So im wanting to get a good program for myself for weight training at home.
I’ve never been into weight training really other than a stint in high school. But now im starting to dig it. I dont really remember much from high school though since that was about 12 years ago.
I’ve got myself a bench and some dumbells and a crap load of weights. Ive been watching things on youtube. getting some tips from a few buddies, and looking at pictures for form and such.
I just dont really have any idea on how to formulate a good program for myself as a beginner.
I’m hoping you jovial KFM guys can help me out/point me in the right direction.
I know a few of you guys are big on weight training.
step 1: fabricate yourself a place to squat and deadlift. no program is complete with these two lifts. espeically squat. some might say especially deadlift, but those people are ass.holes.
Ive been doing squats, curls, bench press, leg raise? (the thing on the end of the bench for your legs) front and back.
I still do my standard kungfu routine first. stretches, cardio, pushups/situps/pullups. but now im looking into getting myself some additional strength training through free weights.
I do live alone and will be lifting alone.
So for right now, im keeping the weight light enough so that I dont feel endangered.
[QUOTE=GunnedDownAtrocity;897724]step 1: fabricate yourself a place to squat and deadlift. no program is complete with these two lifts. espeically squat. some might say especially deadlift, but those people are ass.holes.[/QUOTE]
lol. whats the best way to do this. right now all i have is a wall.
my living room is just a work out area for me so i have plenty of room. only my heavy bag, weights and other various tools.
[QUOTE=golgo;897731]I would highly recommend picking up The New Rules of Lifting. It is a great set of programs for various needs/goals.[/QUOTE]Oh yes, yes, YES! :o :eek:
[QUOTE=Lucas;897725]Ive been doing squats, curls, bench press, leg raise? (the thing on the end of the bench for your legs) front and back.[/QUOTE]IMHO you can ignore curls, leg raises. Swap some kind of pullup or chinup for curls, use weights if they’re too easy. I do front pullups and hang weights off a simple looped rope arrangement around my waist. Leg raises you’ll get better benefits from squats and DL. Basically you want to do compound exercises instead of isolation exercises unless you have reason to want to target a specific weakness.
DL you don’t need any special equipment apart from your heavy bar. Squats you’ll need some kind or rack preferably with a decent safety bar setup since you’re lifting alone. I use a power rack, which is perfect but costs a bit and needs some space.
For these compound lifts a good bar is worthwhile. I definitely prefer Olympic weights (for 2" collars) over standard ones.
Starting light is a good thing. Form really makes a big difference in compound lifts. It took me at least a couple of years to really peak, lifting over 250 days a year. Getting the form spot on can make a 50lb difference at a given strength level I reckon.
[QUOTE=Lucas;897713]So im wanting to get a good program for myself for weight training at home.
I’ve never been into weight training really other than a stint in high school. But now im starting to dig it. I dont really remember much from high school though since that was about 12 years ago.
I’ve got myself a bench and some dumbells and a crap load of weights. Ive been watching things on youtube. getting some tips from a few buddies, and looking at pictures for form and such.
I just dont really have any idea on how to formulate a good program for myself as a beginner.
I’m hoping you jovial KFM guys can help me out/point me in the right direction.
I know a few of you guys are big on weight training.[/QUOTE]
Hmmm, investing in a “dipping” belt would be good, so you can add weight to your chins/pullups even if you don’t do dips.
Typically, you wanna do:
Squats ( lower body and core)
A upper body pulling exercise such as chins or pull-ups.
Deadlifts are great and if you can’t do them, do bent-over rows, make sure you keep the knees slightly bent and look forward, not down.
An upper body pushing exercise, such as a standing over head press or military press, don’t go behind the neck and do it standing to hit the core of your body.
You can do the standing overhead press with DB instead of a Barbell.
When you build a good solid core of strength exercises and get to some nice numbers, you shoudl get some coaching and add olympic lifts. start light and work on technique.
