A brand new start and I need some advice please

Age : 23 Joined : 02 Jun 2008 Posts : 43

Hey guys, I just joined yesterday and I am glad that you have this forum for wieght lifting. I want to start weight lifting and REALLLLY get down about 30 pounds! My weight is around I think 250. When I run I can run a pretty good distance but I get out of breath. When I start weight lifting I am going to start off small and work my way to the heavier weights. I can lift a lot to begin with, well I can bench and curl pretty good.

Noticing there are people that have been doing this more than I have is there anyone that can give me an idea of how to start running walking or with the wieghts. I come from a, well my grandparents are overweight and I have several family members that struggle with weight as well. What would anyone recommend? Thank you!

Man in Morph Age : 40 Joined : 08 Apr 2007 Posts : 8017

Welcome to the huff and puff room. Glad you are wanting to make positive changes.

First off, start slow. Don't look at the 30lbs but set small goals for yourself like 4-5lbs per month so it will be effective weight loss. If the goal is only to lose weight I would do a lot of cardio but again start slow. If you can run one mile do that 3-4 times the first week then try to add a little more the second week and so on. If you want to lift I would do high rep lower weight stuff to work out.
Also, the died is important here. Most Americans eat too many carbs, as you've probably heard, so you may want to scale them down and add more fruits and vegies which have a different carbohydrate then breads.
This is a start and more can be added. Be patient, it's a process but a rewarding one. God bless.
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Alldat: I take a bath every Saturday night whether I need it or not.

Joined : 31 May 2007 Posts : 315

Glad to have you here. I will help any way I can but I'm a powerlifter and I was always "the skinny kid" so what I can offer will be mainly the lifting stuff. As far as lifting weights goes I think you should set goals in numbers. For example, You goal should be stated as "I want to bench press 200 lbs for 5 reps." Not "I want to get a bigger chest." The reason is you can measure numbers(you can measure your chest too but a lot of other things come into play with that).

Do you want to get strong or do you want to run? You can be OK at both but not to many people will excel at both at the same time.

You said you can run long distances but you get out of breath. You should! Remember, if it was easy everyone could do it. That's why I like powerlifting...not everyone can do it!!!