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[adil786]

Hi all,

Currently, got a fairly empty and unused garage, and thinking of getting some equipment and turn it into a gym. The gyms nearby are overcrowded and a bit too far away. My goals are to increase overall muscle mass and strength.

Im basically looking to get a power cage and a bench. I was told by physio that i really need to get some muscle in the quad area, so a powercage is a must i think.

On a tight budget, so looking to spend as little as possible. Heres a link to a pic of garage floor, any reccomendations onto what I should lay on the floor, ie mats?

http://i177.photobuc...28082007050.jpg

Any other advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

[vide0bug13]

umm, mats wont help much when you drop a weight on your foot...

[throwingks]

Rubber mats will protect the concrete floor of your garage pretty well, just don't abuse them.

Also, get free weights and a Physio-ball. You can substitute all bench exercises (incline, decline, flat, and military) with the ball and work your core, at the same time. Alternate arms on the press, while keeping both pressed up in the air. So, both are straight up, bring left down to the chest and up, then do the right down to the chest and up. It is much healthier for your body that way, and if you don't have a spotter and your arms give out, you have a less risk of the weights landing on your chest and causing serious damage. You can then flip over and get your upper back workout in. Butterflys, as well as the headbanger motion exercise, I'm not sure the real name for it, but Beavis and Butthead do it. It's real good for your shoulders. You don't need heavy weight.

I am not a fan of the straight bar, if you want to do close chained exercises do pushups.

Do abs, lower back, hip flexors, and hammies on the Physio-ball, and/or your mat floor.

Do leg exercises with the free weights. Squats, lunges (single leg with back foot on the Physio-ball). Lay on your back, with both heels on the Physio-ball, and pick up your body so you are resting with your shoulders on the floor and feet on the ball, lift one leg, and roll the ball in towards your butt, then back down and switch.

Those are just a few exercises you can do. I firmly believe you can get not only an in-shape looking body, but also an in-shape athletically body, with nothing more than a Physio-ball, some free weights, and your own body weight. If you want to incorporate your abs throughout the day, use a Physio-ball as a computer chair. It get very easy very fast, and you are basically getting a minor ab workout the whole time you play on the computer.

I have bazillions more exercises, if you need any more. Make sure you get cardio in as well. Do not try to lose belly fat by doing situps. You will just end up with strong muscles under a bunch of fat. Noone will ever see them.

Good luck!

P.S. I knew an Olympic javelin thrower girl, that could do squats on a Physio-ball. She had some crazy abs too. I have never seen anyone else that could do it. I know a lot that claim it and fail when they tried, but she did them in her workout.

[commandersafi]

woah....Some of the words you said i've never even heard of  

I'm not much of the working out person, basically all i do is Benchpress, run, and swim...thats the extent of my working out  

[adil786]

thanks for all advice so far, i think im going to get this powerack:

http://www.powerhous.....ard_Powerrack

Is that ok?,

Also, I was told, i would be better just to get a good utility bench to put in the power-rack, rather than a normal bench with its own rack.  Is this a good idea?, any reccomendations for a cheap utility bench, looking to spend ~£50.

Finally, any cheaper mats about?

Thanks

[hamwbone]

screw a bench press, free weights are the way to go. you cant control them and you work a lot more muscles. The other plus is you don't break your esophagus when you let go, they just fall to your side =)

[throwingks]

Maybe I shouldn't have used so many words in my post. =(

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(hamwbone @ Jun 29 2007, 08:00 AM)

screw BAR BELLS, DUMBELLS are the way to go. you cant control them and you work a lot more muscles. The other plus is you don't break your esophagus when you let go, they just fall to your side =)

There, fixed it for you... Bench press and other straight bar exercises are still free weights.. "free weight" is any weight not tied down by a cable/pulley system (or rubber band or whatever).

I used to do competitive power lifting There are lots of exercises and routines to build strength and there are lots of other routines to build toned mass.

Benchpress is great for building strength but on a whole it wont give you a good looking chest, you'll likely wind up with really powerful man-boobs.

A better exercise for building chest muscle would be an incline press with dumbells that will give you much more toned muscle.

throwingk's had the best suggestions here for building great all-round muscle adding some mass, some strenth and toning up.

Squats and lunges are your absolute best bet for building quad strength. Other exercises like pull ups, dips, crunches etc. are great... any exersize you do that uses your own body weight is a really great exercise IMO.


Another IMPORTANT tip is to mix it up...

don't stick with the same routine more than 2 months, even less than that if you want really good results. your body likes to get used to doing things a certain way so if you're training for some repetitive task (like lifting a bar in a certain fashion or thowing a ball, etc.) then it might make sense to have some consistancy. If you're going for overall strength and general well-being you're better off changing your routine frequently.

If you change your routine frequently not only will it help keep you mentally motivated but your body never gets comfortable with the exercises and that allows you to get better results. Go to youtube and you'll find a few videos on the workout routine used buy the guys in the movie 300...  It's pretty brief but they literally had a completely new workout routine every time they went to the gym and a majority of their workouts used their own body weight as opposed to weights... they did a lot of really creative exercises too.


