Tao of Bachelorhood

I'm not even sure how you change the plates on that. (Photo by Rennett Stowe)

If you’ve recently started a weight training program (like my starter workout plan) you’ve probably noticed a steady initial gain in the weight you can lift. But for every man there comes a time when the gains don’t come as easy. What then?

Being stuck at a specific weight can be perplexing. To gain muscle you also need to gain strength: if you use a 30 pound-dumbbell every time you do dumbbell curls, you won’t be building new muscle. So you need to move up—but how?

The answer is easier than you think: just lift the higher weight.

Perfect Your Form

First, be honest with yourself. Are you performing perfect reps at your current weight? If not, concentrate on lifting the weight in a steady motion, and returning the weight to its starting position smoothly in every rep. When you can do this with your full range of motion for at least 12 reps, you’re ready to move up.

Also make sure you’re approaching your workouts properly, getting adequate rest between workouts and proper nutrition. If you’re overtraining or tired, it will be harder to gain strength.

Kick It Up a Notch—But Just One Notch

The general rule of thumb is that you should increase your weight by less than 10 percent at a time, and in general I would keep that to five percent. Ideally the weight increase you choose should let you perform 8-10 reps with good form. If you can’t do 8 reps with good form, back the weight down a bit. Even a 1-2 pound increment is reasonable when you’re performing an exercise like dumbbell curls where your weight is likely to be under 40 pounds.

But what if there aren’t plates small enough to let you increase your weight by less? Look around—a lot of gyms have small blocks to put on a machine’s weight stack, or magnetic plates that stick onto dumbbells or barbells. If your gym doesn’t have these, or you’re working out at home, a fitness equipment store will likely have smaller plates that will let you adjust your weight precisely. They’re a good investment.

As a last resort, do as many reps as you can do with perfect form at the new weight, even if it’s 4-5 reps. Low reps will still build your strength, as long as they’re solid reps.

Change Your Exercise

Another way to improve your strength is to do an exercise similar to the one where you’ve plateaued. If you’ve hit a barrier on the chest press, try an incline or decline chest press to hit the muscles slightly differently. You might find that by the time you hit a plateau in the new exercise, you can lift more weight in the old one.

Take a Break

If you find you’re hitting a plateau at multiple exercises, and you’ve been working out on schedule for several months, take a break for a week. A good rest will help your body recover fully so you’re at 100 percent when you get back to it. Eat and sleep well on your rest week.

When I hit plateaus, I find that simply raising my weight anyway gets me unstuck. Part of the issue with plateaus is the mental factor: you might get it stuck in your head that you can’t lift more, and if you can’t visualize yourself lifting more your body may just have to agree with you. By increasing by less, performing fewer reps and varying your exercise, you should be able to bust almost any plateau.

I would suggest waiting until he's done with the dumbbell. (Photo by darkpatator.)

This is the busy time for fitness clubs everywhere, as people who made bold New Year’s resolutions to shed pounds or gain muscle make a valiant (or maybe just half-assed) attempt at their goal. Every day as I go through my workout I see my gym’s sales rep leading prospective customers on a tour. “Over here we’ve got 86 different exercise machines, and over there another 22 benches and platforms, and in this room 66 cardio stations.”

The visitors follow, bug-eyed, staring first at the battalion of alien machines, then at the muscular guy in the super-tight white shirt completing his dumbbell flyes with a loud grunt and dropping the weights with a crash. Then at the trio of 20-something already-thin women on the stair climber machines, silently stepping sideways and backwards and sideways again. Then at the couple performing yoga poses including (I am not making this up) the husband lying on his back with his legs up as his wife balances in “Supergirl” position on the soles of his feet.

It can be daunting for someone new to this environment. How do you use the machines? What if you get in the way of the “expert” customers? What is that thing with the padded dual armrests and outstretched swivel handles?

It’s a lot simpler than you think.

First, every machine is for a specific exercise. All you need to do is find the ones you need. They’re usually clearly marked “Leg Press,” “Biceps Curl,” etc. The most obvious machines are usually the ones you want to use. Many machines even have instructions listed on them. Get a workout plan (here’s one) and have at it.

