Good Evening/Afternoon/Morning all!

I have finally joined a gym after threatening myself with it for quite a while I have plunged into it!

I have my induction tomorrow at 12 and when I finish work at 5 I am going to do an hours work out.

I have had a bit of advice from my colleague about gaining muscle, and I have looked on various sites however they all seem to be contradicting. I have got myself some protein so I can drink to repair my muscles after the exercise too!

I am excited and I really hope this works for me because I am gaining weight and its getting out of control now. Simple as.

If anyone has any tips on muscle gain or fitness or weight loss, I would be more than grateful!

Wish me luck!

Jay

Good luck dude!

I really need to join a gym or something, I need to loose weight.

All the stuff about diets and that, put that off till later - all it takes in the beginning is making it part of your life so that you will do some of this stuff everyday, in gym or out.  That's the most basic part - do some exercise every day.

Agree with Tekla. Just get in the habit of going, do what you like at first. Don't do things you will hate as it will not be a "fun" or at least tolerable place for you to be. Then you wont want to go back.  Try and do both cardio and weights if you can manage it. When I first started I simply did cardio then moved on to weights after that.
Cheers,
Myles

The best things I can tell you about losing weight are 1) don't drink soda. I lost about 10-15 pounds eliminating soda (non-diet, of course) alone. 2) Eat more vegetables, if you don't already. I never used to eat fruits or vegetables, but I attribute more of my weight loss to the addition of that food group in my diet. 3) Count your calories. If you take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 16, you'll get the caloric intake you can have each day if you want to maintain your current weight. If you eat less than that each day, you'll lose weight. I usually keep my caloric intake around 2000 a day, and in the past 6-7 months, I've lost about 50 pounds. Oh, and that caloric calculation (weight x 16), I got from about 5 different dieting sites, so it should be valid, though it seems like quite a lot if you happen to weigh over 200 lbs.

SD

hi there i have a membership to 24 hr fitness and have been going for years heres what i can tell you
1 since your starting out go slow in as little as 30 mins you can see results if youve never exercised
2 keep a log and do not increase weight by more then 10 lbs once you can lift it to the full reps of 12 to 15 without straining
3 watch your form most injuries are do to bad form and you will see this pople arching when doing bench presses excetera.
4 monitor diatary intake if your goal is to increase muscle mass you must provide the correct callories to achieve it a reduction in calaries and an increase in excercise can only result in your getting smaller instead of building mass.
jessie

Awesome! I've joined a gym recently too, trying to gain some muscle and reduce fatness.
Here's my tips & advice:
Don't overdo it on the protein, protein deficiency is actually not that huge of a problem in most peoples' diets. I think only really hardcore bodybuilders really need a whole lot of it, but I guess it really depends on your metabolism as well.
Also, you should take a day's rest after working out. One day on, one day off. That gives time for your muscles to regenerate after a good workout so they don't tear up.
I like to start with stretching and cardio (the treadmill or bike machine thing) and then end with more cardio. Gives your body time to adjust to vigorous movement and then back down to "rest".

Personally, I think drinking plenty of water and green tea can really help. Also, try not to eat late at night, never skip breakfast and try not to starve yourself.

to burn fat excercise on an empty stomach on cardio days do no more then 40 mins of cardio in one sitting otherwise your body will produce cortisal a stress hormone that inhibits weight loss.
so now why on an empty stomach
first you want to keep your heart rate in an anabolic state so no more then 150 beats per min max perferably between 100 and 120 this should not take a lot of effort to accomplish it should feel like a fast walk anything higher then 150 and you enter a aerobic state which exercises your heart but releases massive amounts of cortisal into your system you will still burn calaries but sisnce the body needs them fast it will pull them from your glycogen stores (sugar) not the fat reserves which take longer to break down.
when you do cardio on an empty stomach in an anabolic state of excersion the body imeadiately pulls from the fat reserves since there is no glycogen stores to utilize. the only reason i recomend the anabolic state is because if you execise  arobically on empty stomach you will get light headed and could pass out. (lack of Suger)
Also with or w/o sugar in the aerobic state the body releases cortizole when stressed hindering your weight loss and if you ingest something prior to the excercise session (Aerobic) your body will burn the simple sugars before the fat as it is easier to utilize.
if you have any questions let me know you can pm me if you want

Jessica AKA the Gym rat

Congrats Jay,

I've been going to the gym about 4 times a week for 18 months now. As Tekla pointed out getting into a routine to enjoy it is important, it has to become a habit. It has for me and a very enjoyable one. I do mainly cardio and some machime weights. I'm (obviously) not interested in bulking up, but I have changed my body shape, got nicer legs and some boob development, not that that is your target .

Your trainer will probably tell you, but do a good warm up with stretching. Pulling muscles is not fun.

I take a water bottle and drink lots. Also have the trusty ipod blowing the ears off. Really enjoy listening to good rock while working out.

Have fun and get those muscles bulging

Cindy

anouther Suggestion do not go crazy on the abs until fat is minimal in that area people love their ab workouts but it only shows well if the fat is removed first in fact if there is excessive fat it will actually make you appear fatter as the muscle grows there and pushs the fat out lol you want to do some work on them though as this goes to your core strength and stability
jessica

I have been making sure that I eat right and I am ashamed to say I am still having fizz drinks diet ones at that because I like them and my be slightly addicted. I enjoy the gym.

My workout consists of

500 Meters Rowing.

5x3 Biceps curls with 6kg's

5x3 Tricep kickbacks with 6kgs

then either 8 minutes cycling, running or (another machine I have forgotten its name) So basically cardio.

