Many beginners want everything at once - you will be smarter! Learn the correct exercise technique to avoid making mistakes in the gym.
All newbies go through mistakes in the gym. You have the opportunity to avoid them by learning from others.
Firstly, your training system must be properly structured, preferably with a coach. Secondly, don't grab heavy weights right away. Thirdly, try to do the exercises correctly from the beginning.
Of course, you want to become like Schwarzenegger in six months, but you don’t have to “live” in the gym for this. Don’t forget that your muscles also want to rest - don’t make yourself look like a disabled person. Because one day the body won’t be able to handle it!
It's time to learn how to properly perform the most common exercises. Copying them incorrectly will not only be useless, but will also traumatize you. If you remember all the tips, you will avoid many troubles in your sports life.
Gym tips for newbies
So where should a gym newbie start? — There are a great many gyms, there are even more videos on the Internet, and it seems that your brain is about to explode from excess information. Let's go in order
Choosing a gym
Yes, we are starting our journey small. Nowadays, before going to the gym, every new client has the opportunity to have a free first introductory session. Arrange in advance with the fitness club that you will come and see the gym. You should arrive at a time when you will be studying yourself in the future, i.e. during rush hour. Assess the number of visitors at this time, the cleanliness of the hall, the condition of the exercise equipment, and the cleanliness of the locker rooms. And most importantly, how well the room is ventilated and what kind of coaching staff is in the room.
Decide on a goal
Walking aimlessly to the gym is not a good idea. The gym is not a place for dating or a waste of time. State your goal clearly, for example:
- lose 10 kg
- gain muscle mass
- work out the terrain
- become strong and resilient.
The format of your gym workout will depend on your goal.
Trial lesson with a trainer
Do not hesitate to ask for an introductory lesson, to show how the exercise equipment works, what kind of warm-up is best to do before starting classes. To have information about starting training, get acquainted with a number of warm-up exercises. After an introductory tour of the club and learning the safety rules, tell the coach about your goal. Find out if he can help you achieve it. You shouldn’t immediately rush to pump up your biceps in every possible way.
Rules of conduct in the gym
In gyms there are a number of unspoken rules of appropriate behavior among visitors:
- come with a change of shoes and a clean uniform (so that you don’t smell bad)
- do not use perfumes or colognes before going to the gym
- Use your own towel or the one provided in the hall. You can use it to wipe down the exercise machine after yourself.
- do not use exercise equipment between sets
- ask permission to use the machine while another gym member is resting
- Don't stare at other gym members
- put dumbbells and barbells back in place after use
- ask the trainer on duty if you don’t know how the simulator works
- Clear the machine after you by removing the plates from the leg press machine or Smith machine.
To put all the points together, in short - respect other athletes in your gym. These are common rules of decency and respect.
Maintain a workout schedule at the gym
For beginners and advanced athletes, it is important to follow a training schedule to achieve your goal. The training program is again created together with the trainer and based on your goal.
Where to start for a newbie in the gym
Starting a workout in the gym is from simple to complex. You shouldn’t rush to get acquainted with all the complex simulators and try to customize them for yourself. While there is no understanding of how muscles work and develop in simple exercises, complex exercises in the iron apparatus will not bring the desired result.
You can build a training program for a beginner in the gym using simple equipment, such as: dumbbells, kettlebell, barbell, medicine ball, rubber band.
In the article Full Body Training Program with Dumbbells, we tell you how you can pump up all muscle groups with a simple piece of equipment; any beginner can master such a workout!
Full body workout program with dumbbells
Training program for beginners[edit | edit code]
48 exercises for all muscle groups
Anton Yuzhakov Training program for beginners Part 1
Yuzhakov Anton Training program for beginners Part 2
Must Read:
How to Create a Training Program
The training program for beginners is designed to create and strengthen the functional base of the body. In bodybuilding, it is very important to start training correctly; it is an incorrectly designed initial training program that can lead to failure, cause health problems and disappoint you in bodybuilding.
General recommendations for beginners[edit | edit code]
- The initial training program is designed for approximately 1 year of training, during which time it is progressively modified. Do not get hung up on one scheme, as the body quickly gets used to monotonous activities and the effectiveness of the training decreases.
- When starting classes, do not try to load yourself as much as possible from the first workout, increase the intensity gradually. It is this approach that will allow the body to adapt to stress, improve health and allow one to develop a mindset for training.
- Monitor your body’s recovery, avoid overwork, and don’t train every day. The optimal frequency is 3-4 times a week, depending on the individual characteristics of the body.
Read the main article:
Optimal training frequency
- The duration of the workout should not exceed 1.5 hours, and in some cases 1 hour.
Read the main article:
Optimal training duration
- In the initial stages of training, do not resort to specialized exercises that target individual muscles; use mainly basic exercises.
- Concentrate on proper exercise technique and use light weights. In the future, good results will be brought by the correct technique, which is laid down at the beginning. If you initially do the exercises incorrectly, later it will be much more difficult to realize your mistakes, as a certain stereotype is developed. Without paying attention to technique, you will not be able to fully pump the target muscles; accordingly, the stimulus for growth will be much less. Therefore, before going to the gym for the first time, carefully study the exercise technique.
- In the first 2-3 months of training, most beginners will benefit from currently unpopular, but very well-proven full-body workout programs.
