Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

[MaidOfStars]

We are a bit cut off in the designated forum so here's a shiny new thread to populate.

Hello to anyone that hasn't ventured over to The Weights Room but is lifting/resistance training.

Thanks both, that’s really helpful. What do you mean by barbell gym? Maybe that’s what I mean rather than bodybuilding?

A barbell club is basically group weight training. You go along, you have access to all the equipment you need. There might be a group focus for a particular session or you might each work individually, but in a social environment with people around for advice and support.

The barbell part refers to the long metal bar with weight plates on each end that is used in a lot of weight training movements.

A barbell gym is the same thing... It just includes powerlifting. Basically a gym with emphasis on heavy weights over spin classes and yoga.

In my experience, they are the best gyms in terms of atmosphere. They are also usually very well equipped with things that general gyms rarely have (trap bars, safety squat bars, odd benches like sissy squat and Roman chair.)

They're a bit evangelical about weight lifting and will be delighted to see you starting.

sissy squat

For info: You can do these by looping a strong resistance band between a power rack/other anchor and just below your knees.

Thanks.

I think a barbell club is what I need. An old school friend is now a competing power lifter (local-ish, but not local enough) so I might reach out to him to see if he has any knowledge of local gyms and trainers and go from there.

That is absolutely the way to go - can't beat word of mouth recommendations. Hope you let us know how you get on.

Will do. I’ll try and send him a message later and see what happens.

Thanks again. I’m really excited that I might actually get started this time!

I started out by going along to a 'ladies lifting class' at my local community gym. I loved it! I then joined a new gym which was focused particularly on body building and power lifting and got a PT there just to help nail my form.

After that I did the LDN Muscle plan which I found fantastic! Brilliant for beginners and advanced lifters.

Has anyone tried Bret Contreras Strong Curves program?

Strong Curves is widely touted across the bodybuilding internet. I think it's quite glute heavy, that being the curve most women want to build.

Might give it a go then

Annoyingly I couldn’t do squats at the weekend as I’ve pain in right thigh (outside at the botom of the muscle) but did some rows and benches.
Will try sqauts again today and see if I can work out what went wrong to cause the pain. Any ideas?

Hard to say exactly what it was, but do you stretch before squatting?

isthis Could it be your IT band? Maybe you need to stretch it a little?

Stand side on to a wall and lean into it with your nearest foot planted. Move your furthest foot across the front of the planted leg towards the wall. You should feel a stretch from hip to knee in the planted leg.

Prob not warming and stretching enough before, thanks for the tips.
I'm waiting to get a light put in the garage so I can board up the broken window and shut the doors to get a bit more heat in there as well when I exercise.

Thinking about it I did some heavy gardening earlier in the week as well so don't suppose that helped any.

Do any of you exercise with a cold? I came back from holiday Tuesday, straight into a PT session - first in 2 weeks. I've since managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder (although it's much better today). Booked another session for tomorrow afternoon but today have definite "uh-oh. This is a cold" symptoms.

I'm cold (always cold), little bit achey in my muscles (but could this just be due to the session on Tuesday?), sinuses hurt and I've got that "cold" sensation from bridge of nose down into my throat. I'm tired, but didn't sleep well last night.

I don't know what to doooooooooo. I have to give 24hrs notice to cancel so can't even wait to see how I feel tomorrow morning.

Cancel. You'll be wasting your time and possibly making your cold worse. Your body will be marshalling all its reserves to fight the virus. It doesn't need the added metabolic stress of exercise recovery.

I am super cautious about exercising with a cold - probably more than most people. I did a half marathon with the beginnings of a cold once (I was following the above neck/below neck rule of thumb for symptoms) and I wasn't right for about a month after.

At the moment I have a head cold and I haven't been to the gym since it started on Monday. I don't really feel like exercising so I'm not going to push myself. It's only a week, no biggie in the scheme of things.

In your shoes I would cancel.

Thanks both, I'll cancel. Annoyed as I've had 2 weeks off and am putting on weight at an alarming rate but I don't want this to linger longer than it needs to.

Oogle if your putting on weight at an alarming rate then you need to look at your calorie consumption. Excercise is weights for strength and cardio is for fitness that alone doesn’t help you loose weight.

So if you’re unable to train and you don’t track calories properly then the goal you are aiming for takes a lot longer to accomplish.

I was exaggerating a bit I've been on holiday and consumed vast amounts of wine & cheese so weight gain was expected. I'm back to eating well now I'm home, I just find keeping a regular gym routine helps sort my diet out too - the two go hand in hand for me.

Hi I started lifting a few weeks ago but am so sore, is there anything I should be doing? Or anything to relieve it? I’ll

So far the bath helps but not much.

Soreness is completely normal for a while.

I find exercise helps, specifically running for legs. Upper body I just grin and bear.

Baths, painkillers, massage.

Thanks maid, I’ll do some cardio in the morning then & hope for the best. I feel great with lifting apart from the sore muscles so I don’t want it to put me off.

Just wanted to join the chat!

I started training with a PT about a year ago and she got me into weights. I've been training on my own since the summer and focusing more on the major compound lifts and a basic progressive overload programme. Been using one of Nia Shanks online plans (anyone else used her plans?). I've been seeing decent gains, but I'm getting to a plateau, I think (physically and mentally) so I'm now thinking of getting the Strong Curves book.

Been trying to focus on my nutrition this week. How much protein do you all eat? Do you go by the 1g per lb of body weight rule?

I can't get near 1g per lb, which I think is overkill anyway. Yesterday, I had 84g (so 0.75g per lb), but that included two Greek yogurts, which would annoy me after a while. I could have eaten a protein bar, I guess.

Anyway, my MFP is set for about 0.7g per lb.