Well, currently I am running daily 8 minutes a day. I plan, in two weeks to go up to 15 minutes. When the Y opens on Tuesday, I will be doing 1000 yards in the pool. I also plan to do two miles on the eliptical machine and two miles on the stair stepper a day when the Y opens up.
I was just curious about weight training. Is this a good idea? If so, what exercises should I shoot for? I am trying to get into shape by January 7th. So, that gives me three months. But, I'm really stuck on what to do with weight training. Can someone offer advice please.
Thanks!
Best,
Chris
Chris, I love weight training, but you do have to be careful with it, because you can injure yourself. I have crunchy shoulders from incorrect weight training and years of ball playing. Anyway, there are some good books you could probably get at the library, weight training for dummies, things like that. Also, do a search on the web for weight training and especially weight training for beginners. I would also search for weight training specifically for swimmers. Swimmers use their chest and back muscles quite a bit, and you can overtrain or create an inbalance which can cause injury if you are not careful.
A basic rule of weight training is to allow the muscle you work at least a 48 hour rest period before you weight train again. So starting out with a full body weight work-out twice a week might be best. Other thoughts are to do split routines, such as work lower body Monday, upper body Tuesday, no weights on Wednesday, and then repeat on Thursday and Friday. I also like to combine a week of split and whole body, by doing a split earlier in the week and a whole body later in the week. The advantage of a split is better focus and more time to really get in and work the muscle. Doing whole body can be a time saver in hitting all body parts in one day. It really depends on the time you have and your focus. It also pays to shake up your weight and exercise routine every 6 weeks or so. I think this goes along with the periodazation discussed in another pos.
When lifting, you want to pick a weight heavy enough to work to exhaustion by 12-15 reps. Lifting lighter will work on endurance but will not build muscle. Of course, if you are just starting out, you will build muscel because you have not done it before. Working to exhaustion means it would be painful to lift the weight again and just like doing sprint repeats all out, is a hard thing mentally to make your body do.
Many gyms have people working there whose job it is to help you learn the equipment. I prefer free weights, but machines do have a place, and are especially good for beginners. However, if you are small or short, or large and tall, they sometimes are not a good fit.
Link to Weight Training for Dummies book:
www.dummies.com/.../productCd-076455168X.html
Adding, when you start investigating the world of weight training, it is inevitable you will find information on muscle enhancing supplements......stay away from them, you are young, you don't need them, K?
Chris, I love weight training, but you do have to be careful with it, because you can injure yourself. I have crunchy shoulders from incorrect weight training and years of ball playing. Anyway, there are some good books you could probably get at the library, weight training for dummies, things like that. Also, do a search on the web for weight training and especially weight training for beginners. I would also search for weight training specifically for swimmers. Swimmers use their chest and back muscles quite a bit, and you can overtrain or create an inbalance which can cause injury if you are not careful.
A basic rule of weight training is to allow the muscle you work at least a 48 hour rest period before you weight train again. So starting out with a full body weight work-out twice a week might be best. Other thoughts are to do split routines, such as work lower body Monday, upper body Tuesday, no weights on Wednesday, and then repeat on Thursday and Friday. I also like to combine a week of split and whole body, by doing a split earlier in the week and a whole body later in the week. The advantage of a split is better focus and more time to really get in and work the muscle. Doing whole body can be a time saver in hitting all body parts in one day. It really depends on the time you have and your focus. It also pays to shake up your weight and exercise routine every 6 weeks or so. I think this goes along with the periodazation discussed in another pos.
When lifting, you want to pick a weight heavy enough to work to exhaustion by 12-15 reps. Lifting lighter will work on endurance but will not build muscle. Of course, if you are just starting out, you will build muscel because you have not done it before. Working to exhaustion means it would be painful to lift the weight again and just like doing sprint repeats all out, is a hard thing mentally to make your body do.
Many gyms have people working there whose job it is to help you learn the equipment. I prefer free weights, but machines do have a place, and are especially good for beginners. However, if you are small or short, or large and tall, they sometimes are not a good fit.
Link to Weight Training for Dummies book:
www.dummies.com/.../productCd-076455168X.html
Adding, when you start investigating the world of weight training, it is inevitable you will find information on muscle enhancing supplements......stay away from them, you are young, you don't need them, K?
