Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches E. Great Lakes Looking for a Gym, need ideas/suggestions

Free weights for the win. Id much rather use freeweights then go to a gym. 100 bucks gets you equipment you need forever

I worked out at Golds gym for awhile before I moved away and It was a pretty decent place. However, I had a chance to go there maybe 2 months ago and it had seen better days. The lighting was terrible and the equipment needed some up keep. I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a place any cheaper than 200-250 a year. I guess it really depends on how dedicated you are. If you know your going to hit and miss then go for the college gym. But, if your looking to train hard and have people around you that are dedicated to give you that extra drive I would spend the extra money.

rule of thumb is if you want to gain muscle mass and size and weight use free weights. If you want to tone and increase flexibility use machines and pulleys. The best exercise routine is a mix of both. You can control the weight w/ machines and cables thus giving you more of a stretch plus they are nice if you don't have a spotter.

The main thing is to always keep switching it up. Do not stick w/ one routine w/ the same exercises and same machines. Your body/muscles is a memory bank and will remember these movements and will stop growing. You need to constantly shock your body so it cannot get used to an exercise regimen. Using a combination of machines, pulleys and free weights will hit the muscle in every possible way giving you the best pump(pump-caused by tearing of the muscle and large volume of blood being pumped to that muscle). If you feel you are no longer getting a pump you need to change something up i.e. grip, amount of weight, exercise, etc.

I may have went a little overboard w/ the details. I guess I get excited when I start talking about weight lifting, body building, nutritional supplementation, etc. I'm heavily into it (lift at least 5 days a week) and have a pretty large knowledge base on the subject. Any questions feel free to ask

Powerhouse was(not sure if they still are) offering 150/year

Can somebody please explain to me what "toning" a muscle does to the muscle itself?

gets the fat off the outside, and delivers the 'cut'

you are absolutely correct w/ using heavy weight and low reps to gain size and muscle mass. You are also correct about using low weight and high reps to tone up and lose weight.

But I was referring to the actual form of exercise. Free weights vs. machines & cables

If you want to gain size and muscle then you do heavy (manageable) weight at low reps. Free weights are the favorite for this b/c often times machines do not have enough weight on them to select. If you want to tone and lose weight then you do light weight and high reps.

Machines while they do limit your form to a certain degree, they are designed to keep your form exact. Meaning you can't cheat. What I mean by this is do you ever go to the gym and see the wana-be tough guys trying to curl huge amounts of weight w/ free weights way beyond what they are safely capable of lifting ? They often swing their body and use their back to complete the rep. Not only is their form totally wrong but they are also risking injury.