Most gyms have a free trial period. Always use the free trial. If there are multiple clubs in your area, try them all. There are a wide range of amenities at different clubs: some have free shower towels, others may cater mostly to free-weight users. Make sure of what’s included in your membership so you’re not unpleasantly surprised when you have to pay extra to use the pool.

When you start a new membership, many clubs offer one or two free sessions with a personal trainer. This is usually to try and sell you on personal training, which earns the club an extra fee. Make sure to take advantage of the free session, and have the trainer show you everything you need to know about the equipment. Additional personal training is great if you can afford it, but if you can’t there are plenty of self-guided workouts to get you where you want to be.

Finally, your membership fee is just as important to the gym as that of the guy with the sinewy glutes. If you’re using a piece of equipment, as long as you’re obeying the rules and using common courtesy, he can wait until you’re done. You might offer to let him “work in” a set while you’re resting, though—he might return the favor by helping you with a new exercise or “spotting” you on the bench press.

There are alternatives to working out in a gym—some dumbbells, a bench and a mat can create a fitness club in your own home, and guys have even been known to train on playground equipment—but a gym is an environment with fewer distractions than at home and more equipment than a set of monkey bars. Wherever you can focus on an intense workout is where you should be, and that’s often the dedicated environment of a gym. Learn and practice proper gym etiquette and you’ll be fine.

Gyms aren’t smelly, dark places anymore—not even “hardcore” chains like Gold’s Gym. In an article in the Shawnee Dispatch, a reporter found that clubs are clean, well-lit and inviting in his aptly titled story, “Even fat, old men are welcome at gyms.” That probably sums it up as well as anything.

Because you really don't want to have to ask him where the Nautilus is.

In the time since I wrote my original Simple Starter Workout post, over a thousand people have read it and it’s still the most popular post on this site. (In fact, it’s so popular I’m going to be doing something special with it, just in time for your New Year’s resolution.)

I still believe machines are the best way for a complete beginner can get up to speed in a workout program without getting injured or requiring a personal trainer. However, there comes a time when you’ll stop seeing benefits from machines, and to gain lean muscle faster as well as shed more fat you have to graduate to free weights.

Benefits of free weights over machines

Just to be clear, our definition of “free weights” includes cable exercises like lat pulldowns and no-weight exercises like pull-ups. In this starter workout we’ll only cover exercises you can do with minimal equipment – if you have access to dumbbells, a bench and a pull-up bar, you can do this entire workout.

The advantages you enjoy with free weight exercises include:

• You’ll work more muscles with each exercise.
• You’ll employ additional muscles for stabilization.
• Your balance and coordination will improve.
• Greater concentration means higher intensity.
• You can inexpensively equip your own home gym.

Form is more important than weight

While machines “lock” you into a specific motion, free weights can move in just about any direction you make them move — including a few directions that could hurt you. In addition, poor form will impact the benefit you get from the exercise.

For that reason, make sure you’re performing each exercise correctly with light weights first. In fact, before each set it’s a good idea to do a warmup set with low or no weight.

The basic workout plan

This plan follows the same format as the original Simple Starter Workout: you’ll warm up and get your heart rate going with five minutes of whatever kind of cardio you prefer. Treadmill, stairs, elliptical, jumping rope or a light run outside. The goal is to warm up, not kill yourself.

Then move directly to the dumbbells and start your Day 1 exercises:

• Dumbbell chest press
• Pull-ups
• Dumbbell flyes
• Bent-over rows

The exercises here that you may need to seek form advice on are the dumbbell flyes and bent-over rows. YouTube is again your friend, and I’ve included links to form videos above. If you can’t squeeze out more than one or two pull-ups with full range of motion, and you’re at a gym, you can use the Gravitron or similar assisted pull-up device.

You’re going to do one set of each exercise, at a weight where you can do around 10 reps, give or take one or two, before your muscles “fail.” Start with light weights, and move smoothly through the full range of motion.

After you finish your set of chest presses, move immediately to the pull-up bar and start your set there. Drink some water while you’re on the move. Then do the same with the dips and rows, until you’ve finished one set of each exercise. Then head directly back to do three minutes of cardio, then repeat the sequence of weights. After you’ve completed three sets of everything, you’re done.

