Weightlifting Journey of a 21-year-old Male: 6 Months In

[ibysaiyan]

Hi,
I believe this is my first thread where I have abstained from posing any questions related to physics or anything dealing with it however , physics shows up it's presence throughout the cosmos.2011 is at the end of it's trail so without further ado, happy new year to all of PF users( a bit early, lol).

Coming back to the main point.. how many of PF users are into weight lifting/ cardio i.e personal fitness related activities. I am particularly interested with the former.If you're then for how long have you been doing.Sex: Male
Height 5'8
Age: 21
Period lifted for: So far it has been six months.

I don't expect many replies but I maybe grossly mistaken.

 

[lisab]

I've done some lifting all my life...well since I was a teen. So that means ~30 years . Mostly light weights, high reps.

My brother lifted as a teen, and could not get beyond a certain level no matter what. But when he was in his late 20s he found he could get amazing results for half the effort he put in as a teen. I've heard this from a lot of males.

 

[toxicity_27]

I've lifted on and off for a few years. Was really serious about it for a year, and just started back up again and got injured. When I was really serious about it I noticed a huge difference and absolutely loved it, then fell off the band wagon.

Sex: Male
Age: 24
Height 6'2''

 

[rmalik]

I lift too, on and off. Taking it more seriously as I go.

My brother lifted as a teen, and could not get beyond a certain level no matter what. But when he was in his late 20s he found he could get amazing results for half the effort he put in as a teen. I've heard this from a lot of males.

That's strange, the best time to grow with weight lifting is ages 16-25. After that your body doesn't produce as much testosterone as it did before. My guess is you are talking about gaining weight, if he was an ectomorph then his metabolism slowed down and he probably had a heck of an easier time gaining weight in his late 20s.

 

[kraphysics]

I started lifting in the summer. Starting to see results now. I love it.

 

[ThomasT]

Hi,
I believe this is my first thread where I have abstained from posing any questions related to physics or anything dealing with it however , physics shows up it's presence throughout the cosmos.2011 is at the end of it's trail so without further ado, happy new year to all of PF users( a bit early, lol).

Coming back to the main point.. how many of PF users are into weight lifting/ cardio i.e personal fitness related activities. I am particularly interested with the former.If you're then for how long have you been doing.


Sex: Male
Height 5'8
Age: 21
Period lifted for: So far it has been six months.

I don't expect many replies but I maybe grossly mistaken.

Well, for about six years I used to carry 80 lb. packages of shingles up 30 foot ladders all day. Sometimes one on each shoulder. Plus carrying around cement blocks and making mortar, etc. I'm 64 and it's been a looooong time since I did that stuff, but it undoubtedly strengthened me. I remember laying down, at a young age, when I was doing that other physical stuff for work, and lifting stuff over my head ... as an exercise. It almost doubled the size of my chest.

So anyway, yeah, continue with your weight lifting and cardio stuff. It's good for you. And if you do enough of it intensively, then I think it will sort of stick with you for your whole life.

What I do now is play a lot of tennis, and once or twice a week I go over to a friend's house who is a fitness nut (also 64) who has a great setup with weights and chin bar, etc. We do a lot of stuff with the kettle dumbells. I work it until I get really sweaty and winded and I think it helps.

If you're into it, then keep doing it. I have no doubt that it will make you stronger. But don't overdo it. Get lots of sleep. Eat lots of good stuff. Drink lots of water. And make time for meditation ... like a quiet time that you can relax and reflect calmly. All of these habits will make you stronger and better able to achieve your goals, imho.

 

[Constantinos]

I do weightlifting at a gym and cardio (treadmill, elliptical, bike) as well as hiking.

I started about 1.5 years ago as a rehab program after a surgery. Now I do it for my pleasure and staying healthy. I started out slowly and carefully. I still don't lift very heavy but I'm improving consistently judging by the amount I lifted then and now.

Subjectively speaking, I love it! I believe it has really improved the quality of my life. I sleep better, keep more focused at school, I have good endurance (I can go on about 40km of hiking and feel nothing the other day) and I feel much stronger to carry around stuff and do everyday lifting of bags, luggage, the bicycle and girls ( :P jking on the latter)

I'd never train for sports, I find them boring. I'd never train for "looking good" (i.e bodybuilding) I'm only interested in cardiovascular health, functional strength, endurance, flexibility and overall health.

