Feeling Overwhelmed

[Obliteraga]

So, I decided I wanted to try working out to look better (main reason) in addition to getting the health benefits and bonuses of attracting women (another big reason).

After reading through this site and others, I just don't know where to begin. There's just so much information and conflicting opinions that I can't start a practical routine with confidence.

I see all this talk about the internal processes of the body, and crazy sounding supplements, and exercises that I've never heard of, let alone know how to do, cutting/bulking etc. I get overwhelmed. I just want to get started but I also want to make sure I'm not wasting my time! I get discouraged when I see pictures of people who've been working out for several years and don't look much better than they used to.

I have a few questions also:

1. How long do most people work before seeing results and the other associated positive benefits such as more looks from women?

2. What should I look for when considering a gym? There's a physical rehab facility where I live that seems decent. It has a pool and plenty of machines in addition to weights (though I don't know if its adequate or not, being a gym newbie). I'm a gym amateur though so I don't know what type of weights I should be looking for to make sure I can do all of the exercises I see listed on here.

3. Is there anywhere I can get a detailed list of how to do specific exercises that I see listed here? I haven't had much luck getting the info.

4. are all of these crazy supplements really necessary to get good, satisfying, life-changing results?

5. Can anyone recommend something for a beginner like me to get started? I'm getting tired of just reading information and not being able to put together a routine for myself so I can start effectively working out right now. also, I know of beneficial foods, but I'd like help putting together a complete grocery list. Same goes for exercising. I'm curious about how many reps/sets of what exercises I should be doing as a beginner.

In short, the gist of this post is basically I'm so overwhelmed with conflicting opinions, foreign terms, and information, that I just don't know how or where to start.

Thanks for reading.

 

[EFFORT]

So, I decided I wanted to try working out to look better (main reason) in addition to getting the health benefits and bonuses of attracting women (another big reason).

After reading through this site and others, I just don't know where to begin. There's just so much information and conflicting opinions that I can't start a practical routine with confidence.

I see all this talk about the internal processes of the body, and crazy sounding supplements, and exercises that I've never heard of, let alone know how to do, cutting/bulking etc. I get overwhelmed. I just want to get started but I also want to make sure I'm not wasting my time! I get discouraged when I see pictures of people who've been working out for several years and don't look much better than they used to.

I have a few questions also:

1. How long do most people work before seeing results HARD TO PUT A TIME LABEL ON IT BUT I'LL SAY IN 8WEEKS A LOT CAN CHANGE IN TERMS OF APPERANCE AND STRENGTH, JUST UNDERSTAND ITS A LONG TERM PROCESS AND RESULT WILL BE COMING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE JOURNEY and the other associated positive benefits such as more looks from women? DONT WORRY ABOUT WOMEN, JUST LIKE IT BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU HAPPY AND THATS WHEN WOMEN WILL NOTICE

2. What should I look for when considering a gym? There's a physical rehab facility where I live that seems decent. It has a pool and plenty of machines in addition to weights (though I don't know if its adequate or not, being a gym newbie). I'm a gym amateur though so I don't know what type of weights I should be looking for to make sure I can do all of the exercises I see listed on here.

YOUR BEST BET WOULD BE LOOKING FOR A POWERLIFTERS GYM IMO, SEARCH AROUND ON THE NET, THERES NO BS IN THERE AND IT DOESN'T COST MUCH. IF NOT THEN FIND A GYM THAT HAS LOTS OF POWER RACKS

3. Is there anywhere I can get a detailed list of how to do specific exercises that I see listed here? I haven't had much luck getting the info.

http://www.joeskopec.com/assist.html

http://strengthtraining.asimba.com/fitness_info/index.html
http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/directory.html

4. are all of these crazy supplements really necessary to get good, satisfying, life-changing results?

NO

5. Can anyone recommend something for a beginner like me to get started? I'm getting tired of just reading information and not being able to put together a routine for myself so I can start effectively working out right now. also, I know of beneficial foods, but I'd like help putting together a complete grocery list. Same goes for exercising. I'm curious about how many reps/sets of what exercises I should be doing as a beginner.

SEARCH FOR THE IDIOTS GUIDE BY WARBOSS ALEX, READ IT, USE THE ROUTINE IN THERE AND DIET INFORMATION

In short, the gist of this post is basically I'm so overwhelmed with conflicting opinions, foreign terms, and information, that I just don't know how or where to start.

YEAH ITS REALLY CONFUSING GETTING STARTED, YOUR ALREADY WAY AHEAD OF THE MASSES THOUGH WITH JUST THE INFORMATION HERE THAT I'VE POINTED YOU TOWARDS.

Thanks for reading.

