Pain...

As you know, I recently resolved myself to put on 2kg of muscles. Well, I’ve finally started to pick up those weights only to realize how unfit I am.

I figured it would be a good idea to do lightweights but with high repetitions. Firstly because I haven’t done weights for a long time so I thought I should start with something light. And secondly because I was too lazy to go to the gym so I just used the 1 pound dumb bell I have at home!

Weighing only 1 pound, even 50 repetitions didn’t feel like much to me. So I thought I should do at least a hundred. The pain did start to set in at around 75 but it wasn’t so painful that I had to stop. So I pushed on to a 100 repetitions per arm.

Big mistake.

I should have listened to my muscles when they started whimpering to me at the 75 mark. I lifted those weights on Sunday night. 2 days later and I’m still feeling the effect of DORMS in my biceps. I can’t remember what DORMS stands for but I know it has something to do with over exerting your muscles or not conducting a proper warm down. Despite warming down, I still suffered the DORMS. So I know I must have really over exerted myself. I told a friend about it and he told me suffered the same thing. We both agreed that the problem with high repetitions is that you can’t really tell when you should stop. Muscles are a funny thing. If you give them something light to lift, they will keep working to lift them even though they’ve reached their limit yet complain like mad 8 hours after the last lift. On the other hand, give them something heavy to lift just once and they reject it straight away.

So I guess it is back to heavier weights with lower repetitions. After all, my friend tells me that high repetitions are for toning, not beefing up. So I think I better stop this regimen.

I still recommend doing light weights with high repetitions when you only just start working out. Already I can feel that my muscles are firmer and tighter. Just be careful not to do too many repetitions. I think a good gauge is to put the limit as triple the number you normally do with average sized weights.

Otherwise, be prepared to face the same fate I’m facing now: feeling the strain everytime you lift your school bag or even type on the keyboard…

Ouch

Ouch

Ouch…