maximus asinus said: @SuperSquall: I find it sort of ironic that you are advocating organized sports over gym because of risk of injury. From my experience, if you're practicing proper form and general safety you're less likely to get hurt at the gym than during a competitive sport. Ignoring "freak" accidents like breaking bones, I would say you would have a more likely chance of tearing, pulling, or hyper extending doing something high intensity that you don't have complete control over. But this is me speaking from personal experience, so maybe I'm wrong on this one.
Also from my research, protein is essential for muscle building. From personal experience I can tell you it is important. Protein powder might not be ideal for him, but I can tell you I put on about 5-8 lbs of additional muscle after I started using it. One serving of meat (20g of protein on average) will not cut it.
Mavilu said: I don't go to the gym, I have everything I need right in this very room I am at the moment; it took a few years, but now I have weights in a few different sizes, as well as ankle weights, exercise mats, exercise balls, a stationary bike, my husband's ski machine, etc. I tried going to the gym, but I prefer knowing that no one else has sweated over the equipment I'm using, besides, the mere idea of having to *go* to the gym is enough to make me want to slump in an easy chair instead, but if I have what I need at home, all I need is to change into confortable clothes in order to get a workout.
maximus asinus said: @kirbenvost: I am a generally modest guy but it is a great feeling being able to take your shirt off in public with that certain type of confidence. As for the gym, I feel like the beginning everyone hates it because you don't know what you're doing and you're surrounded by people who have more experience than you. But when you bounce around there for a few weeks or a month you begin to feel more comfortable and it seems like less of a drag. Always bring your own music though, it is a generally universal rule that all gym music sucks.
kirbenvost said: I think I need some tips... I suck at crunches. I did like 50 of them yesterday in sets of 10 on one of those gym balls, and I hardly feel it today. I must be doing it wrong. I can't even do them on the floor. I feel like I'm either going up too far, or not 'curling' my abs enough, or something. I guess I need to get on youtube and look at some proper form.
Mavilu said: I adhere to what Maximus says, you don't need to make them sit-ups and you do have to engage your belly muscles; the tips that worked for me in the beginning: while you are getting the feel of what a proper crunch is, do them on the floor, not on a ball, tuck your chin in, engage you belly muscles by sinking your belly button (when you do it, you'll see what I'm saying), inhale and, trying to use nothing else but your stomach (keep that belly button sunken or you'll risk a hernia!) try to lift just your shoulders off the floor, you don't need to do much, especially at the beggining, after a while, you'll get it. There's always the possibility that your stomach is too weak (hey, it's normal) and you can't do a proper crunch for the life of you, if that is the case, strengthening your abs enough in order to do crunches is possible, you do this: you lie on the floor with your knees bent and your feet on the floor and while keeping the abs tight, you bring your legs towards your torso (as far as I remember, that's called a Reverse Crunch), if that is too easy for you, try it with your legs flat on the floor, but don't lift them straight up, only 45 degrees or so. You'll get the hang of it, we all do.
maximus asinus said: If you're doing floor crunches you need to make sure you're keeping your ab muscles tight, you only need to come up about 60 degrees to engage your muscles. Also abs are a weird kind of muscle, you should be going with high reps and small breaks between sets. You will need to do other core exercises to engage all your ab groups plus your obliques though, I recommend finding some compound exercises that work them all to save time.
maximus asinus said: Also Kirben, the bench press is sort of a compound exercise, your arms are engaged so soreness in your biceps is normal. What kind of machine are you using?