Looking at Joining a Gym

Hey everyone,

I'm really wanting to get into shape this year...haha, it's kind of a pre-new year resolution. Before I join a gym though, I really need to figure out a workout plan, otherwise nothing will be effective and I won't be motivated. I should say that I am lightweight right now...I dropped 15 pounds over the year that I quit working out and now I want to gain it back and maybe more. I will be working out alone, so I would like to do as much possible with dumbells.

So, I'll give you all a quick hi and ask for your advice. Also, I need advice on diet...suggestions on good diet books with simple recipes would be great. Keep in mind that I want to gain weight.

I get pretty intimidated by other people's capabilities in the gym, and that has been holding me back from joining. Any advice on getting past this so that I can get motivated?
 
Welcome to the forum, Brotha! I wish you the very best in your goals.

I have some info on diet for ya,,,,,,,,,


and,,,,,,,,one thing left to say:


ROCK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Do it..........put your mind in it..........anything is fricken POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!

Best wishes


Chillen
 
The road to potentially bulking:


The road to your goal, is gaining knowledge of calories and nutrition within a diet proportioned to your age, wgt, hgt, and gender, which includes associated activities.

Then developing a scheduled training plan per week (which allows recuperation time) that compliments---a clean diet. When both are developed, then the key is consistency and then watching, looking, and being very mindful, of your bodily responses to your diet and training stimulus.



Surplus dieting is the MAIN thing that does the job.

Some Basic information that can lead you to weight tissue gain

Calorie calculation is an approximation science, remember this. Through your journey WATCH, LOOK, and LISTEN, to your body..........it will TELL YOU if your doing the correct things or combination of things!


○ Change your eating habits (below are some suggestion examples)

○ Substitute an artificial sweetener of your choice in the replace of refined white sugar (Refrain from Refined Sugar like you would a disease)

○ Try eating 5 to 6 smaller meals during the day

○ Balance your meals out during the day so in one day you have a mix of protein, carbohydrate and good fats

○ Drink lots of water during the day and before, during and after exercise

○ Simple Carb Examples: Grapefruit, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Strawberries, Oranges, Apples, Pineapple, etc

○ Complex Carb Examples: Whole Wheat Pita Bread, Oatmeal, Long Grain Brown Rice, Brown Pasta, Malto-Meal (Plain, whole wheat),etc

○ Good Protein Examples: White or Dark Tuna, Chicken Breast, Lean Turkey, Lean Ham, Very lean Beef, Quality Whey Protein Powder,, etc

○ Good Fats Examples: Natural Peanut Butter, Various Nuts, Flax Seed, Fish Oils.

This is what you need to do:

This an approximation science, but you can narrow it down very close, if your meticulous in your vision when looking at the data.

Tweak your desire and passion by educating yourself on the basic requirements of losing fat tissue. With your age, sex, height, and weight, in mind, find your approximated base calorie needs (this is organ function, breathing, or bodily function needs). One can use the Benedict Formula.

Calculate your BMR:

The Harris Benedict equation determines calorie needs for men or woman as follows:

• It calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calorie requirements, based on your height, weight, age and gender.

• It increases your BMR calorie needs by taking into account the number of calories you burn through activities such as exercise.

This gives you your total calorie requirement or approximated Maintenance Line (I call it the MT Line).

Step One : Calculate your BMR with the following formula:

•Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
•Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

Step Two : In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:

•If you are sedentary : BMR x 1.2
•If you are lightly active: BMR x 1.375
•If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 1.55
•If you are very active (You exercise daily.): BMR x 1.725
•If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 1.9

Create a Calorie Deficit:


The calorie surplus margin is just an example:

Apply this knowledge by going over the approximated MT Line (approximated Maintenance line), say for example, a +500c per day, for about 1 week.

Before the week begins, weigh yourself in the AM when you FIRST get up (do not eat yet) (remember your clothing, preferably with just underwear and t-shirt or like clothes).

Note the time, and the approximated wgt.

Each day spread your caloric content out throughout the day (keep the body fed, with calories in the 300 to 500c approximated calories each meal), or a like division which mirrors your end caloric deficit limit (meaning MT +500c).

This way you have your entire day and body encircled with nutrition (I assume you already know to eat clean), which if your eating right, will give an approximated good energy.

At the end of the week, on the same day, the same time, with the same like clothes, weigh yourself again. Note whether you lost or gained tissue (or weight I mean).


If this didn't happen, this means you need to make finer adjustments, and the MT line is not accurate, and you need to adjust this on your own.

Based upon the FEEDBACK your body is giving you, ask yourself how faithful you were on the diet, AND how faithful in training (whether you kept the training schedule (if you didn't, this would effect the caloric equation, no?!), AND how accurate you figured in your activities caloric wise.........but, you have the base information to begin making adjustments.
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The Nutrients are an essential factor in the diet; however, the law of energy balance within the DIET, is the ultimate KING while the Nutrients can play in some decisions made within the body.

Do yourself a favor, figure out your MT line, adjust off of this, eat well balanced spaced out meals (DONT EVER starve YOURSELF), AND listen to your body for the results.

While you are trying to figure out your body, IT WILL PAY YOU BACK, I promise. You have to learn to MASTER yourself to become the master of weight loss for YOURSELF.
========================================================
"Let your inner vision cultivate your ultimate exterior expression" —Chillen

"The strongest inner feeling that prevails will result in the exterior expression" –Chillen

"Your cultivation and manifestation of thought accumulated within your reasoning will determine your outcome"----Chillen
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The most effective beginning is to look at your diet, and make a diet journal in my opinion, THEN work in a training program around this diet.