Some interesting documents I read about training are these:

http://www.fitness.gov/digest_mar2000.htm

http://www.nsca-lift.org/HotTopic/download/Strength%20Training%20for%20Muscle%20Building.pdf

 

[feathermoon]

Age: 24
Height: 6'0"
Weight: ~173lbs.
Diet: Vegetarian
Supplement: Creatine monohydrate 5g/day, 1 Gold Standard protein shake ~36g/day extra.

I have been weightlifting for a few months after taking another handful off. I do MWF, full body workouts every day (a lot of people do isolation or bodybuilding schedules where they work one muscle group once a week on different days, but that's not great for strength or mass training). Since I do the same muscles 3 days a week, I do high weight, low reps, 1-2 sets. Just a warmup set or two, 4-6 reps, then my peak set with 6-8 or 8-10 as a goal depending on exercise. Bench, deadlifts, overhead barbell press, squats, weighted pullups & dips, rows with barbell, standing jumps: all of these every day. Big gains compared to 1 day a week bodybuilder stuff.

I also do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu WThF, (used to be MWThFS before new job ruined that). Nothing better for cardio than wrestling/mma training. To be sure: I ran cross country and swimming in college, and I feel like I'm a better runner and swimmer now from doing Jiu Jitsu than when I trained for either specifically. Have done BJJ since February of '11.

Haven't been sick/had a cold for a year since I started this. Love it.

 

[rktpro]

I've done some lifting all my life...well since I was a teen. So that means ~30 years . Mostly light weights, high reps.

My brother lifted as a teen, and could not get beyond a certain level no matter what. But when he was in his late 20s he found he could get amazing results for half the effort he put in as a teen. I've heard this from a lot of males.

I have heard that weightlifting should be done only after 18. If you do early, your height won't grow to maximum.
Kill this myth.

 

[turbo]

I did heavy weight training during my time working on a paper machine. I don't even remember what I could bench at the time, but it was significantly more than a crew-mate that I trained with and who out-weighed me by 40# or so. We'd get out of work after a night-shift (maybe 6am) and have the gym pretty much to ourselves. We stayed pretty much to free-weights, since that kind of work-out involves a lot of minor muscles that machines don't hit very well. About the only machine that we used was a pin-selectable plate-loaded bench press machine. That way, if you lifted to exhaustion, you wouldn't run the risk of getting your chest crushed by a bar.

 

[lisab]

I have heard that weightlifting should be done only after 18. If you do early, your height won't grow to maximum.
Kill this myth.

I'm not so sure it's a myth. All of the *really* big lifters I've seen are ~30 years old. They're never 18.

 

[turbo]

I'm not so sure it's a myth. All of the *really* big lifters I've seen are ~30 years old. They're never 18.

And the body-builders with the most impressive gains in muscle-mass are quite often over 40. Older does not equal "in the barn". A younger guy in my home town kept bugging me to come over to his house and train him. He was nice enough, but I didn't want the commitment.

 

[SELFMADE]

Well its a big part of my life.

I really don't understand these people who claim they only do it for health. You can achieve excellent health by staying home: eating right and doing household chores. If you want more activity run a lap around your place. The gym and all the subsequent time and financial burden it entails is totally absurd.

What is more mind boggling is seeing these overweight people doing abdominal exercises. You can do millions of them but it won't help a bit to lose that gut. First, got to put down the fork and get off the donuts. Seriously, some of these people will do better by doing some chores around the house and eating less.

One of the gyms I go to even has elevator stairs: people ride it to reach the cardio machines and start walking on there.

Truly amazing

 

[feathermoon]

Gym memberships are rediculous. Try to find a community center instead, if that's a worry.

Exercising the body part you want to lose fat from is a nice myth too. Fat is lost from certain areas of the body specifically, regardless of what you do.

 

[ThomasT]

As for losing weight from a particular part of the body, eg., the midsection, it seems that focused exercise (eg., situps, crunches, etc.) doesn't really do that. Apparently, each of us has an area (or areas) where we tend to put on weight, and the only way to take that weight off is to take in fewer calories than one is burning. Then, supposedly, the fat that has accumulated, say, in the midsection, will diminish.

But I think this requires that one stay very active while one is consuming fewer calories. Otherwise, it seems that the body consumes muscle tissue before it consumes fatty tissue. So, if you had a big gut, and went on a diet to lose that gut, and stuck to the diet but remained relatively sedentary, then would you end up being skinnier and less muscled but still with a relatively big gut?

I'm curious because I have a bit of a gut that I wouldn't mind losing. But my health nut friend says that situps and crunches won't make my gut smaller. So, what do I do?

