Must-do Lifting exercises

adwred · Must-do Lifting exercises

OK, so as someone who needs to start taking anaerobic exercise more seriously, I would love if someone who is experienced in weight-lifting and has had some level of success with it would give me a list of must-do lifting exercises and a rough guideline of how many times per week to do them. You can point me toward a website, but personal experience and routines is more what I'm looking for. Any input is welcome, though!

cygnus

Hi adwred,
I have been folowing bodybuilding /weightiftting since the 70's. Everyone must understand,that there is a ton of research out there that intense weightlifiting burns more fat than aerobics and you will burn fat longer after your sessions due to the output of GH.

This has a marked effect on body composition.

I got married a few years ago,and had the honor of training with the top trainer in the world. I was "skinny fat". Long and lean with a bad fat to muscle ratio. In just a few weeks I completely changed my body and I didn't do 1 minute of cardio!

Plus the more muscle you build,the higher your metabolism will be.

So, weightlifting shoud be your main source of excercise.
If you do cardio ,it shoud be brief and hard as well..no more thatn 15 minutes on your non -lifting days

To build muscle and to lose fat,it must be brief and you must push yourself. There should be very little rest between sets.. and it shoud be heavy.

One of the stupidest things out there is the ideal is to lift light weights for high reps for tone..well if that were the case wouldn't zero weights work better? there is no such thing as "tone",that is B.S.

If done properly, you can completely change your body in as little as 6 weeks..more muscle,less fat and better health. You have the diet down now we just need to rock you a little

Let me know if you want to proceed

adwred

Totally! Wow, you should be a motivational speaker. I'm ready to reach for my Visa card. Laugh

I did find that the most progress I've ever made on my body was when I was rock climbing for a year. I guess because I was lifting my whole body weight and because it is very high intensity - there's no crapping out, unless you want to fall off the climb... you have no choice but to push through. I stopped being able to afford it after a while - the climbing gym membership prices went up... I think it's something ridiculous now, like $15 a day.

OK, sock it to me - I'm ready!

Viking Dan

If you have your credit card out, you could do a lot worse than to order Getting Stronger by Bill Pearl.

cygnus

Getting Stronger is a great book..and Bill Pearl is a lifelong vegetarian..

Viking Dan

cygnus

huh,.I remember from Iron man he said "if someone offered me 1 million dollars to eat any animal products,I wouldn't do it".

Andrea Cahling who had a little stardom in the 80's was also a vegetarian..lacot /ovo.

Gotta remember these guys partook in some perverse pharmacetuicals as well.

Cavemate K

I had the good fortune of meeting Bill Pearl when I was 18 (which was, cough, a while ago) at my local gym. He was a wonderful speaker and put on a great presentation. I'm not sure what kind of "pharmaceuticals" he might have used since his heyday was in the 50s and 60s. I don't believe he's ever copped to using them, but I understand that steroids were first developed in Germany in the 30s, so they might have been available to the Golden Age bodybuilders.
I have his book "Getting Stronger" and I absolutely love it. His website also has the program "20 Months To A Champion Physique" which is free to access.

K

ReddyMcMeaty

How much time do you want to put in Red? And what are your goals.. are they general or specific etc.???

adwred

Time? Probably no more than an hour, 3 times a week would be ideal, but I don't know if that's realistic. My goals are just to help me lose this late bit of weight - I'm not looking to be super-muscled or defined, although I probably could be. I put on muscle quite easily - I'm one of those body-types.

ReddyMcMeaty

At home or in a gym? If at home, do you have any equipment? If not you dont' haev to worry there are a lot of normal things you can use without it being annoying or stupid. Just trying to get an idea of where you will be working out and what you have at your disposal.

adwred

At home, preferably. I have a set of adjustable free weights and a small barbell, too. I'd be willing to buy something extra, too, as long as it wasn't super expensive.

Scout Finch

Here's an inexpensive way to get some basic weight training instructions. I bought this thing about 4 years ago when I was still doing Atkins. It's all I've ever used for strength training. It is spiral-bound and will lie flat on the floor or on a table while you use it. It has great color photos so you can see specifically how to do all the moves. And it has a complete range of exercises for every body part, including stretches. I use it for my strength training in my living room, and I've done fine with it.

http://www.pockettrainer.com/

I noticed it selling for about $5.00 used on Amazon, so don't pay full price for it!

The other thing to consider is, if you have a T.V. set, you can buy a strength training DVD to get started, which is probably a more organized way to do a workout than just following a book. I don't have a T.V., but this would be the best reason I can think of to own one!

