Novice Tips Part 2

Well here we are again.  I will first say thank you for the new readers out there.  You guys keep me pumped up to provide even more information for the masses.  Over the past month my readership has increased 300%!  I guess I am finally doing something right, lol.  Anyway, let me get to the meat of today’s article.  We started out with Novice Tips Part 1 and let me tell you that it got GREAT reviews and more than a few request for Part 2.  Well wait no further as Novice Tips Part 2 is here! 

Understand that there are some implied tasks to both of the Novice Tips articles and I try to cover as much of the bases that I can and still keep you all interested.  These are just GUIDELINES to follow that will put you on the right path so that you are not “flying blind” when you decide to finally start working out.

I will start this at #6, if you want to read 1-5 please click here for Novice Tips Part 1.

6.  Learn How to Exercise using CORRECT form!

To some of you all reading this, you might think that this is a “no-brainer” but you have NO IDEA how many individuals I see on a daily basis plugging away at some hybrid movement they made up.  I have to give them an A+ for creativity on some of them because I cannot for the love of God and Country figure out what muscle they are intending to work.  There is more than enough information out there for you to view; unfortunately it’s both bad and good.  YouTube can be a pretty good source if, and I do mean IF you do your research on the person that made the video.  I have said this at least 1000 times over the years………..reading is fundamental.  You can go to Amazon or your local Barnes and Noble and pick up a plethora of books that will show you proper form for exercises as well as give you a movement by movement description on what each phase looks like.  There are also Apps that you can get for your phone that will also give you a play-by-play on how to do exercises if you need a demonstration.  One of my personal favorites is GymStreak for the iPhone.  They have a computerized model that demonstrates the exercise for you.  If it feels really wrong then it probably is!  See above picture, lol.  

My take on it is this………if you have finally decided to get off of the couch and make something happen then Kudos to you!  The last thing you want to do is get all the way to the gym motivated and ready to go, day in and day out to see NO RESULTS WHAT-SO-EVER due to bad training form.  I see people in the gym that look almost identical to what they did 3 months ago due to bad training form and discipline.  If you want to really kick start your progress, hire a personal trainer to guide you for the first few months until you get the hang of things.  The money you spend on a professional trainer will be well worth it for the results you see over the time period you use him/her.

7.  Find a Workout Partner or Workout Group to be Accountable To.

This one is pretty sneaky I will admit.  So there you are, focused and ready to go.  You start your workout program (whatever it may be) and BAM; all of a sudden one day you just don’t feel like going.  So you stay at home.  Then one day turns to 2 and 2 days turn into a week.  It has happened to all of us at some point in time.  We don’t know why or even how.  It comes out of nowhere.  It could be a streak of depression, trouble at work or home, who knows?  One thing is for certain……If you had someone other than yourself to be accountable to then it would be a lot harder to skip those days.  Over the years I have always had a problem finding a training partner with the will and intensity that I need to push me and let me push him back.  So few in fact, that I can name the most influential as far as my growth and development are concerned.  Let’s see……Stewart Evans (KC), Alex Arrington (Germany), Joe Taylor (Macedonia), Dusty Roher (Texas), Brian Thelwell (Korea), Erin Hardaway (Korea), Desiree Evans (GA), Christel Thompson (Hawaii) and Ian Cutting (Hawaii).  As you can see the list is relatively small considering I am 39 years old and I have been lifting weights for over 5 years. 

With each and every one of them I felt the need to be there for THEM, even if I didn't feel like going to the gym.  I didn't want to get in the way of their progress and I know sometimes the roles were reversed.  Every time that happened and one of us didn't feel like coming in, by the time we left it was one of the best workouts we had ever had.  Sometimes you just need that push, someone or something to be accountable to other than yourself.  The same goes for workout groups.  Find a group of like-minded individuals, co-workers, friends, family or whatever and join a boot camp class.  If you are in the San Antonio area, look up Johnathon Inman at Next Level for a great Boot Camp class.  Make friends that will give you a hard time when you miss a session, lol.   

8.  Don’t Compare Your Progress to Someone Else.

People get caught in the “I want it now” mentality.  Some things take time to develop and progress, all progress is based on the effort you make OUTSIDE of the gym.  I see this often as well.  Where someone watches someone else in the gym not putting in the effort that they THINK they are putting in.  So after 2-3 months that person they were criticizing looks spectacular.  “How did they do this?”  “Why don’t I look as good as they do?”  You see it all the time. 

The fact is abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym.  What you do with the other 22 hours of your day will dictate your progress……PERIOD.  Don’t blame your trainer if you go home and eat pizza and cookies with the family.  When that person that you “say” puts in half of the work you do goes home and eats a balanced meal with veggies and a lean meat source before bed.  They take their meals to work.  They are consistent with their nutrition and it shows.  So please don’t compare your progress to anyone else.  Just be the best you that you can be.  The journey in and of itself is a marathon, not a sprint.  If getting in shape and staying that way was easy then America would not have an obesity problem.  Just think about that the next time you want to compare. 

