Questions about working out?

[tony3]

I have some questions about working out. I have recently started working out after school monday, wednesday, and fridays after school with a work program our baseball coach gave to us. I really haven't done hardcore working out ever in my life. Well, the first day we did all leg stuff, I was limping for 2 days my legs hurt so bad. On friday we did all arm/chest lifting. Right now, my left bicep and elbow area has been in pain all weekend and I haven't been able to move it much. I'm working out tomorrow, doing more arm stuff so as I was watching TV I was just moving it around stretching it out. I lifted alittle with a straight bar, just extending my arm down and lifting the bar(no weight, just the 45lb bar)up to my chest to loosen up my arm. I really don't want this to happen again. I know I'll be sore after lifting, but I don't want to have a hard time walking/moving my arms. What can I do to prevent this. Stretching more? Drinking more water? What are some good arm stretches I can do before I work out, and how long should I do them?

[BlackVCG]

Since you really haven't done much working out before this, you need to focus on low-weight/high reps. Meaning, be able to do at least 3-4 sets of 15 reps of each exercise. I like to do some stretching to loosen myself up and then work my abs and go to weights.

Until you have some muscle endurance and start building some mass, you're going to get extremely sore if you jump into working out and start doing heavy weights and low reps.

Drink something like gatorade while you're working out and water afterwards.

[Mango]

I have some questions about working out. I have recently started working out after school monday, wednesday, and fridays after school with a work program our baseball coach gave to us. I really haven't done hardcore working out ever in my life. Well, the first day we did all leg stuff, I was limping for 2 days my legs hurt so bad. On friday we did all arm/chest lifting. Right now, my left bicep and elbow area has been in pain all weekend and I haven't been able to move it much. I'm working out tomorrow, doing more arm stuff so as I was watching TV I was just moving it around stretching it out. I lifted alittle with a straight bar, just extending my arm down and lifting the bar(no weight, just the 45lb bar)up to my chest to loosen up my arm. I really don't want this to happen again. I know I'll be sore after lifting, but I don't want to have a hard time walking/moving my arms. What can I do to prevent this. Stretching more? Drinking more water? What are some good arm stretches I can do before I work out, and how long should I do them?


This is a workout schedule that could be expected from a Coach. Generally coaches have little to no formal education in excercise perscription, anatomy or physiology.

What he should have done was start you out with an extensive stretching program complete with dynamic warm ups then leading into strength training. What you are experiencing is excessively torn muscle fibers. The pain you are feeling is your body telling you to NOT to move so the fibers can heal. Time is all that will allow your muscle to heal and rest is actually just as important as lifting weights when it comes to increasing strength.

Also he should not have started by lifting legs with a basically fresh team. Take yourself for example; someone who is new to lifting regularly and whose body is in an untrained state. The best thing you could do for your body at this point is to REST those sore muscles and stay hydrated. Also make sure to eat plenty of complex carbohydrates and fruits & veggies. Muscles are fueled by Glycogen which is a storage form of carbohydrates. Stretching will help sore muscles also but you can stretch TOO much. You should aim to stretch out the biceps, wrists, shoulder and shoulder girdle as well as your spine and lower body.

So rest those sore muscles and do not train them with the same intensity you did to injure them until you are free of soreness. Muscles build in strength by getting broken down then built up to put it in laymens terms.



Edit: Just saw that Black posted about drinking Gatorade while working out. That is a myth and will not help in any way. In fact it will cause you to dehydrate (yes I said that) due to the very high sodium content. Water it down 50% gatorade 50% water to get maximal benefit.

[JrnyFan1985]

This is a workout schedule that could be expected from a Coach. Generally coaches have little to no formal education in excercise perscription, anatomy or physiology.

What he should have done was start you out with an extensive stretching program complete with dynamic warm ups then leading into strength training. What you are experiencing is excessively torn muscle fibers. The pain you are feeling is your body telling you to NOT to move so the fibers can heal. Time is all that will allow your muscle to heal and rest is actually just as important as lifting weights when it comes to increasing strength.

