Want to start getting into shape.

[JustaBigBird]

You should get hold of Mark Rippetoe's starting strength book. Fantastic. If you have pretty much NEVER gone to the gym to have to accept that you are at a novice level. Don't just go straight for the most advanced exercises because at the moment you need to build a LOT of strength. Set yourself short, medium and long term goals. For me I want to be able to do 10 planche pressups.

Also, don't try and lift heavy weights, work on correct form. If you seriously cannot do a pressup then there is a problem. Even ONE? Stop with the running that is just burning calories. Eat a lot of protein and do exercises that you can pretty much just do no more of 5 reps. If you are serious about this I suggest you buy an olympic bar and do deadlifts, that exercise is amazing! Also you could get a pull up rack thing and attach it to the door. I cannot stress enough that you should work the MAJOR muscles: back, chest, legs. Do things like jump squats or maybe wall squats. Eventually you will need more weights.

An olympic bar for a novice is a bit overkill, a standard bar will do.

[freelapdance]

Well that is true ..... to an extent. An olympic bar is a very good investment, that is if the OP is actually serious about getting into "shape". Sadly the majority of people that start in the gym give up after a short period. At the end of the day the equipment is not the main factor, not even close.

[Fogkin]

Oh and don't even bother with crunches.

sorry but that's retarded... you have to work out your core just as much as you have to work the rest of your body. It supports your frame after all and without a solid core you'll have horrible posture. Sure no amount of ab workouts you do will get you a ripped stomach but ignoring them altogether is dumb.

[Projali]

An olympic bar for a novice is a bit overkill, a standard bar will do.

I'm not sure how an Olympic barbell is overkill. Go to most gyms and the barbells on the benches, squat racks and deadlift platforms are pretty much Olympic bars. They may not be labeled as official Olympic bars (20kg, 2.2m) but the standard is ~45lbs and 7-7.2ft in length with a standard grip.

If OP does opt to invest in barbell equipment, bumper plates are needed. Deadlifting with small (diameter) plates means you're overextending your starting position. If you're deadlifting without deloading the weight every rep, you're missing a lot of the strength benefit of doing DEADlifts in the first place.

sorry but that's retarded... you have to work out your core just as much as you have to work the rest of your body. It supports your frame after all and without a solid core you'll have horrible posture. Sure no amount of ab workouts you do will get you a ripped stomach but ignoring them altogether is dumb.

Squats, deadlifts and hanging leg raises will do more for your core than a bunch of crunches will.

[Bathory]

As a P90x fanboy, I'll have to point you in the direction of a little program we like to call. P90X!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't need a ton of equipment, you can do it without any until you wanna step it up which is a plus. Modify the workouts til you can keep up with the video. Follow the meal plan as much as you want.

I got some amazing results, results that probably could have been a lot better if I followed the meal plan, but I got what I really wanted out of it. Toned, ridiculous stamina, hard abs. My before and after pix speak for themselves. Ugh, fanboy is shining. I'll stop now.

[Rdx]

I think some of you misunderstood my post, I don't think running is boring per se, but I'd also like to train other parts of my body, other than my legs.

I've got the possibility of pull-ups now aswell, and I guess it's just to keep on and see what happens

No offence but if your running your not really building much muscle in your legs. Your more training your aerobic system.

Atm in my thoughts it's pretty much just running and crunches. I'm not strong enough to do push ups, so I'd like some help on an alternative to get stronger without weights, so I can stand doing them without my arms breaking

I find it odd that you cant even do a single push-up. That being the case there is plenty of alternatives lower in post.

Don't just go straight for the most advanced exercises because at the moment you need to build a LOT of strength. Set yourself short, medium and long term goals.

Also, don't try and lift heavy weights, work on correct form. If you seriously cannot do a pressup then there is a problem. Even ONE? Stop with the running that is just burning calories. If you are serious about this I suggest you buy an olympic bar and do deadlifts, that exercise is amazing! Also you could get a pull up rack thing and attach it to the door. I cannot stress enough that you should work the MAJOR muscles: back, chest, legs. Do things like jump squats or maybe wall squats. Eventually you will need more weights.

I agree. He should work on form not heavy weights straight away. As the above poster said you need to invest some capital if you are really serious. An Olympic bar or a trx would be a good thing to get.

http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961 is a youtube channel that Scooby runs. He mainly aims at home workouts and therefore would be relevant to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0lK3b7zhA is a program he has to get someone to 100 pushups.

Hope something here helps

[Imamage]

Squats, deadlifts and hanging leg raises will do more for your core than a bunch of crunches will.

Add military press to that (rest barbell like your going to do a squat but push up with arms to extend bar over head) and agreed

[FreddieDPSMeter]

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

[Projali]

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

You have to make it a habit. It takes a few weeks for a behavior to establish itself, typically. Schedule your gym time and don't make excuses that let you miss it. I wake up Tuesdays thinking about my leg day. You can do this by following a set training plan like Stronglifts, Starting Strength, 5-3-1, p90x, or whatever's relevant to YOUR training goals. Personally, I f***ing love lifting heavy ass weights. That muscle pump or the feeling of "I just deadlifted 2.5 times my body weight for the first time..." can't be replaced for me. One of my best friends in high school went from a couch potato to an exercise class fiend and she looks great. You have to find what exercise you enjoy.

