Ok, I have finally started to hit the gym

[Guest]

I wanted to do this for so many years. I have finally done the last step. Been there for 5 times already. Since I am quite a newb to this I wanted to ask whether someone could give some advices for the start. Is there anything general I need to know? Are there any good supplements for working out? When do you think I can expect to see the first results? Damn, I can´t wait to become more muscular. Lol, I am the typical guy who goes to the gym in order to compensate his inferiority complexes. :hairy:

 

[YoungAndThin]

Consistency is the key. You have to go to the gym regularly to see results. I've seen many people go regularly for 2 weeks then take a month off and then wonder why they don't see results.

When I first started working out I went to the gym at least 3 times a week for about 4 months and put on about 15 pounds of muscle over that time.

As for supplements, if you're just starting out I would recommend taking a protein shake. Whey Protein Isolate is good to help your muscles recover after a workout. Drink it after a workout, you can pretty much buy it at any GNC or health food store.

And check out this website: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

It gives pretty good illustrated instructions on various exercises you can do.

Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Wow, 15 pounds of muscles sounds great, I just want to have some extra muscles on my stomache and chest. I know that consisteny is important, I can be very stubborn and will go to the gym every other day from now on. Thx for your help, I have bookmarked the site.

 

[s.a.f]

Dont overdo it you will just burn yourself out. Building muscle (like taking dutasteride/finasteride) takes time to show results.

 

[roki]

taugenichts this makes me very happy to read this i love it when people start going to the gym if you do it hard in two months you can allready see a big differenece and to me it was a huge boost for selfesteem
i too have selfesteen problems (mostly due to that i am 171 cm in hight)
and it really made them away
i remmeber in the beginnig its a bit hard cuz everybody around you are so big and its annoying to be the newbie
so if you get pumped up then u could shave your head put some leather pants on and take your shlong to the kitkat club youll fit right in and some niiiiice looking german bimbo well take care of your virginity for you

 

[CCS]

Myth: High reps of low weight will make your muscles cut.
Fact: Low body fat makes your muscles cut (and your muscles must be big enough that the ripples are bigger than your skin thickness). So build muscle and burn off the fat. Simple math. It requires a lifestyle change, though, and won't happen right away.

Myth: I have cellulite.
Fact: "Cellulite" is just loose skin, which you get when you lose weigh fast, or when your weight fluctuates a lot. Maybe form changingly tight clothes can add to the skin stretching. If you want to stay perky, just maintain the same volume week to week. Your skin will eventually addapt, if you did not stretch it too fast in the past.

Myth: My metabolism is too low to burn fat.
Fact: Exercise will raise your metabolism.

Myth: If I ride this exercise bike all day I will lose weight.
Fact: Not if you increase your food intake. And watch out for over use injuries, which occur when you dive into extreme programs without building at a max of 10% per week.

Myth: I should not eat after 4pm.
Fact: Your resting metabolism is 2/3 of your total metabolism. Eat small meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day, including near bed time. Just watch the total, and try to get a little of everything at each meal/snack.

Myth: If I eat a big steak, I'll have enough protein to build muscle.
Fact: Your body will only absorb 20-30 grams every 2-3 hours. It is better to eat a little bit of protein every 2-3 hours. And your body needs carbs to absorb the maximal amount.

Myth: Big guys can't get cut.
Fact: Yes they can. I see them at the rec center every day. They just have to burn off the fat to get cut. No one likes burning more calories than they take in. Eating a lot is how some guys get big in the first place, but a lot of them don't follow through with the fat burn, which is where the stereotype comes from.

Myth: Lifting this 2 pound weight will tone my arm.
Fact: Unless you have 15% body fat, your arm won't have much tone. Be happy if it changes shape when you flex. Tone occurs when there is not much fat below the skin, and the muscle is relatively large compared to the fat thickness, and the muscle is strong enough to stay slightly flexed throughout the day. Lifting that 2 pounder will do none of these.

Myth: I have to do fast exercise and lots of sets to build muscle.
Fact: force = mass X acceleration. If you are lifting fast, that just means you are lifting less weight than you are capable of lifting. If you can do more than 5 sets, probably your weights are not heavy enough or your breaks are too long or you are overworking yourself. To build a lot of muscle, you need to work both your fast twice muscle fibers and your slow twich muscle fibers. The fast twice are stimulated with heavy weight and low reps (4-8), with longer breaks (90 seconds) between sets. The slow twitch fibers are stimulated with lighter weights and 15-30 reps per set, and shorter breaks (30 seconds or so) between sets. Most of your mass gain will come from the fast twitch muscles, which have more size potential, but you need to exercise both to get the best gains. I suggest doing them on different days.

 

[The Gardener]

Taugenichts, that is GREAT. Starting at the gym is one of those things you will thank yourself for later down the road.

