Gym Virgin

dayloon

dayloon

dayloon

Associate
Joined
6 Dec 2002
Posts
1,269
Location
Stafford
Hi All,

Here's the situation :

I'm 40, 6'3" and weigh over 18 stone. All that weight has kinda gathered in my stomach and i look pregnant. I've reached a point where i'm sick of it and determined to do something about it.

So i'm in the process of changing what I eat and drink (before I didn't care). I've also joined my local puregym. But this will be the first time i've gone to the gym for over 10 years. My long term goal is to obviously lose weight and secondly to build a bit of muscle. I know it won't be easy.

What should i be doing at the gym ? For now should i only concentrate on the weight loss and spend time on the cardio machines like the cross trainers / bikes / treadmills ?

Because i'm so unfit i'm not sure whether to start by going 3 times a week (for example) and doing something different each time. Such as the treadmill on Monday, Bike on Wednesday and cross trainer Friday. Then once my general fitness level builds up start doing a bit of everything each time i go.

Any advice ?
 
Does your gym have a squat rack?

If it does, google Stronglifts. And head over to the GymRats thread here because there is a lot of knowledge and experience on losing weight, gaining weight and gym everything.

As a starter for ten, do weights first and then cardio.
 
The general consensus is that weight training plus some HIIT is the best route for weight loss. Personally I'd suggest looking up a programme called Starting Strength (book is available on Amazon, plenty videos on Youtube). Warm up by doing 5 minutes rowing beforehand, and that'll give you a little cardio work as well. Then you can chuck in some HIIT routines in on the non-weight training days. Again, plenty of those on Youtube.

The endless slog on cardio machines is imo, why so many people fail at sticking to the gym; it's boring!
 
dayloon said:
Because i'm so unfit i'm not sure whether to start by going 3 times a week (for example) and doing something different each time. Such as the treadmill on Monday, Bike on Wednesday and cross trainer Friday. Then once my general fitness level builds up start doing a bit of everything each time i go.

Any advice ?
Click to expand...

The other posts given are great advice so I'll just add.

Aimless training, i.e. training without a well defined goal and programming, is generally unsuccessful for many trainees because it leads to frustration, and ultimately resignation. That's why doing a program like Stronglifts / Starting Strength / Couch to 5k is so beneficial; you will have a well defined goal and schedule to follow.
 
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If I may add, dont go into head long crazy and change EVERYTHING overnight, going to the gym way to much for a couple of weeks then getting sick of it. Same with diet change. Dont get me wrong this works for many people..but there 10 times more who it doesn't, your asking to make a big change to your life style. Diet is the soul breaker when it comes to it, bu all means make changes..but at the same time, should want something "naughty" just have it, but make sure you keep up going to the gym. And dont go 5 times a week..go a couple of three times a week, and dont wreck yourself, just enough to be out of breath when talking..then take it from there. Apply some of all of this, and you body can snap back to a healthier version of it self faster than you think.
 
Good luck with your plan! It's never too soon to get in shape.

Diet is 90% of the challenge at first. Don't cut out everything that you like as you'll get miserable and go back to old habits. If you go into a severe calorie deficit and also start exercising you'll feel totally wiped out and lose motivation really quickly. Get hold of the myfitnesspal app and before you start your new diet, log everything that you eat and drink and be really honest with yourself. Once you've got your baseline you can see where your diet requires improvement and start working out how much and where you need to cut down.

Stronglifts is excellent and free. This will give you structure and routine which is really important. Have you got a gym that's close by? It really depends on how you motivate yourself and what sort of person you are, but personally I really like to try to go to the gym every day before work as it becomes part of my routine. What I don't mean is get up at 0500 and do 2 hours before work, it's amazing what you can do with 30 minutes every day. Start with stronglifts 3 times a week and go from there would be my advice. I wish I had done it when I started out.
 
^^Lots of what tom said. I regularly get fed up with myself and start lifting, go full keto diet and try and do cardio and usually fail about a month later trying to do too much, too soon. Baby steps is key. I still haven't learnt this lesson :(
 
stronglifts or similar is a great starting place. simple easy effective routine that's not going to confuse you, I started out with it and it gave me a fantastic building block. Swimming once a week can also be amazing.
I also spoke to a nutritionist didn't cost a lot and you will learn a lot! I was eating enough and what I was eating was all wrong.

I would start a log for sure. it will be very slow progress but you will progress! It got to me a few times sitting here thinking why do I bother killing myself in the gym?

Then I look back at older photos, I go back into my log and see I've added 20kg on bench, 30kg on deadlift etc etc and it bumps me right up.

I was 6ft1 17 stone. I am now 15st 4 and stronger than I was but its been over 2 years now.

Good luck with the journey!!
 
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