Beginners

In this beginner's guide to fitness, I will just teach the basics of starting a fitness program.  I will start the guide off by a few informative “frequently asked questions”.  I am assuming that you all will be doing some form of weight training while starting your fitness endeavor.

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Q – How do I lose weight?

Basically, you lose weight when you eat less energy than your body uses over an indefinite period of time.  Let me explain, say over a two days you ate 5,000 calories and you expended 8,500 calories over this period of time.  You will lose a pound (because 3500 calories = 1 pound).

Q – How do I gain weight?

This is the opposite of losing weight; you have to eat more food (energy) than the energy you expend over an indefinite period of time.  So if you were eating 8,500 calories and expended only 5,000 this time, you would gain a pound.

Q – What are sets and reps?

A rep is one full repetition of a particular exercise.  So, if you are doing bicep curls, one rep would be raising it once and lowering it back down.  Sets are how many reps you do in a row for how many times you do those reps.  Let me clarify, if I said I was doing 3 sets of 10 reps of bicep curls.  I would be raising it up and down 10 times and doing those reps 3 different times with rest in between the sets.

Q – What routine should I use?

Especially for beginners, it would be best to work out 3 times a week for a few months then gradually add more sessions per week (maximum of 6 sessions).  I will be giving a possible routine that you could use in this guide later on.

Q – Should I work out every single day?

No, it is not good to work out or especially weight train every single day.  It is ok to work out consecutive days, but working different muscle groups to avoid over training. 

Q – How do I get abs?

Obtaining a great set of abs relies mostly on nutrition.  Sure you need to have some muscle in your ab region, but not as much as people might think.  People think doing 1000 crunches a day will get you washboard abs.  In reality, they are made in the kitchen. 

Q – Do I have to do cardio?

While cardiovascular training is not needed to obtain a respectful physique, it is a good way to lose extra calories while strengthening your heart.

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Nutrition

You will need to limit the amount of junk food and candy you have in your diet.  Every once in a while a “cheat meal” (meal where you can eat whatever you want) is ok. 

As mentioned in the questions portion of this guide, you will need to eat more or less depending on your goal.  First, you need to calculate how many calories you burn in one day,  you start out with your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), this is the number of how many calories your body would be burning if you were in a coma (not moving for the entire day).

Normally you would have to multiply that number by one of the 4 numbers below.

1.2 - Sedentary
1.3 to 1.4 - Lightly Active
1.5 to 1.7 - Moderately Active
1.7 to 2.0 - Very Active

Fortunately, there is a calculator that will do this step automatically for us, here is the link.

So what you would do is choose the best one that would fit your lifestyle, in my case that would be moderately active, so I would take my statistics which is male, 185 pounds, 72 inches, 21 years old and moderately active and input these into the calculator.  The number that it gives me is 2493 calories per day.  This is a BALLPARK estimate which may not reflect the true value of calories burned but is reasonably close.

To put weight on you have to eat over your number you computed in the paragraph above. but if you do want to gain too much fat, I suggest to only eat 500 to 600 calories over your number.  So, if I wanted to be gaining weight, I would be eating around 3000 to 3100 calories.  To lose weight in a healthy manner, you want to be taking it off slowly.  Take the number you computed and minus 500 from that number.  So, if I wanted to lose weight, I would be eating around 2000 calories a day.

The diet you will want to follow is called a “40/40/20” diet; those numbers are just a ratio.  This basically means 40% of your diet should come from protein, 40% of your diet should come from carbohydrates and the other 20% should come from fats. (Example on how to compute this in my second blog post)

Of course, just like with the calories burned per day, you will not be able to get exactly the right ratio (40/40/20), but a diet which falls in close range to these numbers will suffice.

You can put together your "clean" diet with foods from the following list (not comprehensive):

Proteins
-Chicken breasts
-Lean beef
-Turkey
-Egg whites (yellows are ok, but don’t consume too many)
-Fish (that have little mercury in them)
-Milk
-Whey protein shakes
-Beans (pinto, black, etc)

Carbohydrates
-Whole grain bread
-Whole grain rice
-Oatmeal
-Sweet potatoes
-Basically anything that is whole grain

We want whole grains because they are considered to be low on the glycemic index, which means there will be no sudden spike in insulin levels (high insulin spikes result in energy being stored as fat).

