There is a guy at work who want to start weight training and we have access at work to a dedicated weights GYM how ever the amount of time we have use this GYM is very short about 30 – 45 MIns over a lunch time. HOw ever we are not interested in getting all Buff etc but my mate remembers reading a book about if you do certain excersies in a different manner it use more muscles, e.g. If you do a bench press it does a certain part of your chest and arms but if you do them on an incline you then use all of your chest more of your arms and back etc. If you understand what i mean. So the question is can anyone point us in the right direction of a book or excerises.

Many Thanks

PD

Used to do a bit. Stick to two exercises per bodypart;
Chest: bench press (incline),flyes
Arms: curl, push downs,
Shoulders: press (behind neck), lat raise
Back: rows, pull downs
Legs: squat, leg extension
10 exercises, 4 mins per exercise so probably 2 sets of 15-20. Higher reps will give more stamina and endurance rather than bulk. Do as many as possible seated; this will stop you from cheating and hopefully save your back.
If you’ve not done any for a while, maybe just do press ups, heaves, dips and some core stuff for a while to get a base.

As above, good advice re two exercises (for example I’ll do chest and biceps on the same night followed by triceps and back the next night followed by stomach and shoulders followed by legs on a rotation and so on).

Also, start your sessions with compound lifts that use more than one muscle in the move/lift. Example is any kind of chest press which is working the chest as the primary muscle(s) but also the triceps as a secondary muscle. As you move towards the end of your routine do lifts that tend to isolate only one muscle (bench curl for biceps, fly’s for chest etc).

Read up on compound or multi-joint exercises.

If you just want functional strength you could just stick with squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press. You could add chin-ups, horizontal rows or lat pulldowns to that for your back and arms.

There are some good videos on Youtube about technique, I like the Rippetoe ones. He also has a book called Starting Strength, you can find details of some of the programmes from this on the net.

You need to make sure you warm up and down and start off with very light weights until you are comfortable with technique.

Do Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press.
If times tight, thats all you need, and those, done heavy and properly, will give huge gains in strength.
Have a look at http://stronglifts.com/

I reckon I’m gonna start yoga for general conditioning.

molgrips – I’m going to do the very same! Just waiting for the resolute to revolt then I’m off to the Yoga Garden.

My daughter now makes me do the yoga bits from Waybuloos, and I have realised how hard they are to do properly. Very physical stuff, yoga.

Do Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press.
If times tight, thats all you need, and those, done heavy and properly, will give huge gains in strength.
Have a look at http://stronglifts.com/

That’s everything you need to know.

You’ll never see a fat or flabby Yogi… unless they’re of a picnic pilfering persuasion!