Novice Tips Part 1

Novice Tips Part 1

Greetings all. I hope that this finds all of you in the best of health leading up to the 4th of July.  Over the course of the last few weeks I have been asked several questions in regards to training. I usually side step the good majority of them for good reason. I want to let everyone know that without proper nutrition you won’t even begin to see the results that you are looking for. So when someone asks me what exercise I should do for X, Y and Z; I always respond with "what's your diet like". At that point the conversation pretty much goes south.

Now, because I have beat the nutrition horse to death I will tell you what I find to be a few basics for a good exercise routine. Now this is not for the advanced. This will be information for the Novice and the guy that "used to lift that much" but I will get into that pot later. I will break this article up into two parts to keep the length down a bit.

I want to work out but I don’t know where to start!

This is the most common statement that I hear because everyone wants to try to do it all at once. They want results now. Read this next statement very carefully and twice if you have to:

ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY!

That will pretty much sum up how you need to approach the task of making a plan to begin a workout routine. Once you understand that basic truth everything else will be easy to grasp.

1. When to workout. If you have not started a workout routine you will need to first figure out when. If you just try to haphazardly place it within your daily routine you will soon find it as more of a burden. Once you get to the point where you are forcing it into your day then you will soon become disinterested. So start off by finding the time to work out. I personally wake up before most of the individuals on Earth to fit my workout in but that might not even be an option for you. If you can get it in the first part of the day you will have elevated energy levels for the rest of the day (fact).

2. Where I will workout. Now, I want everyone reading this to know that I am a Husband, Personal Trainer, Business Person, Blogger and a Soldier. So in layman's terms I have a VERY active life. My sole job is not to be a fitness model or a full time personal trainer so that I am in the gym all day. I have to fit my workouts in just as any regular person working an 8 - 10 hour day. When you have a family and other responsibilities it’s very easy to get to the point of self neglect through the medium of using your family as the excuse rather than the reason. If you are a single parent and can't leave your children alone in the house, then work out at home. If your gym doesn’t open till 8 and you only have between 6am and 7am then change your gym. There are a multitude of good programs out there that will allow you the flexibility to do what needs to be done on YOUR time and at YOUR chosen location.

3. How long should I be working out? Ahhhhhhhh now this is where it gets tricky. Off the top I will say that 20 minutes (no less) should be dedicated to cardio. Not only will it get that fat off it also has GREAT benefits to the heart. I have known individuals (such as myself to drop their blood pressure rapidly with cardio alone. So if you have an hour then your workout will be 40 minutes and your cardio will be 20 minutes. Now do you see how easy that was, lol. It is not necessary for you to drone around the weight room for an hour working arms and shoulders. It's just not. You don’t know how many people have walked up to me and proclaimed "man you must spend hours in the gym; I don’t have time like that." Well first off don’t use me as your excuse to have a defeated attitude before you even try and second, I have been able to get some great workouts in less than 30 minutes. Now, if you have more time then that’s fine but for the novice 30 minutes will suffice. Which brings me to the next point………..

4. Keep the chatter to a minimum. One of the main reasons that people can't seem to get in a good workout in 30 minutes is that they talk too much, plain and simple. If you have the time to jaw jack and bump your gums then that’s fine. There are times where I, along with a few workout partners have used the gym as a workout/venting session. That’s fine if time permits. However, if you know that you are on the clock then you need to get it moving. When I was in stationed in Germany I had a workout partner by the name of Alex Arrington. There would be days where we would talk all the way to the door of the gym and once we hit that threshold we wouldn’t speak again until we crossed it on the way out. All except for the occasional "you got it Bruh" or something like that. During those days we had EPIC workouts. I still hear about the 225lbs squat challenge from some of the guys that were there at the time to see it, but that’s a story for another time. Just workout out and shut your mouth!!!

5. Don’t stuff too many exercises on the same day. Another novice mistake is having the urge to touch every single piece of equipment that corresponds to the body part that you choose to work on the same day. If time permits you can have a successful circuit type workout but that should not be the standard in the beginning. If you have a 30 minute window (I use this as a guideline for the busiest of us out there) then work no more than 2 body parts for 2-3 exercises per body part. That should be sufficient when you are BEGINNING your workout plan.

As I stated in the beginning, this will be a 2 part article. Just follow these basic steps for now and watch how much of an impact this will have on your workouts!!!

if you have additional questions, feel free to contact me at BigNerdNutrition@gmail.com

Yours in Fitness & Health,

Aaron “K Nine” Washington

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