Some "getting started" tips

*** SORRY, POSTED THIS IN THE WRONG FORUM, BY MISTAKE. MEANT TO PUT IT IN "EXERCISE AND WEIGHT LOSS". BUT, I'M LEAVING IT HERE, IN CASE PEOPLE WANNA READ ***

Hi there, do you find that getting started with a fitness routine is the toughest part ? Do you find yourself going to the gym for a week or two, not seeing results, getting frustrated and giving up ?

If this sounds like your experience, I'd like to offer you some tips that, hopefully, will enable you to get past that tough initial phase.

A bit about me: I'm a fitness addict, and am studying to become a (US) NASM certified personal trainer. Exercise saved my life.

First off, it is very natural for the first week or two to feel boring, difficult, and unnatural. This is because your body is just not used to the work you are now making it do. However, if you stick with your routine, over time, a phenomenon called neuromuscular adaptation will take place, and you WILL get stronger and fitter. This is basically your body saying to itself, "This person keeps making me lift 20 lb dumbbells, and I'm not used to it. I'm not strong enough for it, but this person won't stop lifting, so I had better get stronger."

So, consistency is key to a successful fitness routine. Give it some time, and you will feel your body getting fitter and stronger. Suddenly, your exercises will feel almost too easy, and then you'll know it's time to make them harder ! If you get to that point, congratulations, because you've passed the toughest phase of the regimen - getting started. On top of that, you will start enjoying your workouts ! Hey, if you enjoy doing something, you're more likely to keep at it.

Baby steps - start off with whatever you're comfortable with. As an example, 20-30 mins 3 times a week is plenty, if you don't exercise at all currently. If you start off super ambitious, you run the risk of your body just rebounding and saying, "I can't do this, forget it". So, start off with baby steps.

Another thing - DO NOT let others intimidate you. At the gym, you will likely see others who are in better shape or are performing more challenging exercises ... running faster, lifting heavier, etc. This is to be expected ! We all go through different life paths, we have different bodies with different genetic pre-dispositions, so why should we expect to be the same as anyone else ?

So, when you find yourself feeling jealous or discouraged by seeing someone in better shape, just remind yourself that you're getting started and that it will take time to get there, and pat yourself on the back for giving it a shot ! One day, you'll get to the point of making others jealous, though this is NOT your goal. The point is ... do your thing, and don't let others discourage you. You might also see crazy Hollywood propaganda portraying "perfect" bodies ... please don't buy into that. This is something special you're doing for yourself, and let it not become something you're doing for others.

As you feel ready for it, make sustainable (not drastic) changes to your diet, which is a very important part of a good fitness routine. Again, baby steps and consistency are more important than making huge changes that you may not be able to keep up.

Give it time, keep at it, don't let others discourage you, and I promise you - you will enjoy one of the best things in life ! This is as much a psychological battle as a physiological one. Exercise can do wonders for your mind as well as your body. So, it's worth it ! YOU are worth it !

I'd love to help y'all get started and stay motivated, so feel free to send any questions my way. Good luck !

Excellent work. Would it be threadjacking if I posted my own progress photos and insight in hopes of motivating other guys?

Hey dude, by all means, please feel free to post pictures. Glad someone is taking interest in this stuff !

So here's me in 2011, after my first serious relationship ended. The relationship was about three years long, and was abusive for about two and a half. I ended up eating my feelings and rarely wanted to leave the house. I suffer from depression and an adjustment disorder with anxiety, due in no small part to tons of horrific failed relationships, and I was really in the depths of those things for months after the relationship ended. I was 5'10" and a hair over 225lbs.



The day that picture was taken, I bought a pair of running shoes and started running.

As time went on, I realized that running just gave me time to be alone with my thoughts, which is NOT what you need when you're newly-single and have serious issues with your self-worth. I kept at it and adjusted my diet, getting down to about 145lbs by early 2013. The photo I took at this time is on my Twitter account, which has been temporarily deactivated so I can't get to it.

I then made the switch to lifting. I wasn't fat anymore, but I still didn't really look the way I wanted, and it still damaged my self-esteem to be the "scrawny guy." I ended up loving it immediately - and most importantly, it didn't leave me alone with my thoughts. I had goals. I had to focus. I had to pay attention to what I was doing, I went into that gym on a mission and I wouldn't leave until it was accomplished. It was me, the iron, and the endorphins.

In late 2013, I realized that despite my diet and training being perfectly in order, I wasn't making progress at all in the gym - I eventually found out that my endocrine system had been shut down for the better part of a decade. I had the testosterone levels of an eighty-five year old cancer patient (217ng/dL). Heck, I was mostly mad because I could have saved a fortune on condoms if I'd known I'd been sterile the whole time, but I digress. I found a good doctor who got me all sorted out and WOW. I couldn't believe that this was what other men felt like ALL THE TIME.

With a renewed sense of purpose, I stepped back into the gym, and, barring a back injury in January of 2014 that put squats and deads on hold for five months, haven't missed a day since.



Still 5'10", now 176lbs and slimming down for the summer. Friends joke about me being the buff guy in the group, I've made a lot of good friends through various fitness communities online and off, and most importantly, even though I still struggle with my self-image, I now know that the issue isn't so much that I'm NOT kickass, it's just that I have trouble internalizing it. But I get better every day. We all do.

Lifting changed my life. We're all gonna make it.