New To Working Out

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hey,

Im very new to all of this, I have never really worked out a single day in my life.

About 2 weeks ago I joined a gym, and got 9 sessions with a personal trainer at $400.

So I went to the first session, he said he’d take it easy.

We got done 90% of the exercises and I ended up thrwing up.

That same day I was fine, but the next day I got this horrible pain in the joint of my elbow, it’s sore as hell. Both of them.

Now today beign 2 days after it hurts even more, it’s stuck at a 90 degree angle and I simple can’t unbend them because the pain is so great.

Im supposed ot go in for another session tommorow but i cancelled because there is no way in hell I can do anythign with my arms being liek this.

Im 20 years old

6’1" 155lbs

12% body fat

Can anyone explain why I might have this pain? and maybe how to fix it?

Im still working on my diet, and have to go purchase some protein shakes, but first things first i gotta get rid of the pain.

The workout was a full body workout on about 15 different machines.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Mario

2

If you read at T-Nation often, you’ll find three things wrong with what you’ve said.

a) Personal trainers… usually suck. Bad. The good ones are far and few between. If he walks to a machine, for most purposes thats not a good thing.

b) Machines. Ew. Machines are for the very old and very young (minus some cables and the lat pulldown). Use free weighs man.

c) Please read any article on T-Nation. Theres a recent one on programm design for dummies. Read it. If your workout is nothing like the guidlines on it, something is wrong.

d) Ice your injuries, give at least a day for recover. Sounds like you overworked something. Rest, maybe an anti-imflammatory (motrin) would help. I doubt you have any huge genetic defect that cuases joint pain.

f) Form. It might be a form issue. Bad form = pain. If it hurts and feels ridiculously unatural, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

You’ve come to the right place though. Check the begginer articles and the begginer forum. Good luck!

3

All I’m going to say is keep on researching on this site. Read everything even if it doesn’t exactly apply to the goals you want right now.
Read nutrition articles also.

Make use of the “search”

You can purchase cheap high-quality protein powders from this site also.

I can’t exactly answer your elbow joint question. Someone else should be able to help you out though. Do a Search for “elbow pain”.
A few weeks ago I had sharp stabbing elbow pain, not from weightlifting, but from taking off my hoodie the wrong way. The pain went away completely after two weeks of rest.
I’m guessing your situation is worse than mine though.

I’ll recommend when performing the Chest Press or any pressing exercise don’t lock-out the elbows. When your at 99% lock-out lower the weight back down. After the pain fully subsides start to lock-out the elbows again, but not aggresively. Also take a break from direct triceps exercises.

I could be way off.

Good luck on the road to getting buff.

4

Hey,

Thanks for the replies guys, I will read up ont he articles to get a better understanding of working out.

I also forgot to mention, when my first session was over, we had 1 machine left, I threw up, no clue why it happened. I pushed myself pretty hard.

What we go through is a 1 hour workout, they have 20 machines designed to hit every part of the body, and we go through all of them.

The trainer said we will move onto the weights once I build up some strenght.

I really went with the trainer because I have no clue what to do when I get toa gym and I want to make sure im doing everyhting right.

It’s good to see someone else from the Toronto area here.

Im form Mississauga and go to the Premier Fitness in Etobicoke.

Mario

5

Don’t do more then 20 sets in a workout. Period. Total. Even 20 is pushing it, most of the time.

Soreness is normal, and will eventually go away. If its intense pain, that doesn’t go away, please see a doctor.

6

[quote]Beowolf wrote:
Don’t do more then 20 sets in a workout. Period. Total. Even 20 is pushing it, most of the time.[/quote]

I think you mean exercises (Waterbury’s 10x3? That’s already 30 sets right there, and you have multiple exercises).

For the OP, “the only way to not make mistakes is experience, and the only way to gain experience is by making mistakes”. I’d say that’s mostly true, but you can also learn from the mistakes and experience of others.

So, read as many articles as you can, get with a basic program designed after the guidelines of Tony Gentilcore’s recent “Program Design for Dummies”, and stay away from personal trainers. If your doing 20 machines in an hour, I can understand that you puke. That’s 3 minutes for every machine, maybe even with multiple sets, which is way to much volume with way to little rest for a complete newbie.

So, eat right, work the basic movements (chins, dips, bench, squat, deadlift, overhead presses) with something like 2x8-12 to get the most out of your newbie gains and look at your gains. You should get a lot of growth, and then you can try out the huge amount of programs on this site. If you can, get a refund from the personal trainer, or insist he do something else with you.

7

[quote]Robert P. wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
Don’t do more then 20 sets in a workout. Period. Total. Even 20 is pushing it, most of the time.

I think you mean exercises (Waterbury’s 10x3? That’s already 30 sets right there, and you have multiple exercises).

For the OP, “the only way to not make mistakes is experience, and the only way to gain experience is by making mistakes”. I’d say that’s mostly true, but you can also learn from the mistakes and experience of others.

So, read as many articles as you can, get with a basic program designed after the guidelines of Tony Gentilcore’s recent “Program Design for Dummies”, and stay away from personal trainers. If your doing 20 machines in an hour, I can understand that you puke. That’s 3 minutes for every machine, maybe even with multiple sets, which is way to much volume with way to little rest for a complete newbie.

So, eat right, work the basic movements (chins, dips, bench, squat, deadlift, overhead presses) with something like 2x8-12 to get the most out of your newbie gains and look at your gains. You should get a lot of growth, and then you can try out the huge amount of programs on this site. If you can, get a refund from the personal trainer, or insist he do something else with you.
[/quote]

10x3 is 30 reps, not 30 sets.

Other than that, your spot on.

I find that high rep and/or low rest workouts are the most puke inducing.

For a newbie start out with low wieghts and med reps (8-10), until your muscles get used to the added stress.

8

[quote]Testy1 wrote:
10x3 is 30 reps, not 30 sets.

Other than that, your spot on.

I find that high rep and/or low rest workouts are the most puke inducing.

For a newbie start out with low wieghts and med reps (8-10), until your muscles get used to the added stress.[/quote]

Actually 10x3 is 10 sets of 3 reps. So after only two exercises (the plan calls for four per day) you would hit this supposed 20 set max. There is no set max number of sets rule. It’s ignorant to assume there is. What if you’re doing a 5x5 plan, that would max you out at 4 exercises? What about a 3x8 plan, hell you could do almost 7 exercises. There is no reason for a 20 set max, nor is there a basis for that specific number.

To the OP- the guy had you working on 16 different machines your first day? Hopefully only 1 set each just to show you form. I woud go in and demand my $400 back (a little steep to begin with) and do yourself the favor of figuring this stuff out on your own. It’s easier than riding a bike and takes less effort than you think.

And as for the whole- we’ll have you on free weights when you get stronger bullshit. This is the number one reason personal trainers suck ass in my book.