After Recovery

[milo]

Hello,

I'm a newbie here. I was wondering whether I could ask a very simple question (I was a bit intimidated when reading the posts in the forum since they looked so advanced to me). I'm male, age 29, height 5-6, weight 132. I just started going to the gym again after years of sickness. The sickness was nothing terminal or terrible, but it kept me from doing exercise for a long time.

I've been trying to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes but sometimes could not finish it. I have very short breath. I'm a little bit discouraged, not sure whether I could gain fitness at all. I would like to build my body, but don't know how. I would like to get a personal training, but I'm not sure whether I'm ready for that. Could anyone give a suggestion on what to do to prepare myself for a more rigorous exercise? Thanks a bunch for your help and patience.

[moana]

Congratulations! Have you seen a doctor before you began exercising again? I don't know what type of illness you had, but you might need to check with your doctor before you push yourself to hard.
Maybe you shouldn't run, start with walking. Then pick up the pace, do short intervals of running and focus on your breathing technique. Don't be discouraged.

[karky]

agree, talk with your doctor. dont loose faith man, just take it slowly so you dont hurt yourself or anything.

[Terry Monk]

Welcome!! Don't feel intimidated at all. We've all been in the same beginner place you're at now. Ask tons of questions. That's what we're here for. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Now... as the others said, be SURE and check with the doctor first.

Next... If you're wanting to build your body, then skip the running for 30 minutes. You're pretty light to begin with. The type of cardio you should be doing is HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training. It's short burst of all out effort then a low level of recovery and then back up again for about 20 mins. HERE is a link to a dogpile search with many good articles to read on the topic.

Next... you want to eat, and eat, and eat if you want to build your body. And that doesn't mean eat slop, it means eat good foods that are good for you. [img]smile.gif[/img] May I suggest John Berardi's Massive Eating Reloaded? Part I link and Part II link
This man is a genius.

Next... you'll need a good beginner program for lifting weights. Honestly, I haven't looked much at this routine but many on here love it. Others will have to give you their personal experiences but I think it's a least a good place to start. Scrawny to Brawny link Just so happens this is written by Mike Mejia and the same John Berardi as the Massive Eating.

I really hope this gets you started in the right direction. You may want to seek the advice of NYguy too. He's just started getting into the lifting/eating right habits and he could probably offer you some recent advice from someone who has recently been there.

Like I said, if you've got any questions at all, please ASK. You can PM me if you want and I'll be more than happy to help you or refer you on to someone else.

And one last time, WELCOME ABOARD!!!!

[Kevin T.]

What GR said basically is it. Eat good food and eat a lot of it. Scrawny to Brawny is a good program, but with the gray area it seems to have, I might personally think about waiting. Home Grown Muscle from Men's Health is a favorite. It's a year long program and it's very simple to follow. Check it out on Men's Health under the Fitness section and I know people on here have the logs if you want them. Go to the Fitness FAQ subforum here and read the workout thread as well. I second the HIIT. Personally, I have no need for distance running and i kinda get bored unless its raining then its cool. HIIT is a lot of fun and you can be creative with it.

Like GR said, NYguy might be able to sum everything he's learned here since he's been here so you have everything in a nice condensed form. Stick around, you'll learn a lot. Like GR said, if your a bit uncomfortable at first, shoot someone a PM and they'll help you.

Congrats on making this great step and good luck in your fitness future [img]smile.gif[/img]