How can a beginner go to the gym without a trainer?

If you train without warming up, the risk of injury increases greatly and the effectiveness of training decreases. In addition, this is how you form bad habits.

Warming up is an essential part of your workout. You can easily bring your muscles into working condition by following a simple procedure:

1. Use a massage roller. Such rollers help to thoroughly warm up the muscles of the whole body. Here Lifehacker told in detail what these tools are and how to use them.
2. Five minutes of cardio: go uphill at a fast pace, exercise on an elliptical trainer or exercise bike. If you are overweight, do not run - take care of your knees.
3. Be sure to do joint warm-up and dynamic stretching. you will find a video of a good warm-up.

After that, you will be warm enough to get started.

How to make a training program

When you come to the gym, you should already have a clear action plan: what exercises you will do, what muscle groups to work out.

There are a huge number of training programs, but beginners without a coach should not try complex options. To begin with, it is better to limit yourself to the consistent study of all muscles.

Let's conditionally divide the body into several muscle groups: biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest, back, buttocks, hips and abs. If you are going to train twice a week, divide the muscle groups equally. For example, in the first workout, work out the biceps, back, hips, and abs, and in the second workout, work out the triceps, chest, shoulders, and buttocks.

Here are some exercises with machines and free weights for different muscle groups.

Exercises for the legs and buttocks

With this simulator, you can shift the focus to different muscle groups by simply changing the position of the legs on the platform:

1. Legs at the top of the platform - emphasis on the gluteal muscles and hamstrings.
2. Legs at the bottom of the platform - emphasis on quadriceps.
3. Narrow stance - emphasis on the outer part of the thigh.
4. Wide stance - emphasis on the inside of the thigh.

Leg abduction in the simulator

This exercise works great on the buttocks. Take your leg back until your lower leg is parallel to the floor, but do not fully extend your knees. To better work out the muscles, lower your leg to its original position slowly.

Squats

This is a basic exercise with a huge number of variations: with a wide stance or on one leg, with a barbell or with dumbbells, from an elevation or jumping. Lifehacker breaks down the technique of doing squats in detail, and there are several options for squats and other exercises for the hips.

Another exercise with many variations. Lunges can be done with your own weight, with a barbell or with dumbbells, moving around the room or on the spot.

During the lunge, make sure that the knee in front of the standing leg is exactly above the heel. Slightly tilting the body forward, you shift the focus to the buttocks.

This basic exercise works out not only the muscles of the hips and buttocks, but also the extensor muscles of the back and the trapezium. Start with the classic deadlift, but don't lift too much weight.

Here is a video with the exercise technique:

To diversify your workouts, explore others and buttocks.

Back exercises

This exercise strengthens the back extensor muscles. It perfectly warms up and prepares for an important basic exercise - deadlift.

If you want to pump exactly the muscles of the back, and not the legs, start the exercise from a position where the body is in a straight line with the simulator. Then lift your back, bringing your shoulder blades together and moving your arms back. Hold this position for 3-5 seconds.

The key point in this exercise is that you need to pull the block not with your hands, but with your back. While pulling, lock your back and bring your shoulder blades together. The video shows the technique and features of the exercise:

This exercise also helps to effectively pump up the back muscles. The video below explains the execution technique and the main mistakes:

chest exercises

Bench Press

This basic exercise involves both the pectoral muscles, and the triceps, and the deltoid muscles. The emphasis can be shifted by changing the grip: bench press with a narrow grip loads the triceps more, and with a wide grip - the chest. Also, the emphasis on the chest shifts if you take the bar with a reverse grip, that is, with your palms facing you.

The video explains the technique for performing the exercise:

This machine allows you to perform exercises that load only the pectoral muscles. Do not fully extend your arms at the extreme points, do the exercise smoothly.

Push-ups on the uneven bars with an inclination forward

If you still can't do dips without help, use an expander or a special machine for support. To emphasize the chest, tilt the body forward.

The technique for performing the exercise can be seen in the video:

In this one you can find chest exercises in pictures.

Triceps Exercises

Try not to spread your elbows out to the sides. If shoulder mobility allows, lower yourself until your elbows are at a 90-degree angle.

Extension of arms on the block

This exercise can be performed with a regular or rope handle. The back is straight, the elbows are close to the body and do not move.

Biceps Exercises

Standing barbell curl

This is a basic exercise that helps to work out the biceps well. Here is a video with the exercise technique:

Unlike the previous exercise, when lifting dumbbells, you must rotate your hands, as this provides additional stress on the biceps. At the bottom, the hands should look at each other, and during the ascent, turn around to the body.

Shoulder Exercises

Standing Barbell Chest Press

Before this exercise, you should do a dynamic shoulder stretch: pick up a stick or expander and move your straight arms behind your back several times, and then forward again. Do not bend your elbows while stretching. The closer you place your hands, the more effective the stretch will be.

During the bench press, take the barbell behind your head. If she stays in front, it will put a lot of strain on her lower back.

When performing the exercise, the elbows should be slightly bent. Do not raise your arms above your shoulders - this can cause impingement syndrome (inflammation of the rotator cuff).

Breeding dumbbells sitting in an incline

The body is tilted forward, the back is straight. Hand movements are similar to the previous exercise.

In this you will find an analysis of the technique for performing other exercises on the shoulders.

Press exercises

Twisting with legs on a hill

By placing your feet on a raised platform, you will eliminate unnecessary stress on the iliopsoas muscles and damage to the lower back. If you want to complicate the exercise, pick up a stuffed ball.

The plank perfectly works out all the muscles of the core. To complicate it, you can place your legs on an unstable support: in loops or on, as shown in the photo.

Hanging leg raise

In a simpler version, you only need to pull your knees up to your chest.

If this is easy, try lifting your straight legs towards the horizontal bar.

How to choose the right weight and number of repetitions

Take such a weight that you can perform the exercise 5-8 times. The last repetitions should be performed with effort. If you can easily do all eight reps, then the selected weight is too small for you.

Do three sets of 5-10 reps. Rest between sets should be 1-2 minutes, between exercises - 2-3 minutes.

If you are doing exercises without weight, you need to do more repetitions in order to properly load the muscles. In these exercises, perform three sets of 20 repetitions.

After workout

After training, be sure to stretch: you need to relax the muscles that worked. In you can find exercises for stretching different muscle groups, and - exercises with expander bands.

From the very first training, you need to pay attention to your diet. From you will learn what to eat before and after training to accelerate your progress and not harm the body.

Feel free to listen to your body and have fun.