# help needed



## terry1956 (Nov 25, 2010)

Hi chaps, I am 54 years old, so so fit, 16 stone, 44 inch chest, 16 inch arms. I was a runner until a knee injury some time back and never played with weights. To try to keep fit I have started to make up a home gym in the house and have found that I am weak. I started with trying to found out what weight I could move around and found the max I could use on the muti gym was 164 pounds, and that was doing the two armed seating down push away the bars thing. on reps I could move 10 sets of 6 at 132 pounds. arm curls I can do 6 x 6 sets of 30 pounds. sit ups around 200 or so and get bored. brench rows around 8 x 6 sets at 36 pounds,

after 4 weeks at this I have found that my arm muscles have started to become harder, more pumped. so ok.

however I have just come back from my home gym and found that my arms just don,t want to lift weights and feel weaker then before they also feel a bit painful.

Heres my question (thank god i hear you say ) do I just work on and fight the pain, and weakest. or do i take a break. the books i have say both.

so help needed.

ps. I have been working out each day in two ways, forst day weights, second day heavy bag 4 rounds of 3 mins each hard work. sit ups and rowing. and the back to the weights and so on.

thanks, michael


----------



## mightymariner (Mar 16, 2010)

Every other day on the weights is far too much. Have a look at the sticky about full body workouts in the training section. 2-3 days a week with weights is plenty. Train hard and rest lots. Your body gets stronger during rest time.


----------



## terry1956 (Nov 25, 2010)

Thanks for that, will take a break for a few days. and work out better workouts.

michael


----------



## mightymariner (Mar 16, 2010)

No problem. Post up your new workouts for more help. Push/pull/legs is quite popular too.


----------



## terry1956 (Nov 25, 2010)

mightymariner, thanks for replying. I can,t do much in the way of leg workouts due to a crecked knee injury from some time back ( reason for giving up running)

this is why i use the heavy bag, a dance around that for a few rounds is about all my knee can take.

what I find odd is that my left arm is very much weaker then my right and when i use the muti gym i alway find that my right arm takes most of the weight, this shows up on the arm curls, my right can use around 6kg more then my left.

years back when i was in the forces both arms did much the same during work outs. is this an age think??? whats the best way to overcome this as it will reduce the weight factor using the muti gym.

also i only have one more weight on the gym which is 10kg and i just can,t work with this much weight at the moment due i think to weakest in left arm. question is when i sort this is it ok to add more weight to the gym or is that it. some machines i have read about state they use a pulley system to double the weight load, is this the same for all machines. sorry for all the questions,

also was thinking of getting a better bench to allow me to lay upright on the bench and work dumbells from the drop down position to the full curl is this a good workout ??

michael


----------



## mightymariner (Mar 16, 2010)

I'm not a fan of multigyms personaly and the cables on your machine are only designed to carry the stack you have, so I wouldn't add any extra weight. If you want to train at home I would get some dumbbells. If you have a weaker side then using these will help.

Dont do too many sets either, especially arms as biceps and triceps are relatively small muscles. Work larger muscles first.

e.g

Monday

chest

bench press 3sets

shoulders

overhead press 3 sets

Triceps

close grip bench press 2 sets

abs

crunches

Wednesday

back

pulldowns/chins 3 sets

any form of row 3 sets

biceps

dumbbell curl 2 sets

abs

leg raises 3 sets

I would then do legs another day but you say you can't so stick with this.

After a weeks rest start this at an easy weight for each exercise and each week add a LITTLE extra.


----------



## terry1956 (Nov 25, 2010)

Thanks MM yet again, I know what you are saying re muti gyms, but as i need to fit training in at odd hours a home set up is better for me. the thing is that I am not to happy with bench presses etc on my own, just in case something goes wrong and i lost control of the weights. I was thinking of getting a smith machine to sort this out, any fews on this ???

Can you also help me out in the following way. as I have said arm curls are at a max lift of 30 pounds, using a preacher rest, I then do a few sets of triceps kickbacks (need a set of slimmer dumbells here) at around 25 pounds. then bench rows using 36 pounds.

are you saying that I would be better off using larger weights and less sets, at the moment i do around 6 to 8 sets of 6 reps. and resting say two days between each weight season. sorry as you can see i am not very good at weight training but willing to have a work hard at it. michael


----------



## mightymariner (Mar 16, 2010)

heavier weights using good form in the 8-10 rep range is the way to go. If you can do more sets than 3 like this you need to up the weight. These sets should be hard to do, with failure occuring betweeen rep 8-10.

Stick to exercise order that I gave you. If you want more detail let me know.

And kickbacks are are waste of time at the moment!


----------



## terry1956 (Nov 25, 2010)

thanks MM whats is your view on the smiths machine, as this will allow me to use weights in a safe controlled way, michael


----------



## mightymariner (Mar 16, 2010)

Sorry, yes the smith machine does have it's uses for the loan trainer. You can bench safely without a spotter.

The best one I have seen had cables attached to bar and if you released your grip sensors activated a stop mechanism. It cost about £1000 though, I thought it was worth it for the more natural feel.


----------



## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

can you do body weight squats?

even with a reduced ROM would be a good start.

start squatting with 1kg db`s and take your time adding weight.


----------



## terry1956 (Nov 25, 2010)

Thanks MM , will start on new workout ( yours) from monday and will let you know how i get on.

michael


----------

