A couple weeks ago I started my Health Quest. I began by improving my diet. The details are in the thread I started here.
It was a little bumpy getting started, and I'm still improving with it, but it's going pretty well (I'll post an update to that thread soon with more detail). So now I think I'm ready to add Step Two:
Exercise!
And so I'm back asking for more advice (everyone here being very helpful the last time around). First off, I need to join a gym. Hoping to do that tomorrow.
I've located one nearby, and it's just under $40 a month. I mentioned this in the other thread and Derek Flint said this is too much (in which case you don't want to know about the $80 I was paying per month last time I belonged to one :crazy: )
How do you locate cheaper gyms? To find this one I searched in google maps, where you can find nearby businesses (I just searched for gym). This was the cheapest and closest one. One thing to consider is that this one is less than a mile of where I live. I could walk/jog/run there, saving on travel expenses. Also, it's cheaper if you pay for 6 or 12 or 24 months at the start (closer to $30 a month), but I do not desire to do this for the time being. I'd rather pay a little extra to have the freedom to change (and I don't have this kind of upfront money).
After finding a gym, I need some more advice:
What's a good workout routine?
I was pointed to a very great base diet to get my nutrition on track, any good base workout routines? A little info about me that might be of assistance:
Naturally skinny. Scrawny. Very tall and ridiculously thin. Can (and have
) eaten the common American crap-diet and don't get fat, just stay scrawny and often low-energy.
Now, I dabbled in working out before (as mentioned in my other thread) and actually saw some decent (to me) results! Nothing major, but I think in the 9 months or so I (without really knowing what I was doing) read and experimented with workouts and eating, I gained about 20 pounds (now gone). This weight, as far as my observations tell me, was pretty much all muscle. So I think my body will respond well (at least initially, possibly because I'm so skinny to begin with, that the first bit of muscle comes somewhat easily).
Some of you must be familiar with this type of body genetics. What's a good workout routine for me? One observation I noticed before is that my body seems to respond better to less workouts. I tried working out everyday, but found I got better results just doing 2-3 days a week (strength training).
And then we come to the trickiest part for me: how to execute the workout. I was entirely self-taught before. Had never worked out prior to that (missed highschool "Health" class, which included strength training, due to being in the band). So everything I learned by reading and "secretly" observing other people working out in the gym. Never had a teacher or mentor to guide me and critique my form.
Can you learn how to perform these workouts properly from reading/videos, or do you really need someone there with you to get started? I've always debated doing a personal trainer session or two, but it's really not in my budget, and I also don't know how to choose a good one. I was always concerned I was doing things improperly before. So any advice on that would be great. In particular I'd like to know if there are particularly dangerous things I should watch out for. I don't want to hurt myself. I remember being especially concerned before that I was attempting deadlifts improperly. Didn't seem right.
And then finally, some gym etiquette: spotting. To push myself, and feel confident I'm not going to have some horrible accident, it would be very nice to have a spotter for certain things. However, I have no workout friends (my friends who do workout, belong to more expensive gyms like I used to). Are spotters necessary? Or can you get a great workout without reaching towards more than you're sure of. And how are you sure you can do it if so? I know you can just ask people, but I don't want to be obnoxious and interrupt people to repeatedly spot for me if this is not good gym manners. Any advice for this situation?
Whew, that's a lot of info, but hey, I'm new to this. So to summarize:
1) Tips on choosing a gym. What to look for in terms of cost/functionality.
2) Workout routine. I have a naturally skinny bodytype.
3) Workout execution. How do I learn how to do this stuff properly?
4) Spotting. Do I need it? How do I get it without being an extreme bother?
Thank you, you guys are helping me become the Man I am capable of being.
It was a little bumpy getting started, and I'm still improving with it, but it's going pretty well (I'll post an update to that thread soon with more detail). So now I think I'm ready to add Step Two:
Exercise!
And so I'm back asking for more advice (everyone here being very helpful the last time around). First off, I need to join a gym. Hoping to do that tomorrow.
I've located one nearby, and it's just under $40 a month. I mentioned this in the other thread and Derek Flint said this is too much (in which case you don't want to know about the $80 I was paying per month last time I belonged to one :crazy: )
How do you locate cheaper gyms? To find this one I searched in google maps, where you can find nearby businesses (I just searched for gym). This was the cheapest and closest one. One thing to consider is that this one is less than a mile of where I live. I could walk/jog/run there, saving on travel expenses. Also, it's cheaper if you pay for 6 or 12 or 24 months at the start (closer to $30 a month), but I do not desire to do this for the time being. I'd rather pay a little extra to have the freedom to change (and I don't have this kind of upfront money).
After finding a gym, I need some more advice:
What's a good workout routine?
I was pointed to a very great base diet to get my nutrition on track, any good base workout routines? A little info about me that might be of assistance:
Naturally skinny. Scrawny. Very tall and ridiculously thin. Can (and have
) eaten the common American crap-diet and don't get fat, just stay scrawny and often low-energy.Now, I dabbled in working out before (as mentioned in my other thread) and actually saw some decent (to me) results! Nothing major, but I think in the 9 months or so I (without really knowing what I was doing) read and experimented with workouts and eating, I gained about 20 pounds (now gone). This weight, as far as my observations tell me, was pretty much all muscle. So I think my body will respond well (at least initially, possibly because I'm so skinny to begin with, that the first bit of muscle comes somewhat easily).
Some of you must be familiar with this type of body genetics. What's a good workout routine for me? One observation I noticed before is that my body seems to respond better to less workouts. I tried working out everyday, but found I got better results just doing 2-3 days a week (strength training).
And then we come to the trickiest part for me: how to execute the workout. I was entirely self-taught before. Had never worked out prior to that (missed highschool "Health" class, which included strength training, due to being in the band). So everything I learned by reading and "secretly"
observing other people working out in the gym. Never had a teacher or mentor to guide me and critique my form.Can you learn how to perform these workouts properly from reading/videos, or do you really need someone there with you to get started? I've always debated doing a personal trainer session or two, but it's really not in my budget, and I also don't know how to choose a good one. I was always concerned I was doing things improperly before. So any advice on that would be great. In particular I'd like to know if there are particularly dangerous things I should watch out for. I don't want to hurt myself. I remember being especially concerned before that I was attempting deadlifts improperly. Didn't seem right.
And then finally, some gym etiquette: spotting. To push myself, and feel confident I'm not going to have some horrible accident, it would be very nice to have a spotter for certain things. However, I have no workout friends (my friends who do workout, belong to more expensive gyms like I used to). Are spotters necessary? Or can you get a great workout without reaching towards more than you're sure of. And how are you sure you can do it if so? I know you can just ask people, but I don't want to be obnoxious and interrupt people to repeatedly spot for me if this is not good gym manners. Any advice for this situation?
Whew, that's a lot of info, but hey, I'm new to this. So to summarize:
1) Tips on choosing a gym. What to look for in terms of cost/functionality.
2) Workout routine. I have a naturally skinny bodytype.
3) Workout execution. How do I learn how to do this stuff properly?
4) Spotting. Do I need it? How do I get it without being an extreme bother?
Thank you, you guys are helping me become the Man I am capable of being.