As in the original workout, Day 2 substitutes arm exercises for the chest and back exercises:

• Dumbbell curls
• Bench dips
• Shoulder press
• Shoulder shrugs

Right now I’ve broken the exercises out so that you do the chest/back and arms on separate days, but as you get comfortable, you’ll find that moves like dips and pull-ups work both the torso and arms, so you can combine them.

Day 3 is still legs and core:

• Squats with dumbbells or barbell (form is critical — read my previous post about squats)
• Walking lunges
• Sit-ups
• Back extensions

On the fourth day, rest, then go back to the chest/back exercises and continue through the cycle. As you get more accustomed to this, you can substitute new exercises, while still ensuring you work opposing muscle groups each day, and different body parts on successive days.

You may note that I didn’t include deadlifts in this program. I love deadlifts, but your form has to be super solid. Once you can squat with perfect form and reasonable weight, you may consider working deadlifts into your legs/core day.

Don’t forget to prepare and recover

The Starter Workout Part 2 article still applies here: warm up and cool down properly for maximum benefit. And keep a diary of your workouts, so that you remember your starting weights and stay on track.

With commitment and intensity, you can shape your body to look your best, and you’ll feel great too. If you have any questions, leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Welcome again to “I Click It,” where I get past a confusing headline designed to make you view a page that may be useful or crap. Today we return to Men’s Health, where today I found this waiting for me:

Hmm, a new way to use a barbell? Perhaps as a weapon in some new Mixed Martial Art? Maybe a very sturdy but short flagpole? Then again, there are a few gym rats whom I’ve wanted to show a new way to use a…but I digress. I was intrigued. So let’s see what we got:

Um, yeah.

It’s a dumbbell lunge, but you put a barbell in front of you so you’re forced to step over it. Which…pretty much does nothing to help.

The problem here is that if you’re using the proper form in your lunge, with your back knee just touching the ground, you’re going to take a very uniform step. Putting an obstacle in front of you to step over won’t really change that—with one exception they don’t show you in the above drawing: you’re going to need to kind of kick your front foot out on each step, making you look a little bit like a Monty Python character but not really changing the benefit you get from the exercise.

Then when you push back up, you’ll have to kick it out again, which may have a benefit but may just make you lose your balance. The theory as stated in the article is that guys don’t lunge as far as they should or as “explosively” (not a word I’d use for a lunge motion) as they should, and maybe by having to do that little kick it will help correct these flaws. I’ve tried a couple of sets of this myself, and I don’t feel anything different.

In fact, performing a normal lunge seems to hit my legs harder than the “dynamic” lunge. Then again, maybe I have better form than the guys they’re hoping to help.

The article then moves to side lunges, which again, seem to differ only through having to lift the leg a tad higher on the way over the bar. Then an actual not-new way to use a barbell, but one that might be new to you: the Hack Squat. This is like a reverse deadlift where you hold the barbell behind you. This one is fun to try, so here’s a video to help:

This cavalcade of barbell newness concludes with the Single-leg Deadlift Reach, which is just a regular Single Leg Deadlift with dumbbells, but at the bottom of the reach you tap the dumbbell on…you guessed it, the barbell. This will presumably help by making loud clanging noises, inciting the others in the gym to chase you for a more complete leg workout. If you want to reach down to a consistent spot, put a 12″ box down at that spot, and maybe cover it with a mat so you don’t annoy everyone. Here’s how to do a Single-Leg Deadlift:

The verdict? These are all great exercises. Lunges are a great part of a workout, hack squats are fun to try in place of a deadlift, and a single-leg deadlift is great for balance and posture.

But while maybe I’m missing something, I think lunges with proper form will actually work your legs better than lunges over a 10-12″ obstacle, because you can concentrate on the part of the workout where you lunge, rather than having to kick your leg up or out and risk whacking your ankle or losing your balance. You can see some proper form in the No-Weights Workout.

You’re welcome.

