[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

In my case since I would be doing this at home only (do not plan to go to the gym at all), would be relying on you tube videos for guidance around form. Any good recommendations would help.

Some decent fitness channels on YouTube that I visit on & off are Barbell Logic, Jeff Nippard, Scott Herman Fitness, Calisthenic Movement, Athlean X, Starting Strength, Alan Thrall.

For flat soled shoes, you can use plain canvas ones like these. I have used them for the past 2-3 years and they are definitely better than the ones with curved soles, like running shoes have.

[gautamkhadse]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

Hello,
decathalon which looks very nice (20 kg set). My only concern is whether the clips on it are good enough to hold the weights since some reviewers have mentioned that the weights came off.
S

The clips hold very well . They are adequate . You would not be disappointed wih this set .

[chetan]

Any good place in Bangalore to buy Gym equipment, especially Weights ? I am not interested in Decathlon products. Open to recommendations.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

Samurai San, would you recommend kettlebells for a new comer we well? I saw the video and was just wondering if these are good for someone who has no background in strength training at all. Also, what should be a good weight of kettle bell should one go for them at beginner level.

No, no, noooooo noooooooooo. It is not for beginners. I am not a beginner, and I have lot of core strength developed over many decades. Yet, I got injured doing one handed swings this month, I pulled my back. I'd say try it after a year of strength training practice.

[sukhoi]

Update: Ordered the Fitsy set of adjustable dumbbells (15 kg) on Sunday, expected delivery by coming Saturday (22-Aug). Wanted to go with the 20kg set but that was sold out. Decathalon also was not having the 20 kg set available online so that option was ruled out as well. Dug through storage and luckily found out old dumbbell plates which are approximately 3 kg each, so those plates coupled with 15 kg set should be a good starting point I feel.

I did some googling and the most common style which I found was to do a split of push-pull-legs for workout. Not sure how well I would be able to do it with just a set of dumbbells but does this seem like a good approach. Basic premise, as I understood was that this approach gave 48 hours of recovery time to muscle groups and that is the minimum gap one should have between exercising the same muscle group (hope I got it right). Any good beginner workout program recommendations which you guys have followed and find useful, please share. That would help me.

Thank you for your inputs sbanerjee. You mentioned quite a few points and I have a few questions as well

Originally Posted by sbanerjee

1. Please include basic cardios. With your weight and goal, it is recommended. Do it after weights.

Any specific reason for cardio after weights. Would it be ok if I did cardio in morning (morning walk in the park) and weights in the evening?

2. Always, and always warm up before you start training

This is one topic which seems to be vastly debated and there are different views on it. From things like static stretching to dynamic stretching to doing one set with out weights to get your body through the motions. Any suggestions on what to follow?

4. Get a tricep rod, EZ bar and a 5 feet bar as well. No need for olympic bars, as those Fitsy weight plates wont fit in Olympic bars.

Did not know what a tricep rod was, looked it up on Google and looks useful but is quite expensive so am planning to park this purchase for now. I would want to get started with dumbbells for now and gradually once I get into the rhythm would add barbell rods to the mix

5. Get a waist belt for training.

Would that be needed for the weights that I am doing with dumbells. My (rather limited) understanding is that waist belt is needed when you do heavy lifts like dead lifts or squats etc. with barbells.

7. Also get some extra weight plates apart from those that comes with dumbell sets. Two 7.5 kgs, and two 10 kgs for your squats and presses to start with. Then you can add up as per progress.

Will add these gradually.

10. Training is 70 percent diet, 30 percent exercise. Keep that in mind please

Very important point, totally agree.

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Some decent fitness channels on YouTube that I visit on & off are Barbell Logic, Jeff Nippard, Scott Herman Fitness, Calisthenic Movement, Athlean X, Starting Strength, Alan Thrall.

For flat soled shoes, .... I have used them for the past 2-3 years and they are definitely better than the ones with curved soles, like running shoes have.

Thank you for the link to the shoes comfortablynumb. Got an idea of what to look for and would try to find something similar. Not sure if these power ones would work for me since I am a size 11 and they max out at size 10. Last I recall, I had tried some power shoes (my favourite brand from childhood days) and the size 10 did not fit me. Interesting that you did not mention any of the Indian YouTubers. Some of the channels which I heard about from friends are Guru Mann Fitness, Fit Muscle TV & there was one more but I am forgetting the name.