ReddyMcMeaty

Ok great! I will put in some links to descriptions of proper form and pics etc. but I have to do this a bit at a time.

I wouldn't get sucked into the bodybuilder isolation exercises eg: tricep extensions or bicep curls unless you want to for a specific reason. They're time consuming and are not as effective at raising your metabolism because you're not using several parts of your body at the same time.

Main exercises I would recommend

Walking lunges up to 100, take as long of a stride as possible, do not lean forward or let your knee go over your toes OR move inward. If 100 is easy then put on a backpack filled with weight. This will work your butt REALLY well, and your thighs.

If you don't want to do lunges OR you can alternate one day lunges another day these since they essentially work the same muscles then try the romanian split squat, with your back leg elevated on the couch, hold a kitchen chair or something in front of you for balance and squat down..using the same knee principles ie: don't let it collapse inward or go out past your toes and do not lean forward with your torso. These are very difficult. I'd say do 5 sets of 5 on each leg, and then go from there either adding weight or changing your stance in order to make it more work.

Some abs from this lady http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/meriam/
but they can be done anytime, dont' have to be in your other workout.

The leg exercises I gave you are harder hitting on your glutes than your thighs, I remember you mentioning that it was important for women to have an ass so those will ensure that. If you feel like your thighs want more work then do narrow stance squats. 5 sets of 5 or 10 repetitions should be fine, do the squats after the other exercises and again I will link to some descriptions and images of proper form.

You add muscle easily so you can get away with not going as heavy as possible, but doing higher repetitions.....this will be at a higher cost energy wise so you'll definintely need enough sleep and food. Don't overdo it if things get crazy and you're not sleeping or eating ok? You'll just end up with a cold.

I like sprints on stairs, I think they are the most fun leg exercise ever and like to do sprints, and in between sets of stairs do a set of walking lunges and calf raises on the stairs. It gives you an overall leg workout and really hits you hard metabolically and beautifully shaped legs and glutes. Obviously going up the stairs 2 at a time is the most important for hitting the glutes. If you do this 3 times a week for 45 minutes you don't have to do the other leg exercises. Maybe alternate them.

So there you have legs.. you can have an entire workout dedicated to legs or you can make them part of a workout which also includes:

Bent over barbell rows - form is very important on these. Start really light so that you get used to the form!!!! 5 sets of 5-10 is good.

Pushups - self explanatory, also easy to increase weight just raise your feet.

Bridging is a good bodyconditioner and back/shoulder strengthener. If you can do one then try to hold it for a minute, and then maybe two.. your spinal erectors are endurance not strength muscles so holding the bridge is good for them. Depending on what you want do a bridge in between other exercises.

so to sum it up a good hour's workout 3 times a week would be:

lunges or split squats or both
squats optional
pushups
barbell rows
bridges

OR do the sprinting one I mentioned. If you don't want to leave our your upper body on a sprint day do a superset of:
Sprint up stairs.. 3 flights is optimal but 2 is ok, if you have one then repeat it as quickly as possible. Empty train stations are good for this kind of thing.
Calf raises
Pushups
Lunges
Some kind of pullups - find a bar, or a railing even if it's waist high and position yourself under it and pull yourself up.
repeat until you collapse which shouldn't take all that long.

Oh!! I highly highly highly recommend putting a chinup bar in one of your doorways. All you need is a dowel and 2 little squares of wood with a U cut out and some nails. Chinups and pullups are GREAT exercises and I would say do them over the rows if you had to choose. I fyou can't do one at first then just put your feet on a chair, or jump up and dont' use any help lowering yourself down. After enough days or weeks of lowering yourself you'll find you can do a real chinup. When I'm working on it I also put my bare feet on either side of the doorway and push up with them. Chinups give you great biceps as well as using so many other muscles in your back, chest, abs and arms.

adwred

Thank you! Wow, just reading all that has made me tired Wink

Cavemate K

Scout,

Awesome reccommendation! That looks like a pretty convenient training manual. I checked out its webpage as well as the amazon.com entry, but I didn't see any mention of what equipment is required for it. Of course, I see the dumbells on the cover, but does it require barbells and/or benches? I hope not because I don't have a lot of room to manuever home.

K

Scout Finch

No, you really don't need anything other dumbbells. I have one of those step things which I use as a faux-weight bench because it's slightly elevated off the floor, so I can lie on it and do presses and triceps dips off it and whatnot. Before I got it, though, I always did presses with just a thick towel under my shoulders and head, and it works about the same.

For working out at home, especially if you are a beginner (or, like me, really never caring about getting past beginner/intermediate level!), you just need some dumbbells in different sizes, and you can accomplish quite a bit with just those.

