How to Get Started 33/84

Ok so I'll be honest, I probably should have put up a post like this at the very beginning of this endeavor, but I also didn't really have a plan or quite know what I was doing yet. Even now that I'm over a month in, this post is just as important because new people are seeing these posts every single day. Even people who have been following for a bit will be able to take away something from this. I'll break this post down into four part; resistance training, nutrition, cardio, and supplements and talk about where I recommend someone who is brand new start on each one. Even if you have been in the game for a while but don't do some of these things, I would take a step back and make sure you have the basics covered before you proceed much further.

Resistance Training

First off, resistance training covers a lot of different things; lifting weights, using machines, bodyweight exercises, and resistance bands, to name a few. The benefits of resistance training include building muscle on a bulk, maintaining muscle on a cut, increasing strength, increasing mobility, lowering blood pressure, decreased risk of mortality and a ton of other things. The idea that lifting is just for meathead bodybuilders or athletes is long gone. Everyone, and I mean everyone, can benefit from some form a resistance training.

When you're just starting, I would recommend you do mostly full body workouts and do them 2-3 times per week. You're going to be pretty sore that first week so don't go crazy. Start with the basics and learn some exercises to squat, hinge, push, pull, and carry. These are the fundamentals that everyone should be able to do. You can add couple exercises for biceps or pecs or whatever, but the majority of your program should revolve around those five basic movements.

I usually recommend free weights and bodyweight exercises to most people, but if you have no experience at all, then machines can have some benefit. Your muscles are still working and you can still get stronger. I would definitely not rely on machines for too long, but they can help you get started.

My normal recommendation for sets and reps is 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps on most exercises. This is the perfect place to beginners. 8 reps being the lowest makes it so you can go too heavy and 12 being the highest will reduce some of the total volume that you do. You also only need 1-2 exercises per muscle group, per workout to get great starting results.

Lastly, don't be afraid to go and use the equipment and the free weights! I'm dead serious when I say that no one is actually watching you or cares what you're doing. Don't be worried that you look silly or that people are judging you, they're really not. One way to help get over this fear is to have a good program that tells you what exercises to do, that way you know that you're doing exactly what you should be.

Nutrition

This is always such a tough one to start doing. Not only is it extremely important, but most people either already have a terrible relationship with food or have no idea what eating healthy really is. The first thing I would do is to just take some time and become more aware of what you're eating. Turn off the T.V,  put your phone down, and actually focus on your food. See how it tastes, see how it makes you feel, realize how much food really satisfies you. You also need to make a baseline of how much you're eating right now. This could be tracking macros or not, just have some reference point. I would also start consciously making healthier choices each day. You don't have to be 100% for each meal every single day, especially when just starting out, though. The point here is to build good, lifelong habits, not starve and deprive yourself.

Here's the basic food types to focus on; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and healthy fats. If the majority of your meals consist of these things, you're way ahead of almost everyone. Try to eat these things as often as possible and you'll make great progress. You should also increase the protein you eat (via lean meats usually) because most people are not currently getting enough protein in their diet. For my meals, I eat my protein and my veggies first before I even touch my carbs or fats. If you can fill up mostly on those, you'll eat less total food and be less hungry throughout the day.

Cardio

Since I've began posting on this blog, I've been getting a few questions about whether I actually think cardio is a waste of time, so I want to set that straight here. Cardio and conditioning are both really important from the health perspective. They help with blood pressure, resting heart rate, heart and lung health, and help with recovery from sport and exercise. BUT, with that being said, no form of cardio really has much of an effect on fat loss. This has been proven time and time again by research, most recently in a meta analysis of hundreds of different studies on the topic. It's very clear that diet has, by far, the biggest effect on fat loss, but you still need to do some cardio and conditioning.

I would start by building your base with some basic workouts. I love a 2-mile walk at an incline as well as something easy like a 30 minute bike ride. Depending on where you're starting, a walk/jog interval workout can be a good starting point as well. Eventually, I like to work people into sprint intervals but you need to build that base first. 1-2 cardio sessions a week is all you need for that. Things like playing games and sports are another great way to get some cardio in as well,

Supplements

I'll start with this; you need to get you diet together, at least mostly, before you even worry about supplements. Supplements are exactly for that, supplementing your food, not replace it. With that being said, the two main purposes for supps are to fill in any nutritional gaps that are missing from your diet and for convenience in certain situations. I don't care how perfect you diet is, there is still an extremely high chance that you are deficient in something. The only way to really know is to get blood work done, but that is definitely NOT where I would start.

The basics I would recommend are a multivitamin or greens drink, fish oil or other Omega-3, and a protein powder for you intra/post workout. Some people talk down on multi-v's but I think they are a good place to start if you have one that's actually good. Fish oil, on the other hand, is well proven to be extremely good for joint, skin, heart, and brain health. It's seriously amazing and important. Protein powder fits in to the "convenience" category and it not essential. But it is easier and faster to drink a shake during your workout instead of eating a chicken breast. And yes, I do recommend sipping 1/2 your shake during your workout and drinking the rest after. I also mix mine with some carbohydrates to increase the speed that it is absorbed. I do 1 scoop of Gatorade powder and 2 scoops of protein.



Hopefully these tips can get you up and moving and give you a place to start.  I know a lot of this can be overwhelming so please reach out if you need help. I will help you, and if I can't I'll send you to someone who can.  Finally, My Free Fat Loss and Free Muscle Gaining Tips are done! And I have to say that they're looking pretty awesome and I'll be emailing the to all of my subscribers soon. Those will be free to anyone who subscribes here. Right now you'll also get a free copy of the Nutrition Template that I use for myself and my clients. Subscribing will also let you join the private Facebook group that I just opened (I fixed the link). This group will allow for much more engagement with each other than my Facebook page so I can make sure you guys are getting all of the info you need.

See you tomorrow!

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