I'd say give it two weeks, and the first thing you will notice is an increasing emotional "afterglow" after your workout. You'll walk out of the gym, and feel a sense of natural high, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of being contented. Regular exercise increases hormone levels in the blood stream that contribute to an overall sense of well-being, and a sense of "hardiness", or being able to face challenges in life and face them down.

At around that same time frame you will start to notice an improved quality of sleep. In addition to the restful properties of sleep, you will awake feeling more refreshed, and feeling like you slept "deeper" than you normally did.

Soon after that, you'll start to notice that you have better energy levels throughout the day, and that you won't have the typical late-afternoon "crash and burn" of post-lunch sleepiness. You'll be more productive and keep a clearer mind throughout the day, and have more consistent energy.

Muscular and physical improvements take a bit longer, I'm not sure what kind of shape you are in now, but you should start seeing some modest improvements or signs of improvement within a month. Don't get disheartened by slow progress.... these improvements occur at the same pace as a huge boat being turned around 180 degrees.. they start slow, but the pace of improvement picks up quickly.

Working out is a great habit to pick up. Even though I have been off and on with it, I think that the overall efforts I made in my younger years to go to the gym, swim, and keep in shape still pay dividends now in my 30's as I still have a very nice physique, I am still lean, and I can still go out and play football with the kids whereas a lot of my friends who didn't do much for themselves physically in their younger days are now more inflexible and feeling more aches and pains.

All the best! As for advice, don't worry about supplements or any of that crap. Just concentrate on consistency. Instead of going to the gym twice a week for two hours, a better strategy is to go four or five times a week for just 45 minutes to an hour. I think an hour is perfect, 30 minutes of weights (for muscle growth, bone strength) and 30 minutes of cardio for the heart and overall metabolism (start slow, perhaps doing 30 minutes of fast-paced walking, then slowly increase the speed until you are doing a mild jog pace). A radio walkman/ipod, or music in general helps with this. I program my ipod every week with music that will inspire me as I run!.. it's kind of fun, I have 5 minutes of warmup music, and then I have the theme from Rocky programmed into the ipod, signalling me that it is time to turn up the heat and start the full-speed run. Be creative, and have fun with it.

 

[CCS]

I've been going a month. No size increase, except my belley from eating too much. But my strength went up 15% in all muscle groups.

 

[Guest]

taugenichts this makes me very happy to read this i love it when people start going to the gym if you do it hard in two months you can allready see a big differenece and to me it was a huge boost for selfesteem
i too have selfesteen problems (mostly due to that i am 171 cm in hight)
and it really made them away
i remmeber in the beginnig its a bit hard cuz everybody around you are so big and its annoying to be the newbie
so if you get pumped up then u could shave your head put some leather pants on and take your shlong to the kitkat club youll fit right in and some niiiiice looking german bimbo well take care of your virginity for you

Yeah, I have already noticed that the big guys seem to laugh about a newb like me. But somehow I don´t care about that. I am not in terrible shape (average weight I would say) and there are also really fat guys who don´t seem to care either.

 

[Guest]

Taugenichts, that is GREAT. Starting at the gym is one of those things you will thank yourself for later down the road.

I'd say give it two weeks, and the first thing you will notice is an increasing emotional "afterglow" after your workout. You'll walk out of the gym, and feel a sense of natural high, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of being contented. Regular exercise increases hormone levels in the blood stream that contribute to an overall sense of well-being, and a sense of "hardiness", or being able to face challenges in life and face them down.

At around that same time frame you will start to notice an improved quality of sleep. In addition to the restful properties of sleep, you will awake feeling more refreshed, and feeling like you slept "deeper" than you normally did.

Soon after that, you'll start to notice that you have better energy levels throughout the day, and that you won't have the typical late-afternoon "crash and burn" of post-lunch sleepiness. You'll be more productive and keep a clearer mind throughout the day, and have more consistent energy.

Muscular and physical improvements take a bit longer, I'm not sure what kind of shape you are in now, but you should start seeing some modest improvements or signs of improvement within a month. Don't get disheartened by slow progress.... these improvements occur at the same pace as a huge boat being turned around 180 degrees.. they start slow, but the pace of improvement picks up quickly.

Working out is a great habit to pick up. Even though I have been off and on with it, I think that the overall efforts I made in my younger years to go to the gym, swim, and keep in shape still pay dividends now in my 30's as I still have a very nice physique, I am still lean, and I can still go out and play football with the kids whereas a lot of my friends who didn't do much for themselves physically in their younger days are now more inflexible and feeling more aches and pains.

All the best! As for advice, don't worry about supplements or any of that crap. Just concentrate on consistency. Instead of going to the gym twice a week for two hours, a better strategy is to go four or five times a week for just 45 minutes to an hour. I think an hour is perfect, 30 minutes of weights (for muscle growth, bone strength) and 30 minutes of cardio for the heart and overall metabolism (start slow, perhaps doing 30 minutes of fast-paced walking, then slowly increase the speed until you are doing a mild jog pace). A radio walkman/ipod, or music in general helps with this. I program my ipod every week with music that will inspire me as I run!.. it's kind of fun, I have 5 minutes of warmup music, and then I have the theme from Rocky programmed into the ipod, signalling me that it is time to turn up the heat and start the full-speed run. Be creative, and have fun with it.

