Starting out

Before you start a weight lifting program, it’s always a good idea to gently walk into it as opposed to charging in hard.  The best way to do this, especially if you don’t have a history with any type of exercise, is to do body weight exercises.

They consist of:

Push ups (All varieties)

Pull ups

Chin ups

Body weight squats

Handstand push ups (against a wall)

The last one may seem impossible right now, but it’s not.  By doing these exercises you’re going to be getting blood forced into the major muscles groups that make up your body.  This is what we want to accomplish.

By using the muscle, your getting them “pumped” and filled with blood. By doing this repeatedly you cause small tears in the muscle fibers that are then filled in, or, repaired by the body.  Every time you do this the muscle grows a tiny bit.  Dietary protein is the building blocks of muscle.  With your new diet, you’ll be getting plenty of it.

If you’re completely out of shape, you should do body weight exercises for a good month before safely moving onto weights.

Concerning how much and how often?  This is dependent upon your current physical capacity.  There are so many different ways to structure exercises that it’s mind boggling.  I’m going to give you a basic outline.

For example, start your routine with push ups.  Do as many as you can in a row and then wait 90 seconds and then…..do it again!  90 seconds, and again…do this five times and then stop…as many as you can until failure each time. That was your work out for the day.  Rest.

The next day, do pull ups.  Same routine….as many as you can until failure…even if it’s only ONE!!!  Wait 90 seconds, do it again.  If you can’t get up, use AS MUCH force as you can in trying to pull yourself up. 90 seconds, and on and on…five times and you’re done.  Rest

Then the day after, go to legs.  Do your body weight squats….these are going to get you winded!!  Leg muscles are huge in comparison to all others and they use ALOT of oxygen.  Do as many as you can UNTIL FAILURE!  Five sets, 90 seconds rest, done.

Fourth day…go to chin ups, same routine. By now you know the drill.

In regards to hand stand push ups…basically if you have the physical capacity to kick yourself up against a wall, then you want to start by doing that and just holding yourself there.  Time yourself…keep the position for 30 seconds.  Come down, rest for two minutes, then do it again….30 seconds.  Do this five times.  If you can go longer, then go to 45 seconds….then eventually one minute.   This will build the strength needed to eventually let you lower yourself down to touch your head to the floor and then push yourself back up into the starting position.  Usually around the one minute mark guys have built enough strength to bang a couple out.

It’s all about CONSISTENCY and ROUTINE.  You just have to make it a part of your day.  Once you’ve gone through these four or five exercises (depending on whether or not you do the handstand push ups) You can either take a rest day, or not.  Again, it all depends on YOU.  Body weight exercises are fairly low impact compared to weights and the way these exercises are set up, buy the time your done with the four or fifth one, you’ll be feeling fine to do push ups again and start the whole routine all over again.

You can do this every day for 30 days if you like…you don’t have to do a rest day.  Either way will work. Don’t go thinking you can’t take a day off after you’ve competed the four of five day circuit.  If you’re hungry and motivated….then GO FOR IT!!!

At the end of a month, it’s time to graduate from the body weight stuff and move into something higher impact.  Weights…..Time to move something heavy….

“If you can’t fly, then run.  If you can’t run, then walk.  If you can’t walk, then crawl.  But whatever you do have, keep moving forward.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.

Lifting Weights