Ready for Liftoff? [Men's Health]

You never know when you'll run into a mandatory leg exercise area. (Photo by sanchom)

The toughest part of your body to work out is the legs. For the longest time I dreaded “leg day.” And if I was still using Nautilus-type machines I probably still would. Leg curls and seated presses are mind-numbingly dull and don’t hit all the muscles I want to work. Then there are leg extensions, which put huge stress on the knee joint. All of this added up to a leg workout that was long and boring.

Back when I was figuring things out on my own, I tried squats. And guess what — I hurt myself with poor form. So it was back to the machines for a (long) while, and my legs didn’t see many gains.

When I switched my workout to free weights, I started from scratch with squats. I watched video and got pointers on my form. Although I don’t have a specific “leg day” anymore, I’m actually excited on the days when squats are in the plan. There are many components to squat form, so in that respect it keeps my mind occupied while also engaging virtually every muscle from my knees to my core.

Your First Squat

To start with the squat, you really want to work without weight. I think you’ll be surprised how much you’ll feel 15-20 properly executed air squats, especially if you’ve never done them before. Concentrate on your form:

• Legs a little more than shoulder-width apart, with the toes turned slightly outward.
• Chest up, shoulders back.
• Hips back.
• Your weight on your heels.
• Look straight ahead.

From there you want to go down like you’re sitting in a chair that’s out behind you. If you keep your hips back, your back will have that slightly concave curve you want. Go all the way down until the tops of your thighs are parallel to the floor. It can help to put a low bench under where your butt should land and squat down until you touch the bench. If you don’t get down far enough, you won’t engage your hamstrings and the exercise will be half wasted.

After you’ve reached bottom, drive up with your hips. Using the best form, the weight bar will make a straight line up and down — all the power and movement is in your legs.

When you’re ready for weight, start with an empty bar across your back. Your hands should be near your shoulders with the bar resting on your trapezoids. Only increase the weight on the bar when you feel completely comfortable squatting the current weight with 100 percent proper form. And use a squat rack to hold the bar before and after your set.

What I Learned

If there’s one thing that improved my squat more than any other, it’s the placement of my feet and making sure my weight is on my heels. If your feet are far enough apart and your toes pointed outward, you can more easily keep your knees behind your toes.

I also learned to go down as far as I can, and maybe a little further. A lot of guys stop way too high, and they don’t get all of the benefit of the exercise. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone go down too far.

Worried about hurting your knees? Doing squats with proper form, all the way down, can actually help strengthen your knees.

Let’s Go to the Tape

As always, even if you can’t get a personal trainer to watch you, at the very least you’ve got YouTube to offer examples and form. Here are a selection of squat form videos:

This is a basic tutorial showing repetitive form. The next video is a bit more instructional (although there’s some unintentional humor in there — those wacky Aussies):

And finally here’s a walk-through of strict squat form by Crossfit guru Mark Rippetoe (search under his name on YouTube for many more related videos):

As always, take it easy, think form over weight, and use the full range of motion. After you get the hang of squats, I think you’ll like the results. By beach time next year you’ll be swimsuit-worthy indeed.

Watch him lift that desk, tough guy.

There are workouts that create big, rippling muscles. Others maintain a steady heart rate to burn fat. Still others that increase your endurance and agility.

Then there’s Crossfit.

Designed for “elite athletes” and military personnel, Crossfit has trickled down to folks who are looking for an all-around fitness program — improving strength, endurance, agility, speed, and more — and who aren’t afraid of challenging themselves in the process. It’s also been my workout of choice for about 6-8 months now. I’ve never had my ass kicked so hard by a workout as with this one. Intensity is one of the two factors for success in a workout plan, and Crossfit is built to be intense.

How You Do It

Unlike most workouts, which include a regular repetition of certain exercises (arms Monday, legs Tuesday, etc.), Crossfit features a Workout of the Day (or WOD) that varies in a seemingly random (but actually structured) manner. Recent WODs included:

• Barbell squats, 5 sets of 3 reps for maximum weight.
• Alternating sets of sit-ups and jump-rope, done for time.
• Four rounds of 100 ft walking lunges, 24 inch box jumps, and weighted pull-ups, for time.
• 5k run.

Then there’s the Crossfit Total, which is intended to determine your single-rep max in the deadlift, squat and shoulder press. Other WODs are named after women (“The Girls”) or fallen soldiers. Yet others include such intense-sounding names as “Fight Gone Bad” or “Filthy Fifty.”

