I want to start strength training but I know very little about it. Where should I start?

June 9, 2012 7:25 AM

I want to start strength training but I know very little about it. Where should I start?

I'm male, 28, 6'1'' (185cm) and 62 kilos (130lb). I smoke about ten cigarettes a day and get very little exercise.

I would like to start strength training to build up muscle. I hope this leads to me quitting my addictions as well.

I don't want to join a gym or spend any money on exercise equipment. I don't know what do about my diet either. I'm not looking for any quick-fix solutions; something steady and longterm.

Please help!

Anonymous because of too much personal information.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

Not joining a gym or spending any money on equipment will present a bit of a challenge. Normally the standard advice would be to start barbell training using Starting Strength to learn how to squat, deadlift, bench press, clean, and press. Starting Strength combined with heavy eating will build muscle the fastest. But if you're determined to not spend money, you could try Simplefit which is basic circuit training with bodyweight exercises. A step up in complexity would be gymnastics training, following the workout of the day at Gymnastics Bodies. GB.com also has lots of articles and an active forum that will help a beginner. Either way you will want to find a bar or tree branch to do (or eventually do) pullups. If you're in it for the long haul, keep your eyes open for used weights at garage sales and craigslist, etc.
posted by Durin's Bane at 7:43 AM on June 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Reddit Fitness FAQ is very, very good IMO, and it's quite a supportive community. You probably want to start with body weight exercises. Maybe nerd fitness is another good resource.
posted by idb at 7:54 AM on June 9, 2012 [2 favorites]

Pushups, pullups and ab-work (situps/crunches, Pilates) are great for starting. Read up to ensure proper form.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 9:36 AM on June 9, 2012

As was mentioned, the book Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training 3rd edition will get you started. The bulk of the book covers how to do the key strength exercises in excruciating detail. Following this is a no-nonsense novice strength workout for you to do. This routine revolves around gradually increasing the weight each session, and will get you fantastically strong if you do the program correctly and eat properly.

There is also a DVD related to the book which shows the book's author teaching a variety of people, with a variety of body types, how to do the lifts correctly. This is also a good resource.

Thus, if you are interested in a no-nonsense, proper strength training program, that will build up your strength, with proper form, little by little, than this is the book to get.
posted by Diplodocus at 9:58 AM on June 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sorry, just read you are basically limiting yourself to absolutely no equipment. In terms of pure strength, this will greatly limit your progress, but body weight exercises sound like all you are allowing yourself. Also, at your height, weight, age and gender, just eating more (esp. protein) will probably give you some extra muscle by itself.
posted by Diplodocus at 10:00 AM on June 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Google the term prison workout. I seem to remember some body weight training under that name. Other than that, if you have the space check craigslist and freecycle. Back when I was living in a house and had the room I regularly used a really sweet bench and barbells I got on freecycle.

But really, you can start walking and doing pushups right NOW.
posted by thelastcamel at 10:11 AM on June 9, 2012

If you don't think you can quit smoking cold turkey (and, in the words of Homer Simpson, going cold turkey is not as delicious as it sounds), the other option is to cut down.

Try to put off smoking your first cigarette of the day until after lunch, or after dinner, or after dark, etc. If you smoke when you're hanging with smokers, or when you're drinking or using other drugs, try to limit yourself to smoking only when you're doing those things.
posted by box at 10:40 AM on June 9, 2012

The Navy Operational Stress Control blog has a workout that doesn't involve a gym or gym equipment. Exercising in small or confined spaces.
posted by bentley at 10:41 AM on June 9, 2012

Besides what has already been said, I'd recommend tracking your progress.

I didn't do this as well as I could have, but it's still very gratifying to see the gains I've made in 7 months of weightlifting.

If you're committing yourself to bodyweight exercises, then record how many pushups, crunches, and so on, you can do now. T
posted by iftheaccidentwill at 11:24 AM on June 9, 2012

The hundred pushups plan is a great way to start from wherever you are fitness-wise and get going immediately with no equipment! I did this a few years ago and it was a great habit... it took me more than 6 weeks to get to a hundred, but I'm a small woman who had never done strength training before.
posted by anotherthink at 11:42 AM on June 9, 2012

Response by poster: Ross Enamait has a book called "Never Gymless" which lays out good fitness programs employing little to no equipment. He is a tremendously underrated coach. Becoming fit requires a different variety of exercises than just push-ups and crunches--that will leave you with bad shoulders from excessive push-ups and problems with your lumbar spine because of crunches (crunches are actually extremely bad for your spine).
posted by Anonymous at 1:57 PM on June 9, 2012

Cheap weights can be made with soda bottles. I like the ones formed to fit your hand, the 20 ozers. Add water to them and use them like barbells; add water for more weight.
posted by Deoridhe at 4:53 PM on June 9, 2012

stumptuous.com has a lot of great information on both diet and strength training.
posted by guybrush_threepwood at 11:00 PM on June 9, 2012

You Are Your Own Gym is an excellent book that has actually gotten me doing weight training. You don't know what kind of an accomplishment that is for a book, but I am about the last person you would expect to do that in the world. It emphases how much you can do with just your own body and a chin-up bar. (The chin-up bar is used for things other than actual chin-ups.)

There is also an accompanying iPhone app that guides you through various regimens described in the book. For me this makes a huge difference in actually doing it.

The regimens are all about 30 minutes/day, which is less than the time most people spend traveling to and from a gym.
posted by zachawry at 1:57 AM on June 10, 2012 [3 favorites]

(Sorry, that should be "strength training" instead of "weight training".)

The book uses ladders of 1 rep, 2 reps, 3, reps, 4 reps, 3, reps, 2 reps, 1 rep, repeat. At the end of a 30-minute program you will be almost unable to move.
posted by zachawry at 3:25 AM on June 10, 2012