Set your goals, be consistant, worry about your form more than the weight, the weight will come with proper form, and finally, you only grow when you rest- recovery is key
Show Up.
That’s it. Simple as that.
Be consistent. Don’t miss workouts. If you’re consistently there, working hard, you’re gonna get some gains no matter what routine you’re doing. Doesn’t matter if you’re following advice from Weider, John McCallum, McRobert, Bryzki, Leistner, Whelan, Kennedy, Phillips, King, etc. If you keep showing up and working at it, you’re gonna get gains.
Showing up is by far, the most important thing a person can do. It sounds to simple to be actual "advice", but being inconsistent and missing workouts are the biggest mistakes new lifters make.
Make lifting a habit.
Later.
TEN COMMANDMENT’S FOR NEWBIE WEIGHT TRAINERS:
- Thou shalt not read bodybuilding magazines for their useful training information. Check out the centerfolds and put it back on the rack where you found it!
- Thou shalt not perform tricep kickbacks, leg extensions, or use dumb bells that are assorted by color!
- Thou shalt not do what that big guy over there does sense it seems to be working for him. Nor shall thou lift everyday like he does. Three to four times a week, under an hour a session is plenty.
- Thou shalt perform exercises such as: dips, chins (using various grips; see Charles’ articles), presses (preferably with dumb bells to start with; flat, incline, and shoulder are good ones), squats, dead lifts and stiff legged ones too (not that leg TC), etc.
- If thoust wantest to gaineth weight, thou must eateth! Get lots of protein, get some fat and carbs, and if it has “Little Debbies,” “Hostess,” or “Nabisco” on it then it is unclean and should not be eaten.
- If thoust wantest to loseth weight, STOP EATING SO DAMN MUCH! Increase protein intake, while slighty decreasing carbs and fat intake. A good trick is to simply up the protein intake and quit eating potatoes (in any form Captain Dorito), pasta, and bread.
- If thoust is 15 and wants to try D-bol do two things: (A) Grow some facial/pubic hair, and (B) understand that users wish that they had your hormone spewing glands.
- Thou shall not covet Arnold! Don’t expect to look like him in 6 weeks.
- Thou shalt remember Friday, it is the day T-mag comes out, and to it nothing is Holy (with the exception of TC’s pickle).
- To quote Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield, “Just lift the damned bar!”
The most important thing beginners need to learn is that unless they want minimal results, JUST GOING TO THE GYM ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH. The gym is just a small part of what must be done. You must eat, sleep, think and be the bodybuilder, not just go to the gym as most people do. This is true if you goal is to be Mr. O or just more fit. In other words, you must MUST GET YOUR MIND RIGHT BEFORE YOU GET YOUR BODY RIGHT.
My best piece of advice for a newbie is to read all the issues of t-mag through which you will learn to train and eat properly you will also not need to learn through tial and error as others have but will learn from expierced lifters , i guarentee if you do this you will reach your goals in record time.
My advice for a beginner would be to research as much as he can on the subject and realize that old school methods are not always best and that new information continues to spring up every time.Look up to cutting edge knowledgable sources , eat enough protein , rest well and avoid overtraining. Emphasize compound movement s and learn to love this sport since i firmly believe that it is the best active meditation one can do over a lifetime. Good Luck! Now git ur ass to da gym!
Great stuff so far, guys. I may have to work in all your suggestions in my next “Dog School” column.
I’ll end this edition of the Pound this coming Tuesday the 12th and announce a winner soon after. Again, great info so far.
Rule #1 bar none is this; LEAVE YOUR EGO IN YOUR GYMBAG!! It takes a while to build up that strength and size and a long time before you impress anybody with either, so learn to lift properly, because if you do, you will soon be lifting heavy. The only one you will impress by lifting too much weight is your workout buddy and who cares about that?! Lift for yourself and to build your confidence. Do the exercises the other guys wont do; deep squats, deadlifts, chin ups that DON’T require a machine and don’t forget to stop your set when your spotter is doing some of your work, remember its supposed to be his rest break, and how do you get bigger when he’s the one doing the work? So be patient, and when you’re not working out, read to learn how your routine can be improved, who cares what the ‘pro of the month’ is doing! Good luck and welcome to our game!
When I first started to lift weights I took a training article out of muscle media 2000 and read a couple of magazines. I went from 160lbs to 170 in about 6 months. I thought by then that I knew something about training.
By the next year I had read all that I could find on the internet about training and had gotten to about 180lbs. I had gained 20lbs in just over a year. I guess I did know a lot about training.
Yet another year later I had read the Poliquin Principles and surely now I knew something about weightlifting. I also weigh about 190 so that added to my knowledge, It certainly made what I knew before seem insignificant.
Two years latter I weigh 210lbs and competitively Weightlift and Should make the nationals this year. So now I must really know alot. Right?
The thing is you just keep training and reading, training and reading. Some of it will be redundant. You will slowly but surely graduate from one media to the next. You will go from magazines, to popular press books, to text books. No matter how much you learn, and no matter how much weight you gain, strength you aquire you can always improve. I think back to how I measured my gains and how much I thought I knew and laugh. How much will I know in another 5 years? More. and this is the point. My piece of advice is to train and read forever. You never stop being a newbie. In ten years you will still be a newbie. So you must keep training and reading. This will bring you the goals you seek.
Good luck, and never lose your enthusiasm
I want to add one more thing that beginners should keep in mind: Inury Prevention.
