Sports & Fitness Pls suggest 3 day/week - 45 mins - beginner gym workout

Look up Pavel Tsatsouline when you get the chance. He is the person who created kettlebells. You are correct that you can get injuries if you just start swinging like a madman, but just like any exercise, done incorrectly will cause short term or long term injuries.

 

After familarising myself with the machines for last two weeks, I have followed your program. I was able to do:
Treadmill : 9 min x 1.14 km (Heart rate went upto 166)
Incline Leg Press: 13 Reps x 45 kg x 2 sets
Calf Raise : 13 Reps x 45 kg x 2 sets
Lat pull-down : 13 Reps x 40 kg x 2 sets
Low Row (Seated) : 13 Reps x 33 kg + 10 Reps x 33 kg (Instead of Bent over Row)
Chest Press Machine: 13 Reps x 26 kg x 2 sets (Bench Press)
Triceps push-up : 13 Reps x 47 kg + 11 Reps x 47Kg (47Kg is actually the negative)

I didn't give much break between each excercise. All took about 30 mins.
Q1: Is this kind of pathetic effort for a 42 year old male (181 cm tall & 79kg)?
Q2: Do I have long way to get to a 'normal' strength state?
Q3: What should I be aiming for?

 

Great start.
I would swap out triceps for a dip or a compound shoulder move.

1. how strong you are now doesn't matter.You will get stronger constantly
2. write down what you did, do 1 rep extra each time you go, in 3 months you will be much stronger, in 1 year much stronger again.
3. to do one more rep everytime you go to the gym and everytime you can do 13 reps put the weight up.

 

With those goals I'd look up Tactical Barbell. It has a base building component which is a few weeks of building your fitness up to prepare you for the strength portion that follows. Give both their books a read if you want to fully understand it.

I haven't been to the gym in almost a couple of years now due to time constraints (and it shows!) but I've found renovating has given me the same sorness afterward that gym used to.

 

I thought they were same. This is what we have in our gym....

Higher the weight is easier it gets.

So for example, now I can do Incline Leg Press: 13 Reps x 45 kg x 2 sets.
Next time, I should put the weight up and do whatever reps possible. Then make my way up to 13. Is that right?

 

Correct. You are working in that 6-12 range. You should be do as many reps as you can every time, so if you can do 19 then you may be able to go up 2 plates. Your mini goal, for the weight you are on at the time, is to get to 13 so you can put the weight up.

 

Great comments all around especially about not getting injured.

If you are not time poor, try adding an easy 2-3km job after your workouts and by easy i mean jogs where you can still talk while at it. That would help with cardio fitness and burn a bit more calories while keeping your body on a high from a metabolic perspective so all round winner. Plus it can act as a warm down after your workouts.

 

It's been about six weeks since I have started. Followed PC experts advice and increased the weights after hitting 13 reps X 2 Sets.



It is a massive increase within 6 weeks for me. I don't think I can expect similar increses in next 6 weeks.

 

Good job for sticking at it for 6 weeks.
Aim for another 6 week block to lock in your consistency and create a habit.

Progress is definitely not linear and you won't continue to make fast gains in all areas.
Some areas will keep progressing for a while and others will stall.
The body does not gain equally all over.
Your weakest body parts will show soon, and those are the parts you should focus more on, rather than your strong areas.

Add in some higher intensity stuff if you can.

Keep it up

 

@Ace in the Hole is there a home gym setup you would recommend?

 

This would cover everything and give you so many exercise variations for 2k:

MUSCLE MOTION FT1001 3 IN 1 FUNCTIONAL TRAINER SMITH MACHINE SQUAT RACK

You could do it cheaper with a basic rack for closer to 1k if budget is limited, but less exercise variations to play with.

 

@devank hows's progress?

You should definitely be seeing some results by now if you're pushing your limits, while staying within your recovery abilities.

 

I reported my progress end of last month.
We are on holidays with kids till ANZAC day. Hopefully, I can pick up again from where I have left off.

 

Consistency is key for results and locking in good habits.
Holidays are one of the best opportunities to exercise.
Plenty of bodyweight stuff you can do if there is no equipment around.
A break in momentum is a killer when you're making progress.
Just sayin.

 

Thanks for saying it nicely

I've be been doing 24 pushups every morning. I know that's not enough.
We were at the Warner Brothers works ( Sea World, Wet'n Wild & Movie World) with three kids (4, 6 & 8). I hope running behind them counts to something

 

Use your kids as unstable weighs, it will work really well.
Put one or two of them on your shoulders and do some squats with them.
That will be a great exercise.
For the push ups, get one of them to sit on your back for more resistance.
And you can do some overhead press with them as well.

And, enjoy your holiday too.

 

@Ace in the Hole you views regarding low reps, limiting cardio etc.. are similar to a book I'm ready a the moment Bigger Leaner Stronger by Michael Matthews.

Sort of flies in the face of all these boot camp, F45 style centres.

 

It really depends on what you're training for.
Strength, Fitness, Endurance, Physique an Appearance, or a combination.
If you're not competing in endurance events, I believe you can get away with not specifically training long cardio sessions and still achieve all the above.
Gymnasts and Olympic weightlifters, at least the light to mid weight classes, have awesome lean and muscular physiques without doing any cardio.
They'd probably struggle severely running a marathon, but that's not their game or goal, but they would still be much fitter than average without long steady state cardiovascular training.
Bootcamp and F45 stuff is just general fitness.
Diet will determine the differences in results people achieve.

 

I think that the 'boot camp' and F45 style centres have a very specific target client... the 18-40 yo woman. Flogging yourself half to death with anaerobic cardio seems to appeal to them. My wife's friends are injuring themselves with the Kayla Itsine's Bikini Body workout at the moment. It runs in the same vein.. over-complicated and too much exertion on the body.

I think that the proven formula is: eat well, sleep well, emphasise resistance training over cardio. Michael Matthews, Marc Perry, Brad Pilon, Jason Ferrugia, Al Kalvadlo, John Barban etc all seem to promote similar philosophies. Maybe they just operate in the same circles?