Also he should not have started by lifting legs with a basically fresh team. Take yourself for example; someone who is new to lifting regularly and whose body is in an untrained state. The best thing you could do for your body at this point is to REST those sore muscles and stay hydrated. Also make sure to eat plenty of complex carbohydrates and fruits & veggies. Muscles are fueled by Glycogen which is a storage form of carbohydrates. Stretching will help sore muscles also but you can stretch TOO much. You should aim to stretch out the biceps, wrists, shoulder and shoulder girdle as well as your spine and lower body.

So rest those sore muscles and do not train them with the same intensity you did to injure them until you are free of soreness. Muscles build in strength by getting broken down then built up to put it in laymens terms.



Edit: Just saw that Black posted about drinking Gatorade while working out. That is a myth and will not help in any way. In fact it will cause you to dehydrate (yes I said that) due to the very high sodium content. Water it down 50% gatorade 50% water to get maximal benefit.

that's awesome stuff man, i'll be sure to use that in my workout routine too man. one thing, definitely don't stretch before working out, i'm almost positive that'll actually hurt your muscles more

[PyRo]

that's awesome stuff man, i'll be sure to use that in my workout routine too man. one thing, definitely don't stretch before working out, i'm almost positive that'll actually hurt your muscles more
If I don't streach before doing chest I manage to screw somthing up and I can only do a couple reps before my chest is killing me.

[scarpa43]

Unrelated to injuries...

Pay attention to the order in which you do lifting exercises.
Some exercises hit primary and secondary muscles, keep this in mind when planning your workout.
Example: The benchpress works out your chest but also works out your triceps. If you plan on working out both chest and triceps in the same day, do chest first. If you do triceps first they will be tired when trying to do bench press and your chest will not get worked out to its maximum. However if you do chest first, once you get to triceps they have already been worked out a bit and you are adding to that.

This also applys to biceps and back, do your back first.

Make sense?

[GA Devil]

good idea is to start the first couple weeks only using 1/2 the wieght you normally would use to get your body use to the strain. After about 2 weeks like that switch over to your normal work out wieght. This way you wont end up with as many pains due to over straining. A good book to pick up that will give an excellent set of work outs as well as nutrition is from Men's Health called hard body. here is a link to check it out.

http://shop.menshealth.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10004&storeId=10053&productId=11799&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10477

hope this helps some. Be careful cause jumping in with both feet so to say can cause serious problems for you.

[Mango]

Take anything said in those Men's Health/Men's Fitness magazines with a grain of salt. In the Excercise Physiology world we call them "Men's Fiction" magazines.

[WicKeD_WaYz]

haha your really sore its not that big of a deal. It will be less and less every time you lift. After awhile you wont hardly feel it anymore if you lift on a regular basis. Dont start off light or anything hit your muscles hard every session your young and your body can take it. But I would start off with lots of reps and light weight. I would say dont go anyhigher than reps of say 12 or 14. If you want to speed up recovery they have all kinds of stuff for it. Personally I always take a huge protein/carb/calorie shake with Glutamine in it right after I lift to gain weight and recover quicker.


You reminded me that when my seasons over I need to start squating again. I got lazy this year and havnt squated in a couple months. The first time I do it every year I cant walk right for a couple days. trust me dude its all normal, you'll be fine.

[Mango]

haha your really sore its not that big of a deal. It will be less and less every time you lift. After awhile you wont hardly feel it anymore if you lift on a regular basis.

Soreness is a good thing but if it causes PAIN or restricts MOVEMENT, then we must take it with some seriousness.

Let me say first that:

Being sore after lifting is good.
Being sore after lifting is needed to increase strength and activate development.
Having restrictive pain associated with muscle soreness and/or if the muscles cannot be moved through thier entire R.O.M. (range of motion) then that is a BAD thing.