Originally Posted by gautamkhadse

The clips hold very well . They are adequate . You would not be disappointed wih this set .

Thank you gautamkhadse. However this combo also went out of stock and got ruled out. Seems there is a lot of demand for such dumbell sets and other equipments due to closure of gyms and also because people are getting more serious about health (due to ongoing coronavirus thing).

Originally Posted by Samurai

No, no, noooooo noooooooooo. It is not for beginners. I am not a beginner, and I have lot of core strength developed over many decades. Yet, I got injured doing one handed swings this month, I pulled my back. I'd say try it after a year of strength training practice.

Point taken Samurai San, thank you for clarifying. Kettlebells parked for now. Hope you are recovering well and your back is better/healed now. Take care.

Am sorry if I am asking very basic questions, would give you an idea of my (lack of) knowledge and level of beginning-ness.

Regards,
S

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

Any good beginner workout program recommendations which you guys have followed and find useful, please share. That would help me.

S

I am a beginner so take the below with a spoon of salt.

Check this out. https://www.muscleandstrength.com/wo...mbbell-workout

I am doing a variation of this. Plus I use bands to do some corrective excercises from Athlean x.

Another source could be Nerd fitness.

Regarding cardio, I run. So my routine is 3 days weight training (Monday, wed, Friday) plus 2-3 day aerobic running using Maffeton method. https://www.runtothefinish.com/maffe...thon-training/

Felt it works well for recovery days.

One day (either saturday or sunday) is reserved for Cardio plus pulls (inverted rows and few pull ups).

[sbanerjee]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

Update: Ordered the Fitsy set...
,
S

The primary reason for doing cardio after strength is because there's a school of thought that it helps burn more calories. But if you want to do it in two shifts that's upto you.

Tricep bars, or egg rods, are available in Amazon, from Rs. 600 and above. Those gets the work done fine. During this lockdown I am using one of those.

You should always ensure to avoid injuries during work out. I got my back strained once while lifting barbells with excess weights. Since then, I never work out without a belt.

Again, warmups ensure that you avoid strains and injuries. You can warm up with less weight and progress, but few stretches always help.

There's this channel in YouTube, Total Alpha by Damien Patrick. Got very effective dumbell only full body workout training videos. You can check that out. Also search dumbell only work outs in Google. Plenty of examples.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by bblost

I have found these Weight Training Glove 900 with Wrist Strap - Black with Grey very comfortable.
They have lasted quite well except for the stitching in the left index finger giving up after a couple of months. I still use them because that is not a problem.

What size are you using? My hand length from the tip of my longest finger to under the palm is about 21cm. Unsure whether to order small or medium size.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by PPS

What size are you using? My hand length from the tip of my longest finger to under the palm is about 21cm. Unsure whether to order small or medium size.

I would strongly recommend buying the gloves after trying them on at a shop.

Uncomfortable gloves will cause a lot of discomfort.

I visited a Decathlon a couple of weeks back in Hyderabad. They have very good covid protocols in place.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by bblost

I would strongly recommend buying the gloves after trying them on at a shop.Uncomfortable gloves will cause a lot of discomfort.
I visited a Decathlon a couple of weeks back in Hyderabad. They have very good covid protocols in place.

Yes, I too would prefer to try them on. But their closest shop is closed & another shop which is 2hrs away has no stock. I guess I'll just wait since gyms are still going to be shut for some more time.

[PPS]

Has anyone been going to a public gym in recent times? Thing is my gym has shut down permanently! So thats money down the drain, but thats beside the issue. There is another gym which has opened in my locality, but its quite small. Its one-fourth the size of my previous gym. So I'm a bit worried about social distancing. Today afternoon there were only 2 people in the gym working out. And once I start going to office, I will workout at 6am & surely not many people will turn up at that time.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by PPS

Has anyone been going to a public gym in recent times?

Gyms in Maharashtra were allowed to reopen from yesterday, after which the gym I go to also restarted operations. I went at 6 pm, and was only the 5th member to come in the whole day.

