Starting Your Gym Journey
Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received is this: “Nobody is better than you — they’re just further along on their journey.” It’s apt for school, careers and — heck yeah, you guessed it — fitness. The hulking, bodybuilding.com-hat-topped lunk is no greater than a scrawny freshman, nervously waiting to be swiped in at Eppley. Everybody starts somewhere.
So, where will that be for you? Will you begin your winter bulk, or chase a never-ending summer and go for the ‘pack? Here are some things to consider.
Like it or not, nutrition is a significant aspect of one’s fitness journey. No matter how many supersets you push through, laps you tear up or intervals you hit, the kitchen is a key part of progress. So, whatever your health goals, make sure to consider nutrition. A balanced diet will help you monitor macronutrients, calories and the quality of both. This is particularly important, as weight-gain is contingent on a hypercaloric approach (eating more calories than you burn), just as weight loss depends on a hypocaloric diet (eating less calories than you burn).
One should treat food not as a treat, but as a means to fuel and recover. Whole, nutrient-dense food choices offer plenty of benefits, including building and satiating your body. Vitamin A-rich foods, such as beef, eggs, cheese, squash and spinach, help with bone growth and can act as antioxidants. Calcium, which is found in dairy products, salmon and leafy greens, also strengthens bones, aids in muscle movement and works to maintain blood pressure. Dried cherries may reduce inflammation, avocados maintain heart health, bananas provide electrolytes and almonds improve metabolic health. Drink these, too: cranberry juice for antioxidants, water for hydration, and milk for calcium. More simply, you can use an adaptation of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition’s color code system to plan out your meals, found here.
Alongside a disciplined diet, regular physical activity enhances physical and emotional well-being.
Tami Lee, the assistant director of fitness programs at the University of Maryland, said that body-weight exercises are a strong first step, as well as an important foundation on which to lay further strength.
“It is important to first master proper form doing these exercises before adding any load. One should never just focus on strictly cardio or strictly resistance training. Both are needed for optimal health,” Lee said, adding that “different personal goals may stress different types of exercise.”
Indeed, there are differences between training with the intention of gaining and training with the intention of losing weight. These differences are shuttled in with approximate training patterns and periodizations, volume and frequency, rest intervals and, of course, mid-set grunting allowances.
An important distinction to make is that between aerobic exercise, and anaerobic exercise. The latter is characterized by the body’s need for oxygen outweighing its intake. In anaerobic exercise, as short, high-intensity movements are performed, lactate is produced, creating that burning sensation in your muscles. Certain weight training programs, interval training and calisthenics fall under this designation. Aerobic exercise uses pre-existing energy with a steady supply of oxygen to bring the body through slower, more sustained periods of movement. Think, “Arnold Schwarzenegger in undies,” versus “Jane Fonda in leg warmers.”
Those interested in bulking up should look toward anaerobic exercise. Whereas the alternative may put you at an unnecessary and potentially counterproductive caloric deficit, this module will be effective in promoting sustainable muscular growth. A template should be structured around compound, primary lifts, with accessory lifts integrated to address lagging muscles. Load, volume and frequency all should be attuned to more specific fitness goals, keeping an eye on the progressive overload of muscles. Anaerobic movement stimulates metabolism in the hours following exercise. While aerobics (i.e. swimming, jogging, cycling) shouldn’t be overlooked by those trying to slim down, the benefits are really only found in that single, sweaty time frame. In order to stoke metabolic rate and concurrently develop muscle, the two types should be used as complements to one another.
What’s been laid out here is only a two-pronged approach, considering nutrition and activity as two significant components of the greater equation. Lee says that being physically active is just that: one part of a whole. “You can have a great exercise routine several times per week, but if you are not eating properly, not mentally well, not sleeping enough, have too much stress … you will not achieve the results you are looking for.”
Having created a plan for yourself, it’s time to get crackin’. Prepare for an inevitable return to the dust with ground-based, pre-workout stretches and foam rolling; refine your “hunter-gatherer rising from the bush” aesthetic with deadlifts; ensure your mom gets the strongest hug of her life with cable flyes; and gently hum Firehouse’s 1992 smash-hit “Reach for the Sky” while doing overhead presses. You’ll look great, feel great, and hey, if nothing else, it’s a good place to begin your journey.
