rickjames the n00b

Soldato
Joined
27 Oct 2011
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London
Evening all.

So, a new job with more sociable hours (going from 7:45-6 to 9-5) is making me think I can invest a little more time in shaping up. Plus PureGym over the road has a £20pm offer on with no joining fee.

Backstory: essentially I've never been to the gym. I'd say I'm fairly active; I cycle to work most days and play either football/cricket most weeks, but feel I could do with getting my fitness up, particularly with the latter where I'm running around in the field and relying on my back, particularly when batting.

I'm 27, about 5ft9 and weigh about 10st9. Rather skinny, really. From a bit of reading here and there it sounds like doing SL 5X5 would be ideal for me, thoughts? The videos on the website make it look pretty straightforward and the app seems to be useful with regards to logging stuff and setting out the weights I need to do accordingly. I think my diet is OK sans cutting out sugar and caffeine, maybe just a few greens here and there and I'd be OK.

Any help/advice would be great. Gimme a day or two and I guess I can maybe begin!
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Jun 2013
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2,632
Stronglifts is ideal for starters - get on it, stick on it and win! Make sure you eat more though if you want to grow; you sound pretty active already. Tracking exactly what you eat each day for a week or two is worth it to get a good feel for how much you are actually eating. That sounds like a pain but there are app's like myfitnesspal that make it very easy.
 
Soldato
OP
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London
Right. Gym membership sorted, begins next Monday. I'm inclined to say it's best I do it in the morning rather than evenings where it should be quieter; as a n00b I dread the thought of people looking on at whatever I'm doing and say it's wrong, will rock my confidence a little.

As for food I'll check out myfitnesspal, ta. My diet in general right now is a lot of chicken, sweet potato, pasta, fair bit of bread and odd piece of salad alongside a steak. Fruit intake isn't much, generally a glass of OJ every morning.
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jun 2011
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2,081
Good luck :D

Don't worry about people looking at you, you may think they are but I'm sure they're not. I go to the gym, do whatever I got to do and leave. I'm sure it's the same for the other 95% of people in there :D
 
Man of Honour
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Manchester
Cheers.

Also does anyone have any meal plans/ideas I can scan over?

Rather than meal plans/etc just log what you eat (MFP as already mentioned is great for this) and track your weight over the next few weeks. Logging what you eat accurately is the most important aspect of this. Once you've got an idea of where you currently are you'll be in a much better place to work out what you need to change.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
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Also another question; in the early stages of SL is it a massive no-no to workout two days in a row? I can't tomorrow (Tuesday) night as I'm at a gig and work dictates I'd have to be up at 5am in order to do it tomorrow.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2004
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NE England
I'd sooner go back to back than skip a session. There's no right or wrong to it, it'll no doubt affect your squat performance seeing as you're squatting every session, but I'd be fine with that.
 
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