5x3 Chest Press with 6kgs

5x3 Back weight machine with 225

Cardio

5x3 Downwards Row with 6Kgs

5x3 Forgot the name like a flying exercise with 6Kgs

Cardio

500 meter row.


6kgs is to light at the moment and will change it to 7kgs today. At the moment that plan is only to lose weight this will be changed next thursday, when I have my weight in. I feel alot more fitter and feel as if I have lost weight.

Jay

good upper body routine but its a little back heavy i would add a chest fly exercise with either dumbells or machine in addition to your press and shoulder exercise such as lat raise to help the stabalizer muscles in the rotory cuff area to prevent injury also do wrist curls this will help the smaller muscles in your forarms and wrist joints these are also stabalizer muscles I.E. you can only press as much weight as your wrists can support. Anouther sugestion is you need leg exercises i didnt see any in your routine this will help ballance your look. Look around at the guys in your gym how many do you see with massive upprbody build and chicken legs lol it always makes me giggle.
sounds like your doing find dont forget to shock your system about once every 2 months min. otherwise your muscles will get use to the excercise and your progress will slow or stop. By shock i mean do 1 week 3-4 times in that week of maximum amount of weight you can lift w/o injury for as many reps as you can in short if your hitting 8-10 lifts its two light for your shock week

jessica AKA the gym rat

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Post Merge: October 14, 2009, 04:15:12 AM

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be very careful with the rotary cuff muscles these are usually the weekest ones in the body and an injury there will side line your routine for a long while. very light weights lifted out to the side in a straight line till even with your shoulders
jessica

Sounds good Jay

One of the most important rules of gym work, if not the most important rule. Is: don't be concerned with what other people are doing. If you see some guy doing arm curls with 40kg weights and a girl half you size doing weights twice what you use it doesn't matter. I do  45 degree leg extensions  pushing 60kgs, I was watching a guy load on every plate in the gym. He was pushing 5-600kgs? He was also rather cute but that's another story. Guess what he is a pro weight lifter. I'm just a pro (had to put that in ). But bottom line is do what you can do forget what others do, it doesn't make you less of a man to lift less weights. That you are in there and exercising is the important bit. And lordess knows how many years some people have been going.

Good luck.

Of course we need before and after pics.

How else can we gossip about you

Hugs
Cindy

I will discuss what you have said with my personal trainer next week when I have my weigh in and get him to change up my routine!

My legs have def toned though!

Jay

Well I had my update and I went from..

17/9  101.2KG  Bodyfat - 35% Water Retention - 46%
22/10 102.6kg  Bodyfat - 34.5% Water Retention- 46.5%

So I gained weight  He said that he was really suprised and I could have actually cried I was so disappointed I worked so hard and changed all my diet and lifestyle to make sure I would lose weight and lost nothing anyhow he has changed my routine (which I will share below) and after this month I will find out.. other wise I will be a mystery! Yeah okay he doesn't know about the T and I think its why I am not actually losing the weight.. 

The new routine is as follows -


Rower - 500m

Superset x3
Hammer Curl 9kg 6-8
Tricep Extension - 6kg 6-8 reps

Cycle Level 5 (fat burner) 8-10 minutes

Superset x3
Pec Flyes  (whatever weight I choose)
Cable Crossover (whatever weight I chose)

Cardiowave - level 5 (fat burner) 8-10 minutes

Superset x3
Lat Pull Down (whatever weight I chose)
Upright row - 9kg 6-8 reps

Cycle - 8-10 minutes

Rower - 500m

And thats it for now will update my stats again in four weeks.

Jay

ok chin up i noticed your percent bod fat went down and your percent water retention went up this is a start even if it was only .5 percent equilly. im operating under the assumption this is 1 month check in. There is a couple of things to remember
1. muscle weighs more then fat so the increase in weight i wouldnt be to concerned with yet
2. have you noticed if your cloths are fitting looser as your muscles are replacng the body fat you should notice this more.
3. has the amount of weight your lifting increased in the prior time frame or is it stagnant? After a month you should be ble to lift more then you did when you started

remember this is a complete life syle change it will take time to figure out what works for your body dont get discouraged and give up
jessica

Thanks Jessica for your reply.

Yes that was the one month check in. My personal trainer did say that he can see a change of shape in my body. I can def life more, I was put on 3kg now I was using 6kg but I could lift much more. My clothes feel a bit baggy however not around my arms.

Thanks for the motivation

I have been to the gym this morning and am going again at lunch for an abs session with my instructor.

Jay

I weighed myself at the gym today and I my stats are

100.6KG - 34.5% BF - 47% Water Retention.

My water keeps going up and it looks like I have lost 2KG's but my body fat is the same   ???Strange...

I am going to start cutting soon so hopefully the gym will be a bit more effective for me!

Just thought I would update you! 

Jay

hey jay what does your diet look like are you keeping a food log this is as important or more important when attempting to lose body fat. you should be eating 4-6 small meals a day in order to keep your motabolism reved up and burning cals carbs needs to be reduced and protein increased when building muscle. heres an example of what i take in during a day and i lift 3-4 days a week with a 40 min cardio work out 6 days a week.
breakfast                                                                                         
3 egg whites 1 whole egg
1 toast whole grain bread

pre workout
protein shake.. multi vitamin
post work out.... banana

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Post Merge: November 18, 2009, 01:31:59 AM

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lunch= grilled chicken over spinach and tomatoe salid
afternoon snack=hand full mixed nuts
dinner=fish mixed vegitables salid with vinagrete
evening snack = protein shake

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Post Merge: November 18, 2009, 02:34:01 AM

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keeping an eye on your diet will greatly improve your chances at achieving your goals in the fitness department i learned to allow myself 1 free day that i can eat whatever i want so its easyer to stick with a structured plan
jessica