Kirves Posted June 23, 2003 Posted June 23, 2003 Free weights (lots of iron!) and if you can afford: a power rack.
Kirves Posted June 23, 2003 Posted June 23, 2003 Always standing by to help you. You need to be able to do some of the "big" multijoint moves (Squat, Deadlift variations, Bench Press or Dip, Overhead Press, Rows) and barbell+dumbbells do the trick. Power rack is for safety, allowing you do train Squats and Bench presses safely. Without it, I recommend you drop squats from the routine and substitute them with Bent-Legged Deadlifts (a very good move anyways). And Bench presses too, get a dip station or think of something... Basic idea is this: 1. Your routine should contain one big lowerbody move = squat or bent-legged deadlift. 2. Your routine should contain one upper body pull movement = a row, a chin(with additional weight tied with a dipping belt), a pullup or pulldown. 3. Your routine should contain one upper body push = bench press or dip. 4. Add to this some small movements (abs, neck, whatever, depending on how much work you get from martial arts class). 5. Perform 2-5 sets of 5-15 reps per movement, according to your taste/preference. About 1-4 minute rests between sets (choose one). 6. Begin with relatively light weights (don't go near failure in the sets). This way you'll learn the movements correctly and teach your body to start pushing itself. 7 Add a tiny bit of iron each time you are able to reach the rep goal for all the sets of an excercise. Use small increments so you won't kill the "gaining momentum" of your body's adaptation potential. About 1-2 kg (2-4 lbs) to the pull/push movements and 1-5 kg (2-10 lbs) to squat/deadlifts maximum. 8. When the going gets tough, eat like a horse. Better yet, eat a horse. Eat enough to notice your bodyweight going up for 2 or more pounds per month. Don't go overboard (like 10 pounds per month) or you'll just get fat fast. Bottom line: never feel hunger. Eat, eat, eat. 9. When you have been going tuff for 1-2 or more months, eventually the going gets too tuff. You just can't get the reps with the weight on the iron no matter how many weeks you try. This means you have reached the end of the cycle. Lay off completely for a week or two at maximum. Drop the weights on all exercises by 10-15 (or even 20) percent. Modify the routine if you want to (change the rep/set/rest scheme). Then start again. 10. Important: keep a training log, where you record everything you do. This will come up handy later when you start learning which systems and routines work best for your body, we are all different.
Kirves Posted June 23, 2003 Posted June 23, 2003 Use small increments so you won't kill the "gaining momentum" of your body's adaptation potential. About 1-2 kg (2-4 lbs) to the pull/push movements and 1-5 kg (2-10 lbs) to squat/deadlifts maximum. ... When you have been going tuff for 1-2 or more months, eventually the going gets too tuff. You just can't get the reps with the weight on the iron no matter how many weeks you try. This means you have reached the end of the cycle. Some people even use such small increments as .5 kg or 1 pound, to keep the gains coming at the end of the cycle. You can go on for weeks or even months like this and this means more strength and muscle to you for as long as you can keep it up. If you suddenly add 5 kg to your already-a-hek-of-a-death-match bench press, you'll kill the cycle right there, but if you keep adding one kilo or half a kilo per week for the next five, or ten or more weeks, you are in the game.
GrrrArg Posted June 23, 2003 Author Posted June 23, 2003 OK another question, this time more specialised/focused... Arms-for my size mine are slightly bigger than average (compared to friends who don't do MA) but they aren't very wide. As far as I know there is a different muscle that makes arms wide, how do you train it? At the moment my arm (looking down over would be kind of 0 shaped, as oppose to O shaped if you know what I mean. Next what is good for shoulders, mine are too weak in comparrison with my arms. Oh and is there any truth in saying calf muscles should be about the same size as upper arms. My calfs are 14 1/2inches around compared to 12 1/2 on the arms. Thanks for any help.
Kirves Posted June 23, 2003 Posted June 23, 2003 (edited) Well, fact is, you can't grow much of a single muscle alone. You can try a bit, but usually you need to grow "the whole package" with it. When you get all your muscles growing with the program I gave above, and keep adding iron to the bar, your body will grow stronger, bigger and more balanced all over. If an untrained guy tries to build a single muscle, like biceps, doing a biceps curl for example, he will not get much of result because body wasn't designed to work in pieces.I mean, have you ever seen such a ridiculous body that had Swartcshenegger's upper arms attached to Woody Allen's body? It is physiological impossibility. And would look very stupid. When you do the big push movement, it will make your pecs, shoulders, triceps and wrists grow all over in accordance to your genetic print (genes are the thing that eventually determine what form your muscles take, you can just make them bigger). The big pull will work your back muscles, trapezius, some shoulders, lots of biceps and wrists. The big lowerbody movement will hit your legs and back like dynamite. These movements are all so big too, that they require the little stabilizer muscles to work like h*ll all over your body (you can't squat jack without your abs and lower back working their butts off, and so on, I'm sure you get the picture). Eventually, gene's determine a lot about how you'll look (i.e. what shape your legs or arms will be). What you can do is make the muscles bigger (train them) and you can make the muscles more visible (keep the fat percentage down). Sure, by careful choosing of the moves, you can focus on different muscles in an area to make minor adjustments. Different rows hit different muscles of the back with slightly differing intensities and so on. So it is possible to focus on making the trapezius bigger or the lat bigger, if one has such problems. But first you need to get the foundation done. Who cares if one of the tricep or deltoid heads of your upper arm is 10 smaller than the other one, if they are so small nobody sees much of them anyway! Make the package grow as a unit first. Also, when you work out your body as a unit like this, instead of isolating single muscles (what Pavel Tsatsouline mockinly calls "The Frankenstein approach"), you get your body trained for the kind of functional strength that is useful in real life activities. When you happen to need strength, you usually need your body to work as a unit. It is also safer this way, as all the minor stabilizer muscles around and inside your body get accustomed to working as a functional unit too. With the Frankenstein approach it is possible to create unhealthy imbalances as some stabilizers aren't up to the task demanded from them by the bigger muscles that have grown strong in isolation. Edited June 23, 2003 by Kirves
GrrrArg Posted June 23, 2003 Author Posted June 23, 2003 Thanks...again , I didn't intend to just focus solely on any one muscle don't worry. I'll just buy a pill to make my arms grow ... J/K Oh and I will have the last post today...
Kirves Posted June 23, 2003 Posted June 23, 2003 Ha! I got one more. Just to ask if you noticed that I had edited the post after you read it..
GrrrArg Posted June 23, 2003 Author Posted June 23, 2003 I hadn't noticed the edit, thanks for pointing it out-and the help incidentaly. Do you find the extra size/strength helps in training and sparring? Thats another one for me...
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