Man of Honour
So, you've opened this thread. You've made that first step, the easiest step, but the first step all the same.
You've decided to change yourself, change that flabby belly of yours, rid yourself of those disgusting flappy wings you call arms, decided to trade those flabs for abs and most importantly, you've made it clear that you want to acquire aesthetics! And for that sir/madam, I applaud you.
But it's a daunting world out there, or so it would seem. These so called magic powders, gyms with people who might want to tear your head off for even looking at their ripped physiques and all this protein and carbs mumbo jumbo, it's enough to make you backtrack on that first step. But if I can convince you to stay and read this guide, you'll see that in actual fact, it's all going to be alright and it's not the scary world you've been led to believe by that doughnut eating monster sat across you in the office.
So where do you start? Here's a quick checklist, and I'll elaborate on each after
1) A gym
2) A structured diet
3) Supplementation
4) Routine
5) Progress/Journals
The Gym
So number 1 is the gym! And there's no two ways about it, unless you're living in a mansion with a massive spare room to use and some serious cash to spend to kit it out, you're going to need to join a gym to see the results that will keep you past the typical February quit point.
But which gym is best for you?
http://www.gymsnearme.org.uk/
http://www.payasugym.com/find-a-gym
These two fantastic little sites are brilliant for finding exactly what gyms you have local to you. But don't just pick the one closest, as while being a bonus, it's far from the most important aspect to think of.
Take a tour of a few of them. After all you want to feel comfortable and at ease, and you want to feel like you want to be there. When taking a tour look out for a few things
- Equipment
- Changing Rooms/Shower facilities
- Cleanliness
- The sort of clientèle
Equipment is my biggest and most important sell point. Don't just take the fact they have fancy looking dumbbells as a good thing, do they go up to a decent weight? You don't want to out grow the gym in a couple of months, so try and find somewhere with weights that go up to a number that looks ridiculous, as chances are, in a few months, it won't seem so ridiculous at all. As well as that, you want a place that has plenty of space for free weights, not just a little bench in the corner. Free weights are the STAPLE of your new lifestyle. Machines, while important, are only going to get you so far, so by all means make sure they have a wide range of machines, consider them second to the free weights.
The other two on the checklist are important, but don't let them out weigh 1 and 4. Everyone wants a clean gym, but a clean gym is no good to you if the equipment is crud. So make it a consideration, but not a deal breaker
The sort of clientèle, now this is important. Similar to the weights, you want people in there that are going to push you and motivate you. If everyone in there is a scrawny little dweeb, sure it will massage your ego, but you'll get complacent, you'll not push as hard and you'll just get bored. Go for a place with guys that are huge, not idiots and selfish, but look like they are experienced. As these guys will be so valuable in helping you push yourself and even give you some advice if you get to know them. I suggest paying for an individual session in these places to get an idea of the sort of guys you'll be training with.
Also, DO NOT always aim for a chain like Virgin, Bannatynes or David Lloyd. They'll more often than not lack the equipment you need, be far too busy and be too cardio focused. Things like squat racks, and flooring for deadlifts are almost a luxury in these places. Try to aim for smaller indy gyms, these will have a far friendly crowd and usually a much better group of people that train their I find. Also, they'll be better equipped, maybe not cardio wise, but weight wise.
How much should you pay? Well this is unfortunately area and gym dependant. Anything from £20-£80 isn't uncommon, but the higher end tend to be chain gyms that might not always suit you anyway. Most gyms make you a pay a fee that covers absolutely everything, swimming, classes, boot camp etc, if that's the case, try and ask if there is a gym only membership as that can drastically reduce the monthly fee
A Structured Diet
Now as it happens, here's one I prepared earlier
But I feel it's important to elaborate a little bit, as for some of you, a lot of that won't make any sense or will all seem a bit much to start with.
The most important thing to remember is you need to determine what your goals are. As losing weight and gaining muscle require two different approaches all together. And while your initial 6 months will see you blessed with the wonder that is "noob gains", the ability to lose fat and gain muscle together, it won't last for ever, so it's better to get in the habit now.
Losing weight, this does not mean starving yourself, ignore the idiot woman harping on about the celery diet over at the coffee machine at work, it's not that bad, trust me. Losing weight requires eating a decent amount of food, and chances are, more than you're eating now, but clean food. Replacing 3 massive meals, that are maybe 5-6 hours apart, with smaller meals eaten in smaller intervals.
Gaining weight, now this is what most of you will want, but allow me to explain that this isn't a golden ticket to scoff your face full of ****. It still requires structure, and it still requires clean and healthy food. To build muscle, you need to be in a calorie surplus, which as a negative leads to fat gain. By eating clean food and sticking to a decent diet, you allow this to be kept to a minimum, because remember, when you've finished your weight gain cycle, and you want to get those abs out, you're going to need to lose all that fat. And the more fat you put on, the harder the job to lose it all and the longer it takes.