Fats
-Natural peanut butter
-Any sort of nuts
-Extra virgin olive oil

DO NOT EAT FOOD WITH A LOT OF TRANS FAT (greater than 0.5 grams) 

Trans fat is created through hydrogenation and sits in your arteries until you die.  If enough is accumulated, there will be a clog and that will not be good.  All meats have very SMALL traces of trans fat in them, this is ok.

BEWARE just because a label says 0 trans fat does not mean ABSOLUTE 0 trans fat.  FDA regulations use rounding so if one serving of particular food has less than or equal to 0.49 grams of trans fat, it will be marked as 0 on the food label.

*The second post on my blog is a whole section on "If it fits your macros".  This is a basic concept that allows you to still enjoy some of the foods you love while sticking to your diet.

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Obviously, not all foods will be 100% of which category they are under.  For example, Fish will have a lot of protein but will have a lot of fat too.

You can put together your diet anyway you would like, this list is just an example and there are many more foods that could be added (if you have any questions let me know). 

Try to stick with only water for your beverages, but if you need something with some taste, try crystal light and or diet soda.

Meal Frequency
There is a lot of debate whether it is better to eat 5 or 6 smaller meals opposed to 3 larger sized meals.  There have been some studies that have come out recently that have totally debunked the benefits of 5 or 6 smaller meals a day (Myths section of the site).  I personally, eat 5 to 6 smaller meals a day because I do not get as bloated as I would eating bigger meals.  It is solely up to you, so choose wisely!

Remember, diet is an important aspect of any fitness goal, but DO NOT stress about it if you do not hit your numbers exactly.  Just make sure you are in the ball park of your caloric needs.
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The Workout

Like I have mentioned previously, I believe that as a beginner, you should start working out three days a week for at least a month until your body gets used to exercising.  After a while or when you feel you are ready, you can add more days to the workout program.

You can workout on whichever day you want (but make sure there is a day of rest in between each workout session).  I have added links that will be helpful to those that do not know how to perform the exercise.  Of course, feel free to swap out a few exercises you do not like and add ones you do like.  This is a general guideline and should be taken as an EXAMPLE workout.


Day 1 - Upper body (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)

Flat bench press (Dumbbells) - 3 sets (8-10 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise

Incline bench press (Dumbbells) - 3 sets (8-10 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise

Shoulder press (Dumbbells) - 3 sets (8-10 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise

Side lateral raises (Dumbbells) - 3 sets (10-12 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise

Rope pull down (Machine) - 3 sets (8-10 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise


Day 2 - Lower body (Quads, Hamstrings, Calves)

Leg extensions (Machine) - 3 sets (10-15 reps) -   Link to how to perform exercise

Leg press (Machine) - 3 sets (10-15 reps) -  Link to how to perform exercise

Standing calf raise (Dumbbells) - 3 sets (10-15 reps) -  Link to how to perform exercise

Lying leg curls (Machine) - 4 sets (10-12 reps) -  Link to how to perform exercise


Day 3 - Upper body (Back, Biceps, Traps)

Lat pull downs (Machine) - 3 sets (10-12 reps) -   Link to how to perform exercise

Seated row (Machine) - 3 sets (10-12 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise

Pullups (on the rack) - 3 sets (as many reps as you can) - Link to how to perform exercise

Dumbbell or barbell bicep curls - 3 sets (8-10 reps) - Link to how to perform exercise

Shrugs (Dumbbells or barbells) - 3 sets (9-10 reps) -  Link to how to perform exercise

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Just a few more things I want to say about:

Warming up
Before starting your workouts, please take the time even if it’s for 2 minutes to just do some light cardio (walking, elliptical or treadmill).  It is important to stay injury free in the long run.  If you want, you could also stretch for a few minutes.

Breathing
Remember to breathe while you are lifting weights! Do NOT hold your breathe!

Form
Having good form is more beneficial to you than the weight you are moving.  Even if you are only bench pressing 95lbs, do not let your ego get in the way, it is better for you to do weight you can handle with good form.

Spotters
If you are benching with barbells, always use a spotter even if you're lifting "light" weight. 

Water
Always make sure you are hydrated before your workout and after your work out.  Dehydration could lead to a muscle tear, which would not feel or be good for you.

Rest
Try to aim for at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

Results
Obtaining results doesn't happen overnight, it takes some time so be patient!  

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This is a long journey and a transformation of your body; do not be discouraged if you do not see results right away.  I promise with hard work and dedication, you can achieve any fitness goals you want.  Make sure to have fun along the way!  If any of you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment with your email address and I will get back to you as soon as possible!

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