Also in terms of sets and reps... don't take long break between sets, 60 seconds max because it will keep your heart rate up. Also you're better off doing a lighter weight and more reps properly than you are only doing a few reps of a really large weight... 4 sets of 12 are really good and don't cheat yourself by doing only partial motion, if you can't do the full range of motion drop the weight down until you can. Doing the exercise properly is infinitely more benificial than doing more weight.

if you really want to build muscle mass do you last set to failure every time... meaning do it over and over and over until you literally can't push the weight anymore.

My brother is a personal trainer too, he was also a former power lifter but now he does body building. I know quite a bit but not as much as him, if you have any questions you'd like me to ask him I'd be happy to.

He's also a frequent on http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ which is pretty much the Xbox-scene of exercising  

[yaazz]

Barbells and Dumbells are definitley the way to go. If you are serious about it, I would also visit a nutritionist to see if they can help you improve your diet. You would be surprised how much extra energy can be obtained from a proper diet!

[adil786]

Thanks for all advice, got everything ordered today, should be here this week.

Heres what i got:

Bodymax CF328 Deluxe Flat, Incline, Decline Utility Bench


Powerhouse 100KG Olympic Cast Barbell Kit  

Bodymax Standard Power Rack  


2 packs of Powerhouse High Impact Protective Matting

Dumbell standard handle x2
4 x 5kg standard
4 x 7.5 standard
8 x 1.25
Skipping rope
Barbell pad
water bottle
shaker cup

Total price was £532, managed to eventually haggle down to £392 .  What you guys think?, Good deal?

Thanks,

[capboy210]

If I like to do a serious workout this is what I do:

(pre workout)
Eat dinner, a nice meaty one like sloppy joes.
After dinner drink a nice protein shake and do your workout routine untill your muscles fail. Like somebody above mentioned. It gets interesting for me when I do this, after my workout I get ready for bed and brush teeth etc... I can hardly hold my arm up for brushing my teeth. Then I goto bed!

[throwingks]

^ You should drink your protein shake within 30 minutes after your workout. Protein rebuilds muscle, it doesn't give you energy.

Eat some foods that give you energy before your workout. Instead of Sloppy Joes try whole grain pasta and some fruit. Eat the Sloppy Joes earlier in the day. At least a 2-3 hours before your workout. You don't want your body's stored energy going towards digestion when you are working out, you want it going towards working out.

adil786, good stuff. But, I don't see an exercise ball in there.

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(throwingks @ Jul 3 2007, 08:52 AM)

^ You should drink your protein shake within 30 minutes after your workout. Protein rebuilds muscle, it doesn't give you energy.

Eat some foods that give you energy before your workout. Instead of Sloppy Joes try whole grain pasta and some fruit. Eat the Sloppy Joes earlier in the day. At least a 2-3 hours before your workout. You don't want your body's stored energy going towards digestion when you are working out, you want it going towards working out.

QFT

adil786 it looks like you've got some decent stuff... no ball though? they're cheep enough man


The only thing I'll warn you about is the dumbell kit... while getting small dumbell handles and that you can rack up weights for is cheaper most people wind up hating them...

getting solid dubells in predetermined denominations is much better... You'll be doing a lot of movement and clapping them together and having a small bar with loose weights clamped to it can make many exorcises quite awkward.

IMO you'd be better off ditching the bar bells and getting a nice rack of solid dumbells ranging from 5 - 60LBs (or whatever that is in Kg) And then pickup barbells down the road once you're a little stronger and feel you need to add them to your routine.

As for the price I really don't know how much that stuff costs in Europe. but I know here it can vary greatly based on the quality and weights are usually sold by the pound. (er gram... everything in the UK is sold by the pound )

[sicknasty413]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Jul 3 2007, 10:29 AM)

QFT
As for the price I really don't know how much that stuff costs in Europe. but I know here it can vary greatly based on the quality and weights are usually sold by the pound. (er gram... everything in the UK is sold by the pound )

rofl  

[adil786]

QUOTE(twistedsymphony @ Jul 3 2007, 03:29 PM)

QFT

adil786 it looks like you've got some decent stuff... no ball though? they're cheep enough man
The only thing I'll warn you about is the dumbell kit... while getting small dumbell handles and that you can rack up weights for is cheaper most people wind up hating them...

getting solid dubells in predetermined denominations is much better... You'll be doing a lot of movement and clapping them together and having a small bar with loose weights clamped to it can make many exorcises quite awkward.

IMO you'd be better off ditching the bar bells and getting a nice rack of solid dumbells ranging from 5 - 60LBs (or whatever that is in Kg) And then pickup barbells down the road once you're a little stronger and feel you need to add them to your routine.

As for the price I really don't know how much that stuff costs in Europe. but I know here it can vary greatly based on the quality and weights are usually sold by the pound. (er gram... everything in the UK is sold by the pound )

I havent used a ball before, ill try and get one soon, ive ordered all the equipement yesterday, so should come friday.  About the DB's, I choose handle+weights because they are much cheaper than fixed ones, can always upgrade later anyway.

thanks