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.
It’s an older, classic book, but you’ll want to read Body for Life by Bill Phillips.
It’s a book for beginners to general fitness concepts. And, if you’re not super hardcore “into” fitness or sports, it’s the only book you’ll ever need.
It goes over all the basics: how to do cardio, how to do basic weightlifting, and how, why, when, and for how long to do each. It has photos and explanations of each exercise.
The exercises are designed to be “minimum effective dose,” meaning, they’re designed to be the minimum amount of exercise you need to do per session to actually get good results (i.e., how much weight, how many reps and sets, or, running how fast and for how long).
And there’s not that many exercises. The book omits the fluff and sticks to core essentials. Meaning, you’ll have no problem learning and memorizing all the exercise routines - there’s not that many.
Then, it lays out a basic body recompositioning program for you - cardio this day, basic weight training the next day, and so on, alternating, weights, cardio, weights, cardio. Build muscle, cut fat, improve stamina.
Bill Phillips was a bodybuilder, so he knows how to cut weight and build strength efficiently, so he distilled everything down to essentials for normal people.
The program itself is 6x per week by default - 3 days of cardio, 3 days of weightlifting. If you don’t want to be that hardcore, that’s fine. You could work out only 2 or 3 times per week and still see improvements. Just do the same thing the book outlines - alternate your cardio days and weight training days - whenever you make it to the gym or at a place to do cardio.
Do generally what the book says, stick with it, and you will see results.
Note: the book is also selling you on a 6x small meals per day eating plan (‘90s bodybuilder style). You don’t need to do all that at all. They’re also selling you on expensive protein powders. You don’t need that, either. Just cut out sugar, eat protein and whole foods as best you can, eschew alcohol, and do the alternative cardio-weight training exercise program as best you can with the time you have as many times per week as your life allows for. The diet stuff you can take with a grain of salt. That’s it!
Good luck!
Thank you for the recommendation, I will have to take a look at this. I do like that you describe the contents as being straightforward. It is simple jumping off points like that which have always really helped me to learn and become involved in something starting out.