Wanted to make a quick overview of what i want to do tomorrow at the gym! So here goes:
- 10 minute elliptical
- 10 minute stair stepper
- adductor 3x15 (20kg>25kg>25kg)
- abductor 3x15 (20kg)
- leg press 3x15 (30kg>40kg>50kg)
- romanian dumbbell deadlift 3x12 (8kg>10kg>10kg)
- cable kickback 3x15 (15kg)
Also, the leg press i am using is horizontally sitting up instead of laying down (the latter being the one i most commonly see when i google leg press). I don't really know what the difference is between the one i use and the one everyone else is using so i am going to inform you and myself about this now by researching it.
I found this article that shows the differences between three different leg presses:
- Angled (or 45-degree) leg press machines have your back angled at around 40-45 degrees.
- Seated leg press machines have your back (mostly) vertically straight.
- Vertical leg press machines have you flat on your back horizontally
The one at my gym is the seated leg press, although we also have the angled one. The one my "trainer" from the first day showed me is the seated one, so that is the one i am using currently. According to the article the seated one is better for "beginners", which i guess is me, but apparently it is also good for single leg presses. Although, i do not understand why the angled leg press machine would be less beneficial for single leg presses? I would have to do more reading on that.
All in all, i guess i will keep using the seated leg press until i can reach a high weight and then move on to the angled one to really buff up my legs.
Another thing that i have been looking into (for days now, honestly) is adductor vs abductors. From what i have seen is that most gyms have one machine and you have to turn the cushions around to do one or the other; my gym has one machine for either, but whenever i want to look up "adductor" i get the "abductor" machine which is annoying. I know that most women who want to grow their glutes do the abductor machine while bending over as far as they can, but what about when you do the adductor?
The best video so far that i have found is this one from Colossus Fitness:
Except that it is poorly filmed (they don't properly show the guys legs when he is doing the work-outs) and he doesn't explain whether you can also move forward that much when doing adductors (he only shows that for the abductors). It is so confusing!!!I found a YT short from a woman who explains how to incorporate your glute muscles more when using the abductor machine by driving your heels more to the bottom and then driving the heels back down when opening your legs:
but no such thing for the adductor, yet again :(I found another short from a lady where she slightly bends forward when doing the adductor:
and in the comments she says that she bends forward for "more tension on the muscle".
Yeah, none of this helped LOL. So i looked for an article because we like reading! And i found this article Hip Abduction vs Adduction Machine: Understanding The Critical Differences where it is stated:
Hip adduction targets the adductor magnus, adductor longus and adductor brevis. Hip abduction will activate the gluteal muscles and the tensor fasciae latae.
and also:
For muscle building, abduction machines are not particularly useful so, contrary to popular belief, using it is not going to result in shapely inner thighs. However, if you have a lack of hip strength that’s causing either hip or knee pain, using this machine could help to build stronger hips thereby providing better support to the surrounding joints.
Which is interesting cause i told my trainer that i have knee pain and that i want to train my legs to become "big and strong like Chun-Li from street fighter" and he puts me on machines that don't even build muscle? See ladies and gentlemen this is why it is important to do your own research!
The conclusion of the article is:
Working the hip adductors and abductors isn’t so much about gaining muscle mass and shaping the legs but more to do with maintaining healthy hip and pelvis joints. These small muscles can sometimes be overlooked and strengthening them takes some time. But don’t neglect them, as not only can they help reduce common aches and pains, but they can also aid with improved athletic performance and provide better support to larger muscles such as the glutes.
I guess i will keep doing these exercises for now and i will do them before my proper exercises. I will slightly bend forward when doing both and keeping the advice in mind from the short haired lady to dig my heels down when doing the abductor work-out to feel it more in my glutes, and then once it goes better i can at least bend all the way forward when doing that one. I still don't understand the adductors entirely, but from the article it seems that they target the glutes less, so i don't have to bend forward as far. This was very helpful!
I still feel kind of lied to by my trainer. It seems that the entire work-out program he has made for me was just to "warm me up" to actual resistance training, while i have read and heard from multiple sources that the beginning of your fitness journey is important because that is when you will make the most of your gains. So my trainer put me on "useless" exercises that don't even grow my muscles, but instead prepare me for building muscle in the future. How dumb! I am so glad that i looked it up now. I believe he said we should look at my program (and the weights i use) 6 weeks from now, which is also ridiculous cause again "newbie gains". Why would i be leg pressing 30kg for 6 weeks on end?
I have been looking into progressive overload and stuff and if i understood it correctly it basically just means you add weight/reps over the course of your fitness journey, and while researching that i, again, found out that the beginning of your journey is the most important cause that is when you will go up in weight the most (and you will make the most gains as previously stated). I am honestly kind of annoyed with my trainer now and feel like he didn't listen to me (even though i know he did, since i actively asked him if he knew the game Street Fighter).
I just feel like people like to underestimate me because i am small and tend to look helpless and clumsy, which is why i feel he put me on such a useless program. And i feel uncomfortable now that i have been working so hard in the gym for no reason at all. No wonder that i didn't feel any leg pain at the end of my training but i did feel it when i trained at home! As i mentioned, it literally felt like i had not worked out my legs for an entire week after i went to the gym and then did my work-outs at home again. Gosh, i feel so silly :(
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