A workout is posted each day at the Crossfit.com web site by Greg Glassman, known to most Crossfitters as “Coach.” If you already have access to the simple equipment required for the workouts, you don’t have to pay a cent extra. In fact, this is the way I do it. But if you need a helping hand to lead you through the exercises, there’s probably a Crossfit-licensed gym in your town. It’s way more expensive than a regular fitness club, but you’re paying for a certain amount of personal training to help you with form, and camaraderie when doing the exercises.

New Dimensions in Pain

One aspect you’ll quickly catch on to is how taxing an average Crossfit workout is. Most WODs are quite short: between 10 and 20 minutes for timed sets, a little longer on strength days. But the exercises are intended to push your limits: “cheating” is difficult, because each workout has a recorded goal. You can share your results on the Crossfit web site or other discussion groups around the Web, but the only real competition is within yourself.

And because of the variety and intensity of exercises, there’s always the potential for injury. The word mentioned in criticism of Crossfit is Rhabdomyolysis: breakdown of skeletal muscle causing kidney failure. While it sounds horrible, it’s a risk in any intense program, from professional bodybuilding to police and military training, and even then it’s fairly uncommon. There are certain moves Crossfit discourages for their rhabdo potential, including large numbers of jumping pull-ups.

And because you’ll be lifting weights to your single-rep maximum, form is critical. Hurting your back the first time you perform a deadlift isn’t going to help you get fit. And when your intensity’s high, hydration and warmups become even more important.

When You’re Not A Marine

One final tip if you’re thinking of trying Crossfit: don’t do the WOD as posted. You’ll kill yourself, and I don’t want a dead reader. The version posted on the Crossfit site is the “as prescribed” or “Big Dawgs” version, intended for top athletes. Instead, go to the message boards at the Brand X Crossfit site and find the scaled version. A good rule of thumb is to find the scaling you think you can handle, and use the version just below that. The people on the Brand X boards can also help you with questions and support.

If you’re curious, give Crossfit a shot for a few weeks. It’s not for everyone — some guys just need a simple, basic workout, and whatever keeps you going out to exercise is what you want to be doing. But if you do try Crossfit, you might find a level of intensity you didn’t know you had in you.

Suitable attire for Iraq...and that's about it. (Photo by Army.mil)

Now you have a solid workout plan, including a warmup and post-exercise strategy. Once in a while you just get outside and do some body-weight exercises — great. But it occurred to me today that I might be leaving something out.

Why?

Because it happened again. A guy walked out of the showers, soaking wet, across the locker-room rug, and sat down on a bench with only one of the gym’s thin free towels between him and the seat. Dripping all over, he somehow decided the most critical place to start was his hair. Eventually he got up to dry the rest of himself off, changed and left — leaving the waterlogged towel on the bench, and the other one on the floor.

Don’t let this be you.

It doesn’t stop in the locker room either. There are certain protocols that help everyone to not only have a better workout, but to not catch that cold or spread that H1N1 virus you don’t even know you have yet.

Be Smart About Weights

It’s easy for a guy to get intimidated the first few months at the gym: there’s always some dude and his buddy with bulging biceps, urging each other for one more 120-pound preacher curl. You look down at the 15’s in your hands and you feel like showing you can handle a bunch more weight. You go grab a couple of 40’s, take a deep breath, put a little extra oomph into it with your body, and…the next day you ask your buddies, “did you know you can hurt your back doing bicep curls? Turns out you can.”

Go light and work your way up. There’s no crime in using light weights. In fact, you can get a decent workout using the smallest possible weights, as long as you practice with good form and a full range of motion. Even experienced bodybuilders will often do warmup sets with just a bar, so they can make sure their form is correct. Nobody’s keeping track. Except you. In your notebook.

Use a spotter. I once clobbered myself in the forehead with a barbell I thought I’d racked properly after a set of incline chest presses. Knurled bars + weight = a nasty scrape. If you’re working out with free weights, a spotter not only ensures you don’t hurt yourself, it helps you squeeze out an extra rep or two.