Meg mentioned stair-climbing, and I think this is a great idea. I live on the 22nd floor of a 26-story building, and I've been trying to run my stairs at least a couple of times a week. It's great for the glutes! Find some bleachers or a highrise building with an unlocked stairwell, and it's a great workout.

I also like the "deck of cards" workout you mentioned. Yup

Keep it simple - that's how I like it! Smile

Cavemate K

Absolutely! Funny thing is, I always seem to have trouble with things that are supposed to be "simple," but feel more comfortable with that which is explained for me in detail step by step.

K

Max Thunder

Here is a website with a lot of animations of exercises, with a large number of them being done with dumbbells:

http://exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

And a dumbbell front squat variation not seen on the previous link:

Top: http://www.t-nation.com/img/photos/05-207-training/image015.png

Bottom: http://www.t-nation.com/img/photos/05-207-training/image017.png

Cavemate K

Max, That website is awesome!! Thanks for posting the link, which I quickly bookmarked. I'm glad that it has so many descriptions of dumbell exercises as those are easier to manage in putting together a home gym. I had often wondered if one could get a full body workout from dumbells alone. From that site it looks like it's a definite doer! Happy

K

ReddyMcMeaty

ExRx is very good, there are a few exercises though which have doubtful form.... their stiff leg deadlift is one of them.....actually now that I have checked it out again they seem to have changed their exercises and the forms, this is good. What I was going to get at is never ever do anything where your back is loadbearing and bent, keep it straight or arched and very tight, along with your abdominals.

Cavemate K

ReddyMcMeaty

Bending at the waist is never a good idea... bending at the hips is an excellent idea Smile

The great thing about training is that it makes you so aware of yourself and you find it carries over into every day life and you're so much less prone to injury since you'll do things properly ... like lifting salt or kitty litter bags or tires, suitcases and so on.

Cavemate K

By bending at the hips do you mean squatting down while keeping the back upright? That's the way I've been picking things up for a while now and it's been nice and easy on my back (knock on wood Happy

). At long last I've finally started to listen to all those safety videos and it's definitely been paying dividends!

K

cygnus

You should never twist, especially when lifitng, but bending side to side is ok.

Cavemate K

Sounds good. Especially with exercises such as dumbell raises. My concern was with exercises such as "good mornings" which, if I remember correctly, requires that the person bend over at the waist with a barbell across his or her back and lift up and down. Sounds to me like an accident waiting to happen.

K

teknodamage

Hey Adwred! Good to see your interest in pumping iron arrggh!!!!!!

follow cygnus' recommendations... they're on point!

cygnus

Good mornings are one of the best excercises you can do..period. It hits the erectors ,glutes and hamstrings better than just about anything else.

The secret is to use not a ton of weight(though I have seen some guys you some amazing tonnage)and to remember to have an arch in your lower back as you push your glutes out.And stop when you feel that goo d pull in your hammies ,

But most of all stay tight...

Practice with a broomstick until you get the feel of the excercise down before using weights..

Max Thunder

I generally agree with cygnus.

In my opinion, if we developped such a flexible spine, it is not because the ideal thing to do is to arch your back 24h/24. Rounded back lifting can have a place, but it has to be done by experimented lifter. It can be done in ways that do not put all the tension in the discs and ligaments of the lower back (such as holding something far in front of the body with a flexed spine), there's a whole page about this somewhere on exrx.net .

I don't like good mornings in general, and I much prefer straigth-leg deadlifts for a very similar movement. In my opinion, holding a weight in your own hands make it much easier to develop that mind/muscle connection. I'm biased because of my personal love relationship with the deadlift. These kind of lifts might look dangerous to you, but I believe it is much more dangerous not to train the lower back.

Everybody likes glutes.

"Stay tight": the best injury prevention technique for injuries. A lot of injuries happen with light weights when the lifter is not focused and of course, not tight.

ReddyMcMeaty

I love the Romanian Deadlift.. same principles as stiff leg only you bend your knees a bit, I feel it works my glutes more than my hamstrings the way the SLDL does and I like that.. my glutes need more work than my hams which get big doing other things. I prefer these to regular deadlifts as well because with regular deads I get weight greedy and want to lift heavier and heavier weights... which is great, I'd love to go really heavy one day, only I work out alone at home and there is generally a baby underfoot AND I don't have the equipment to safely go really heavy. I will say that if your aim is to work your glutes and hams pretty hard and you don't want to use equipment the Romanian split squat, wher eyour back leg is elevated and your legs have a huge range of motion, is a great exercise. Just throwing this in there because some people might not want to use barbells. It doesn't hit your lower back the way deadlifts do but you can do other things for that.