Read the sticky above, and if you want a diet to get you started, feel free to email me in trust, and we'll work out a plan to get you on the right track
Supplementation
So you've heard all about protein powders, and creatine. You've seen your mate Dave lose 4 stone by drinking nothing but protein powders for 6 months. You've been told they're like steroids and you'd rather stay natural. And you might also have been told that you can't gain muscle without them.
Well, I'm here to tell you to forget everything you've ever been told. As chances are, it's all a load of rubbish.
First off, you do NOT need to take supplements. And they do NOT replace normal food. They are supplements, used to supplement an already healthy diet, that you will now have hopefully began to think about. With that said, Whey Protein is a useful tool to have in your arsenal for gaining a better physique. If you're limited in when you can eat at work or your budget is low, whey can help you get the protein in your diet that you might otherwise be missing.
Here's a guide to what you might need:
Whey Protein
Whey Protein is essentially what every gym rat you see will be using when they refer to protein powders. It comes in many forms, Concentrate, Isolate, Hydrolysed and Casein. All this should not concern you in the slightest for now, as right now, you just want something that you can use to get some extra protein in your diet.
Dextrose
This is something you would only use post workout. Consider it a form of sugar, but not the type you've been putting on your cereal. We add this to our post workout protein to enable our bodies to better absorb the nutrients when our bodies need it most. This, while not essential when starting out, is still recommended as post workout nutrition is important to everybody
Omega-3 Capsules
Not to be confused with Cod Liver Oil, these are a fantastic addition to your diet, and a great supplement for anyone to take no matter their level of knowledge and training. Omega-3 can be gotten from many sources including fish and nuts, but supplementing it doesn't hurt and it's a great thing to add to your diet.
These for now, should be the only things you need to worry about. Creatine? Well yeah, it's great, but it won't benefit you when you're just starting out. But when you feel you're ready, there's the supplements thread
As for places to buy your supplements? For now you should use MyProtein, they are the best value place for a beginner to buy protein, and have discounts on first time purchases through referral codes, feel free to use MP68619 for a discount on your first order. Stick to their Impact Whey, it's a great value protein that provides good nutritional values while keeping the costs down, plus it has plenty of happy users on the board here who can vouch for it.
There are many other sources for supplements, but until you need better protein blends or things like pre workouts, you shouldn't worry about that. We want to keep things simple so that it doesn't seem too complicated to start with.
You've decided to change yourself, change that flabby belly of yours, rid yourself of those disgusting flappy wings you call arms, decided to trade those flabs for abs and most importantly, you've made it clear that you want to acquire aesthetics! And for that sir/madam, I applaud you.
But it's a daunting world out there, or so it would seem. These so called magic powders, gyms with people who might want to tear your head off for even looking at their ripped physiques and all this protein and carbs mumbo jumbo, it's enough to make you backtrack on that first step. But if I can convince you to stay and read this guide, you'll see that in actual fact, it's all going to be alright and it's not the scary world you've been led to believe by that doughnut eating monster sat across you in the office.
So where do you start? Here's a quick checklist, and I'll elaborate on each after
1) A gym
2) A structured diet
3) Supplementation
4) Routine
5) Progress/Journals
The Gym
So number 1 is the gym! And there's no two ways about it, unless you're living in a mansion with a massive spare room to use and some serious cash to spend to kit it out, you're going to need to join a gym to see the results that will keep you past the typical February quit point.
But which gym is best for you?
http://www.gymsnearme.org.uk/
http://www.payasugym.com/find-a-gym
These two fantastic little sites are brilliant for finding exactly what gyms you have local to you. But don't just pick the one closest, as while being a bonus, it's far from the most important aspect to think of.
Take a tour of a few of them. After all you want to feel comfortable and at ease, and you want to feel like you want to be there. When taking a tour look out for a few things
- Equipment
- Changing Rooms/Shower facilities
- Cleanliness
- The sort of clientèle
Equipment is my biggest and most important sell point. Don't just take the fact they have fancy looking dumbbells as a good thing, do they go up to a decent weight? You don't want to out grow the gym in a couple of months, so try and find somewhere with weights that go up to a number that looks ridiculous, as chances are, in a few months, it won't seem so ridiculous at all. As well as that, you want a place that has plenty of space for free weights, not just a little bench in the corner. Free weights are the STAPLE of your new lifestyle. Machines, while important, are only going to get you so far, so by all means make sure they have a wide range of machines, consider them second to the free weights.