- Train your core muscles: abs, back extensors, lower back muscles, hamstrings. These muscles take an active part in all basic exercises, and it is on their strength and endurance that results in barbell squats, deadlifts and military presses depend.
- Eat right, but remember that the initial stage of bodybuilding does not involve overeating.
Read the main article:
Diet for gaining muscle mass
- For maximum quality work on muscle groups and adequate rest, use split training.
- Use an electronic training diary, this greatly simplifies the process of building and adjusting a training plan.
Bodymaster.ru recommends Fitness Trainers:
Start with push-ups (a Smith machine can help with this). Supported push-ups are also convenient for entry-level girls.
High support push-ups with mid-arm position
Squats
You can squat with your own weight, as well as with additional equipment: with a barbell, with dumbbells, with rubber, on one leg, in a Smith machine, Bulgarian squats, deep squats.
When squatting with a barbell, you must always keep your back straight so that the spinal discs do not become displaced. Also, you don't need to hang too many disks on it. You need to start squatting with the correct technique without additional equipment; if you understand that it’s easy, take a body bar or a short barbell. To begin with, this type of squats is the best, the likelihood of injury is very low.
Squats without weights
Downloading the press
There are quite a lot of abdominal exercises. Choose several types of crunches for an excellent workout of the abdominal muscles. A set of exercises can be combined into super and trisets.
Crunches with arms above head
Classic forearm plank
Try combining crunches for 20 repetitions and then a plank exercise for 30-60 seconds.
About supplements
Sports nutrition will help speed up the process of muscle formation - protein, creatine, gainer, arginine, BCAA, amino acids. These supplements are specially designed for athletes and fitness-active people of different fitness levels. Such drugs are completely safe, and their effectiveness has already been proven. We tell you more about supplements in the Sports Nutrition section.
If you started training, then train wisely and Bodymaster!
Progressive workouts
Why with progression? Because if the muscles can cope with the current load, then there is no point in growing! The body is a very “cunning bug” and it does what is beneficial to it! Muscles spend a lot of energy, so the body tries to minimize muscle growth. He always leaves you exactly as much muscle as you need to carry out your life activities!
It doesn’t matter to him whether you’re crawling up a tree for a banana or destroying your muscles in the gym, he’ll increase his muscles as needed! In short, the only way to build muscle is to get stronger!
How to do it? To do this, you just need to keep a training diary! I gained almost 20 kg of weight in a year only because I wrote down all the results in a training diary. I wrote about it and how to increase the load in more detail in this article .
There are many options on how to create a training program for a beginner, but I want to say one thing: there is NO universal training! Each organism is individual and how adaptation to stress and muscle tissue will proceed depends on many factors, such as gender, age, fitness, genetics.
Now I will give a scheme according to which you will need to practice in the first 3-4 months of your training. What is characteristic of this period?
- Poor muscle-brain connection (a beginner does not understand and does not know how muscles contract), and also, they are not able to abstract themselves (forget that someone is looking at them).
- Any physical activity is stress for an unprepared body, so there is no point in overloading the system with excessive weights
- Muscle fibers adapt to new loads, so fairly rapid increases in strength and volume are observed.
- There is no point in dividing workouts into splits (by body parts), because... this is necessary for a targeted, increased load on the muscles being worked.
These were the main points. I'll quickly go through all the points before giving you a program in which you will need to begin the path to climbing to the top, where respect, beautiful girls and success await you.
Poor muscle-brain connection. Most beginners come into the gym and just mindlessly lift and press weights without thinking about how the muscle they are working works. This is fine. This is the mistake of almost 100% of new bodybuilders. You need to read about how to learn how to contract muscles here.
I think it’s understandable about stress from any physical activity. Your goals in the first months are to establish the correct technique for performing exercises, get your body used to weights, and be able to focus on the muscle being worked.
Next point. In the first months of training, quite large increases in muscle volume and strength are observed, do not rush to rejoice, this is only the body’s response to an external load after a “long sleep”.
I advise you to measure all your volumes with a centimeter and write down all the data on paper. In a month or two, measure yourself again and you will be pleasantly surprised. Just don’t be a fan of it, don’t measure every other day and expect crazy gains.
Further. There is no point in splitting in the beginning. A beginner’s muscles are not adapted to such loads and such training will not give the expected result, as for example after 1.5-2 years of training. Just forget about it for now. Everything will happen, but everything will happen in due time.
Next point. Most beginners cannot abstract themselves. They think that everyone in the room, and even people passing by, is looking at them to laugh at their still modest results. My dear friends! Understand that everyone in the gym is focused only on themselves and no one cares how you work out. Everyone was there at first, just like you. They came to the hall with frightened eyes and were afraid of doing something weird. Relax! The race you are running is only with yourself.
You should be better than only one person today, that was you yesterday.
What types of exercises are there?
Exercises are divided into basic and isolating. Read more in this article.
Compound exercises involve multiple joints and muscle groups during their execution. Such exercises include, for example: bench press/dumbbells, squats with a barbell/dumbbells, barbell rows, etc. The principle, I think, is clear.
Isolation exercises involve only one muscle group and one joint. For example: leg extension/bending in a machine. Such exercises are good for pumping blood into the muscles or for pre-tiring the muscles, but not for great muscle growth.
Therefore, in the training program for a beginner, I included only basic exercises! No isolation for a year and a half of training!
Now it's time to get down to the fun part. How you should train in the first 3-4 months of your training.