Thanks gardener, I have only been to the gym six times altogether, but I think I can already feel this natural high you are refering to. I felt great today when I was walking home.
For now I have decided to go there every other day and work out about 40 minutes. Is this enough? I have already noticed that people usually stay there longer but they spend most of the time talking to others. I do my things without any breaks.

I also wanna do weights only, since I am already running and so my heart should be in good shape.

 

[joseph49853]

Now, throw all the advanced advice you've received out the window. If you're committed enough, you'll come back to these words as a more intermediate bodybuilder in six months time. Beginners who overwhelm themselves by jumping too quickly into things usually stop after only a few months. I see it all the time. Meanwhile, the first year is when you make the quickest gains, without the unnecessary need to overly tax your body. That's why remember: slow and steady wins the race. Work towards seeing incremental improvements every week.

In the first six months to a year, you should only be working on the fundamentals, perfecting your form, posture, and muscle memory, and slowly building your core strength. All the time, I see people with years worth of experience still using improper form to lift more weight than they can handle. Don't let this become you. In my opinion, they're wasting more than half of their time, and are an injury just waiting to happen.

http://www.hydroxycut.com/MEN/WORKOUT/E ... ndex.shtml

The hardest thing to learn with proper technique is the squat. Even the above Hydroxcut demos don't show the proper full range of motion. In allowing your calves to make contact with the hamstring, this form will actually help protect and strengthen the knee joint. This will allow you to go HEAVY in the future. While other people with incorrect form will eventually end up blowing out their knees.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Glu ... Squat.html

I would center your entire workouts around compound exercises: squat, bench press, deadlift, military press, dips, chin-ups, leg lunges. These are the movements where you'll make the biggest gains, by working the largest muscle groups. And try to work your abdominals ASAP; people who don't stress their core make the slowest gains. I would highly recommend adding bicycle kicks for the most effective all-around abdominal exercise. Later on, in six months to a year, you can start increasing the amount of isolation movements, in working smaller muscle groups, such as tricep extensions, and bicep curls etc.

Good luck.

 

[Harie]

I would center your entire workouts around compound exercises: squat, bench press, deadlift, military press, dips, chin-ups, leg lunges. These are the movements where you'll make the biggest gains, by working the largest muscle groups. And try to work your abdominals ASAP; people who don't stress their core make the slowest gains. I would highly recommend adding bicycle kicks for the most effective all-around abdominal exercise.

Don't forget hypers & pendlay rows/rows too. You can't squat big unless you have a strong back.

 

[joseph49853]

I would center your entire workouts around compound exercises: squat, bench press, deadlift, military press, dips, chin-ups, leg lunges. These are the movements where you'll make the biggest gains, by working the largest muscle groups. And try to work your abdominals ASAP; people who don't stress their core make the slowest gains. I would highly recommend adding bicycle kicks for the most effective all-around abdominal exercise.

Don't forget hypers & pendlay rows/rows too. You can't squat big unless you have a strong back.

Good point. You can never build your upper and lower back, or legs enough. This is from where a bulk of physical strength is derived. I have upper back covered with chin-ups and deadlifts for lower back. But you cannot go wrong with rows... so definitely add those too. I do them all the time.

I've especially noticed for most people who neglect their lower backs and abdominals -- their core of stability -- they eventually hit a wall and disappointedly give up.

 

[CCS]

I started doing sprints today, though not full sprints, after years of not running. I put on my $90 running shows, when out to a good patch of dirt, and ran on the balls (not the heal) of my feet the whole way to absorb shock. Doing that slowed me down and required more work, but I could totally feel the difference in impact when my calves cushioned each step instead of my heal just striking the ground. I did about 10 100 your sprints, in 1's or 2's. I think that is a good start. The school gym is closed for the winter.

One thing for sure is you don't have to do long, slower runs to work your heart. Sprints with moderate breaks in between will definitely get your heart beating. And by making it speed up and slow down, you are probably training it better with the sprint.

 

[UK1]

Nice one Taug, I finally got my new gym membership this week too, it's been almost 10 years since I last went through a regular exercise regimen so I'm looking forward to getting myself back into physical shape for the summer.

 

[CCS]

I'm glad my school has a gym. Did you know some gyms have a $300 start up fee? $50 is the average.

 

[bubka]

from now until spring break is the worst for the gym, so freaking busy

 

[CCS]

more women for me to hit on. I got so many smiles and laughs and convo from women tonight. About 4 or so. I did not know what to do from there, though. At least they are not affraid of me, or ignoring me.

 

[UK1]

Have had my first few gym sessions, feel pretty damn good from it actually, I've kept to my hour session every other day since I started, how's it going for you Taug?

 

[bubka]

CCS, when you get laid, or at least see some titty, then give us a call