[Fiend]

I go to the gym and do a mixture of cardio and general weights. I do the cardio to keep fit as best I can ( ) , and I do the weights because I quite like it, I think it is a good way to keep vaguely toned overall, and I know from experience that doing antagonistic weights helps me avoid injury  .

For the weights part, I tend to go on almost all the machines, and free weights if available - so bicep curls, shoulder press, row, benchpress, butterfly, dips, pulldowns, leg press / squat, hamstring curls, thigh lifts, and errr, stuff. And for each one I do 2 sets of 10, one medium and one harder (sometimes I do 10 then 20 at the same weight).

I feel happy doing this. My body feels good after it, and I like getting a balanced overall workout. I'm not trying to to get super strong or super whatever.

But I just want to know if there are any aspects of weights that it would be useful to focus on to enhance or compliment my climbing (and regular climbing training of course)?? Any changes to the sort of weights or reps and sets or session plans that would be better? I'm unlikely to make radical changes particularly into the realms of fucking boring sessions, as I think it's better to have a less beneficial session and actually do it, than have a very beneficial session that I can't be motivated for. BUT any small tweaks would be welcome, ta.

[weakdave]

Low weight with high reps. Heavy weights will get you strong but and bulk which will probably work against you in the long run. The only heavy weighted stuff I do is weighted pull ups. Start at body weight and add weights to a belt progressively over time. When you are doing body weight pull ups then, you feel light as a feather!

[lagerstarfish]

high weight, low reps (<5) - get stronger without gaining excessive mass

this will do nowt for your stamina, but the only place you need that is in your forearms/fingers anyway

I have no actual experience of this and am posting purely for the sake of representing a view that is different to the previous poster

do I win £5 ?

[i.munro]

Ooops! must have logged in to the wrong channel. 

[shark]

The reps of 10 you are doing is generally considered optimal for bodybuilders who want to bulk up and aren't especially concerned about strength gains let along strength to weight gains. Like Lagers says near maximum under 5 reps is better. It's also a good fat burner.

There have been plenty of posts on this board about suitable exercises. A workout that helps with climbing and correcting imbalances lends itself to body weight exercises or free weights. My workout usually includes the bolton complex and finger rolls with dumbells, and clean and jerk, power clean and deadlifts with a barbell and pull-ups.



   

[Nibile]

Big weights, low reps.
Crush the problems on the rock, crush the girls on the beach.

[hamsforlegs]

The posters above are correct.

If you want some structure, then I would say try to stay away from doing lots of different exercises on all the machines. Keep it simple if you can. There is a good essay from a coach called Dan John about how to structure a simple but effective workout. You can read it here:

 http://danjohn.net/2011/06/even-easier-strength-perform-better-notes/

There's loads of stuff in there designed for people with more of a strength training background, but the basic overview is:

- Warm up by getting all of your basic movements and positions sorted out (planks, squats with dumbbells, carrying stuff around in one hand etc), then do:

- A push
- A pull
- A 'hinge' (lots of hip bend, not so much at the knees, like a deadlift or clean)
- A squat (lots of knee bend; lunges and one-legged variations work)

Finish off with something 'explosive' like a swinging movement, or, if you aren't familiar, maybe just try some sprints up a hill, or some box jumps (just a few). If you have any energy left, do some very heavy carries to finish.

Lots of coaches now advocate training similar to this. It's much less like a bodybuilder machine workout, and more like how athletes would train for power, speed strength etc.

There's lots of ways to skin the cat, but this is efficient, fun and a good way to keep mobile, healthy, strong etc.

Have fun!

 

[Nibile]

I think I could have been more specific.
this is what I do in the gym; the number of sets depends on how I feel, but generally 4 sets except for the warm up.

- lat machine, wide grip (as a warm up)
- lat machine, one armed (max 5 reps)
- pull up bar, one armers (as many as I can)
- pulley (max 5 reps)
- shoulder raises (also with more reps, no problems of bulk up)
- tricep extension (cables) (10 reps)
- bicep curl (max 6 reps)

I do more reps for the triceps because with really heavy loads my elbows start complaining, same thing for shoulders.
I do the bicep curls starting with a hammer grip and twisting the hand only at the end. if I do the normal curl starting with palms up I don't feel confident.

[rich d]

Don't mean to teach you to suck eggs Fiend but how about killing two birds with one stone?

