I Hate the Gym

I hate the gym. It’s just a necessary evil I cannot stand but go because I know it helps me. I also have the luxury of not having to ‘work’ in the real sense of the word. I set my own hours and can hit the best home gyms between 10am and 2pm. Any visits outside this time-frame and I regret it every time. It just gets too crowded and you have to wait for machines etc. Groan.

My gym is big, and from what I can tell, the clientele is mostly male. I picked this gym because it’s five mins from my home, clean, has a great variety of machines, but mostly? Because my physical therapist recommended it. I’m usually one of the fattest women there but don’t let that bother me. I also don’t dress the part, so it bodes well together. I’m usually in some ratty t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants that are typically covered in some sort of animal hair–dog/cat/rabbit/goat–pick one. and I typically shower after the gym, so usually I’m in some sort of ball cap. Yes, i am quite the dish. Have I got your attention yet?

Anywho, the point I’m trying to make here is that I don’t consider the gym to be anything more than what it is; a large air conditioned torture chamber that I pay to use. Not a social club, not a place to meet and greet. And certainly, not a place where any mirrors are necessary.

So today, I’m on my favorite torture device, the dreaded eliptical machine. There was nothing on television and I find it difficult to read on those things, so I just kind of zone out and watch other people without letting them know i’m watching. (a talent by the way, that I have mastered to an almost science)

I watched this guy walk the length of the room. Much to my chagrin, most of the walls in this place are covered in mirrors. Fifteen feet of mirrored wall, and a doorway to the mens room. Fifteen more feet of mirrored wall and the ladies room. Fifteen more feet of mirrored wall and the sauna or water fountain, whatever. You get the drift here. So I watch this guy walk and he is totally checking himself out in each and every single mirror. Talk about narcissistic! And it’s not like he …

Bigger Muscles

Bigger muscle will happen if you give the body a reason to respond and time for it to grow. The other day I saw a routine for the back that left me scratching my head. Pull ups 4×10, rack pulls 4×5-8, lat pulldowns 3×5-8, bent over rows 3×5-8, seated rows 3×5-8, t bar rows 3×5-8, shrugs 3×12. Wow. How could anyone grow from all that. That is a lot of exercises. That is a huge waste of time. Pull ups and lat pulldowns work the same muscle group on the same plane. The same with the bent over rows, seated rows, and the tbar rows, same exercise plan all training the same muscles. You are doing the same exercise over and over again. Also that is 23 sets, not the back could not handle that, but not every back training day. With that kind of work no wonder this guy is not growing. You want bigger muscles then train for them. Use bigger exercises. You want bigger muscle, then lift like you want bigger muscles. Stopping training with a marathon work routine. Cut back on the sets, add some weight. Cut back on all those exercises, try something bigger. Big muscles call for big exercises. Big exercises call for big weights. Big weights equal bigger muscles. It works every single time.

Using the back as the muscle we want to train lets look at a simple routine. One exercise a day. One muscle group a day. The catch is that most of the big exercises that you will chose form for the chest, back, and the legs are going to involve other muscle groups and exhaust you, so you will not be training often. Giving your body time to grow. The exercises that you would chose from are the deadlift, the power clean, the snatch, the good morning, the bent over row, and the like. All will involve the hamstrings, lower back, traps, biceps, forearms, rear of the shoulders and the abs. That is a lot of muscle to be worked with one exercise. Now the routine itself is rather easy, start with an empty bar. Warm up with an empty bar doing rep after rep of the movement that have chosen. Now after each set add weight, in a basic pyramid. Add weight to each set and doing as many reps as possible. Next add more weight and keep …

How Muscles Grow

You’re running from a lion, fighting the tribe down the river and hauling stones to build your hut. Your body says to itself, “this is really hard work. I could do a little better with more muscle”. The next time you engage in such activities your body has grown a little more muscle to make things easy on you.

Maybe we don’t run from lions, fight and haul things like we used to but we still have the ability to put on muscle. When we stress these muscles and give them time to relax they will continue to grow. Thus the more intensive we work out, the larger the weights we use and the more we get our blood moving the more likely we are going to be able to build these muscles.

The goal is to use the heaviest weights we can to recreate the stress we might experience while doing intensive physical labor or running from a lion. Many people wonder precisely how heavy the weight should be. The answer is so that you can barely stand it without hurting or ripping these muscles.

A trick that can be use is go get the largest weight that you can only lift with all of your strength. Then drop the about of the weight 10%-20% so that after five repetitions you are shaking to get it up all the way. Complete a few more repetitions and put it down. Give your muscles a little break before you try it again.

It is necessary to isolate each muscle as much as you can in order to get the maximum benefit. However, if you aren’t an expert in weightlifting you might consider starting with basic techniques such as bench press, squats, etc. As your knowledge of your body grows you can add techniques that help isolate individual muscles.

You will also need to give your muscles time to recover. Thus it is necessary to allow for a 48 hour break between weight lifting again. If you like to work out each day they you are going to have to isolate muscles so that you can do so. You switch around your muscles so that you can keep working out by alternating them on certain days.

Eating appropriately is also a benefit. These muscles will have a difficult time growing if they are not fed properly. Instead of becoming stronger you might …