So there are so many questions on here all asking basically the same things:
1) How do I lose weight?
2) How do I build muscle?
3) Why can't I lose weight?
And there are many....many more. I thought I would make a myTake and try to help by passing what I have learnt during my time of changing from some fat guy to someone who my friends ask for tip and ask to go to the gym and help them.
My first point that I feel is one of the most important points of your entire journey of losing or gaining weight is you DIET!!!
People you can train until the world ends but if your diet isn't right then you will see very very minimal changes.
1) Losing weight
I wish I was given a penny for every question I see about people saying they will starve themselves cause there are so many I would be rich, let me make this 100% clear for all of you considering this.....DON'T BE STUPID this is dangerous and although you will initially lose the weight your body will combat this by slowing you metabolism and then when you start eating properly again you will just gain it all again, so why risk yourself to essentially do nothing?!?
The key to dieting is moderation, your weight will drop 1 pound for every -3500 kcal. So by just taking away some of the food you eat, sugar, unhealthy saturated fats; you can easily achieve a deficit of 3500 in two weeks if not one but don't starve or risk your health for it. Carbs aren't your friends people, "that guy at the gym eat loads of pasta" that guy at the gym who is muscular and eats like that is bulking people, he's not trying to lose weight he is gaining. To lose weight you want a lower carb intake, take them in healthy forms: wholewheat pasta, porridge, brown rice and some brown bread but remember to check the labels people.
When you wake up in the morning if you are really trying to shift that stubborn fat go for a moderate walk for 20-30 minutes straight away; to burn away the stores then after your walk have your breakfast, have the majority of you carbs at breakfast so they are used thoughout the day instead of being stored.
2) Gaining weight
Trying to pack on some pounds? Want to build your muscle mass, again just like losing weight your nutrition is key here.
Trying to bulk you need to have enough carbs and protein to make sure that you get through your day but there are still some to be used in muscle mass, I recommend when bulking to increase kcal intake by 200 and remember to get plenty of rest too
3) Drinking and other common mistakes
A common mistake by people trying to lose weight is downing all these shakes and juices etc , did you know some of these smoothies you buy are worse for you (sugar wise) than coke? In you day how much water do you drink? That water by the way people not tea, coffee or even squash. On a day you should drink a minimum of 2 litres of water and a extra litre per hour you spend in the gym; it sounds like a lot but just constantly sip it throughout the day and it will be surprising how much you drink
Another common that shocks me, do people check the labels of what they eat or what? Is that "low fat" or "low sugar" diet items e.g. Yogurt aren't good for you, low fat generally means high sugar etc . So remember look at the labels people.
I also notice that there are loads of questions along the lines of:
- How do I lose belly fat
- How do I tone my bum
- etc etc .
There are some many answers along the lines of isolating the area...
Key thing here guys and gals, you cannot lose fat in a specific area, you can't for instance just trim your stomach. I can tell you for personal experience you won't lose you stubborn belly or "love handles" until you have lost weight over the rest of your body, sorry to tell you but these are the last areas you lose it and that it sorry no way to change that.
As for gaining in a single area while that is kind of correct that if u isolate and train that muscle it will grow there is no way to gain in a individual muscle it will gain all around the target area. Toning these areas etc , ever heard the saying Abs are made in the kitchen? That is so true it's not even funny, you can sit and do thousands of of crunches but if you aren't on a clean diet keep on crunching you won't ever get your abs. Clean dieting generally is the way to tone that along with training and you can't go wrong
The gym
So you just started at the gym, what do I do?
Firstly, get a induction to the equipment nobody wants to get injured so make sure you are confident using the machines, don't be afraid to ask the staff that's what they are there for.
My advise for you on your first time at the gym? Right so take a note book and a pen, plan a little before had so plan your training days I personally follow:
- Chest, Triceps
- Back, biceps (Lats included)
- Legs and Abs
- Shoulders
Once you are this level hit the gym and walk around looking at the machines and see what they do and what muscle groups they hit, there sound be something along the lines of this.
So so as you can see it is a shoulder exercise so mark it down on you shoulder day, as you plan this out try out machines to see how you feel with them; don't feel the need to jump right in, plan it out and go home and write yourself a template plan and maybe if you have a friend who trains get them to check it.
Don't be intimidated by people at the gym, they all started where you did so don't feel the need to try to impress them.
The picture says it all, your at the gym. Nobody and I mean nobody cares how you look and although you might think it, nobody cares how much you lift so stick towhat makes you comfortable and you can handle because I can promise you they don't care if you can lift that much but if you have bad form people will be like...
Well not literally but you will look stupid.
Resting
Resting is essential in building muscle, you all know the term ripped I assume. The term comes from the microscopic tears on a muscle when you train, these muscle tears then heal bigger and stronger but only when you rest, you rest you grow, you don't then you stay small. If you train you Chest and Triceps for example you shouldn't train them again for 48 hours.
How to train? That question is here a lot too and do you want to only answer to it? It's a swing and miss type of thing really some people respond great to high weight low reps; some to high volume light weight and some are better suited to cardio. I don't know you, the people on here probably don't know you we don't know what type of thing you respond well to so unless you give us some kind of idea the tips and help that we can give to you will be limited, if I know you like high volume I could suggest a circuit, same with heavy and so on. You want the help we need to know. The same question comes along with nutrition when you ask what to eat again we don't know you and we can give you a rough template but it is your body it will be down to you to adjust as you go depending on how t works for you.
Supplements
So there aren't many about supplements but people often mention them in opinions etc . So do you need them? Short answer? Yes they are huge importance to the dedicated trainer but if you are just doing it casual you can live without them, at the end of the day not all of us can afford them. Supplementation again is a personal preference, I could take a blend protein and make gains that you can or visa versa it's down to metabolism and personal genetics, if you consider taking a supplement I would recommend you do your research on them. Simple run down on some though:
Whey - increase muscle mass
BCAA - branch chain amino acids produce protein
Protein blends - contain several different types of protein works similar to Whey
Casein - casein protein is a long digesting protein that you take before bed and it lasts for about 8 hours.
Supplements help however if you can eat your protein instead of drinking it do it, it's much better for you.
Endurance - Simple and general, several questions on how to increase endurance. Simple answer the more you do the better you get. If you want to improve you mile endurance then run two miles and so on
You need to hit the Aerobic zone which is 70-80% of heart rate which is around 152-166 beats per minute
And Finally Motivation, motivation what can I say other than motivation is a lie that you tell yourself to make a excuse, "I'm not motivated" sorry but Motivation is the thing that gets you started. It's hard work and dedication that keeps you going and makes it so that you hit your goals, track yourself so that you can see your progress if you really need motivation but the only thing that you should need to get yourself to the gym or to not cheat on that diet is your will power and you wanting to improve yourself. the way to better yourself is to improve yourself.
Sorry for such a long take people tried to tell you as much as I could think of and I hope I helped you out and gave some guidance like I set out to do. If I missed anything or you have questions post them and I will do my best to get back to you. Thanks
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