The other two on the checklist are important, but don't let them out weigh 1 and 4. Everyone wants a clean gym, but a clean gym is no good to you if the equipment is crud. So make it a consideration, but not a deal breaker
The sort of clientèle, now this is important. Similar to the weights, you want people in there that are going to push you and motivate you. If everyone in there is a scrawny little dweeb, sure it will massage your ego, but you'll get complacent, you'll not push as hard and you'll just get bored. Go for a place with guys that are huge, not idiots and selfish, but look like they are experienced. As these guys will be so valuable in helping you push yourself and even give you some advice if you get to know them. I suggest paying for an individual session in these places to get an idea of the sort of guys you'll be training with.
Also, DO NOT always aim for a chain like Virgin, Bannatynes or David Lloyd. They'll more often than not lack the equipment you need, be far too busy and be too cardio focused. Things like squat racks, and flooring for deadlifts are almost a luxury in these places. Try to aim for smaller indy gyms, these will have a far friendly crowd and usually a much better group of people that train their I find. Also, they'll be better equipped, maybe not cardio wise, but weight wise.
How much should you pay? Well this is unfortunately area and gym dependant. Anything from £20-£80 isn't uncommon, but the higher end tend to be chain gyms that might not always suit you anyway. Most gyms make you a pay a fee that covers absolutely everything, swimming, classes, boot camp etc, if that's the case, try and ask if there is a gym only membership as that can drastically reduce the monthly fee
A Structured Diet
Now as it happens, here's one I prepared earlier
But I feel it's important to elaborate a little bit, as for some of you, a lot of that won't make any sense or will all seem a bit much to start with.
The most important thing to remember is you need to determine what your goals are. As losing weight and gaining muscle require two different approaches all together. And while your initial 6 months will see you blessed with the wonder that is "noob gains", the ability to lose fat and gain muscle together, it won't last for ever, so it's better to get in the habit now.
Losing weight, this does not mean starving yourself, ignore the idiot woman harping on about the celery diet over at the coffee machine at work, it's not that bad, trust me. Losing weight requires eating a decent amount of food, and chances are, more than you're eating now, but clean food. Replacing 3 massive meals, that are maybe 5-6 hours apart, with smaller meals eaten in smaller intervals.
Gaining weight, now this is what most of you will want, but allow me to explain that this isn't a golden ticket to scoff your face full of ****. It still requires structure, and it still requires clean and healthy food. To build muscle, you need to be in a calorie surplus, which as a negative leads to fat gain. By eating clean food and sticking to a decent diet, you allow this to be kept to a minimum, because remember, when you've finished your weight gain cycle, and you want to get those abs out, you're going to need to lose all that fat. And the more fat you put on, the harder the job to lose it all and the longer it takes.
Read the sticky above, and if you want a diet to get you started, feel free to email me in trust, and we'll work out a plan to get you on the right track
Supplementation
So you've heard all about protein powders, and creatine. You've seen your mate Dave lose 4 stone by drinking nothing but protein powders for 6 months. You've been told they're like steroids and you'd rather stay natural. And you might also have been told that you can't gain muscle without them.
Well, I'm here to tell you to forget everything you've ever been told. As chances are, it's all a load of rubbish.
First off, you do NOT need to take supplements. And they do NOT replace normal food. They are supplements, used to supplement an already healthy diet, that you will now have hopefully began to think about. With that said, Whey Protein is a useful tool to have in your arsenal for gaining a better physique. If you're limited in when you can eat at work or your budget is low, whey can help you get the protein in your diet that you might otherwise be missing.
Here's a guide to what you might need:
Whey Protein
Whey Protein is essentially what every gym rat you see will be using when they refer to protein powders. It comes in many forms, Concentrate, Isolate, Hydrolysed and Casein. All this should not concern you in the slightest for now, as right now, you just want something that you can use to get some extra protein in your diet.
Dextrose
This is something you would only use post workout. Consider it a form of sugar, but not the type you've been putting on your cereal. We add this to our post workout protein to enable our bodies to better absorb the nutrients when our bodies need it most. This, while not essential when starting out, is still recommended as post workout nutrition is important to everybody
Omega-3 Capsules
Not to be confused with Cod Liver Oil, these are a fantastic addition to your diet, and a great supplement for anyone to take no matter their level of knowledge and training. Omega-3 can be gotten from many sources including fish and nuts, but supplementing it doesn't hurt and it's a great thing to add to your diet.
These for now, should be the only things you need to worry about. Creatine? Well yeah, it's great, but it won't benefit you when you're just starting out. But when you feel you're ready, there's the supplements thread
As for places to buy your supplements? For now you should use MyProtein, they are the best value place for a beginner to buy protein, and have discounts on first time purchases through referral codes, feel free to use MP68619 for a discount on your first order. Stick to their Impact Whey, it's a great value protein that provides good nutritional values while keeping the costs down, plus it has plenty of happy users on the board here who can vouch for it.
There are many other sources for supplements, but until you need better protein blends or things like pre workouts, you shouldn't worry about that. We want to keep things simple so that it doesn't seem too complicated to start with.
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