Hi all,
I recently found out that as a part of my job I get access to a small gym in the building. I think it has your basic cardio equipment and some other stuff for building muscle (but small enough I don’t think there is equipment to do stuff like dead-lifts or whatever in there).
I don’t know anything about working out really, but I could stand to lose some fat, which draws my attention to the treadmill that they have. I am not so concerned about building muscle and everything that involves.
I have mostly neglected going to gyms for 3 reasons.
- They are usually out of my way
- I don’t usually have the time
- I don’t want to spend what they charge
All three of these are now non-factors now that I have found out I have access to this one.
I would be using it twice a week as that is how often I am actually at the location.
So my question is, since it’s not really something I have ever looked at - if I want to lose a bunch of fat, what do I do? I can try to diet first off, and I am glad to take suggestions on what worked for other people in that regard, but more so I just don’t know how long or how fast I should run, what equipment is good for this otherwise, or really anything about using a gym.
Please note that the facility is self-serve and has no staff - they just have cleaners come in each day to clean it, the rest is up to you. I do not have the money to spend on something like a personal trainer, and the location doesn’t offer such things as well given its self-serve nature.
Thank you.
So people are going to bury you in all types of routines and talk about alternating muscle groups, and using reset cycles and diet information.
ALL OF THAT IS LOST ON YOU NOW
Believe it or not the most important thing you can do for at least 6 weeks is JUST GO TO THE GYM ONE DAY A WEEK.
You see you don’t work out/go to the gym because you have not fit it into your life. You have not made it part of your life.
I have religiously gone to the gym three times a week for 35 years. And I have seen so many people who never go to gym, show up going to do three times a week, do this routine and make it happen. They last less than three weeks. Because the demands of life do not stop.
Once going to the gym is the same as going to grocery store or getting gas, then you can worry about routines, muscle groups, diet, rest cycles, equipment etc etc.
I think that is true. Another commenter sent that couch to 5k app link which is a 9 week program so I think it will be helpful in just making me maintain the routine of showing up. This is especially good for me as I tend to have a difficult time forming habits such as this. Given that this gym is just on a different floor than where my office is, I think that it will also keep me from neglecting showing up as easily, as it is very, very convenient to get to.
How tall are you and how much do you currently weigh? What is your overall goal? Just loose fat? Or build muscle and loose fat?
If you strictly want to lose fat then doing some cardio and making some diet modifications is the way to go.
HOWEVER.
If you would consider strength training there are some pretty amazing benefits. If you were to add muscle, and maintain the same body fat, your overall body fat percentage would drop, since there is now more muscle in the equation. Extra muscle Increases your base metabolic rate, as in you burn more calories just existing. So if nothing else changes, your body fat will begin to be burned off, double whammy.
Also, being strong is awesome. And the trick to building muscle is that there is no trick. It is way simpler than the fitness industry makes it seem. If you want to know more let me know, you’ve triggered my special interest and I will nerd out on you
As someone in a similar boat as OP, I would love to know more!
As someone mentioned elsewhere in the thread, there is a baffling array of complex workouts, an infinite number of exercises, etc. But IMO the simplest way to get started is using the four basic compound lifts. Squat, bench, deadlift and overhead press. These are by far your best bang for the buck exercises that each work a large group of muscles. Ideally these are done using a barbell but you can still make good progress with dumbbells if that’s all that’s available. They Are quite simple to learn and a trainer is not necessary. Once you get in the groove and get really into lifting you will want to refine your technique and you will most likely find yourself watching more instructional videos for tips. But anyway it’s not rocket surgery. These basic compounds could carry you for two years and build an amazing physique.
If you only had two days per week, you could do squat/bench on day one and deadlift/overhead press on day two. If you can manage three days a week that would be a little better but anything is better than nothing. And many roads lead to Rome.
If you want to talk specific routines or apps to track them (apps make is very simple to organize this, and have illustrations/links to video instructions for all the exercises) let me know
Building muscles is more effective than cardio to burn fat. The more you have, the more calories you burn passively just by having them. Kind of like compounding interest. Cardio is healthy and good, but will ‘only’ burn fat during and right after the workout.
