Joining a gym

Mysterious Man

Alright lads,

Long time lurker on this sub forum first time poster, so go easy.:P

Basically i'd like to shift about 2-3 stone and gain a significant amount of upper and lower body muscle. I'll be taking the plunge and joining a gym on saturday.

I just wanted to know what i should do to get started? Do the trainers there analyse your weight and the like and design a program to suit your needs, or should i just take advice from someone else in the know and go by what they feel would work best.

My diet isn't the worst by all means, but there is room for improvement.

Hoping to get down to the gym every day for around 2 hours.
Any tips on how i should start out, and if protein shakes are a good idea even for a beginner?

Cheers lads!

Colm_OReilly

Where you thinking of joining? Plenty of decent places around that aren't typical 'gyms' but offer a lot in terms of coaching, which = results.

Mysterious Man

Mysterious Man wrote: »

Hoping to get down to the gym every day for around 2 hours.

Aim for an hour 4 / 5 times a week to start off with. You'll never do 2 hours a day of actual exercise.

The Davestator

RoverJames wrote: »

Aim for an hour 4 / 5 times a week to start off with. You'll never do 2 hours a day of actual exercise.

Totally agree and dont even think of trying to train for 2 hours! You'll burn out inside a month.

You should aim to train intensly for 45 minutes max, i.e no walking around, talking on the phone, talking to others, sitting on a bench resting etc.

Structure your programme so that there is minimal rest.

best of luck

xgtdec

Mysterious Man wrote: »

Basically i'd like to shift about 2-3 stone and gain a significant amount of upper and lower body muscle.

I'd say go for the fat loss first and the "significant" muscle gain second, to my knowledge you cant do both at the same time. If you get the big muscle first it just pushes the fat areas out more, presume ya wanna look lean and mean rather than pumped chest with moobs and big arms with saggy skin.

Groinshot

OP, Most gyms these days, the staff will give you programmes, and advise you on diets etc. The main thign is to know what you want to do. Do you want to bulk up, lose weight, or just get fit. Your diet depends on what you want to do, as does what you do in the gym. your trainers in there will advise you on what to do, but if you want to lose weight the idea is you consume less calories than you use up while training (as a basic rule) but if you want to bulk up then you need to be doing the opposite,with lots of protein and carbohydrates.

xgtdec wrote: »

I'd say go for the fat loss first and the "significant" muscle gain second, to my knowledge you cant do both at the same time. If you get the big muscle first it just pushes the fat areas out more, presume ya wanna look lean and mean rather than pumped chest with moobs and big arms with saggy skin.

Not entirely true..... You CAN do both at the same time, you can convert the fat to muscle with specially tailored programmes and diets, but it's realy really tough to do, and probably not the healthiest to do. what I'd advise (and most people here prob would too) is to shift the weight first, and then bulk up. It's all about cardio for losing weight, running, swimming, cycling... best way to do it is by heart rates, there's guides on the machines. Then try and bulk up, with weights, high protein foods, 3-4 sessions a week. DOn't forget the hardest part of training though, for any reason-resting.

EileenG

xgtdec wrote: »

I'd say go for the fat loss first and the "significant" muscle gain second, to my knowledge you cant do both at the same time. If you get the big muscle first it just pushes the fat areas out more, presume ya wanna look lean and mean rather than pumped chest with moobs and big arms with saggy skin.

No, no, no. Pure myth.

For a start, you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time when you start getting fit. It's called Noobie gains, and it's a sort of bodybuilding honeymoon. Make the most of it by getting your diet right and lifting weights.

Second, getting "big muscles" is hard. It doesn't happen because you happen to pick up a few weights now and again. Significant muscle gain takes months or years of dedicated effort. You will never gain enough that your skin starts to bulge without huge effort.

Ideally, you want to gain muscle while you are losing fat. That way, the moobs turn into pecs worthy of tight t-shirts and there is no sagging skin.

People worry far too much about sagging skin. Yes, if you lose a lot of weight very quickly, you may have some sag, but usually the skin will tighten up within a reasonable time. Plastic surgeons insist that people who want skin removal after weight loss stay at target for at least a year first, because often the skin will tighten on its own. Think of pregnant women, how much their skin stretches, and how often it goes back to normal without any effort.

At the very worst, if you do have saggy skin, it's much better to be in good shape and wear a top than out of shape with perfect skin. How often does the Irish weather allow you to go round shirtless anyway?