Step 1: Joining the Gym
Now that my wife-to-be decided that change needed to happen, how to start getting in shape after a winter of slothfulness? My usual fitness tool, my bike, needed repairs after six months on the porch exposed to the elements. It did not occur to me when I stored it for the season that bike + rain + time = rust. I regarded the rust as a cosmetic problem but learned this was not the case. My bike doctor diagnosed that my bike needed an everything transplant — from the chain to the gears to the breaks — to keep it alive. Total estimated cost: £200. That amount of money gave me pause and I thought about better uses for it. I had a month until the wedding and I would need to use the bike as much as possible if I expected to see results.
However, this year summer has not happened. It’s been the rainiest June on record in London since records began. This did not bode well for regular exercise. While I know I should still go out in the rain on my bike, I don’t. I tried cycling in the rain last Autumn. It did not go well. I skidded, went over the handle bars, hit my head, blanked out, pulled something painful out of the bloodly mess that was my elbow that I later learned was my tendon, then stumbled home for six kilometers.
Now I stay in when it rains.
Instead of reviving the bike I directed the funds toward a gym membership. I’ve tried in the past to join a gym but after a short time gave it up. I learned from my past mistakes that only one thing matters about gyms: location. If a gym takes any effort to get to, you won’t go. Luckily for me there is a gym across the street.
I paid my £70 one-month-no-contract membership, had a buff man named Gavin show we how to use the equipment to appease the Gods of health-and-safety, and I’m ready to start.
1 Comments:
Since I'm a fitness maniac, I'll throw out some free advice here, to make sure you don't waste your time at the gym.
First of, you should lift weights. Cardio is great and all, but lifting weights has been shown to be the more effective fat burner in the long term. You will also maintain more muscle when you lose weight, which will lower your bodyfat levels dramatically. Thus, it will have you looking better and fitter, even if you don't lose that much weight.
Second, you should get a routine, and stick with it. I recommend the stripped 5x5, found here:
http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2007/01/stripped-5x5.html
Make sure you follow this program word for word, because to put it quite bluntly, that guy knows a lot more about fitness than you do.
Thirdly, use free weight instead of the machines. Free weights are mechanically superior to machines. In addition, they train all your stabilizer muscles, which is useful if you ever want to lift something in real life.
Do the big lifts, like deadlifts, squats and bench press. They build far more muscle and burn far more calories.
Read more: http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2006/12/compound-vs-isolation-exercises.html
Don't be afraid to lift with heavy weights. If you don't train with intensity, you won't make gains. Simple as that.
You can do some cardio too, but don't do it on the same days that you lift weights.
Now, for diet.
You don't need to eat optimally to get great gains, but if you eat like a moron, you won't get any gains at all.
1. How much weight you gain/lose is not determined by your workout regime. If you expand more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Therefore, you need to eat below your maintenance. Don't undereat though, or you'll kill your metabolism.
2. Eat more protein. It will help you build muscle.
3. Have small spacings between the meals, optimally, you should eat six meals a day, one meal every three hours. You don't need to keep to this religiously, but small meals often instead of a few large meals will keep your metabolism up.
4. Drink water, no soda or fruit juice.
5. Fruits are awesome, fruit juice isn't.
That's all for now, I'll just throw out a nice place to read more if you want to:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2522955
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