Don’t drop weights — unless you’re in danger. There’s always one guy who finishes every set by just letting the bar or dumbbells fall to the ground. The problem is, unless you’re at a pro gym, neither the equipment nor the floor is made for that. Plus it’s annoying to the other people around (and occasionally under) you. If your weight is too heavy to put down properly, it’s too heavy for you to handle on your own. Use a spotter.

Respect Your Fellow Members

You’ll be going to the gym between 4-6 times a week, and you’ll likely start to get to know the other members at least as nodding acquaintances. It’s a good idea to help them enjoy their workout by treating them with consideration, so that they do the same for you. One day when you’re stuck under a body-weight bench press you can’t get back to the rack, you want someone to actually come help you instead of laughing inside as your windpipe gets crushed.

Wear appropriate clothing, and wash it regularly. Find yourself a few workout shirts (old t-shirts are fine), some sort of rubber-soled athletic shoe and either some shorts or workout pants. Street clothes are too constricting for a proper workout. Breathable sports underwear is also a very good idea. And change at least the shirt and your underwear daily: you may be the last one in the room to realize that shirt you’re using “one last time” because it “smelled fine” is actually pretty ripe. I usually toss all of my shirts into the gym bag so I know there’s always a clean one there, but keep in mind that if you leave a sweaty top in the bag too long it’ll infect everything else.

Wipe down your equipment. Everyone’s touching and sweating on the equipment. Dirty equipment isn’t just nasty, it can serve as a virtual petri dish for viruses. For the sake of others, when you’re done with a piece of equipment use the spray and towels the gym provides for wiping off all surfaces you’ve touched. For the sake of yourself, you might also consider wiping them off before you start. (If the gym doesn’t have spray and towels, call the local health department and find a new gym.)

Stay off the cell phone. Keep your private conversations private. A gym has lots of hard reflective surfaces. You may not think everyone can hear your call, but they can.

Don’t stare at the ladies. Even if you honestly have never seen a real live fitness model in spandex before. (Smart guys use their peripheral vision.)

Locker-room Etiquette

I have theoretically seen Dave Matthews naked.

I say “theoretically” because: 1) I don’t look at any guy’s naked stuff in the locker room, at least on purpose; 2) If I do happen to see something, my brain is really, really good at blocking it from my memory. The fact I don’t recall it also tells me he was a good locker-room citizen and didn’t draw attention to himself like, say, asking if I know a good accountant while he’s letting it all hang out. But some guys do that. I am begging you, don’t make me notice that you’re naked.

Wear shower shoes. This one is mostly for you. A typical locker room is a breeding ground for athlete’s foot. You don’t want athlete’s foot, do you? (If you’ve ever had it, you’re shaking your head violently right now.) Besides, it’s hard to find a place where flip-flops are fashionable, so take advantage of it when you can.

Dry off in the proper area. Take your towel to the shower with you. If there are individual showers, it’s customary to dry off in the shower stall, even if there’s a line of guys waiting. If it’s one large communal shower, there’s always a tiled, water-friendly area set aside specifically for drying. When you walk to the locker area while soaking wet, you make the floor (often a carpet!) wet, which means the next guy who changes there gets to step in your drippings, possibly with his fresh socks. Not cool.

No hanging out naked. It’s okay to not cover up every second you’re in the changing area, but if you’re doing much more than going from point A to point B, at least wrap a towel around your waist. That includes shaving, hair gel application, Q-Tip usage, talking to other guys (even if they’re your brahs — hell, especially if they’re your brahs), checking your cell phone messages, watching the last five minutes of the football game on the locker-room TV, and anything that requires bending over.

Throw your towels in the proper receptacle. Towels left all over the benches and floor are unsanitary as hell. The cleaning staff may wear latex gloves but your fellow members don’t, and we have to use that floor and those benches.

A Little Common Sense

Some of these tips are obvious, but others may not be, especially if you see guys behaving like they grew up in a monkey house. Anything you do with weights, do it smart to avoid injury. Anything you do other than with weights, do it smart to keep the gym a clean, positive place where everyone (including you) wants to be. Concentrate on the best workout you can get, and as you feel more comfortable around the place, you’ll make some friends who might help you get to the next level.