Keeping Fit: Page 9 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Keeping Fit

Bold Tone

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:
proper mathematicians body

goon

What's a good workout at the gym for someone who's trying to shed a stone or so and trying to tone up at the same time?

I'm currently splitting my time doing 40 mins odd on weights and around 30 mins walking on a steep incline.

This is after about a year of doing mostly cardio with poor results.

Irishgunner

Easiest would be to just eat at a caloric deficit, around 2000-2200 calories per day. Forget cardio, waste of time unless you want increased cardiovascular performance.

Lukazan

Eh? Wouldn't agree with that. A good 30 min cardio session a few times a week (providing its done to the right intensity) paired with an improved diet is gonna provide better (and faster) results than just a calorie deficit. Especially for someone who looks the junk food.

As for weights, stick with the big compound lifts and train your whole body.

Irishgunner

Lukazan wrote:
Eh? Wouldn't agree with that. A good 30 min cardio session a few times a week (providing its done to the right intensity) paired with an improved diet is gonna provide better (and faster) results than just a calorie deficit. Especially for someone who likes the junk food.

You can slave away doing boring, monotonous cardio to burn away maybe 300 calories, or you could do the equally effective thing and just not eat those calories.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Cut, lift, win.

Lukazan

Or do both..

Otf already does 30 mins cardio work so the boredom probably isn't an issue to him. It's just what he's actually doing during the CV that's the problem.

goon

Yep, doing the cardio isn't the issue, problem was I was mainly just jogging rather than doing anything intensive. Hence why I'm walking on a gradient now which is actually far more tiring.

Don't do free-weights, there are not many at my gym. On the machines I try and mix it up to work my arms, chest, shoulders, abs and thighs or work the whole body like you say. All my freinds tell me to do squats but it kills my back.

Irishgunner

Squats are king. Your technique is probably off, or you're lifting too heavy, if they hurt your back.

goon

Could be my technique, but after a series of back problems it's pretty clear my lower back is quite weak.

Kel Varnsen

No need to do squats if you don't want to.

speedy

Losing weight wise you can do interval training at the gym it's the most effective, on the bike 30 sec hard as you can then 90 seconds recovering at a slower intensity for 12 minutes after your walking. Then hit the bigger movements like chin ups. Push ups, lat pull Down. Seated rows, single arm rows, Trx when your ready for it. Walking lunges, split squats, side lunges. No kettlebells or the like till you get your back sorted. If your looking for back exercises search mc gill sit up and stir the pot, bird dog/ superman , deadbug.

Back squats generally fuck up your back over the long term. Front squats are better but neither is really nessesary. Try a spilt squat on a bench to reduce the load on your back. Or go to a sports rehab specialist to get some exercises to strengthen your back. It's probably more dysfunctional than broken.

Irishgunner

Kel Varnsen wrote:
No need to do squats if you don't want to.

lel

Lukazan

Squats are a great exercise (I personally think lunges are the daddy of leg exercises though) but some people's bodies just don't get on with certain exercises and if that's the case you simply don't do them and, if possible, find an alternative. You wanna be careful if you've had back problems too obviously.

As Irish is suggesting though, before completely dismissing them I'd look to make sure your form is good and that you aren't using too much weight. People go mad with the weights when squatting because obviously it's one of the strongest lifts our bodies are capable of but it's still a great exercise to do with much lower weight and doing so may also allow you to build up to a bigger lift without pain as your back strengthens. Can you squat pain free with a lower weight? And does the pain come on at a certain point during the squat? You don't have to go down as low as parallel to get a good squat workout and it's something you can work towards. You want to make sure you've got the bar positioned across your back correctly also. Perhaps look in to different types of squats too. A front squat might be better for your back.

Your gym doesn't have many free weights!? What kind of gym is this? Machines have gotten a bad name but there is still a place for them in a workout and certainly better than nothing at all. Are you doing the same weight routine each time you visit the gym or splitting up the muscles/exercises?

Armor

Sprints are amazing otf. Will get you very fit and in great shape. Or a sport thats played at a decent level. Even 5 a side is great so long as its not played with a load of fat blokes who start walking around after 20 minutes.

I'm never too fussy about lifting if its not your thing and you don't want to bulk up. Just do whatever suits you 2/3 times a week and make sure you're hitting all the major body parts, especially do some back exercises if thats a weakness. A pull up bar at home is great. Don't have to lift heavy or anything

Irishgunner

Lukazan wrote:
As Irish is suggesting though, before completely dismissing them I'd look to make sure your form is good and that you aren't using too much weight. People go mad with the weights when squatting because obviously it's one of the strongest lifts our bodies are capable of but it's still a great exercise to do with much lower weight and doing so may also allow you to build up to a bigger lift without pain as your back strengthens. Can you squat pain free with a lower weight? And does the pain come on at a certain point during the squat? You don't have to go down as low as parallel to get a good squat workout and it's something you can work towards. You want to make sure you've got the bar positioned across your back correctly also. Also perhaps look in to different types of squats. A front squat might be better for your back.

He should should start with just the bar, adding 10kg until it starts to hurt. Then use the previous weight for his working sets.

est

speedy wrote:
Back squats generally fuck up your back over the long term.

Why?

speedy

I am talking about barbell back squats just so were clear. When you fail in the squat movement your back buckles not your legs. So when you think your smashing your legs your actually smashing your back even more.

While if you do a split squat correctly your training one leg at a time so the one leg will fail before your back. 2 legs is likely to beat your back and your back will fail.

It's very difficult to do a back squat perfect some would say impossible. It's also very difficult to do a front squat wrong so I prefer those. But optimally split squats.

It also comes down to risk reward and sports specific. The risk reward ratio for a back squat defiantly isn't there for the average person. But someone who competes at skiing is going to be squating as there main workout despite the fact it's probably not great for them long term.

Even top nfl and nba teams are using up to 3:1 ratios in favour of deadlifts over squats. And pretty much all favouring split squats over back squats. But deadlifts aren't something id recommended to anyone without being beside them 1 on 1 for the first few sessions. And I'd built up to it. So I didn't recommend it before.

Kel Varnsen

Irish gunner wrote:
Kel Varnsen wrote:
No need to do squats if you don't want to.

lel

Squats are the new curls... I squat 3-4 times a week, but muscles don't know why they're exerting force. So there really is no need for squats if you just want to work out for a bit get stronger/bigger.

Btw, if squats fuck up your back, it's probably because you lack flexibility in some joints (knees, hip and ankle).

goon

Yeah, I'm not looking to bulk up too much, I have a decent sized frame anyway so toning up will do me and I don't think that requires me to be that selective about what I do.

Play 7 a side once a week and that's very intensive, can barely walk afterwards. Will add a bit of interval training as speedy suggests on top of the walking at the gym a couple of times a week and that should be alright.

Kel Varnsen

Do a full body routine 2-3 times a week. Just make sure you hit legs, back and chest for a few sets each.

Btw, muscles can only grow or shrink. So if you want to "tone", you probably need to lose a bit of weight/fat. Keep volume (number of sets) low and intensity (how heavy you lift) high. That helps you maintain strength even on a caloric deficit.

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