Take it slow and easy and keep perfect form. Like others have said, keep your ego at the door. Because once you have an injury, you are severly limited in what you can do. Which means you will hit a brick wall in your training.
I am rehabbing a knee and shoulder injury. This has caused a drastic change in my training. I’m learning all the things I’ve been doing wrong. For example, I have biceps tendonitis in my right shoulder and arm. And this has bothered me for years mainly during bench presses. But I just kept powering through and dealing with the pain. I’ve caused a few muscles to become neglected and very weak. So now I have to go back and start with super light weights to try and strengthen muscles that have become severly impaired. If I only listened to my body, left my ego at the door, and focused on making sure everything was strengthened, I could have avoided the injury.
So be sure that your training will help prevent injuries. Remember, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Keep your body balanced!
I’ve already written in my original advice earlier, and what was unique about it is that it’s from the perspective of a new guy–this is what advice helped ME. But there are some important additions I should contribute, too. First, remember that for your first 3 months or so you need to train your nervous system and connective tissues perhaps more than your muscles, which means that even if your skeletal muscle can heft the weight your tendons and nerves need time to adjust, so lift slightly lighter after extra stretching with this in mind to avoid injury. And my second “advice addendum” has arisen as a result of this very conversation: go read ALL the posts in this thread for an overdose of good advice. Finally, contrary to what you might assume, the gym hulks aren’t usually arrogant, and don’t mind at all being asked for advice, tips, or a spot. In fact, it’s the best way to relate to an expert and develop a source of guidance.
Newbies…
the most obvious information i can give isn’t very deep or clever. just train hard, eat right, and sleep right. thats it, and it will work.
To rehash a brilliant statement by a brilliant man,newbies should stick to the skank weed at first, then, when they stop getting high, move on to the fine China white. Seriously, I was a newbie about 4 years ago, and I joined the Body of Work program (now Body-for-Life) which gave me the much needed discipline and basic information to build a solid bodybuilding foundation. But EAS and Muscle Media wouldn’t (and still don’t) evolve to accomodate those who advance. I mean, its like being in the first grade for an entire year, mastering it, and then getting called to the principal’s office and being told that there is no point in advancing to the next grade. The principal points out, “Everything you need to know you learned in the first grade. Now you should become a first grade success coach!” So newbie, crawl before you walk, or else you’ll fall break a bone and never want to have anything to do with walking ever again, but make sure you tell your principal that you are tired of taking skank weed rips off of your first grade teacher’s bong!
Don’t be afraid to try things. You won’t learn
to sail the ocean if you never leave the pond.
And a matter of equal importance, the same things don’t work for everyone. Be your own guru.
- stretch
- Squat
- Eat
Consistency, Intensity, and Variation. You have to be consistent in your working out. You can’t go to the gym for two weeks and then take the next week off. You have to be consistent in your work outs if your going to make progress. Quit the excuses that your too busy or too tired The more you do it the easier it becomes.
If your going to work out then your going to have to work out. this means working out intensly and not taking time to chat and look around. you must work hard. However don’t be one of those people that stay at the gym for two hours bouncing around different machines thinking that you are working hard. you are not!
lastly, you need variation in your training. most trainees make the mistake of staying on the same program forever. most routines that you do in the beginning are going to work, then you plateau. most people stay on the same program thinking that if it worked before that it will always work.
The best advice one can give is multi pronged and out of date in a few training sessions anyways. For the new trainees out there stick with it; eating, training and educating yourself. The reason all these are the best info one could give is if you are to evolve the physique, you must always evolve your mindset and styles. Start with the weights and good food. Evolve by reading info such as T-mag and others to educate and change your training. Evolve again in the way you eat or train or both. Save the fancy supplements for later get more protien (powders)and food sources. Sart with the basics in food and then extra protien maybe weight gainers, then later in the game use some of the more proven supplements like creatines, etc… Only use the hardcore or possibly some semi proven supplements when all else has been exhuasted and then graduate to the prohormones (after full puberty, perhaps last growth of 21), and again check the real dael sites like this one for more advice on these and evolve again and again, body, mind, and soul. Most of all have fun and enjoy the process. This is a lifestyle for the future, your future so enjoy it forever and evolve with it don’t go nuts and try it all only to fail or burn out. Remember start with the basics in weights and diet and evolve into the greatest version of you. And have FUN!!!
Live it.
My Advice - PATIENCE.
It took years to build the body every beginner has when they start. Though it will take less time to change it, patience is key.
I’ll keep this short but sweet!
- Be consistent and Learn to love the process because results don’t come overnight.
- Concentrate on the core lifts, squat, deadlift, Powercleans, Chins, Bench, Don’t worry about doing alott of Isolation exercises.
- Keep your training structured around your weak points. Thus if your forearms and calves suck, dont skip them until its to late
- Learn to do everything with super poliquin/Ian king form! NO CHEATING
- Leave your Ego at home, Tension and form before Weight increases
- Take advantage of your hormones so don’t try to get ripped thus slowing down your progress
- Learn about all the nutrients IE protein carbs and fat vitamins minerals and how they work in your body.
8)Never miss meals try to eat at least 5-6 a day - Try to always consume a postworkout shake after your workout
- Keep learning find what works for you and don’t listen to every roided up guy in the gym
- be prepared to revers what you started with inorder to keep the body guessing