In reality you don’t really need to do anything other than:
Squats
Chins/pull ups
standing Overhead presses
Those 3 hit pretty much everything you need to hit.
the only thing im afraid of is that i do pullups/chinups with one of those door frame attachment things, and im already afraid im gonna break the frame lol.
i slowly let my weight settle onto the bar then do my pulling very steadily and smothly so i dont jostle the frame.
maybe ill have a heavier friend try the frame and see if it holds him.
[QUOTE=Lucas;897899]good deal. thanks for the info man.
ill look into that belt.
the only thing im afraid of is that i do pullups/chinups with one of those door frame attachment things, and im already afraid im gonna break the frame lol.
i slowly let my weight settle onto the bar then do my pulling very steadily and smothly so i dont jostle the frame.
maybe ill have a heavier friend try the frame and see if it holds him.
sooo, then did i waste my money buying the bench?[/QUOTE]
I’ve never been a big fan of benching and I used to bench over the 300 mark.
Weighted dips are far better in my view.
In terms of a "pushing "exercise, I think overheads are the way to go.
If you can’t chin/pull up, do Dead lifts and/ or bent-over rows.
The issue with Bent-overs is the stress on your back, but if you watch the form, build up and not go to heavy to soon, look straight and keep a slight bend in the knees, you should be fine.
if you got the room, invest in a power rack as soon as you can. you can get cheaper ones for under 300 bucks, and they’ll be fine. the better ones are rated for more weight, but we got guys at my gym using our cheap one with 600lbs without incident. its not the smartest thing to do, but my point is that it will safely hold what you’ll be moving for a very long time.
you might be able to find a squat stand cheaper, and it will take up far less room, but the rack is really nice if you got the room for it. plus you can bench in it as well saving space.
obviously you can save yourself shipping by buying local, but i just wanted to at least give you an image in your head and an idea of dimensions in case you’ve never used a power rack before.
one last note DO NOT GET A SMITH MACHINE. ever. you’d be ahead to just kick yourself in the d1ck for reps.
also here are some programs i just sent to my buddy:
this is the program i start all new guys on. its an awesome, short, direct, simple, effective program that will build a really good base. if youre going to do some reading, read about this program first. i just provided the others because i already had something typed up, and you might want to refer to them later. also another great book to consider is starting strength by mark ripttoe. this program is taken from that book, and the technique breakdowns for the lifts are extensive. also - use youtube - ripptoe has got some great videos out there. and i also have a really really good squat technique video i can link you to. its about an hour long though.
Since im a total noob, im going to read what you linked, but i’ll probably just for the sake of being a total noob, go with the program you listed out here.
It seems like a great place to start.
I kind of felt like i was driving blind. didnt really have any direction for myself as far as a routine went.
[QUOTE=Lucas;898045]that site is awesome. it explains everything so clearly.[/QUOTE]
For sure, that is is a killer site. Also, when you are youtubing, check out that dude “scooby” all of his videos are geared to working out at home and he is fully legit. He advocates the dumbell flies over benching, but also does dumbell presses.
People have a lot of opinions on the chest in general, so what I did, was take the big three, dips, pushups and pullups and put them all into my chest workout which is three times a week now and includes the dumbell flies and presses.
Maybe because one of my biggest influences in kung fu is a marine and he always says “situps, pushups, pullups, dips, squats”. Either way, I have always had a hard chest from the various hand positions of pushups, but until I combined dips, chin ups and pushups (all of them wieghted and the pushups on an incline) I never saw real growth. Literally, the first day that I finished my last set of dipping being reintroduced, before I added weight, the inside of my pecks were massively swollen and they had never been before.
That’s all personal opinions and shared experiece. My only humbly real advice is this: work your forearms from the get go. Not only are these some very important muscles to us that do kung fu, but a lot of people will get pretty built up, then realize at they look wierd because they have lady wrists and have to train their forearms to catch up meanwhile feeling self conscious.