cygnus

Reddy you want glutes?? Then do the Sumo deadlift with your feet spaced wide and your arms inside your knees. Turn your toes out thirty to forty degrees. Think about getting tall on the descent up and throw your chest up

ReddyMcMeaty

That is how I deadlift anyway, my legs are really long compared to my torso and my arms don't make up for it so I need a wide stance. But like I said.. I get greedy with poundage and end up going to heavy for what my circumstances will allow

cygnus

I am built the same way, long arms, short torso,and long legs. We have the ideal bodytype for deads. I can dead alot more than I can squat or bench. I would keep lifting the dead heavy especially if it is an excercise you are good at..

adwred

I'm built the opposite way. Long torso, short legs. Sigh...

cygnus

Good squatter Adwred!!!

ReddyMcMeaty

Red the advantage is that you have a waist and an ass... short torsos usually ahve a problem getting a small waist and growing a butt with shape, takes a lot of work and the structure generally just doesn't hold that nice curvy shape int he same way... start checking out everyone, you'll see that a lot of the best asses are usually coupled with a long slim torso and shorter legs. The longest legs generally go with a smaller bum and a not so curvy waist and hips. I'm generalizing here.. my grandmother has a really short torso and had a 17 inch waist when she was young.

Cavemate K

CMK: Short torso... long legs... butt in name only...

ReddyMcMeaty

One thing that is a little bit of a pain with deadlifts, and it's only a pain because of circumstances not in itself, is that when I do them my adductor magnus grows pretty big which leads not only to rubbing and wearing away of the inside of my pant legs, but the inability to fit my thighs into juniors sizes pants which I like because of the smaller waist to hip ratio and lower rise (short torso thing) In north america I don't see all that many skinny thighs, WHY are pants so scrawny? That being said a strong adductor magnus is a nice thing to have.

Cavemate K

I totally agree with you. When I was a kid I was so skinny, yet I felt that I was lucky that pants seem to be made for me (skinny thighs). Now that there's, ahem, more of me to love I'm getting frustrated with the derth in pants variations. Hello?!... I'm a paying customer too!!

K

adwred

The thigh is always the first part of my pants that wears out. I've never had a hole in the knee of my jeans because the crotch is always gone before I have a chance to wear any knee holes. Laugh

Although, my problem has never been my adductor magnus - just a case of 'thunder thighs'. Yup

Ogden

I have many "like to do" exercises but...

Should do:

Squats
Dead-lifts (I tend to like the Romanian Deadlift)
Military press
Bench press

Must do:

Core, core, core, core and more core.

Nothing has made a bigger dfference in my overall fitness and ability to lift and move my body more than a increasing my core strength.

I didn't notice it at all until one day, after a month or so of really focusing on my core, I was helping my parents move some boxes down from their attic and when i was handed down a pretty heavy box, my core tightened right up which gave me extra stability through my arms and I was able to hadle a box that I though would have been much harder to lift. After that it seemed natural to me that core should be the first thing I work on, not the last.

I used to not care for core work, then a couple of factors entered in. First, I hurt my back and started seeing a chiropractor who told me I needed to strengthen my core. I had to take about 4 months off from the gym and most other activities while my back got better and fro the first 2 months or so back, everything I did was focused on strengthening my core so that I could get back to lifting.

Second, I discovered the medicine ball, which I really like working with. I'm not a huge fan of doing a million crunches left, right, center, olbique, etc. I still do some crunches and more standard ab-lower back exercises, but when I use a medicine ball I can do movements that activate my whole body and force core to work and become stronger in a manner that feels both like a workout, and a very natural movement (like I used my body like it should be used). Plus, it's actually fun. Kinds like playing witha ball for grown-ups, except the ball weighs 12 pounds. It's awkward at first, and you kinda feel a bit silly standing inthe middle of the gym waving a ball around, but once you get your balance and the feel of the movement, it rocks.

Third, and I think many people also do this, I used to equate a strong core with a six pack, but a six pack is more a function of body fat than of actual strength. I need to lose another 40 pounds or so, but that doesn't mean I don't have a very strong core.

And last, a stronger core completely eliminated my back issues. Much like doing lunges really helped my knees.

Cavemate K

What are some of the "core" exercises that you like?

K

Ogden

This list was the inspiration for much of what I do for core. I can't honestly say where I found the list online, so I can't give you a source. My apologies, I just grabbed the text from the site a while back for my own reference. I don't do the partnered exercises as I don't work out with a partner.