Some SOPs that they follow are:
1. Mandatory temperature check and hand sanitization before entry.
2. No steam, sauna, group activities and swimming allowed.
3. Wearing a mask is mandatory.
4. No gathering in groups for idle chit chat.
5. Business hours are 6 - 10 AM, 4 - 8 PM and split into 1 hour slots. Every member has to choose one slot and stick to it. The receptionist said that 15-20 members is the limit per slot. Although I don't think that limit will ever be reached as even in pre-covid times, the gym was never that well populated.

For people whose memberships were active when the shutdown started, the owner has been good enough to give an extension of 50% of the missed duration. E.g. I missed 7 months of an annual membership, so will get an extension of 3.5 months from my upcoming renewal date. I was mentally prepared for no extension at all. So, given the circumstances, this is quite decent.

Hope people follow the rules, and don't give the authorities an excuse to shutdown gyms once again.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Gyms in Maharashtra were allowed to reopen from yesterday, after which the gym I go to also restarted operations. I went at 6 pm, and was only the 5th member to come in the whole day.

I joined a newly opened gym today, took the yearly membership. Was told people are reluctant to join, so thats a good thing for me. I was the only one to workout in the afternoon. The face shield kept fogging up, had to remove it as I couldn't see anything. I just hope they regularly sanitize & disinfect. Or maybe I myself should disinfect machines before & after use with sanitisers.

Mandatory temperature check before entry.

This wasn't done!

For people whose memberships were active when the shutdown started, the owner has been good enough to give an extension of 50% of the missed duration.So, given the circumstances, this is quite decent

Thats a very good by the owner.

[deathwalkr]

Small (?) brief:

I weigh 65kgs (70kgs before i started working out) and am 180cm tall and at my middle ages. Never was keen on fitness till my late thirties. Guess i was under the misconception that slim people are healthy people!

Well my blood test which i took as part of my insurance policy opened up my eyes to that.

Started brisk walking, running and then added home exercises on mat without equipments (android app).

Then slowly started fiddling around with 2kg dumbbells. That really gave me a high and i started using dumbbell workout at home app by leapfitness.

Moved onto 5kg pair after a year and now am using 7.5kg pair.

Usual morning routine is 3km walk with stretches, 0.5km run and then the dumbbell routine which is usually for 20-30mins. And for the first time in my life, i can do pull ups these days

Diet is balanced (i think) with no added sugars, shallow fried chicken fish, egg a day, and usual staples of unpolished brown rice, veggies, pulses etc etc. Rarely eat hotel food these days.

Now then, i can see my arms and shoulders forming shapes and i am happy to see it and my blood results are all good. Except for LDLs which is at border levels though it has come down drastically since my last test. And my stereotypical middle aged indian belly is going down bit by bit

Ok, now coming to my query, are protein shakes really important?

Along with breakfast i usually have plantain banana, almonds/walnuts and a cube of gouda cheese.

[GandalfTheGrey]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Small (?) brief:

Usual morning routine is 3km walk with stretches, 0.5km run and then the dumbbell routine which is usually for 20-30mins. And for the first time in my life, i can do pull ups these days

Moved onto 5kg pair after a year and now am using 7.5kg pair.

Good that you're getting back to your healthier form, and enjoying weight training. Have fun!

Ok, now coming to my query, are protein shakes really important?

I'm sure you'll get mixed opinions regarding protein shakes/supplements anywhere you go, and it's a matter of time the opinion turns philosophical. So let me give you mine too. The question for which one needs to have a clear answer is; What's your objective with your physical activity? If you're looking build considerable lean muscle mass, but have a hard time balancing protein in your diet, you may look at the supplements, again finding good quality supplements is a story for another day. If you just want to stay in shape, and slowly increase your physical endurance, then I suggest you stay away from the supplements. The latter doesn't mean you wouldn't be building up muscle mass, but it'll be a slower process.

Diet is balanced (i think) with no added sugars, shallow fried chicken fish, egg a day, and usual staples of unpolished brown rice, veggies, pulses etc etc. Rarely eat hotel food these days.
Along with breakfast i usually have plantain banana, almonds/walnuts and a cube of gouda cheese.

Your diet is very good for the exercise you're doing, and you're getting the macros right. If I were you, I would stay away from protein shakes/supplements, and would be increase my protein content the natural way, and keep building my endurance.

Cheers!