Where do I begin with GYM / Lifting?

plymouthSundance · 2017-02-07T00:12:56+00:00

Any variation of a 5x5 routine. You will be going to the gym 3 times a week. You will have to eat 1 gram of protein per pound you weigh, daily. Look up a TDEE calculator, find your maitence level daily caloric intake, and add 500 to it. Drink whey protein after you workout.

b33k3rz · 2017-02-07T02:56:34+00:00

Run a bodybuilding routine, not the garbage that everyone in this thread is recommending. You'll thank me later

Focus heavily on diet. eat 500 - 1000 over your BMR every day.

creating_my_life · 2017-02-07T00:32:07+00:00

You sound like a complete beginner. There's NOTHING wrong with that.

However, lifting isn't something you can "fake it 'til you make it". You will get injured.

Pony up some of that cash for a personal trainer. You could consider a crossfit gym, they're very welcoming for newbies. I learned a LOT in crossfit, and one of the things I learned was why I shouldn't do crossfit.

Fix your diet.

As for your specific questions:

Would supplements help? (Protein, Diets)

Nope

How long should I stay?

My routine is usually just under an hour.

Lots of treadmills where i'll go, (PF) should I use them or just stick to lifting?

Lift. Treadmills are stupid.

Do I jump right into lifting? Or Start with some exercises?

General warmup (bike/treadmill/rower). mobility. movement prep before each life, lift. next.

Things that may be crucial to someone starting?

Don't just jump in and fake it. Read a ton of shit online. However, you should consider joining a program. I can't imagine trying to learn to squat from words and videos. Having someone who knows how to do it explain it to you and critique your movement is valuable.

CeterusParibusOfc · 2017-02-07T02:41:37+00:00

Although I have a high metabolism and barely gain any weight.

DON'T buy into this! I was a skinny mofo for a long time, and plenty of adults, even accredited personal trainers told me I had a "high metabolism".

Such a thing doesn't exist. Download the app MyFitnessPal and start tracking your calories, religiously. It sounds like you have an idea of your daily goal for calories.

"Your body is made in the kitchen."

LLL3peat · 2017-02-07T01:36:07+00:00

Everyone is going to say do this or do that. It's like having a personal brand. Just get in there and do something. That might mean waking around your neighborhood for 20 minutes. Doing 20 push ups in the morning and night. Perhaps doing jumping jacks and other things. The main goal is to start and keep doing it instead of trying once and then saying it's too hard.

2435734098 · 2017-02-07T03:42:27+00:00

I went through the same. You have three options:

Starting Strength (SS), Stronglifts (SL) and Allpros. SS is usually the standard recommendation on reddit and Allpros is the default on the Bodybuilding.com forums.

I went with Allpros, loved the routine, and I found that as a begginer that had done a bit of lifting before (enough to be able to squat, bench and DL properly) I was able to progress (increase weights) faster than what was recommended by the program. Your mileage may vary.

The Starting Strength book is recommended regardless of your choice because of the in-depth explanations on how to do the exercises, especially squats.

Since you've never done anything you're gonna need to learn the exercises by using the bar with no weight, so don't worry too much about choosing the routine for the first couple weeks. You can test all three routines if you want, and choose the one you like the most.

Take it real easy when you start. Remember to only add more weight to the barbell when you're sure the form is good. Ask for help to the gym instructors and have them teach you everything, read the SS book and look up youtube videos on each exercise. If you add too much weight too early with improper form you risk getting injured.

You mentioned cardio (treadmills), I never did that. Some people enjoy it, some don't. But if you do it, never make it your main focus. Either use it as a warm up or do ~20mins max after lifting, or do it on a rest day.. I'd rather just lift, especially for beginners, unless you really need the cardio to improve performance on a sport or whatever.

PS: Depending on your gym, the instructors may try to convince you to do a very easy noob workout using machines. Don't. Insist that you want to learn proper form on the free weights.