9.  Be Consistent with Your Effort.

If you want this to really work for you, be consistent.  Just like going to college and getting a degree, if you click here for Big Nerd Essentials.  That spells out what you need to do in order to be consistent. 

want good grades you have to study and be consistent with your effort.  So why would you expect anything less from a fitness plan?  Progress isn’t measured in leaps and bounds in this area.  It is literally measured in inches and pounds.  It is measured in co-workers and family members saying “wow, are you losing weight?”  It is measured in that gap at the back of your pants that is there now since you have lost 3’ off of your waist.  It is measured in the renewed energy that you now have on a day to day basis.  When you are no longer so tired at work that you can hardly stand.  That is how progress is measured.  The ONLY way that you will get to that progress is with a consistent effort to facilitate the change in your habits from bad to good and unhealthy to healthy.  Go and

10.  Hold Off on the Supplements Until You Get Your Diet RIGHT!

If I had a damn dime for every time I was asked “what do you take” I would probably have at least $100,000 of spare change.  That is no lie.  Every trainer will tell you that before you can even start the diet conversation a client will ask you “what supplements should I take?”  Now before you get me all wrong I will state for the record that I am a HUGE fan of supplements.  I do indeed take supplements for the purpose that they were designed.  If you read the label on 90% of the supplements out there they all say to use “in conjunction with a well-balanced diet” or something to that matter.  First let us define what a supplement is:

Supplement

Noun

Something that completes or enhances something else when added to it.

Dietary supplement  

Noun

: a product taken orally that contains one or more ingredients (as vitamins or amino acids) that are intended to supplement one's diet and are not considered food

Now, given what we NOW know is a supplement; we know that we first need to be able to control our diet.  I can tell you that I am very tied into the supplement industry, I know a few owners of supplement companies (I have a few interviews coming up with them as well).  One thing I ABSOLUTELY LOATHE is when a supplement gets a bad name because you didn't know what you were doing so you bad mouth the product.

 “If you take my pill you can eat as much junk and pizza as you want and still see results!” 

-          Said No Supplement Company Owner EVER

So save yourself the grief (and money) and get your diet right before you take the supplement plunge.  I can

tell you that if you are consistent with your diet, and you feel as if you need that push, then when you do decide to take a supplement you will be able to feel exactly what benefit it is producing for you. 

If you are having trouble designing your diet, then get in touch with Nate Wolfe at www.wolfpacknutrition.com to help you take the guess work out of it and provide you with top notch service and advice in the process.

11.  Find a Workout Style that You will Like and Stick To!

Listen people, I know that this will be the first time that some of you are going to start to engage in any type of physical activity.  That in and of itself can be a daunting task.  What I will tell you is that you will have to pick something that fits YOU.  Not everyone wants to be a bodybuilder or workout with that training style.  In this day and age you can pick to work out at home with various videos, you can do CrossFit, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, Power Lifting, Strong Man training, Endurance or whatever you desire.  Personally I feel that whatever will get that ass off of the couch is the perfect training style for you!  I have trained in various disciplines to include CrossFit and Powerlifting and I always come back to the bodybuilding style of lifting.  That’s what gives me the gains in muscle mass and physical aesthetics that I look for.  Everyone will be different, and I will tell you that there is a training style out there for you; all you have to do is try them on for size.  

If you like to lift heavy and feel powerful then try Strongman or Powerlifting.  If you like to do 100 different exercises in one day, try CrossFit, lol.  I always give the CrossFit guys a hard time because I was doing it in 2008 before it became “the water cooler conversation of choice”.  I swear that now 50% of CrossFit is TALKING about CrossFit.  But trust and understand that if you want something to talk about try Fight Gone Bad for 3 rounds, lol.  Honestly I feel that if you want to stick with something that it will be something that can keep your interest over time, allow you to see progress and something that doesn't feel like a chore. 

12.  Finally, Have Fun.  Train Hard and Enjoy YOUR Progress!

I can’t tell you how much fun I have kicking my own ass in the gym or with my training partner.  It is one of those things that have to be experienced.  I can tell you that I like steak from Ruth Chris better than Wolfgang’s but I would have a really hard time articulating the actual why.  Is it texture, taste, smell, the way it sizzles on the 500 degree plate?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that I like Ruth Chris better.  The same goes for certain things that you will experience during your journey to getting fit.  You will have a MONSTER workout one day and it will be the best you ever had.  Will it be the reps that you did?  Will it be a new PR (Personal Record)?  Will it be the speed that you pushed through it?  Who knows?  One thing you will know however is that you had fun doing it!

As always take the information and do what you will with it!  Hopefully this will motivate just 1 person to get off of the couch and try something new.  If that happens then my work is done!  If you like the article, please share it on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else that it can reach the masses.

Yours in Fitness and Health,

Aaron “K-Nine” Washington, CFT

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