THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO TRAINING pt1

NOTHING! Not a single thing. That’s what I knew about training when I first stepped into a gym back when I was in Grade 10/11 (2006/2007). I didn’t know what the machines did, I didn’t know what muscles were worked, I didn’t know how to create my own plan, nothing.  I did biceps 3 days in a row if I felt like it, I worked out for 3 hours at a time, crap, just thinking about it makes me feel embarrassed at how little I actually knew.

I was one of those kids that asked the big guys what they did to get there. What exercises did what and how they worked and I believed every single ounce of it – Now some of what they said had some truth behind it but most of it was pretty much just pure BS that they were told at some point.

During the course of 2010 – 2011, I started reading and reading A LOT. I read article after article on training. I didn’t learn everything over night, But I did learn a ton more than I had known.  I had gone through every “SCIENCE BACKED” special body builder routine out there – 99% of which were complete horse toss – but the fact is that I LEARNED along the way. I only have one wish, and that is that I WISH I knew what I knew now compared to what I had known back then.

This is here to help you improve your experience in the gym or wherever you are – It’s here to give you knowledge into the basics of training and what works what. No need to ask someone else and get the wrong info. I want to help you make the most of your workouts. 

We're going to try and get through as much as possible and hopefully have this done and up for download in PDF format in no time.

I’m going to try and keep this as simple as possible - there’s lots of info that experienced lifters and people who have knowledge in the field of how the body works will notice, is missing but remember; this isn’t for them. This is for the average person who walks into the gym. Like the person I was when I was beginning my journey into training.

LETS GET GOING! 

DIFFERENT GRIP VARIATIONS

There are 3 standard grip variations when lifting:

NEUTRAL: When the palms of your hands face each other

SUPPINATED: Palms are facing up towards you – you see your palms

PRONATED: The palms are now facing the floor – you see the back of your hands

Those are the 3 standard grip variations. Changing grip will place emphasis on different muscles and remove the work load from others. You could pretty much get an entire upper back workout alone by just changing the grips on your pull ups (Hence why Chin Ups and Pull ups are two separate exercises but are yet are almost the same movement)

Let’s take the Bicep Curl for example: 

• In a NEUTRAL grip curl - The Hammer Curl, targets the brachioradialis (in the forearm), placing the brachialis as well as biceps as secondary movers. So simply put, you’ll feel it in your forearm and bicep.

• Doing a PRONATED/reverse grip bicep curl increases the work from the brachioradialis (forearm muscle) and decreases the work load of the others to a greater extent.

• A SUPINATED grip, the conventional bicep curl, puts main emphasis on the Biceps Brachii (Biceps). Removing a lot of the work of the brachioradialis and brachialis which are now secondary movers.  

So you can see that just by changing the grip, you can remove work done by certain muscles and increase the work load of others. You can change the entire focus of an exercise just by switching grips. 
Use grips to change the dynamics of a routine - Please use caution as changing the grip will in almost all cases change the amount that can be lifted.

NEXT UP, WE'RE GOING TO GET INTO MUSCLES AND HOW THEY FUNCTION!