GameOfLife77 · 2017-02-07T05:08:14+00:00

ProTip: realise who you are - a new guy at the gym. Get a professional trainer and just pay attention. if you're really interested, you'll learn quick.

ProTip#2, it helps when you do whatever exercise you do to concentrate your mind on the muscles you're trying to work. The mind is a powerful fucking thing, and that extra bit of concentration, just downing out the noise, makes the world of a difference in every lift.

Best of luck, keep us posted on how it's going!

VigilantRedRooster · 2017-02-07T06:48:14+00:00

There's a section on beginning fitness in the improved AskTRP Sidebar ---->

asktrpd · 2017-02-07T07:17:28+00:00

I see you have already been given lifting advice so I'm going to touch on diet as it is more important...

Eat a caloric surplus meaning eat more than you burn each day.... if you don't do this eventually the noob gains you make will stall out and you'll just be maintaining.

You NEED the "MyFitnessPal" app to track your macro nutrients (protein, fat, carbs) and your calories for the day. Simply enter your starting weight and your goal weight and it will do the work for you. Your most important macro is protein and if you want to gain, you need to eat 1g of protein per pound of body weight (you weigh 145lb, 145 grams of protein a day)

As far as supplements I suggest whey protein mixed with whole milk and creatine.

Think BULK BULK BULK. Eat as much as possible, as cleanly as possible. Absolutely no soda and if you can't give it up, drink diet.

EDIT: some good examples of a bulk diet. Breakfast: four scrambled eggs, two packets of instant oatmeal, whole milk.

Lunch: PBnJ on wheat, banana for carbs

Dinner: grilled chicken breast, 3 cups of pasta. Harris teeter deli has fresh cut grilled chicken for 1.99 a pound, where I am from.

Snacks: protein bars, fruit, whey protein shakes.

It takes 21 days to make something a habit. Just lift and eat for a month and it will be routine. Have fun

michael_wilkins · 2017-02-07T09:41:02+00:00

Starting Strength.

It's the end all of training for beginners. It's the best program in terms of efficiency. Every single program is based on this model.

There's quite a few areas you can focus on, but you can decide after you finish the program.

Most people who do it, don't do it correctly, so it's a good acid test for you.

grubek · 2017-02-07T11:08:06+00:00

You can read a lot of shit, but the most useful thing will be to ask the person in charge of the gym to create a plan for you. I did this and after a year I was doing shit on my own. But at first it was useful to have human guidance. Reading is useful, but is no substitute for in person help.

Also, be up front and honest about your situation. You have never worked out, have no idea about it but want to learn. People will respect that specially if they see you stick to it. Do not pretend you know shit when you don't, that will get you labelled quick. It really is that simple. People get mental shit when they see the big guys, but those big guys were in your situation once and know what you are feeling. They will respect you if they see you handle it with honesty and are willing to earn your respect with hard work. Don't do stupid shit. Be honest and do the work. At first working out is hard, but it gets addictive quick.

As for food, it depends on how quick you want to change, but a good idea would be to start adding vegetables with every meal, and reduce or cut completely processed food. Only with those two things you'll notice a big change. You can get more anal about nutrition later if you want.

RedditAdminsSuck_88 · 2017-02-07T00:41:26+00:00

Diet is more important than the lifting

Both are super important, but don't fall in the trap of thinking because you lift you can eat whatever you want

Supplements are a waste of money. Go to YouTube and look up Alan Thrall's Supplement Stack videos and he will show you why supplements are like flushing your money down the toilet

htbf · 2017-02-07T00:13:09+00:00

Look into the bodyweight fitness subreddit routine. It's perfect for people who are starting and need to hit everything.

It gives you the warm-up and the strength exercises. It will take you from not being able to do a pull up to doing 3 full sets of them.

Title	Where do I begin with GYM / Lifting?
Author	20QuestionsTRP
Upvotes	12
Comments	44
Date	February 6, 2017 11:55 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/5shxmf/where_do_i_begin_with_gym_lifting/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/where-do-i-begin-with-gym-lifting.82075 https://theredarchive.com/post/82075

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