i.e. do one or two sets of each exercise, then go back and do another round of sets).
Rather obviously, for building muscle mass, reverse most of the above (except you still go from large muscles to small) - low reps, high weight, stay with the same area until the muscles are sequentially exhausted.
This is very basic stuff. If you can’t afford a trainer, there are some decent books on the subject.
Yay for swimming. Especially if you want a “swimmers body.”
I don’t know how much experience you have in swimming, but be forewarned–success in swimming is highly dependent on technique and not just aerobic fitness.
From Fitness Swimming by Emmett Hines. I don’t know how much training you have in swimming, but get some good swimming books (the one I cited is pretty good), or better yet, find a former competetive swimmer to help you improve your technique.
I’ve recently exercising again. I alternate swimming with lifting. Here’s my typical lifting routine (unless noted, it’s 3 sets of 8-12 reps each):
Day 1: upper body
-try to do pull-ups (it’s always been a dream of mine. the gym I’m at now has a machine that lets me do assisted ones)
-lat pulldowns
-bench press
-chest press
-upright row
-biceps curls (2 sets)
-triceps push (2 sets)
crunches
Day 2: lower body
-squats (the best single lower-body exercise. I have a love-hate relationship with them, because I’m always a bit unsteady after doing them)
-leg curl
-leg extensions
-calf raises (2 sets)
-back stuff (extensions, etc)
crunches
The general theme is large muscles first. Try to use free weights as much as possible–you’ll be able to work your smaller, balancing muscles, too (I’ve found this is really noticable in squats). Keep in mind that in swimming, your upper body (especially lats and shoulders) are key. Huge freaking biceps may look cool, but don’t really help you swim better. Legs are more important in sprints, arms in distance. I used to lift and swim on the same day. Lift before swimming–>that way you won’t smell like chlorine when you’re lifting, and you’ll only have to shower once. I’ve also found that swimming after lifting helps soothe the muscles and shortens recovery time.
Also, I’ve heard that a large proportion of competitve swimmers have asthma. The increase lung capacity should help you with it, too. YMMV.
Unfortunately, it’s not actually true that high reps with low weights helps with toning or fat loss. Here’s a cite.
Also, easy e, why are you doing pullups and lat pulldowns right next to each other? As far as I can tell (and I’m looking at a list of muscles used in each exercise, available off here), those are pretty much exactly the same exercise. If anything, the pulldown involves a couple more muscles. You might want to consider either moving those farther apart, or concentrating on one–see if that makes a difference in what you can do.
I’ve never seen anything about using large muscles first. Anyone got a cite?
I forgot to mention, there’s a good reason to do cardiovascular exercise after you lift. I don’t have a ready cite for this, so take it with a grain of salt if you like. During physical activity, there are three fuel sources available: glycogen, muscle tissue, and fat. If you lift first, you use up a lot of your glycogen, and your body’s not going to consume muscle tissue. That leaves it with the option of burning fat. Otherwise, you’ll be burning glycogen and/or muscle tissue.
I’m six feet tall, with a bad back, and I weighed 137 pounds when I started lifting three months ago. Now I weigh 144 (don’t laugh), and I follow this method:
The way I’ve heard it (from reading Men’s Fitness for several years. Sorry I can’t cite a particular issue) is that this is a bad idea because you’ll be less efficient and more injury prone when you lift. You need to so something to warm up. If you want to follow this advice, a better idea might be to do the bulk of your cardio after you lift. But I would still do some (5-10min) before.
I do space out my pull-ups and lat pulldowns (it’s usually with me doing some other activity). Sometimes I forget to do the pullups, too. I read somewhere that pullups require more muscles. I figured that might be the case, because more balance seems to be involved. But IANAPT.
It’s not where I heard it, but here’s a cite for large muscles first: http://www.healthcentral.com/fitorfat/CB_Survival/weightlift.cfm . It’s basically because you don’t want to fatigue the small muscles first, because you need them to help balance and assist when you do large-muscle exercises.
Yeah, I would just swim except I’m not very good at it. I took some classes when I was a kid, and for one glorious summer I loved swimming… but I fell out of it when subsequent summers didn’t provide me lots of access to a pool.
I appreciate all the suggestions though. I will probably buy a book or two this weekend and then actually join a health club after I get my next paycheck. BTW, can anyone recommend a good health club in the Washington DC area, one that’s Metro-accessible?
Check out 8 Minutes in the Morning by Jorge Cruise. It’s kinda amateurishly put together, but it has some good info.
One important thing that a lot of people might miss: appropriate diet. To build muscle mass (whether you’re going for tone or buff), you need the right proteins.