Set a long term goal and establish short term objectives to reach that goal. Don't let a missed goal put you in "failure mode." If you start telling yourself negative things because you didn't add 5 lbs to your bench that week, you'll start on a slippery slope. Instead take failures as learning opportunities and fix the problem. Goal specificity and how you train is also a key thing. Are you a cyclist? Then it's probably not helpful to your goals to be doing 5x5 heavy squats series. Are you a basketball player wanting to increase your vertical? Get crackin' on those dynamic leg workouts and stop doing so many curls for the girls, bro.

Nutrition is the hardest thing to stick to, in my opinion. You can go walk on a treadmill for 6 hours a day, that's not hard at all. The hardest stuff is what you do outside the gym. Making good food decisions is also habitual and depends a lot on will power and your environment. If your pantry is full of twinkies and chips, guess how many wrappers are gonna be on your desk by the time your raid is over?

Then there's always this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpMit8SpqRA

[Fogkin]

Squats, deadlifts and hanging leg raises will do more for your core than a bunch of crunches will.

Oh I totally agree with that. I was just assuming the guy was saying don't focus on the core at all which is dumb. Even still I like to do a workout once or twice a week that focuses just on the core. Usually I'll throw in the P90X Ab Ripper video and do that, about the only decent video in that whole series really.

[Clevername]

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

By realizing one does not get stronger without putting in time with the iron.

[Rdx]

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

Your the type of person who expects results quickly. This is not the case. Do less time in the gym more often. Make a habbit out of it as you would something in wow.

[PhailPally]

So a little about me.. I've never exercised in my whole life and I'm not overweight, as I have a fairly active metabolism. I weigh 73 kg, my height is around 180 cm (5'9 - 158.73 lbs) so about average I guess. (I'm 19)

I thought about just running, but it seems kind of boring as I'd also like to work on other parts of my body. The catch is, I don't have a gym anywhere near me, and the closest one is 50 km away or so, so I'd like alternatives to the machines.

Atm in my thoughts it's pretty much just running and crunches. I'm not strong enough to do push ups, so I'd like some help on an alternative to get stronger without weights, so I can stand doing them without my arms breaking

'I thought about just running, but it seems kind of boring' this is a nono attitude, running is your best friend, if you're bored, try to listen to music and lose track of what you're doing when you're running, that way time will pass quickly.

Pros of jogging: removes fat from all areas of body / don't need anything to do it, just maybe a nice pair of jogging shoes and an ipod for luxury.

My advice is don't worry with other exercises until you've lost the weight, otherwise your body will not be in shape enough to enjoy the effort you're putting in with other types of exercises.

If you can't do pushups, honestly try, just keep trying, you can build up the ammount of pushups you can do in a duration of time very quickly, you just need to do it daily, even if it's 5 pushups and thats it, awesome! do 5 an hour.

---------- Post added 2012-05-07 at 02:03 AM ----------

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

Have some sort of passion, a goal, don't you want to look better? feel better? just don't give up, you can't say 'ill have today off' NO, fucking no, keep up the effort or you'll fall behind and giveup.

[UncleSilas]

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

If you're always in pain then you're most likely not taking protein in the correct amounts. I very rarely get muscle pain anymore, just make sure you're taking in the correct amount of protein, helps with muscle ache.

[Projali]

If you're always in pain then you're most likely not taking protein in the correct amounts. I very rarely get muscle pain anymore, just make sure you're taking in the correct amount of protein, helps with muscle ache.

The dude takes off month+ from the gym and then trains "hard" only for a week before quitting again. Sounds like DOMS to me. Proper nutrition helps recovery but the guy reacclimates to inactivity all too often it seems.

[UncleSilas]

The dude takes off month+ from the gym and then trains "hard" only for a week before quitting again. Sounds like DOMS to me. Proper nutrition helps recovery but the guy reacclimates to inactivity all too often it seems.

DOMs it is. But I was just giving general advice. I've spent the last 8 weeks getting back into a proper 3 day split, slow but worth it. Only 2 more weeks until I'm benching my body weight 10x4 .

[Grifters]

Is your goal to be athletic or a blown up bodybuilder?

[Gámbller]

I fail fail fail. I work bloody hard at the gym, but I get sore as hell and always lose interest after a week. How do you guys keep up motivation?

To make it a habit, you have to go to gym about 18 times in a month. It will be much easier already after 2 weeks of going to the gym.
Make it your goal. After a month you WANT to go the gym. Some people may even get addicted to endorfins which are released on hard training.

You just have to survive first 2 weeks.

[AtonalGinger]

I loved P90X In college. You can get a good workout with minimum equipment, he's motivational without being annoying (okay he's annoying at times but it's more funny than frustrating) and it mixes it up so you never get bored. I don't buy into the "muscle confusion" stuff...it was run because it was always evolving.

If you want something with less impact you could try yoga. Don't need a class/instructor, there are tons of guides online and video you can rent/dl/buy. Overtime you grow stronger and a good routine will work your whole body.

[Syro]

Insanity workout

No need for weights

Start with something lighter maby... like hip hop abs or hard rock training thing from the same dude... If u go straight to insanity with the form u described .... i can promise u will be puking from the effort about 15 mins in your first workout.