 

[ThomasT]

And the body-builders with the most impressive gains in muscle-mass are quite often over 40. Older does not equal "in the barn".

Yes, from personal experience I think that's true. I don't actually lift weights often (maybe once a week on average), but when I do I see, well 'feel' anyway, the difference. It's envigorating, but I wouldn't want to get into it too much. No gyms or anything like that. I play tennis for about an hour a day or more, seven days a week, and that, along with bicycling, walking, and jogging (and, I forgot, working in the back yard) a lot, seems to keep everything pretty toned. As a rule of thumb, I just do whatever it is I'm doing to the point where I get sweaty and just a little bit winded ... and then I stop. And, I must say that I generally feel really good almost all of the time.

 

[feathermoon]

As for losing weight from a particular part of the body, eg., the midsection, it seems that focused exercise (eg., situps, crunches, etc.) doesn't really do that. Apparently, each of us has an area (or areas) where we tend to put on weight, and the only way to take that weight off is to take in fewer calories than one is burning. Then, supposedly, the fat that has accumulated, say, in the midsection, will diminish.

But I think this requires that one stay very active while one is consuming fewer calories. Otherwise, it seems that the body consumes muscle tissue before it consumes fatty tissue. So, if you had a big gut, and went on a diet to lose that gut, and stuck to the diet but remained relatively sedentary, then would you end up being skinnier and less muscled but still with a relatively big gut?

I'm curious because I have a bit of a gut that I wouldn't mind losing. But my health nut friend says that situps and crunches won't make my gut smaller. So, what do I do?

You seem to have the right of it, mostly. I wouldn't worry about your body consuming muscle tissue too much. Catabolism shouldn't happen to any great degree unless you severely restrict calories--while the goal should be a normal caloric intake for your target weight.

In general, to lose fat, strength training is actually quite useful. The more muscle you have, the more calories you need to burn even while being slightly sedentary. In that regard, forget crunches or any isolation workout--better off overall doing full body exercises such as squats, deadlifts, clean and press, bench which use muscles all over your body.

For fat loss in general, the amount of time you exercise is more important than the intensity, from what I've heard.

 

[rktpro]

I am only 15 and my parents forbid me to join a gym as they say I won't grow to maximum then. I keep telling them that in gym, there isn't weight lifting but hell lot of stuff.

 

[ThomasT]

You seem to have the right of it, mostly. I wouldn't worry about your body consuming muscle tissue too much. Catabolism shouldn't happen to any great degree unless you severely restrict calories--while the goal should be a normal caloric intake for your target weight.

In general, to lose fat, strength training is actually quite useful. The more muscle you have, the more calories you need to burn even while being slightly sedentary. In that regard, forget crunches or any isolation workout--better off overall doing full body exercises such as squats, deadlifts, clean and press, bench which use muscles all over your body.

For fat loss in general, the amount of time you exercise is more important than the intensity, from what I've heard.

Thanks. This all makes sense to me.

 

[feathermoon]

Apparently, each of us has an area (or areas) where we tend to put on weight...
... the body consumes muscle tissue before it consumes fatty tissue. So, if you had a big gut, and went on a diet to lose that gut, and stuck to the diet but remained relatively sedentary, then would you end up being skinnier and less muscled but still with a relatively big gut?

To expound on this: in general you lose and gain fat from your legs and arms first (upper arms and thighs really) when dieting or whatever. This can make it seem like you're losing muscle because you really notice your biceps and triceps first when you're looking at yourself in a mirror (in my experience). Next muscle will come from your torso, then butt, then love handles. For men, losing love handles is the hardest thing. For women its a bit different and their butt, hips seem to be the last to go.

 

[ThomasT]

To expound on this: in general you lose and gain fat from your legs and arms first (upper arms and thighs really) when dieting or whatever. This can make it seem like you're losing muscle because you really notice your biceps and triceps first when you're looking at yourself in a mirror (in my experience). Next muscle will come from your torso, then butt, then love handles. For men, losing love handles is the hardest thing. For women its a bit different and their butt, hips seem to be the last to go.

Thanks again for the feedback.

My very limited understanding of all this has been based almost entirely on my personal experience.

Increasing my lifting and moving around of heavy weights (full body stuff), and decreasing my consumption of sweets seems to promise some positive results. My gut is actually strong from tennis serving -- just a little bit bigger than I want it to be, and I think the full body weight stuff will be more productive than just playing more tennis. An hour a day of that is enough to satisfy my intermittent urge to engage in competitive athletics.

