starting!

Hotman

Hey,

Just done my first bit of work, like in years, im 31.
I was on heavy medication for something for a couple of years and always found myself drowsey and lost some weight etc. I've decided to stop taking all the medication and go for the healthier option.

I did an hourish tonight of very very beginner jogging, running for 1 min, walking for 1 min to get the heartrate down, then doing it again (thought i was gonna burst a couple of times! haha)

Anyway, im basically trying to increase my lung capacity and general fitness level's. But really what i want to do it to Build muscle on my arms, legs, shoulders and neck.
I'm kinda strange shape, i'm 5'9ish, very skinny arms and wrists (my bicep area is very thinwhen looks at straight on, not from the side, but i'm broad chested and have slight manboobs and im rocking a pretty nice spare tire.

So just to recap
- want to increase muscle/size basically to make me look more proportionate, very skinny arms and legs, but broad chested and kinda flabby.

- On a seperate note, i know that im going to be doing bicep curls with heavyish weights, my only problems is that as my wrists are very skinny, the bones in my forearms (especially my ulna) feels like it's under alot of pressure when im curling a heavy weight. Does this go away if i build up from light to heavy over a length of time?

Cheers!

Barry.Oglesby

There's no need to curl especially. Try the old standard- the push up!

Hotman

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

There's no need to curl especially. Try the old standard- the push up!

yeah i was thinking about that, even 5 pushups are hard for me, considering that i'm alot wider then my arms would like!

is there another way to increase bicep size and arm stregth without having to go into fairly heavy bell weights?

Cheers for quick reply

Barry.Oglesby

well first you really need to master your bodyweight. If you're struggling to do 5 bodyweight push ups, then you are essentially lifting a heavy weight the same way an experienced trainee will lift a barbell.

Start small, do as many as you can and then drop to your knees, keep your back straight and do another few. The push up is an underrated exercise for getting started in strength training. A good session for someone at home just looking to begin would be:
Warm Up
Lunge 5 sets of 8 each leg
Plank/bridge 3 times for 20 seconds
Push ups 5 sets of 12 (on the knees)
Then stop.

You can obviously vary exercises and increase reps as you progress, but that would be a decent session to begin with at the level you're at. Combine that with a good diet and some walking/jogging and you're going to be off to a good start.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Also you'll be amazing how quickly you build up your push-ups. Took a mate of mine over the summer to the gym a few times - he started off literally struggling to do one push-up. Within 2-3 weeks he was knocking out 10 at a time.

Fair play on starting, it's the hardest part

Hotman

cheers for the help guys.

ok i've done it, took the plunge haha, im currently crippled here from lactic acid, shoulders, forearms thighs :P

quick question, i've been doing weights every 2nd day for about 30 mins with an experienced friend. im gonna go running again this weekend which i have off, not back till monday. the question is, as im already kinda flabby around the chest and stomach area, how do i get my arms bigger while im eatin all this extra food and taking in my Protein shake each day? like im having breakfast, trying not to eat chocolate im having a couple of small meals and dinner, but i can't help but feeling it's only increasing my midsection size...