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Home Gym/Training
Okay, this article is being written as a request. PF, this is for you mate.
Training at home.
First and foremost, you need to learn good technique. Get on youtube and watch instructional videos and things like that. I should probably also say see a doctor before starting any exercise regime (I didn't bother, but for legal reasons I'm telling you to see a doctor).
If you plan on training at home, that's cool. Don't expect to be able to grow the same amount of muscle as you would in a gym, however, you can still get huge benefits from home training.
The hardest thing on earth, when it comes to home training, is to focus. If you're working out, you want to concentrate on your technique, on the weights, on working the muscle, on the speed of each movement, the quality of the contraction, and all those things. So, if you are going to train at home, make your first rule......NO DISTRACTIONS!!!
NO DISTRACTIONS, is the number one problem (in my experience) with training at home.
Your girlfriend might come in after hearing you out of breath grunting in your room. Then you have to explain that you're not cheating on her, that you're working out. Or your mum might think you're on THAT website again, and you have to explain why you were out of breath, red faced, and sweating......and that's a conversation best not needed. Even stuff like a phone call (I don't even take my phone with me to the gym. Screw that, I'm there to train, not to chat on the phone), or the front door ringing. Maybe even the baby crying (oh yeah, if I ever have kids, I'm doubling my gym time haha) or anything like that. So being at home can be a huge distraction.
Another issue with distractions at home.....finding other things you'd rather do. There are loads of people with dumbells at home or in their room at uni. But those same people have XBoxes, or PS3's as well. Which do you think they use on a daily basis?
Because I'm easily distracted, I NEED a gym to be able to focus and concentrate. Having said that, I do still mess about with a kettlebell on a daily basis in my appartment, so I won't say home training is wrong.
Okay, so let's say you can concentrate on things better than me, which is no doubt true.
The first item of equipment you need is a good pair of running shoes!
That's the first rule of home training.
How boring is that? But guess what, they are going to be the best thing to get your fitness up, and to trim that keg into a 6-pack. Once when I was in a gym I got speaking to a woman (I was at a gym my friend used and he had a day pass for me, so was trying to either get me to change gyms, or to get me to show him how to train properly) and she said she didn't like how they didn't always have enough parking spaces. I asked how far away she lived, wondering if there was another gym closer to her home. She said she lived 3 miles away! So, sure enough, I said "If you live 3 miles away, and the average person can run 1 mile in 10 minutes. Cancel your gym membership. If you just ran to the gym, then turned around and ran back home, you'd have done 1 hours exercise, and you'll save loads of money." Which was apparently an unacceptable answer. "You can't just run around for exercise. The machines here show me how many calories I've burned, they show me my heart rate..blar blar blar...You can't just run. That's not exercise!" Well, needless to say...she's wrong.
So first and foremost, get a good pair of running shoes, and get those feet moving. The easiest thing to do is start off with 1 mile, but expect to walk part of the way. I'm not going to joke around, a mile is a long distance to run, if you're out of shape or out of practice. Then just focus on that same route, and try to pick up the pace as time goes on.
I know loads of people are going to start saying stuff like "Your body needs 2 days to recover, so you should run every other day....blar blar blar." Well......as true as that may be, it's only half the truth. You can run everyday if you want. I did that for years! Yes the body needs to recover from hard intense exercise, but a run in the morning is just exercise. It's not the kind of exercise that will break down muscle fibres and pump them up to bodybuilder size. So get good shoes and get running.
The next rule: Be patient with yourself.
Training takes time, but it is really worth the effort. If anyone starts training and sticks at it for a while, they'll be happier than they were before training. It's a slow process. Don't expect to be as big as Arnie after a year, or ready to compete in the CrossFit Games. It all takes time.
Rule Number 3: Know you have limits.
Another boring rule. But this one is just as important as any other, if not more important than 90% of the others.
When I was at my biggest, I was pushing some crazy weights! I was able to pump up over 1000lbs on the leg press machine. It was awesome, but I've probably done some real damage to my knees as a result.......anyway......guys new to the gym would often see me doing an exercise with an empty bar. When I'd finished, they would often come over and do the same exercise and laugh, thinking I was weak. The truth of the matter is that I was practicing my form for either a new exercise, a variation of an exercise, or just to refresh my muscle-memory on how to maintain perfect technique.