You're the MMA, Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, etc. person, right? I think I'm too old to get into that sort of stuff, but, also just from my experience, the few wrestlers that I've known are among the most extremely fit. That stuff is somewhat like doing weightlifting, in a way, isn't it?

 

[feathermoon]

Yep. I wouldn't say anyone is too old for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specifically, because its surprisingly low impact. But its really hard on your muscles and body for the first few months for anyone--committing to that is probably the hardest part.

It is like an extended body weight work out. For me when I jits it helps to keep all my muscles kind of tense to react quicker, which early on left me sleeping very well on practice nights. Its really cross training for anything in a lot of ways.

Just make sure if you start lifting to research proper form if you never have, and maybe find a buddy who will do it with you. You have to do deadlifts and squats properly to put up your maximum weight safely, which can be daunting, but the benefits are high.

 

[nickadams]

I want to do leg weight lifting workouts and also plyometrics to jump higher; has anyone done this?And @ OP, what saiyan do you wish to look like after working out?

 

[Borg]

I gave up weights for the last year and a half because my hands were getting extremely stiff and sore. I'm considering starting again but, I'll be using lighter weights. I run 10 - 20 miles per week depending on how I feel but, it's usually closer to 20. My wife and I also go for 3 - 5 mile walks on the weekend also.

 

[fluidistic]

I'm 24 years old, about 1.73 m tall. I started gym about 1 year ago after reading a thread in the Academic Guidance here on PF. My mass was 65 to 66 kg and now it's about 75 kg.
I started to run every 2 days or so about 20 days ago. I run for about 30 minutes and don't really know the distance it corresponds to.

 

[turbo]

I gave up weights for the last year and a half because my hands were getting extremely stiff and sore. I'm considering starting again but, I'll be using lighter weights. I run 10 - 20 miles per week depending on how I feel but, it's usually closer to 20. My wife and I also go for 3 - 5 mile walks on the weekend also.

In HS, I usually ran about 8 miles per day (on the days when we did not have cross-country meets) and I never got muscular from all that work - just lean and hungry. Boy! could I eat back then!

I'd spend a week or two with my grandmother every summer, and she'd try to "fatten me up". It didn't work. I'd go down to the shop and work with my grandfather (heavy-equipment mechanic) and learn how machines really work. That was a whole lot more fun than staying at home, but I really needed total immersion in that field to get good at it. He had a wrecker service, but when some had a skidder, bulldozer, or other heavy equipment stranded in the woods, he would tell them "bring it here". Pick-up and transport (even for big stuff) is low- profit.

 

[feathermoon]

I want to do leg weight lifting workouts and also plyometrics to jump higher; has anyone done this?

One of my lifting buddies does a lot of standing [un]weighted jumps, I've done a few but not regimented at all like he does. Says he's been getting a few inches on it.

The closest thing I regularly do is drilling in BJJ, drilling each submission a few times before rolling every day. Shrimp crawls at the beginning of practice for defense. Gonna have to work on some other things, now that its been brought up. Wrestling standups certainly require some power to perform well.

 

[ibysaiyan]

I've done some lifting all my life...well since I was a teen. So that means ~30 years . Mostly light weights, high reps.

My brother lifted as a teen, and could not get beyond a certain level no matter what. But when he was in his late 20s he found he could get amazing results for half the effort he put in as a teen. I've heard this from a lot of males.

30 years! that's sometime back , lol.Yes , there maybe some truth to that.Weight lifting is known to work in such manner , in particular if someone trains to gain strength (power lifting) compared to say size (body building) , powerlifter is mainly dependent on the central nervous system , the stronger you get the more neurons you're asking your CNS to fire. Maybe the nervous system some how stores this.

I've lifted on and off for a few years. Was really serious about it for a year, and just started back up again and got injured. When I was really serious about it I noticed a huge difference and absolutely loved it, then fell off the band wagon.

Sex: Male
Age: 24
Height 6'2''

Yes, unfortunately injuries are the by product of this.Often injuries are susceptible to beginners probably because at that stage you don't really the whats/ what nots of weight lifting , just as anything else weightlifting is about slow and steady progression. I have been lifting for a short time and the amount of injuries I have gone through is mind boggling.

 

[ibysaiyan]

I started lifting in the summer. Starting to see results now. I love it.

That you will. lol

 

[ibysaiyan]

As for losing weight from a particular part of the body, eg., the midsection, it seems that focused exercise (eg., situps, crunches, etc.) doesn't really do that. Apparently, each of us has an area (or areas) where we tend to put on weight, and the only way to take that weight off is to take in fewer calories than one is burning. Then, supposedly, the fat that has accumulated, say, in the midsection, will diminish.

