I am new and have some questions...

[helm]

hey people,

I've been reading the blog and forums since november and already learned a lot. I am 24, male, student and started exercising in october. since I never was the sporty type, I have that skinny but fat look. I love food, so somehow a spare tire evolved around my stomach, accompanied by a pair of man boobs.
until now I focused on increasing my stamina and building some basic strength by doing some cardio and using the machines at the gym. this already helped to lose some fat and get some more in shape. yesterday I finally dared to do what the "big guys" do and tried squats - and I liked them

I was thinking of starting the whole 5x5 training for quite a while, including a training log and keeping records in a booklet. but there are some open questions. first of all, I'm going to the university gym, the upside being a fee of only €50 for a whole year. but the downside is that there is only one rack and one bench. and a smith machine. so there's quite some waiting time sometimes. can't avoid that. but when I finally have the rack, for example, should I do all 5 sets of squats successively with short breaks, or is it better to alternate exercises? (like squats - bench press - dips, then start over again)

I am also not sure with which weights to start. I tried squatting with an empty barbell (2,2m, 30mm, weight?) first, but that was too easy, so I put a 10kg plate on each side. this seems to be a good starting point, I was able to do 5 sets of 5reps. should I do the same for bench press? add weight till it feels good? or really start with an empty bar?

and I don't know if I will be doing the exercises right. the problem is that I did not see any person yet, that seems, uhmm, reliable. most of the guys come in there, put on their gloves and go right to the bench or smith machine, put on as much weight as possible and groan while pushing the weight and lifting their butts of the bench. the staff is only there a few hours a day, in the afternoon and evening, when it's really crowded, but I prefer to go there in the morning (around 10 ) when there are not so many people. and the 2 people I saw doing squats, and even talked to, were very convinced in doing pretty much all the described mistakes...

one more thing: my warm-up consists of either go to the gym by bike (12min ride) or some stationary cycling and a few minutes of rowing afterwards (one of those machines with a moving seat). moves legs and arms and takes quite some breath away, but I like it. is that ok? and usually I spend some time (10-30min) on the elliptical trainer before I leave.

well, that's enough newbie questions for now. thanks for reading. I hope I will get big and strong with your help


oh, btw, Happy Birthday Mehdi!

[Eddie]

when i started the 5x5 about 7 months ago i thought that an empty bar was far to easy. And felt that i could not get my form right with no weight on. I soon realised that the weight does go up faster than you think. After 6 weeks i hit my first sticking point, overhead press. I think you should difinatly start with empty bar bell on overhead, start on what you feel as really light, not stupid lite on you big excersises like squat and deadlift. Just remember the faster you put weight on the bar the faster you will stall.
Once you are on a machine then you want to stay on it and finish all your 5x5 sets.
Hope this helps

[Mehdi]

Welcome Helm. Thanks the happy birthday. Good that you tried Squats, best thing you ever did if you keep at this.

• Do one exercise completely. When you've done all sets, switch to the next exercise.


• You don't know how to lift weights correctly yet, so that is your first concern. learn how to lift, start with empty barbell. Much easier later on to add weigth aggressively if necessary, once you got solid technique.


• I'm self-taught. Check other forum's log, the majority had also to learn on their own, through practice. Read all articles on exercsie technique, include the eBook. Get starting strength for a solid reference. Pratice a lot. You will see a lot of people making mistakes, not doing their exercises correctly, gym "coaches" that will tell you to do what is right, but don't have a clue.


• You don't need to warmup your heart for weight lifting, you need to warm up your joints/muscles. The best warmup is starting with an empty barbell.

[elisa]

Hi Helm,
For a warm up I do some joint mobility exercises then body weight squats or wall squats, pushups, bridges and side bridges, making sure to activate the glutes. Then I do some very light weights like an empty bar to get things warmed up further. I have found that if I jump in too soon I end up pulling a muscle or something.

[Flying Fox]

Welcome Helm. Thanks the happy birthday. Good that you tried Squats, best thing you ever did if you keep at this.

• Do one exercise completely. When you've done all sets, switch to the next exercise.

Would there be any disadvantages to using the circuit method? Apart from limited equipment offcourse.

[Mehdi]

Would there be any disadvantages to using the circuit method? Apart from limited equipment offcourse.

At his level, it's better to start by learning how to lift correctly. You can do that best by doing all sets of one exercise before switching to another one. Circuit method is more for intermediates with good technique.

[Flying Fox]

Would there be any disadvantages to using the circuit method? Apart from limited equipment offcourse.

At his level, it's better to start by learning how to lift correctly. You can do that best by doing all sets of one exercise before switching to another one. Circuit method is more for intermediates with good technique.

Why is that? You would still be doing all the sets and reps.

[Mehdi]

Why is that? You would still be doing all the sets and reps.

Indeed. This is more about focus. With the circuit method, you might end up running from one exercise to another, and then lift without paying attention to your technique. It's always better to keep it simple during the first months.

[helm]

I guess starting a new topic is not appropriate, that's why I post here.
Having done the 5x5 routine two times now I feel pretty happy with it, though my legs were really sore after the first workout
For squats I use a 30mm barbell, weights range from 0.5 to 10kg. The bench barbell is 50mm at the ends. The problem I am facing is that the smallest 50mm plates available are 2.5kg, so I can only increase the Bench Press weight by 5kg. This is quite a lot. Any ideas what to do? Take the other barbell, which allows to add smaller weights but is a lot longer? Or increase by 5kg every second workout (guess that's not that good)?

[Mehdi]

You could use 2 chains weighing 1.25kg each & wrap it around the bar on each side.

[helm]

that's a good idea! even though people might look strange. but we don't care about that...

[jdurando]

Hey - at least if it looks strange to someone it will only look strange half of the time