Even now, after 11 years of training (with an 8 month gap, where I've shrunk and become small) I'm using small weights once a fortnight and I'm getting funny looks. I still weight about 16 stone, and I'm still not a small guy.
Why am I speaking about technique when I should be speaking about limits? Well.....anyone can get a big weight and lift it badly. But you are only benefiting your body when you lift with correct technique. If you're bench pressing and your lower back is coming off the bench, you're not lifting correctly. If you're squatting with your heels off the floor and your head looking down, you're not lifting correctly. So start with really small weights, and get your technique PERFECT!!! Anything less than perfect can become a dangerous bad habit.
Increase the weight when you are strong enough to go heavier, but able to maintain perfect technique. If you go heavier, but your technique drops, you're pushing beyond your limit. Know your limits.
Okay, let's get to the fun part......how to train.
As I said above, your body does need time to recover from a workout. But, and this is the part so many people don't realise, when they say your body they mean your muscles. The heart will adapt very quickly, the lungs adapt quickly, but it's your muscles that need time. When it comes to running, don't push it too much, or your legs will be stiff and hurting for a few days, and that will put you off exercise. Take it easy and know your limits.
Okay, so.....lifting weights. Your muscles will need to recover. So....train different muscles on different days. That way, the muscles get the opportunity to recover!
When anyone first starts training, they do not have big/strong/dense muscles, so the recovery period of them is not that big. The size and density of the muscle dictates the amount of stress the recovery places on the body. What this means is, the bigger you are, the more you need to rest to fully recover. So, when you're first starting training, it's easy enough to train your legs one day, then train your upper body the next. and just cycle that same system for about 3 months.
Once you have gained more size, you'll want to start seperating the muscles out into seperate days. But if you're just starting, do upper body one day, lower body the next. After 3 months, you're better off training upper body one day, having a day of cardio (running) then train lower body, then another day of cardio, then repeat the cycle. It's a 4 day cycle, which will be able to bring you round to the end of year 1.
The main items you'll need for home weight raining:
Dumbells
Barbells
Training Bench
Extra plates/weights
Next rule of training, this is massively important.....no slip grips!!!
If you get dumbells or a barbell that uses dumbell clamps, you're going to do damage! Maybe damage to a window, the floor, a painting, or anything like that. Possibly even damage to yourself. Clamps are dangerous!
You want spinlocks! Those are the ones where the dumbell/barbell is threaded like a screw. The closure system on spinlocks is just like a nut and bolt fixture. But make sure you do them up good and tight. Be warned, they can still come loose, so tighten up after each set.
The next item you'll want to look into getting is a pretty little thing called a Kettlebell. I swing around a 16kg kettlebell, which is probably a bit light for me. But with these, you're better off going to a shop and trying the different sizes out. But you really won't be needing one of these for quite some time. You'll be looking at around 6-8 months of proper (by proper I mean almost daily) training.
The next rule: Have 2 days a week to relax.
This is the fun part where you get to show off a little. I like to train on Saturday mornings, but I usually have Wednesdays and Sundays off. You can have the whole weekend off if you want, but as long as it's 1 day a week, minimum! You're allowed to go on a gentle jog, but no weights on your day off!!!
On the day off, just relax and enjoy what you're achieving. If your day off comes in the middle of a 4 day training cycle (upper body, running, lower body, running) then you start the cycle where you left off. Lets say my day off was after my legs training day. When I get back to exercising, I'll be running first, then I'll be training my upper body the day after, then running, then lower body, etc.
The last thing is going to upset many people. I hate telling people this, but as SD joked in another post, there is no easy way to do it. It takes hard work.
Gaining muscle, fitness, stamina, and everything else comes down to a single law.
The law of training.
It's 100% working out. It's 100% nutrition. It's 100% rest and recovery.
There is no way to down play that. You need to get all those elements right if you want to be at peek physical condition. If you drop one of those items by 10%, all the rest drop by 10%. If your nutrition is not right, then you're wasting your workouts and you're not properly fueled to recover.
But that is coming from someone that is VERY intense with his training. If you're just looking to get a bit better, then that's cool. Sort out a healthy diet, get enough rest, and train well. That'll be enough to put you into the top 20% of people in this country in regards to fitness.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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