Which exercises should i do for ...

if you're weight training, you should do a variety of different exercises so you build up your muscles in a balanced way, if you just do crunches and bench press you will over developed chest and stomach muscles and, most likely a weak back.

football training would be better served doing leg press and other leg work for running, together with some reasonably light upper body work, being careful to keep it balanced.

no more than 3 weights sessions a week is sensible as otherwise you will not give your muscles time to recover and will compound the damage and make them weaker.

always stretch vigourously after weights, as otherwise your muscles will become knotted and you will build your muscles up around this knotting, thus losing a lot of potential power.

speak to someone who knows what they're doing at the gym (they must have people there to supervise?) and get yourself a rounded programme.

if you want to build up muscles do 3 sets of say 20 reps on each exercise at 80% of your maximum lifting ability.

if you jsut want to look nice then do lots of reps of lighter weights.

Reply 4

adamu

Paxi dude - your going about it very wrong. You want to alternate exercises through the week something like this:

mon - chest/back - bench press etc
tuesday - abs - crunches and 20 minute run/cycle
wednesday - biceps/chest - bench press, dumbell/barbell curls
thursday - - abs - crunches and 20 minute run/cycle
friday - legs/triceps - tri pull downs/barbell squats
saturday - abs - crunches and 20 minute run/cycle
sunday - OFF

The key is to hit yourself hard on your abs days with cardio and do controlled crunches that take alot of effort - dont do loads. 3 reps x 12-15 is fine.

Hope this helps

sounds about right, but get some professional advice, otherwise you will do yourself more harm than good with weights.

Reply 5

erk

14

Good advice Gexko until you got to the rep scheme.

3 sets of 20 will do bugger all for bulking. More like 3x8.

'If you just want to look nice' + 'do lots of reps of lighter weights' - i'm not even gonna start on that.

chest/back is good in theory, but personally it doesn't work for me, training two big muscle groups on the same day isn't wise.

keep it simple, chest/tri, back/bi/, legs/shoulders - abs on recovery days.

For abs just stick to the basics, weighted crunches etc. Although saying this it's mainly down to lifting your fork, not lifting in the gym - your abs (core) get worked in alot of compound lifts; squats, deadlifts etc.

Reply 6

adamu

Paxi for the best info you can find go to www.muscletalk.co.uk

Reply 7

You may find this a bit odd, but a very good exercise for abs is deadlift (it does just about every other muscle in your body too!)

Reply 8

freshestkid

1

BodyWeight-based exercises are excellent for improving strength (as opposed to meaningless size) and developing the smaller muscles sometimes neglected by more specific exercises. For an all-round upper body workout try:

4-5 sets of

10-15 wide-grip chin ups (hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, palms facing away)
10-20 dips (make sure you go down to 45degrees on each rep)
20-30 pressups (if you can do these easily put your feet on a bench/step)
5-10 handstand press-ups (if you have trouble with balance, do these against a wall, if trouble with strength, go as low as you can and hold it as long as poss)
1minute + plank: get in pressup position then go down onto your forearms and hold this position. Imagine there is a straight line from your head to your heels which your body must run along, so keep your neck straight, suck your stomach in and don't drop your hips or knees.

This workout done 3 times a week will have results very quickly, and can be made more difficult by increasing reps or increasing time taken per rep (ie if you normally do 2 seconds up, 3 seconds down, try 3 seconds up, 5 seconds down) and feel the burn!

Enjoy. D

Reply 9

Barny

17

Gexko

always stretch vigourously after weights, as otherwise your muscles will become knotted and you will build your muscles up around this knotting, thus losing a lot of potential power.

if you want to build up muscles do 3 sets of say 20 reps on each exercise at 80% of your maximum lifting ability.

I've honestly never heard anything like your first point, where the hell did you hear that?

As for your second point, I'd be seriously impressed if anybody can manage 20 reps at 80% of their maximum lifting ability, most people could manage about 8 reps, hence it being 80% of your max lift.

Reply 10

Gexko

if you want to build up muscles do 3 sets of say 20 reps on each exercise at 80% of your maximum lifting ability.

Congratulations if you can...btw doing that many reps will do near bugger all for bulking. Do the heaviest weight you can manage for 6-8 reps with good form.

Reply 11

rock_tenth

pullups are THE ****

pullups, deadlifts, squats, and some kinda pressing **** like handstand pushups or more likely youd rather BENCH BENCH YAY FOR BENCH

as I think someone else said, benching isnt particularly useful for football, I imagine..

Reply 12

rock_tenth

pullups, deadlifts, squats,

Got it in one. Add dips, shoulder press and dumbell bench, and youve got something for virtually ever muscle!

Reply 13

imasillynarb

I've honestly never heard anything like your first point, where the hell did you hear that?

As for your second point, I'd be seriously impressed if anybody can manage 20 reps at 80% of their maximum lifting ability, most people could manage about 8 reps, hence it being 80% of your max lift.

1)thats what my physio told me was happening in my shoulders (maybe he's incompetent)
2)by max lift i mean the maximum weight you can do 3 reps of. say 90kg for bench pull, which would give you about 75 for your reps. you would then do 3x20 of them.

just trying to remember my weights sessions from the last 3 years.

Reply 14

Lil_J

Congratulations if you can...btw doing that many reps will do near bugger all for bulking. Do the heaviest weight you can manage for 6-8 reps with good form.

either way works. and i could do that, so why shouldnt anyone else be able to?

thats what we did for rowing weights last year and the prvious 2 years...

Reply 15

SideView

1

are you in a football club if so you should cover most fitness at training ....but a jog everyday(io do mornings) is good.....

Reply 16

Barny

17

Rowing is more geared towards muscular endurance and power, especially for under 18s, so thats what you've been doing.

I understood what you were saying with regards to reps, I'm suggesting its not possible to do 20 reps at 80% of your 1RM, you would reach failure around the 8th-10th rep. Maybe you can 20 at 65-70%, but not 80%.

Reply 17