Weight Training

[Tankbag]

After a few impromptu hospital visits for suspected heart attacks I've returned to the gym. Only a ten year gap from when I regularly went !

Has anyone tried the training vitamin powder at Aldi ?

I do 1/2 hour cv then descending sets on dumbbells.

[Arwen]

First off, so you actually need the vitamin/protein powder at all?

If you are eating healthily and hitting the gym for weight loss/casual reasons rather than wanting to become a body builder then you probably don't need it. So long as you start off correctly, and increase the intensity/weight progressively then you will get fitter, faster, stronger without having to spend a fortune on "magical" powders.

If however you want to have muscles the size that Arnie's used to be as quick as possible, then crack on.

[Tankbag]

I agree with you Arwen about magical powders the one thing I've found for me is running out of energy after about an hour, I am almost 30 years older than yourself, the Aldi supplement claims to release energy. I used ( this is 20 years ago) creatine to help push on but I've no desire to become Arnie2

[madcow87]

I'm making no claim to be an expert (have no intention of visiting a gym any time in the future) but surely even if you are getting knackered out after an hour its still an hour more than a lot of people are doing?

Anything is better than nothing, and speaking purely from what I've seen others doing, all those magical powders do for you is make you look a bit of a weapon from time to time

[Tankbag]

I'm making no claim to be an expert (have no intention of visiting a gym any time in the future) but surely even if you are getting knackered out after an hour its still an hour more than a lot of people are doing?

Anything is better than nothing, and speaking purely from what I've seen others doing, all those magical powders do for you is make you look a bit of a weapon from time to time

 

I look more of a tool than a weapon lol.

I do get you MC an hour is okidoky at my age, I want to increase my leg & core strength for a visit to MotoScotland for some off road frollicks planned for next spring, plus a mega tour over to Colditz & Krakow & another tour to Portugal next year.

I think I'll do a test on the Aldi powder & report back here in about a month, I've been going for a couple of months already so thats the blind test.

[Westbeef]

I did weight training for about 18 months in my younger days, I found most supplements mostly did nothing at all. Apart from Protein powder and some pre-workout stuff that was probably illegal and made your chest feel like it was going to explode. Probably not the best thing when you've just had heart problems! I'd just get some protein for the recovery and let your body do the rest, you'll get your endurance back quick enough .

[Arwen]

In my completely not professional opinion, I'd say try eating something that has slow releasing energy about an hour before going to the gym if you are finding yourself properly exhausted rather than just tired.

Porridge is a good one if you go to the gym in the mornings. My go to is a handful of dried fruit and nuts however.

Also, important to keep hydrated in the gym. I find myself getting knackered if I don't drink enough during the day ...

[Mawsley]

I have muesli, bananas and fluids before karate. I'd never dream of taking a powder, I've worked my way up to five-hour training sessions from not being able to run one width of the gym. If your expectation is to be able to cram in hours of work right from the off you're going to be taking a trip back to the hospital.

[Tankbag]

I have muesli, bananas and fluids before karate. I'd never dream of taking a powder, I've worked my way up to five-hour training sessions from not being able to run one width of the gym. If your expectation is to be able to cram in hours of work right from the off you're going to be taking a trip back to the hospital.

 

Good point

[Picollus]

I work out six days a week and use quite a lot of supplements.

For the avoidance of doubt, whilst I am sharing my schedule with you, I am by no means recommending it and I heartily (geddit) suggest that you consult firstly with a medical professional and then a recovery specialist trainer rather than ask about it on a motorcycling forum. Right, caveat and legal disclaimer out of the way....

There is little to no point doing cardio and resistance training on the same day. You mention dumbells which is great, I love free weights, but you don't mention what you're doing with them. If you want to just develop cardio strength as well as a little more stamina and lifting strength then you're going about it the wrong way (see comments about consulting a professional before embarking on any training regime).

My own schedule is:

Day 1 - upper body with some core exercises

Day 2 - 20 minutes high intensity interval training (HIIT) - running

Day 3 - legs and lower muscle groups

Day 4 - 20 minutes HIIT - swimming

Day 5 - back and some core

Day 6 - 20 minutes HIIt - cycling

Day 7 - rest

Muscles require a lot of attention and need an absolute minimum 3-4 days per group to rebuild after the microtearing caused by resistance training. This is why packing on protein if you want to build mass is essential, you basically are damaging the muscles intentionally then powering in the nutrients needed to rebuild them more strongly afterwards.

My diet consists most days of:

Cup of green tea before workout

Protein drink, creatine and BCAA supplement after workout

Porridge for 11ses

Chunk of chicken or turkey with salad and quinoa or lentils for lunch followed by fruit salad

Protein bar with BCAA supplement mid-late afternoon

Balanced meal for dinner - more carbs than usual (and this is where I fall over because I like a drink around this point)

Cottage cheese or scrambled egg whites on toast for late snack with BCAA supplements

Supplements I take:

multivitamin with iron

BCAA (branch chain amino acid, this helps the body absorb the proteins faster)

Creatine (not recommended unless you're putting on mass, this causes water to be absorbed into the muscles which dilutes lactic acid enabling you to train harder, you have to cycle it up and down)

Green tea (energy and fat burning as well as some hocum nonsense about anti cancer which I don't believe)

ZMA - a zinc magnesium amino supplement which helps the body to replenish lost stocks of calcium, among other things. Also promotes testorone production and has some err interesting affects... ahem. Let's just say it's been referred to as a natural viagra lol. Also hugely helps get a great night sleep, I take three a night.

That's it.

If I trained less I wouldn't go anywhere near supplements. I see guys trying to take bags of pills of snake oil at the gym, hoping it'll be some wonderdrug that is somehow going to replace hard work. It won't. The science behind weight loss, strength and nutrition is pretty easy really, you don't need more than I've outline and even then only really need those if you're trying to get a bit more swoll.

tl;dr - talk to a professional first.

[Tankbag]

Thanks Picollus, I'll have a chat with one of the trainers down the gym. I like the sound of ZMA ahem