Got My Home Gym Going..

The Northern Monkey

I'm pretty big as it is, so i'm not looking to really increase muscle mass too much, just tone it up and increase a bit of muscular endurance.

I'm mainly going to be working my upper body and back, but i'm not sure what exercise's / reps i should be doing for tone and endurance.

I've got bench, lying pec dec, bicep and tricep curl on the bench, and also quite a bit of room to work my back etc.

Any tips?


Cheers,,
Ben

Edit: i've got around 40kg weight, which isn't a lot as I can easily bench double... so hopefully that will be enough for toning up

dingdongdee

Hi. Sounds like you are pretty limited by your equipment I'm afraid...and also your 40kg's!

10-15 reps is getting into muscular endurance territory but there are also variables such as time under tension i.e. how fast you are completing a repetition, rest time between sets etc

I would always advocate using as many multi-joint exercises as possible i.e chins, bench press, squats, deads, shoulder press as these will work all you major muscle groups.

Don't fall into the trap of just doing upper body stuff like 90% of male gym goers do.... deads will keep your back strong when done properly as will squats... couple these with benching, chins and shoulder press and you will be off to a good start...just ensure you are doing them correctly and with good controlled form i.e. slowly and smoothly through the full range of motion.
If you do a hard workout then make sure you eat correctly afterwards.

Surf-Matt

Ben - I have this lot to maintain strength and tone:

1 Powerbar (pull up bar)
Three stout chairs (I do "below ground level" press ups that are more intense)
Two 10kg dumbells
A skipping rope.
A heavy punch bag (very much optional)
An exercise mat.

Using this lot I have a pretty intense routine that not many can do using years of research and from teaching kickboxing.

The routine is:

Punch bag - 5 mins
Skip - a few mins

Legs - don't do much leg stuff as I cycle every day and run 2-3 times a week.
Lunges with weights - 20 each leg
Calf raises with weights - 50

Chest
Press up - normal x 10, clapping x 10
Press ups - between three chairs (a hand on one each, two feet on the other) and go below ground level - I do 45
Press ups - each hand on a dumbell - 20

Back
Pulls up - 20
Bent over rows with 10kg weight (need heavier) - 30 each arm

Shoulders
Handstand press ups against a wall - 10
Shoulder raises with 10kg dumbells - 20

Triceps
Chinese press ups (described a while ago) -10
French press with 10kg weight - 20 each arm

Biceps
Dumbell curls with 10kg weights - 30
Concentration curls 10kg weight - 20 each arm

80 crunches
50 sits ups.

After each body set I do isometric exercises - these looks bonkers but you basically do 10 reps on an exercise with no weight but use perfect form and do it very slowly.

Keeps my in shape, fit, strong and flexible (I stretch a lot too).

antfly

I would say don`t bother.I did weights for a while and it just made me too tired and stiff for cycling.My cycling and my shape have improved since I gave it up.

Surf-Matt

I would say do bother - it keeps your muscles and joints healthy (unelss you do massive weights) - I have often had the odd niggle "cured" by a weights session.

Just don't overdo it - 3/4 an hour per session is about right.

If you stick to only one thing, you end up unbalanced and more prone to injury.

The Northern Monkey

Surf-Matt
awesome, cheers for that

def gives me some structure to my workout... never thought of isometric work, great idea!

forgot to say that I have access to a chin up bar too

had a bit of a session yesterday, arms and pecs feeling nicely sore today

not wanting to work legs, as I ride as often as poss and my knees don't take kindly to any sort of free weight exercise

antfly

Surf-Matt wrote:

I would say do bother - it keeps your muscles and joints healthy (unelss you do massive weights) - I have often had the odd niggle "cured" by a weights session.

Just don't overdo it - 3/4 an hour per session is about right.

If you stick to only one thing, you end up unbalanced and more prone to injury.

I`m not so sure about that.I swim aswell which I reckon is better than weights which gives you muscle you don`t really need.I definately feel better without it anyway.

The Northern Monkey

I can't swim tho

I'm actually working up to going home in summer and starting rugby again need to get my muscles back in order!!

antfly

Fair enough then.

Surf-Matt

antfly wrote:

Surf-Matt wrote:

I would say do bother - it keeps your muscles and joints healthy (unelss you do massive weights) - I have often had the odd niggle "cured" by a weights session.

Just don't overdo it - 3/4 an hour per session is about right.

If you stick to only one thing, you end up unbalanced and more prone to injury.

I`m not so sure about that.I swim aswell which I reckon is better than weights which gives you muscle you don`t really need.I definately feel better without it anyway.

Well swimming is very good too (I swim and surf a lot) but I wouldn't say weights are bad for you - you must have been doing something wrong.

Being doing weights since I was 16 (now 33) from hardcore 4x a week big lifts to much less intense stuff and only ever had benefits from it.

The Northern Monkey

Matt - When training, do you let your muscles recover fully before another session?
I was quite sore the other day, so didn't hit the weights... i've left it till today. But should I be training no matter what?