I do most of the exercises listed here, though I usually do the rotary twist standing instead of kneeling. I also do one not listed here, where I pass the ball, hand to hand, around myself, kind of like what you might do with a basketball. 15 times or so in each direction. It seems kinda easy but a lot of the muscles you are trying to work are the smaller stabilizing muscles that your body has that don't always get worked in conventional exercises, so easy is okay. For extra challenge I also do this exercise and many others, standing on a balance pad or Bosu ball. Swinging even a small weight around while you are trying to keep your balance will definitely challenge your core.

I try to keep the motions fairly quick in all for these exercises so it keeps the intensity high.

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Core Muscle Workout
Reps - do 10-20 of each exercise.

These exercises can be done with full range of motion or modified range of motion exercises so those people with rotator cuff injuries can still benefit from this workout. This is a very common ailment but does not need to stop your program altogether, you just have to work around it and be effective. For limited range of motion, extend the arms only as far as you can do the exercises without pain.

If you can't complete at least 10, you are using a weight that is too heavy.

1. Body Circles - Legs about shoulder width apart, hold Ball above head straight up with both hands. Circle the ball down to just above the floor, keeping the knees slightly bent, bring back up over head - Do to the clockwise and then counter clockwise

2. Chopping Wood - Start with the ball held by both hands, bent over so the ball is between your legs below your knees. Bring the ball all the way overhead and raise up onto your toes while your are lifting. Come back down and bring the ball to the starting position, keeping your knees slightly bent.

3. Side Bends (Overhead if possible) - Lift the ball with both hands over your head. Keeping your knees slightly bent, bend your torso to the left as far as you can go, then to the right. The only part that is moving should be the torso. The hips should be locked in place and not swaying, the arms should stay in the same position as the starting position. This is for the OBLIQUES.

4. Kneeling Rotary Twist - Kneeling on a mat, keeping your body straight, hold the ball between your hands and on your stomach. Hold your elbows locked on your sides. Twist one way and then the other as far as you can go. Do not force it. You can hold it to each side for a better stretch.

5. Seated Rotary Twist - Sit upright on a mat with your legs in front of you, knees slightly bent. alternately touch the ball to each side as far around as you can go. You can go fast as you like if you would like to develop a little speed.

6. Recumbent Rotary twist - Same as seated rotary twist except don't sit upright, lean back about 45 degrees (half way)

7. Prone Pullovers - Lie on your back on a mat with your knees bent. Put the ball behind your head to one side with both hands as far as you can reach. Then bring the ball over to your stomach with out bending your elbows. Return to the starting position. Tighten your stomach muscles while you do this. You should feel this right under your ribs.

8. Prone Rotary pullover & crunch - Lie on your back on a mat with your knees bent. Put the ball behind your head to one side with both hands as far as you can reach. Then bring the ball over to between your legs and do a up crunch at the same time your stomach with out bending your elbows. Return to the starting position but over the opposite side.

9. Prone Pullover & Toe Reach - Lie on your back on a mat. Bring both legs up perpendicular to the floor with the feet together. Put the ball behind your head on the floor. Take the ball and crunch up to touch your toes with the ball. The legs should be still, Return to the start position.

10. Solo or Partner -Standing Torso Twist - Have a partner stand behind your back about 1-1.5 feet away - back to back. Knees slightly bent. Hand the ball to one side. The partner takes the ball on that same side and hands it to you at the other side. You hand it back to the partner . After 10 or so reps, stop and change direction. Keeps your elbows in so you don't poke your partner.

11. Partner Standing Figure 8 Torso Twist - Have a partner stand behind your back about 1-1.5 feet away - back to back. Knees slightly bent. Hand the ball to one side. The partner takes the ball from the opposite side and hand it to you at the other side. You hand it back to the partner . The ball is crossing the bodies behind the backs. After 10 or so reps, stop and change direction. Keeps your elbows in so you don't poke your partner.

***********************

For Core, I also try to add a balance aspect to a lot for the exercises I do. I’ve just recently gotten to the point where I can balance, kneeling, on a fit ball and do curls with some light weight. I still can’t do it without being near a wall or something to grab on occasion for stability, my goal is to be able to stand on a fit ball at some point and do curls. I understand this is what the US Ski team and some US gymnasts do in their training. Start on a balance bad, then a Bosu ball, then a fit ball kneeling, and then standing.

But I started with the exercises listed above. They're fun, you feel a bit strange at first, because you're probably one of the few people in the gym that does anything beyond twisting and sit-up exercises with a medicine ball, and I don't see many people doing balance stuff at all, but I really dig it because I can fell how much stronger and more stable my body now.