SEE CAPS

 

[Kerpal]

Get "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe (www.StartingStrength.com) and/or "Infinite Intensity" by Ross Enamait (www.RossTraining.com). By no means am I any kind of expert, but I've learned so much from those books, before I started I had no idea what I was doing.

 

[fbplayer06]

JUST START. Start doing something. Anything. Get active. Try to keep yourself in the right mindset and keep your goals in view. You'll learn as you go and of course make progress on the way even if you don't know exactly what you're doing. If what you're doing involves heavy lifting, however, I'd recommend reading up on the proper form for your lifts or getting advice from someone knowledgeable on the subject.

Work hard! :rockon:

 

[mrRuckus]

I wish I had just done this program for about a year before doing anything else.

 

[Falcon]

JUST START. Start doing something. Anything. Get active. Try to keep yourself in the right mindset and keep your goals in view. You'll learn as you go and of course make progress on the way even if you don't know exactly what you're doing. If what you're doing involves heavy lifting, however, I'd recommend reading up on the proper form for your lifts or getting advice from someone knowledgeable on the subject.

Work hard! :rockon:

Couldn't agree more. You just need to start. You will make mistakes, even if you read everything that you find. Hopefully these mistakes will not lead to any injuries.

What helped me when I got started was my gym package came with a month of having a trainer. I hounded him with questions, he was very helpful. I was a complete newb. I also made friends with a couple of other trainers and on occasion would ask them for advice or to see if my form is good.

 

[donjuanjovi]

There's so many places to start I'm not even going to try and tell you where. The best advice that my exhausted brain could come up with, is that no matter how discouraged you get, don't give up. Give it EVERYTHING you have and you'll get your results.

 

[djSlvt]

It takes 20 days to notice results, and get complimented. Whatever you pick, go wtih something that you could do for the rest of your life. Including diet, weights, and cardio.


This is what motivated me

 

[mrRuckus]

What helped me when I got started was my gym package came with a month of having a trainer. I hounded him with questions, he was very helpful. I was a complete newb. I also made friends with a couple of other trainers and on occasion would ask them for advice or to see if my form is good.

Ugh. I see these guys recommending tricep kickbacks and other garbage like that and completely ignoring the real meat builders. Don't trust em.

Start light and learn to bench, squat, and deadlift properly and go from there. These will never do you wrong, and if you're increasing those the rest is icing.

 

[Obliteraga]

Thanks for the feedback guys. This local physical rehab facility near me seems to have decent equipment (machines + weights), but I still need to figure out if I'll be able to do squats/deadlifts/etc. to their full potential at this place because I'm not really sure if they have all the equipment I need for this. I don't know what I should be looking for either in terms of equipment and range of weights. They very well might be a great facility but I'm just ignorant as to what I'll need to do a complete, effective workout.

Do you guys keep workout journals and other paperwork? I can see how it would be useful to track progress, but it seems like a giant pain in the ass. I don't have the right instruments to measure body fat % and stuff like that.

If I were to start tracking my progress, what would you guys recommend I track to be able to know if my workout/diet is working for me? What would this entail?

 

[Falcon]

Ugh. I see these guys recommending tricep kickbacks and other garbage like that and completely ignoring the real meat builders. Don't trust em.

Start light and learn to bench, squat, and deadlift properly and go from there. These will never do you wrong, and if you're increasing those the rest is icing.

hmmm. It must be a case-to-case basis. I felt I had a good trainer. The first thing he did was took my measurements, then checked my flexibility, and had me doing squats by the second workout. He also showed be a couple different ways of doing the deadlift (regular and sumo). Like yourself, I am a faithful supporter of the big three. Guess it just depends on who you get.

 

[mrRuckus]

hmmm. It must be a case-to-case basis. I felt I had a good trainer. .

I just don't trust anybody especially if i know I don't know anything. A lot of the time when i'm fairly knowledgeable at something i'll be reading or talking to people who are claiming things left and right that i know are not even close to true... so that makes me wonder when i don't know anything about a subject, just how much are people filling my head with lies, and i don't know any better.

So i'd rather research things myself from reputable sources rather than listening to some guy i don't know from any other guy. "He seems to know what he's talking about" doesn't work for me. That's just an emotional reaction to someone. I don't even trust doctors much.

Do you guys keep workout journals and other paperwork?

Absolutely essential unless you have a photographic memory. I hate when I forget my journal because I'm just guessing at what weight i'm supposed to be doing.

 

[Kerpal]

You should definitely record your workouts. Unless you're a genius, it's going to be really hard to remember all those numbers. Also, don't worry about your body fat percentage. Use a mirror and your performance in the gym to track your progress. The cool thing about being a newbie is that gains come really fast.