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Have controlled obsession (and obsession to a---Point, is necessary), but some lose this obsession once they learn the amount of work it requires. There eyes then widen and then the obsession then pops right out. Dont let this happen to you: Raise your Want-o-Meter to a new higher level.

Best Regards,


Chillen
 
This is what you need to do:

1. Get the diet right
2. Have a training schedule each week (that involves full body)


As far as ab or torso training:

1. Squats: this exercise incorporates the torso indirectly, besides the obvious benefit of leg work, it does give the torso a good indirect workout

2. Dead lifts: this involves the Torso and can improve over all mass.

3. Keep the reps for the abs and torso at 25 or below, and add weight if necessary (the torso and abs are a high endurance muscle, but you dont want to to 100 reps, this is rediculous)

Start out with no weight until you reach the first set of 25 reps. IF on the first set you reach 25R, then add a 2 1/2 lb plate (as an example) on the second set, and then continue, and then do a 3rd. Be progressive. Each time the FIRST set hits 25, add weight.

Types of excercises: Crunch, Reverse crunch. Hanging leg raises, Leg lifts are a few starting examples. Pick one, AND do 3 sets. At the begining I suggest just one exercise of 3 sets, and as you progress you can add in another--just for simplicity sake.

I include weighted half-up sit ups (about 30 degrees up or thereabouts--some dont like these because it involves the hip flexors, but I get good strength volume from it, so see if works for you.

Schedule this about 3 times a week, and treat it as any other muscle. Allow rest time: this example gives about 4 days in one week.

But remember, doing these exercises isnt the the key in getting the abs to show, its the diet that does this. The exercises will strengthen the area no doubt, but place the diet above these exercises. Be PROGRESSIVE in the ab area as you are in your other training.
 
Weight progression EXAMPLE:


A Weight Program is a structured "Weight Lifting" Plan that you schedule certain exercises for a given time period.

For example: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Rest Saturday and Sunday, and then repeat.

For example (for simplicity's sake), schedule a full body workout on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then rest on the weekend. The program should be complimenting the sort of diet you have and the goals you seek.

I recommend a writing down the exercises, weight being used, and then keeping track of the reps completed---to track progression, and if need be enable FORCE progression techniques. The KEY to training, is PROGRESSION. Trying with FULL THROTTLE to progress from one workout to the next (whether its an increase in reps or weight or both).

For example: you used 100lbs on Bent Over row and did 8 reps. The next workout with the back you want to get 9 reps, and so on and so forth. If the target cut off rep range is 12 (for example), then you would increase about 5 lbs. This is progression in its simple basic form.

I believe you have to track progress because its CRITICAL to ones success and to strength and/or muscle gains.
 
Welcome to the forum. Never be ashamed in the gym. Use it as motivation and show people what your really made of.

Hope you reach your goals.
 
I have been a member of a gym for a year now. I find the activity there to be very motivating for me. I, too, was intimidated at first by not being familiar with the proper use of the weights but also by the much stronger bodies. But, after a month or two I just started doing it and, lo and behold, the seasoned people didn't mock me for being weak and out of shape but were supportive. I am sure you will have similar findings.
 
Just remember, everyone in that gym walked into their first gym at one time or another and did some exercises incorrectly here and there. Nothing to be ashamed of. You can also learn a lot from watching others. In a month, you'll be past it. Good luck!
 
Yea ill second all their comments ^^ i expected the gym to be intimidating, its not at all. ppl always seem to be willing to help & share their knowledge and if you dont know how to do a certain exercise just ask someone near you, thats all i did and not once did anyone refuse to help me.

Good luck mate.
 
Hey Chillen and everyone!

Thanks for all of the replies; my apologies for having such a delay in my response to your responses. Chillen, you give really good advice - exactly what I need. I've read that goals of weight gain are mostly in the diet and then the rest in the type or workout routine.

I will be doing my homework in order to develop a workout routine, then I will post in on here and you guys could maybe help pin-point some areas of improvement in my routine (NOTE: I am not yet working out...I want to get this all planned out before I begin...also NOTE: I am working out alone, so I want to optimize use of dumbells like I said before).

Also, I will do some homework in terms of the diet!

Thanks again for all the advice!
 
Hey Chillen and everyone!

Thanks for all of the replies; my apologies for having such a delay in my response to your responses. Chillen, you give really good advice - exactly what I need. I've read that goals of weight gain are mostly in the diet and then the rest in the type or workout routine.

I will be doing my homework in order to develop a workout routine, then I will post in on here and you guys could maybe help pin-point some areas of improvement in my routine (NOTE: I am not yet working out...I want to get this all planned out before I begin...also NOTE: I am working out alone, so I want to optimize use of dumbells like I said before).

Also, I will do some homework in terms of the diet!

Thanks again for all the advice!

You are very welcome, my friend.

Develop a routine with what you have available---optimize your resources to your FULLEST potential......until you have access to better and/or improved equipment.

ROCK ON BROTHA............any questions feel free to ask......I am here to help you..........

BE THE BEST.......be all you can be........never look down..........keep the chin up............BE PROUD..........never limit yourself.........


and


always


rock on!


Best regards


Chillen
 
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