When muscles are painful, as I stated earlier, this tells us that there is severe micro-trauma to the muscle fibers themselves. This can better be explained with a visual, like so:

http://www.bmb.psu.edu/courses/bisci004a/muscle/musc-img/muscbig.jpg
Millions of these bunches of fibers and filaments make up our muscles. Inside each of these bundles are strands called Myosin fibers. These fibers have heads on the end called Myosine Heads. These heads are twisted to the side and when activated (say you want to raise your arm) these heads twist and attach to a thick filament strand that pulls on in an extremely fast racheting effect. This is how muscles contract on the simplist terms.
http://www.bmb.psu.edu/courses/bisci004a/muscle/musc-img/fig-9.7b.jpg
http://www.bmb.psu.edu/courses/bisci004a/muscle/musc-img/sliding1.jpg


When you work out and lift weights you are causing these strands to, quite literally, tear apart. The damage caused by this requiers time to heal as with any wound. The amazing thing is the body is programmed to make the muscle fibers bigger (if you have more binding sites you can generate more torque and thus it is easier for your body to do things). The goal of the body is to do movements with the least amount of energy expenditure neccessary.

Think about it, your body does not know that every day at 12 you need to go throw weights around at the gym. It thinks through evolutionary terms. Your body thinks that every day at 12 you need to throw boulders or logs around to find food. Or that when you go to do cardio your running away from a Velociraptor for 45 minutes a day.

Maybe this will clear up a few myths.

[BlackVCG]

I've heard the information about gatorade both ways... It dehydrates you more, because of the sodium content. No denying that because it does have sodium and water has none, but I didn't think it was considered "high." But on the other hand, the sodium content replaces electrolytes, which helps increase the absorbtion of water.

Either way, I guess you would be better off to water it down a bit.

[Mango]

The major electrolytes used by the body (sodium, chloride and potassium) are esstential to the body for obvious reasons. However, they are quite abundant (unless you have a deficiency in absorbing them, potassium deficiences are partly common) and they are easily found in everyday foods.


Sodium: There is no set upper limit for sodium consumption however, the average american intakes about 3,300 milligrams a day. The "recommended" upper intake is set at 2,400. Taking in sodium is not a problem for the average American since it is primarily used as what?.....a preservative in packaged foods. It is added to a great number of products when you think about it, almost anything packaged in plastic and almost any bottled drink. Sodium is also the bodies major positive ion and used to maintain water balance.

Chloride is grouped with sodium to form standard table salt thus it is also easily gained. It is the bodies major negative ion.

Potassium is the most common electrolyte that people are somewhat deficient in and take a guess why? It is usually found in fruit (everyone associates Bananas typically) but it is also found in lima beans, honeydew, fish and milk. Most things that the average person does not consume unless they eat a balanced diet.


In the end, research has shown that during most workouts people do not lose enough of these electrolytes to warrent drinking any of those sports drinks. Manufacturers want you to BELIEVE you need it so they sell more product. Unless you were engaged in a long duration, highly strenuous activity like a soccer game, football game, marathon, track & field, long paintball tournament, etc. you would not need these drinks. For a regular workout session water is the BEST choice plus it is free.

[tony3]

Thanks for the info mango. I have heard that you should drink gatorade before a sporting event and water during it. True or not?

[WicKeD_WaYz]

Thanks for the info mango. I have heard that you should drink gatorade before a sporting event and water during it. True or not?

yea thats true but if your sport has a halftime or something its always good to drink some more gatorade then and maybe some oranges or something. Stuff like that though is only the case in EXTREME situations. All I can relate it too is football because thats the most tired ive ever been in my life. Like if your defense is playing bad and the offense has a LONG drive down the field on you, maybe something like the gatorade you drank over water 10 minutes earlier might bother you then, if your not all the way hydrated already(which you should be).

Most important though is just drink something...water may be slightly better than gatorade after the games started but gatorade sure isnt bad for you. If that makes any sense.



And I know Mango pulled out all the fancy pictures lol. But all I was saying is this kids never lifted before and since it was his first time in the gym hes going to be VERY sore, especially if he worked his *** off, but it will get easier everytime.