[robertostallioni]

The future is mono lifting.

[Falling Down]

Olympic lifts. End of lesson.

[Fiend]

The reps of 10 you are doing is generally considered optimal for bodybuilders who want to bulk up and aren't especially concerned about strength gains let along strength to weight gains. Like Lagers says near maximum under 5 reps is better. It's also a good fat burner.

Cheers, that's useful stuff. I will happily do higher weights and lower reps, because it's more fun. I'm not bothered about strength gains but fat burning is definitely valuable to me.

THe Dan John stuff....too detailed for me. But mixing in some explosive stuff sounds good, I do think I like "oomph" in my body.

The gyms around here have plenty of dumbbells but not many free weight bar options.

[shark]

The gyms around here have plenty of dumbbells but not many free weight bar options.

As an alternative to deadlifts work on doing "pistols" where you stand up and down on one leg (good for balance too) and "dishes" where you lie on your back and raise your legs a couple of inches of the floor and shake like a shitting dog and high pull snatches with dumbells (one of the bolton complex exercises).

[Fiend]

Tried this high weights low reps shizzle yesterday, managed to get on the weights bar too.

Instead of doing 10 medium + 10 a bit harder, I did 5 a bit harder, 5 a bit harder still, and 2 x 5 at max I could do with good style. Pretty tolerable and can keep doing that.

Why does this burn more fat than lower weights higher reps??

[mr__j5]

Strength / resistance work causes the metabolism to speed up for a much longer period than the duration of the exercise. Sometimes for the rest of the day.

No idea why.


So doing 20mins of strength based weights before going off to do some cardio results in much more fat burn, then just doing the cardio.

[Fiend]

Would it be beneficial to do my gym cardio AFTER my gym weights instead of before then??

[hamsforlegs]

The heavier you go, the more deeply you recruit the muscles, so you get a much higher metabolic 'hit'. Plus, at a high weight, you start to challenge your central nervous system and bring in tons of your core muscles to keep your spine, shoulders, pelvis etc all doing the right things. Hence, big calorie burn. No-one seems quite sure how the whole thing works in detail though?

One sequence to try once you know your 'challenging but OK' weight for 5 reps is to do 2 then 3 then 5 reps with minimal rest, then take 2 minutes off and repeat. Then do 'up to 10'. Once you can reliably get the 10, go up in weight. On the 'up to 10' stop at the point where things get wobbly and ugly rather than at the point of total failure.

As mr_j5 says; do your cardio second if it's just for fat loss and general fitness.

You could also do your heavy weights followed by a bunch of pushups, leg raises, lightweight squats, pullups, box jumps and plank positions with minimal rest. If you finish off by carrying some very heavy dumbbells around the place you might not feel that a separate cardio workout is going to add much!

[TobyD]

Would it be beneficial to do my gym cardio AFTER my gym weights instead of before then??

warm up, weights, cardio, stretching / warm down, would be what i'd do.

the fat burning potential of strength condtioning exercise is discussed quite well in racing weight - essentially, it is effective, but y the nature of the activity you can't do it for very long, so in the long run ( hoho) long runs burn more.... but both are effective.

[Gus]

Stick to basic exercises (lat pull downs, bench press, shoulder press, bicep curls, french press etc etc), don't mess about with some of the crazy little exercises you see some gimps in gyms doing!

one set each of:
12 (warm up)
10 (slightly heavier)
8 (heavy work set, if you complete 8 then do 9 etc,)
6-8 (no pain no gain set, as above, aim for 6, go until you can't do any more, max 8 reps, if you're doing more then add weight for the last 2 sets)

don't do this more than twice a week or it will turn you into a monster, do it once a week (twice max) and it will give you a very strong body!

Also do some deadlifts (bit gutted as can't do these at the moment as got a back tweak, psyched for giving Sharratt some competition but think I might be dreaming!!)

Smash it in!
Gus

[TobyD]

Stick to basic exercises (lat pull downs, bench press, shoulder press, bicep curls, french press etc etc)
Smash it in!
Gus

French presses are reasonably effective, but always a poor second to a proper espresso, in my opinion. 

[mark s]

Also do some deadlifts (bit gutted as can't do these at the moment as got a back tweak, psyched for giving Sharratt some competition but think I might be dreaming!!)

Smash it in!
Gus

only just noticed this
should be easy for you being the shape you are    those long arms will finally be found a use