blake7

Hi guys!

Not sure where to post this - but just wanted to introduce myself.

Im an Aussie chick whose been travelling for the last year or so and am now based in London.

I wanted to join this board cos Im suffering from a lack of drive in the gym lately. I love training and the high I get when Ive trained, and have been committed to fitness for about 12 or so years..but Im not sure what to do. Ive been training 5 days a week for about 3 months but Im disappointed with my results. - for the life of me I cannot build a set of decent Delts- or Bi's for that matter...
(9 and a half stone - size 10).I love weights, Love cardio and too complicate things slightly I am a committed vegetarian..
Im also looking for a good gym to join in London...Is there a chain that is good but no too exy?
HELP! :boohoo:

Captain Hero

hey there welcome to the board not too exy? do you mean sexy? Do you mean like a posh gym or a "fitness" centre that doesnt have a squat rack or more than one bench and has loads of cardio equipment?

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samurai69

Hi and welcome, fitness first used to be good and there are loads throuout uk.

post up the routine you are doing, and i am sure you will get plenty of replys LOL

samurai69

blimey cap , that was quick typing there

Captain Hero

aye i have fast hands

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big

Welcome to the board.

We all suffer from lack of drive in the gym from time to time. The best thing IMO is to take a week off, and then start a new fresh routine. The week off will let you recover, and will allow you to build up more enthusiasm - once you're halfway through the week off, you'll be DESPERATE to get back in the gym and lift.

For many people 5 days/week of lifting is about twice as much as you should do, which may account for your lack of results so far. Like everyone else, you should be concentrating on compounds like deads and squats. Your biceps WILL grow as you get bigger and stronger all over.

Truewarrior1

i agree with big, a week off is needed , you'll be begging to get back into the gym. welcome.

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When You Dance With The Devil You Wait For The Song To Stop.

Currently HULKING OUT!

Captain Hero

out of interest what exercises are you doing for your biceps chick?

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blake7

So Big, you say Im lifting too much - If i lift less days does that mean my sessions are gonna be longer?
This is the program Ive been doing for about a year...
What d'you think?
Im doing Bak n Bis - mon
chest n Tris - Tues
Legs - Weds
Calves n Shoulders - Thurs
Fri - straight cardio
I do some form of cardio every day. although sometimes its only 20 mins.


btw Cap - by exy I meant expensive..i want a good mix of free weight and mach. in my gym.

big

It doesn't mean your sessions need to be longer - they maybe need to be more intense, and certainly need to be more based around compound power movements. Squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, flat bench press, chins, military press are all big heavy movements that have a proven reputation for building muscle and strength.

You might want to do a full body workout every 4-5 days, or maybe do an upper/lower split every 3 days. Or split the body up 3 ways in a week (Mon/Wed/Fri for instance) and do push/pull/legs. You can then do the cardio work or GPP work on your other days.

The main things are: compound lifts, perfect form, progressive resistance (putting the weight up by a SMALL amount EVERY session) and beating plateaus by changing your workouts regularly.

Also, especially being a veggie (are you veggie or vegan?), you want to do everything you can to get in as much protein as possible, as this could be another potential problem area.

Captain Hero

aaaaah right well Generally Fitness first/ Virgin/ Esporta chains are expensive. A lot of people work out for about an hour or any hour and a half tops, how long are you training for?

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blake7

Cap, now that I think about it maybe i havent been as committed to my bi's as i could've been....

I usually do 2 of these excersises ,3 sets 10 -12 reps

Barbell 21's
Incline d.b.
Hammer curls

:confused:

Captain Hero

you dont need to do like loads to get muscle growth, ive read that doing bicep curls on an incline bench is really good for them, ive tried it before and its quite hard so it could be true. Hows your diet? that might also be one of the reasons your not growing, also are you getting enough sleep?

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big

You might be overtraining them to be honest.

If you're doing back exercises first, your biceps are getting hit hard anyway. You then do the bicep isolation work, and you're just annihilating the muscle, and between workouts all of your body's resources are going into just recovering from the workout with nothing left to grow from. Stimulate, don't annihilate.

Biceps are a small muscle group remember, and overtrain easily.

Many people find their biceps grow best when they leave them alone.

blake7

Im interested in what you were saying about compound movements. And that is essentially how Ive been training legs/glutes and I am really happy with the results.

If I go with compound movements for my upper body would you follow up with an muscle isolating excersise anyway?

As far as an full body workout every 3 - 4 days are you talking weights? How would that fit in with the triple split?

Also what is GPP?

Thanks so much btw. ;)