Lifting Basics 1: How to Start

Summary:

• To make it a habit, you have to do it regularly
• Have a goal in mind beforehand (Long Term, Middle Term, Short Term), so that you CAN assess yourself, that way you can see progress!
• Increase your weight, or your intensity a little each time
• If you miss a day, go right back to the day you should have done, no judging
• Mirror, not scale, is your gauge
• You are your best competitor, try to be better than yesterday, choose a few things to work on

Description:

I thought that we should include an article on lifting basics, since we’ll have quite a few people who are new to this. In any program that you engage in, it’s most important to make it a habit. What I mean by a habit, is that you need to do it regularly, or it won’t become a change in your lifestyle. It takes a long time to develop an unhealthy lifestyle, and this is a pure guess, but I would say that most of us don’t make extremely unhealthy choices time after time. What we tend to do, is slowly fall into an unhealthy lifestyle by making small changes that compound on one another. What we hope to do, here, is to help you go from whatever starting point you’re at now and help you develop more skills, and make small changes, that you can take with you, to start moving into a more healthy zone, slowly and surely, until you meet your goals.

This brings me to my next point. GOALS. We need them. If you don’t have a goal for yourself, then you don’t know where you’re going, or how far you’ve come. I’d like you to grab your smartphone (Or pen and paper) and write yourself a couple of little notes. You can also set yourself a reminder on your calendar to have your smartphone pop you up a message, or write one on your calendar to remind you to read your goals.

Make yourself 3 goals: A 1-2 Month, 6-9 Month, and 1 year Goal.

A one month goal might look something like:

Non Site-Specific – Lose 1 inch off of my waistline, and have more energy during the day.

Site-Specific – Follow a beginner workout for one month, read 3 nutrition articles (Implementing 1-2 changes to my diet), and assess whether I can make my own diet, or incorporate one of the diets from the Diets page.

For your daily goals, you should think about every time you do an exercise, to increase the weight, or the intensity. Make sure you’re keeping good form, and you’re not always going to be able to do this, but if you’re not moving backward, you’re at least maintaining where you’re at, or moving forward.

There are going to be times when something comes up that you can’t foresee, and you’ll be unable to work out. Just accept that it’s going to happen. Don’t worry about it. Everyone has setbacks, the important thing is to just get right back into things as soon as you can, the next day possible. If you miss a Legs day, don’t skip it, just move it to the next day and shift your schedule by a day. I hated doing calves for the first 5 years I worked out. I guarantee that I missed more leg days than any other day, and it showed. The important change that I made was that if I missed my leg day, I didn’t omit it. I didn’t just move on to the next day, because I knew that I would just keep missing those days.

Try to identify your weak areas, and make sure that you’re diligent when working on them. If you’re at the gym, or getting ready for a run, and you’re not doing anything — There’s no point in being there. If you’re wasting time, you may as well be doing something you enjoy. Do work when you’ve committed yourself to doing it. Getting there is half the battle, keeping your intensity is the other half.

You are the best competitor that you can gauge yourself against. Don’t worry about what your friend is doing, or what the girl or guy at work is doing, if you’re seeing progress, then you’re headed in the right direction. You can’t change everything about your physique in one day, or one week, or one month. These types of goals take dedication and a firm commitment. A mirror, and your energy level, are a better metric than the scale is.

If you haven’t made your goals, make them now. As always, best of luck as you move toward your goals, we’re rooting for you.

Comments are closed.