mjikia
Level 1 Valued Member
I'm a complete novice, so I don't know what I don't know. I don't have a personal trainer, but I looked around the gym, found the guy working the biggest weights and asked for advice on how to do stuff, and he really went out of his way to help me out, even coached me on how to do the exercises he advised. He seems like a good guy, I see no reason to doubt him, but I make it a habit to trust but verify, so here goes.
(paraphrasing what he said, I hope I don't misconstrue what he told me)
As I understand I'm in heaven, since I'm a beginner and I should be able to make surprising progress at a fast rate. I should keep it simple, my workout now and in the future should revolve around 3 to 4 compound lifts, any exercise I do, should be these 3/4 lifts or, in the future, accessory exercises for these lifts. Isolations, as he told me, are for intermediate or advanced lifters, and beginners have no business doing them. The weights I work with should increase by 2.5kg (5 pounds) or 5kg (10 pounds) every workout. Also walked me through the warm-up sets.
He advised to start out with:
A) low-bar squatting, as it will improve spinal integrity and in the long-term will make me less injury prone when it comes to hips and lower back
B) OHP or Military press
C) Bench press
D) Deadlift (he really stressed this one, since I have a very bad posture, and this is supposed to help).
In terms of high-bar squatting he told me not to try it for several months, since it'll mess with low-bar squatting form as a beginner, but I should get into it eventually, as it'll help me with Olympic lifts, if I ever want to try it.
+Exact quote 1: "It's just fun to flex on your gym by throwing around other peoples squat PRs"
+Exact quote 2: "Also low-bar, as great as it is for health and overall strength, it doesn't give you monster quads, and you know...f*** that"
He apparently switches in-between the two every 6 months, as he said, it's not for a strategic reason, he just likes doing it that way.
In terms of sets, I should definitely do 3, 4 or 5. He hasn't heard anyone make a solid argument for one or the other, so I should just choose one and stick with it. In terms of reps, people do anywhere between 4 to 8 reps as beginners, but no one does 7, so I can do 7 if I want to be contrarian or something, but generally 8 reps might be tough to power through for someone who doesn't have an athletic background, and working in fives is just a nice number to work with, so I should just stick with that, but it doesn't really matter for a beginner, I'll make progress anyway, so I should do what I want and stick with it.
in terms of workout days, no consecutive days, worst case scenario 2 days a week, best is 3.
That's pretty much it, he told me to ask him again when I plateau in around a month or two+-.
(paraphrasing what he said, I hope I don't misconstrue what he told me)
As I understand I'm in heaven, since I'm a beginner and I should be able to make surprising progress at a fast rate. I should keep it simple, my workout now and in the future should revolve around 3 to 4 compound lifts, any exercise I do, should be these 3/4 lifts or, in the future, accessory exercises for these lifts. Isolations, as he told me, are for intermediate or advanced lifters, and beginners have no business doing them. The weights I work with should increase by 2.5kg (5 pounds) or 5kg (10 pounds) every workout. Also walked me through the warm-up sets.
He advised to start out with:
A) low-bar squatting, as it will improve spinal integrity and in the long-term will make me less injury prone when it comes to hips and lower back
B) OHP or Military press
C) Bench press
D) Deadlift (he really stressed this one, since I have a very bad posture, and this is supposed to help).
In terms of high-bar squatting he told me not to try it for several months, since it'll mess with low-bar squatting form as a beginner, but I should get into it eventually, as it'll help me with Olympic lifts, if I ever want to try it.
+Exact quote 1: "It's just fun to flex on your gym by throwing around other peoples squat PRs"
+Exact quote 2: "Also low-bar, as great as it is for health and overall strength, it doesn't give you monster quads, and you know...f*** that"
He apparently switches in-between the two every 6 months, as he said, it's not for a strategic reason, he just likes doing it that way.
In terms of sets, I should definitely do 3, 4 or 5. He hasn't heard anyone make a solid argument for one or the other, so I should just choose one and stick with it. In terms of reps, people do anywhere between 4 to 8 reps as beginners, but no one does 7, so I can do 7 if I want to be contrarian or something, but generally 8 reps might be tough to power through for someone who doesn't have an athletic background, and working in fives is just a nice number to work with, so I should just stick with that, but it doesn't really matter for a beginner, I'll make progress anyway, so I should do what I want and stick with it.
in terms of workout days, no consecutive days, worst case scenario 2 days a week, best is 3.
That's pretty much it, he told me to ask him again when I plateau in around a month or two+-.