Do you have any recommendations for a beginner? I looked into weightlifting when I was younger, but I kept getting barraged with conflicting information from people. I have some time now and would be interested in this but would like some good information on starting out.
Hello
I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an expert in this field and I think John Mckean might be better able to advise you but here's my tuppence worth:
If you want to lift weights competitvely then talk to John. If you want to become a bodybuilder then I have nothing to add because I have no idea about this. If you just want to get fitter and stronger and build a reasonable amount of muscle then you are in the same boat as I was when I started (and still am).
I did a good bit of research before I embarked on my training regime and I am aware of the problem of conflicting information. The internet, in particular, is full of people telling you that their way is the best and other people's ways dont work. As I said, I'm no expert, but logic tells me that all forms of weight/strength training are effective in some way or another. What I did was I picked a form of training that made sense to me. What made sense to me in terms of "lifting weights" was to make training with a sandbag the mainstay of my routine.
Sandbags for strength training are sold commercially or you can make your own using a army kit bag and some builders rubble sacks filled with sand. There are loads of "how to" video for this on youtube. With either of these options you can fill them to your desired weight and it does not have to be sand, some people use lead shot, wood pellets, gravel etc. The main thing is that you only partially fill the bag (usually about 75%). This means that as you train with the bag the weight shifts around inside it, thus causing you to have to engage more muscles in order to maintain stability. This is one of the reasons I chose to train with sandbags. The other reasons where: 1) It improves grip strength because you have to grip the bag very tightly in order to train effectively with it 2)Great for core strength 3)Form is not as critical with sandbag training as it would be with the likes of, say, kettlebell training. 4) You can train at home and if you drop the bag, it wont damage your floor. There are numerous excercises you can do with a sandbag (see youtube) and a good sandbag workout will strengthen all your muscles and give you a challenging aerobic work out to. There are other training aids that work on the same principle of the weight shifting as you train but using water such as the slosh pipe,slosh ball, and the slosh bag (AKA aqua bag).
I would recommend that you spend a good bit of time strengthening your abdominal muscles. This will help you avoid hurting your back when lifting whatever weights you decide to train with. I would also reccomend that you do bodyweight excercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, bicylce crunches, leg ups, hanging leg ups, chin-ups, the plank etc
Anyway, find what works for you and don't become bogged down in the sea of conflicting opinions. At the end of the day, any training that involves resistance of any kind will help to strengthen your muscles. Why not PM John Mckean, he sounds like a man who might be able to point you in the right direction.
