DafVinci's Journal.

Well today was my first time in a gym having never lifted anything heavier than my 7 year old son and I thouroughly enjoyed myself.

I pretty much just tried out all the machines and tried different exercises with free weights.

I tried to get a base line of my strength by doing squats, deadlifts and bench presses but didn't give it my all as I have no training partner and didn't want to do any damage on first go. Lol.

So here they are:-
Benched 65kgs for 5 reps.
Squated 90kgs for 3 reps.
Deadlifted 140kgs for 3 reps.
Overhead pressed 60kgs for 5 reps.

Well chuffed at the results as I was not expecting my strength to be that good.

Those are very good lifts for someone who has never set foot in a gym before, especially 140x3 on the deadlift

Just something to add from experience, make sure you learn the correct technique and practice it over and over before chucking the weight on.

Good luck

Thanks mate. I've been watching videos like mad to try and get proper form, but I suppose seeing it done in person is a better way to learn???

They are pretty good numbers for a first session and you definitely should ensure you keep correct form on your lifts from the start as its easy to pick up bad habits.
How old are you?

I'm 27 mate.

Not too old to start then, .

There's an opens comp in Carmarthen show ground on Feb' 4th, if your interested, there's some big names competing.
You'll have to buy your tickets beforehand as its proving quite popular.
It's called 'Celtic Carnage', check it out on the competitions page.

Me and the family would love to go. Where do I get tickets to come and watch it from? Are you competing too?

I'm not competing I'm referee, it's being run by gibbynutrition, you can either try their website, Facebook page or on the thread on here.

Cool.

I will keep an eye out for you if I can make it and try and introduce myself if you aint too busy.

Will try their website now.

Pretty sore today after yesterdays session. But in a good way, feels rather nice knowing my body has worked hard.

Think I will just do some cardio today and give my muscles a day or two to recuporate then hit the gym again 2moz.

How often should I leave between trys for a 1 rep max workout? Should I try and beat my PBs every week or every 2 weeks?

x2 - I found subscribing to Andy Bolton's newsletter really helpful as well for techniques, also if you search on youtube for you think you can squat there's a really good tutorial from westside guys - this prob helped me most with squatting!

I'm competing at Celtic Carnage - as a novice though!!! So maybe see you there

Awesome, hopefully see you there then.

I've been watching the you tube vids like mad. Lol. Have found them really helpful too.

Good luck with the comp too mate.

I'd say do 5s or triples or something, until you've done enough heavy reps that the form is second nature. Go for a new PB set sure, but don't bother with 1RMs for the first few months. Maybe a 5x5 program or "Starting Strength".

Thanks for the info mate.
Where do I find the 'starting strength' and 5x5 programmes so I can have a good look at them?

Are they available on the forum or should I google it?

There's an SS book (£7.50 on Kindle if you're that way inclined) or a wiki with plenty of good info here

Anything ascribed to Bill Starr, like this lot will do you well too.

Sets of five are the basis of most of these; they're heavy, but there's enough leeway and plenty of reps to practise the form. The other key is progression, adding weight to the bar every workout, or only every week later. Very simple, but not at all easy.