Posted by Hombre on November 7, 2010, at 1:05:52
In reply to Re: All The Way And Further, posted by morgan miller on November 7, 2010, at 1:21:30
They say hard gainers need to lift a bit differently due to the fact that our nervous systems easily fatigue from too much work. I've always been very skinny. The first time I started to have a normal appetite was in my early 20s, when I started doing qigong and meditation. I think that calmed down my nervous system and improved my digestion and sleep.
I've tried lifting weights before, but I did it all wrong. I did too much at once and became over-fatigued. I didn't know that you didn't have to kill yourself in the gym to get strong and put on quality muscle. So why all the pain and muscle fatigue? That's not how the strongest people in the world get strong. Strength is a skill. Very strong men an work the same lifts, sometimes several times a day, because they are honing their skill, not destroying their muscles so they can look like Arnold.
Just choose 3 exercises and work in the 3-5 rep range for each exercise. That means you lift a weight that is heavy enough that you can only squeeze out 3-5 reps, with one or two left in the bank. You want a lower body exercise (squat/deadlift) an upper body push (bench/military press) and an upper body pull (seated row/lat pulldown). That's it. You'll hit everything and get strong.
Working with heavier weights will stimulate the release of growth hormones, especially when you do lifts that involve many joints. Isolating one muscle is more about bodybuilding or supplemental training. You want to get in, do your workout in 30 minutes, and get out. Short, focused, and intense. Your body will adapt to this. If you want mass, workout like a sprinter, not a marathoner.
Never lift to failure. You should still be pretty fresh after lifting, perhaps with even more energy than when you went in. You may not need to lift more than once or twice a week. That gives you plenty of time to recover. If you eat quality foods you'll start to put on weight in your chest, back, gluts, and legs -- the places where all the largest muscles are.
Anyway, this type of lifting is more fun, I don't get tired from it, and it allows someone like me, a hard gainer, to enjoy lifting weights without it feeling like torture.
poster:Hombre
thread:968258
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101030/msgs/968901.html