Remember to not over do it in our first weeks in!

Welcome back everyone.  In the previous article I touched upon what I wanted to see you do before you get started on your road to a new you.  Please do not skip on the steps; you will only be cheating yourself in the end.  Remember that you and you alone are the one being held accountable on the fitness journey to a better you.  I am merely here to support and help you along the way.  I will help you make the proper decisions with diet, exercise, and health.  Please note, I am writing this blog for the masses so I will not break things down to detailed specifics.  If you have something you have a question about or something you would like me to discuss in depth please post up a comment and I will certainly get to it and give you some personalized advice.  I want you to succeed!

With that being said, if you are a beginner or a newbie in the gym I do not want you over doing it on your first day or two and then being paralyzed with muscle aches and pains for the remainder of the week.  You are not benefitting yourself or your fitness by killing yourself.  I realize that you want to go all out and totally “kill it” but you will just be killing yourself.  Remember the flame that burns the brightest is also the flame to burn out the soonest.  Slow and steady wins this race.  Start off your first week with a three day split.  I would recommend a Push/Pull/Legs split and pair legs with abs. (I will go into this during my next article).  Start your cardio light and easy, brisk walk, light jog.  You will probably still suffer from mild DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle syndrome) this is the muscle aches that you feel peaking 48 hours after your gym session.  This is completely normal and nothing to worry about.  Muscle soreness is something you will experience for a while.  There is a difference between normal muscle soreness and something more, however I will touch upon that in a future article. (For the beginning week we will keep the cardio mild as well).

For those that are not beginners and know their way around a weight room start off light and easy as well.  You already know the routine, don’t try to jump back into the weights that you were doing.  I can assure you the old weights that you were using will come back to you in time.  However we do not want to suffer a muscle strain or injury due to stubborn pride.

Something for all of us to remember, DRINK, and no I don’t mean that Miller Light you have sitting in your fridge.  I mean that gallon of Poland Spring you have in there.  You should be trying to drink a gallon of water a day.  It is very important to remain hydrated as it is used by your body to carry out many functions including the metabolic process.  I am one of those people that carry a gallon of water with him.  Yes it is bulky and can at times look ridiculous but I can accurately gauge how much water I have drank and how much I need to drink before the end of the day.  So please remember to drink up to a slimmer you.

In the upcoming articles I will talk about the Push/Pull/Legs split as well as techniques to implement during cardio to make it more effective as well as techniques to increase stamina and endurance.

Rome was not built in a day, get in the gym, get active, and make it happen!  These first couple weeks are to get you familiar with the gym and a standard routine.  We will slowly increase work load and volume as the weeks progress.

Keep calm and train on!

Fitness Frank

If you would like daily motivational quotes please follow me on twitter @frankzotto