This originally was a comment I made on a r/askMRP post. I thought it deserved a post over here.

These are 7 thoughts on the process of getting started lifting. For the most part this is aimed at, what I assume is a lot of new MRP'ers, those who are some degree of fat asses.

#1 Go see a Dr.

This is your first step. Talk to him about a barbell lifting program and what effects lifting heavy will have on any health concerns you have. Have him do a full blood workup too. T levels, vitamins, cholesterol , the whole shebang. If nothing else these tests will show you where you started and a year from now you can have them redone to see progress.

#2 Diet is EVERYTHING

I don't care what program you do if your diet is fucked you will never make any progress. EVER. The basic gist is this: To lose weight calories out > calories in. To gain weight calories out < calories in.

There is all sorts of other great advice that can be given here; eat whole foods, real meats, stop processed crap, no fast food, etc. But the reality is if you ate only McDonalds all day every day you can still lose weight if you are hitting a caloric deficit. You'll feel like shit and not see as good of results, but you'll lose weight.

There are a ton of different ways to diet, but I think most people aren't stupid and understand that eating a grilled chicken breast with veggies is better then eating a hamburger. Don't be dumb.

Also as is echoed elsewhere, track your calories... all of them. Making eggs for breakfast and put a tbsp of butter in the pan; that butter counts against you. Salad dressings; count against you; Everything that touches your food or mouth gets counted. Use My Fitness Pal or Sparkpeople or any other app out there that does this.

The best way to think about the "diet" portion is this: You are not dieting. Dieting is for your mom and chics who have no idea what they are doing. You don't diet, you eat towards a goal.

#3 Barbell Lifts are King

You need to be lifting the barbell compound lifts. Period. End of discussion. (Unless the Dr. puts a hard no on it)

Barbell lifts engage your whole body in the exercise and produce far better results. They increase testosterone. They build more muscle. They are functional.

The big lifts you should be doing are Squats, Bench Press, Deadlift, Overhead Press, and a Row. These 5 lifts work your whole body and if all you ever did for the rest of your life was one of these lifts a day for 20 mins you would have a decent level of fitness that most do not. (Obviously the better you get at them the more specialized your training regime should be though so you move beyond a decent level of fitness)

Stronglifts5x5 is hands down the best beginner program out there. You start with just the bar, which anyone can do, and go from there.

#4 Cardio is overrated

To put it bluntly... you are a fat ass. It's cool I was too. Cardio is just going to sap the energy that you should be putting into lifting. Later on can you add cardio in to really cut fat when you are nearing your goals? Absolutely. But right now you don't need cardio. You need to fix your diet and lift.

Cardio does not burn fat. It burns what ever it can easy convert to energy, which some times means muscle. You need to work on building muscle and eating right more then anything else right now. Spending any time on a treadmill or bike is a waste of your most valuable resource. You want the best bang for your time.

When you do get to the point where doing some cardio is helpful don't do steady state. You want HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training. Basically sprinting, walking, sprinting, walking, sprinting, walking, repeat for 15-20 mins.

#5 This is a long journey, keep your chin up

You are at least TWO YEARS away from your ideal body. Internalize that right now. You will not see results in 30,60, or 90 days. (Other then the weight going down on the scale and up on the barbell) If you can't come to grips with that fact you will get discouraged and want to quit when you don't see the results quickly enough.

Because this a long journey, one you'll be on for the rest of your life, I give this piece of advice: Live your life and don't sweat the small shit.

Do you want a pizza? Order a damn pizza and eat the whole thing. Then eat a little less the next day and hit the gym hard. Just don't do this every night.

Have a few beers with buddies? Sure, why not. You only live life once and sharing a drink(s) with good company is not a reason to fret. Just don't do this all the time.

Just went to the gym earlier and now your having a breakdown and want a Big Mac? Try not to, but when you fail, and at some point you will fail and give into the cravings, big deal. Get back on the horse and keep moving forward.

Yes, you are a fat ass and should avoid all the pitfalls of fat ass-dom. But you're also human and life is to short to be that guy that is always worried about counting every single calorie and won't ever go out and have a beer.

You will have success and failure. Embrace it all as part of the journey. The biggest thing that derails most people is holding themselves to a ridiculous expectation of going cold turkey. Then when they inevitably give in they get discouraged and give up.

YOU WILL FAIL. ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

Get over the failure and get back on track as soon as possible. It's all part of the journey.

#6 Let Discipline, not Motivation, be your guide

You will be sore and tired the first month or two. You will be scared to get under the bar for squats at some point. You will fail trying to deadlift. Because of this your motivation will rise and fall like the oceans tides. If you only do things when you feel motivated you will never accomplish anything.

Be disciplined. Go to the gym when you don't want to. Eat right when you want pizza (I fucking love pizza). Drink water when you want soda. Go to bed early when you want to watch TV.

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit" - Aristotle

You want to achieve results then you have to be disciplined enough to make things a habit. Habits (discipline) generate results not acts of motivation.

#7 All the other shit

Supplementation, gym partners, exercise form (This is actually a big one), sleep, stretching, active rest, etc.

There is a crap ton of other info to go deeper into on the subject, but at this point it's extra info and the reality is you need to just get started on the other points above.

r/fitness has a ton of great and helpful info and people over there for when you do have a question about the more nuanced points of lifting. But you can always hang around here and ask your fellow captains and get pretty solid advice too.

So there you have it. Go out and get started.