But I think this requires that one stay very active while one is consuming fewer calories. Otherwise, it seems that the body consumes muscle tissue before it consumes fatty tissue. So, if you had a big gut, and went on a diet to lose that gut, and stuck to the diet but remained relatively sedentary, then would you end up being skinnier and less muscled but still with a relatively big gut?

I'm curious because I have a bit of a gut that I wouldn't mind losing. But my health nut friend says that situps and crunches won't make my gut smaller. So, what do I do?

Honestly speaking.. I started weight lifting at a weight of about 163 lbs now six months later I weigh about 155-157 yet my strength has gone off the roof.Whatever beer belly / flab I had goes away after a session or two of heavy workout. Try weight lifting, trust me it'll melt that fat in no time.Have you tried doing deadlifts/ squats ? these are the main lifts if not try doing "leg hang raises" this will not only strengthen your legs but your abs core as well.

The reason why I highly suggest of squats( hamstrings, quads,glutes) and dead lift( glutes,traps,forearms to an extent) is due to the sheer number of muscle groups involved into these lifts.

 

[ibysaiyan]

Age: 24
Height: 6'0"
Weight: ~173lbs.
Diet: Vegetarian
Supplement: Creatine monohydrate 5g/day, 1 Gold Standard protein shake ~36g/day extra.

I have been weightlifting for a few months after taking another handful off. I do MWF, full body workouts every day (a lot of people do isolation or bodybuilding schedules where they work one muscle group once a week on different days, but that's not great for strength or mass training). Since I do the same muscles 3 days a week, I do high weight, low reps, 1-2 sets. Just a warmup set or two, 4-6 reps, then my peak set with 6-8 or 8-10 as a goal depending on exercise. Bench, deadlifts, overhead barbell press, squats, weighted pullups & dips, rows with barbell, standing jumps: all of these every day. Big gains compared to 1 day a week bodybuilder stuff.

I also do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu WThF, (used to be MWThFS before new job ruined that). Nothing better for cardio than wrestling/mma training. To be sure: I ran cross country and swimming in college, and I feel like I'm a better runner and swimmer now from doing Jiu Jitsu than when I trained for either specifically. Have done BJJ since February of '11.

Haven't been sick/had a cold for a year since I started this. Love it.

Nice. Is it free weights which you do ?

 

[ibysaiyan]

You seem to have the right of it, mostly. I wouldn't worry about your body consuming muscle tissue too much. Catabolism shouldn't happen to any great degree unless you severely restrict calories--while the goal should be a normal caloric intake for your target weight.

In general, to lose fat, strength training is actually quite useful. The more muscle you have, the more calories you need to burn even while being slightly sedentary. In that regard, forget crunches or any isolation workout--better off overall doing full body exercises such as squats, deadlifts, clean and press, bench which use muscles all over your body.

For fat loss in general, the amount of time you exercise is more important than the intensity, from what I've heard.

I entirely agree with what you have said.

 

[ibysaiyan]

Yep. I wouldn't say anyone is too old for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specifically, because its surprisingly low impact. But its really hard on your muscles and body for the first few months for anyone--committing to that is probably the hardest part.

It is like an extended body weight work out. For me when I jits it helps to keep all my muscles kind of tense to react quicker, which early on left me sleeping very well on practice nights. Its really cross training for anything in a lot of ways.

Just make sure if you start lifting to research proper form if you never have, and maybe find a buddy who will do it with you. You have to do deadlifts and squats properly to put up your maximum weight safely, which can be daunting, but the benefits are high.

Indeed. Especially with the main 3 lifts.You don't want to end up with a herniated disc. lol I almost had my hip muscle torn :( Having friends who know their game helps a lot ( from personal experience)

Also believe it or not.. there will not come a point , ever where you will think " Ah I have perfected my form" there will always be few adjustments / tweaks which you will make it get over the "plateau" ( HUP applied to weight lifting ? lol)

 

[ibysaiyan]

I want to do leg weight lifting workouts and also plyometrics to jump higher; has anyone done this?


And @ OP, what saiyan do you wish to look like after working out?

Hahah good one :P

 

[ibysaiyan]

I want to do leg weight lifting workouts and also plyometrics to jump higher; has anyone done this?


And @ OP, what saiyan do you wish to look like after working out?

By "leg specific" do you mean compound exercises ?