New, advice needed

[Alex616]

Morning Gentlemen and Ladies.

New to this forum and just trying to do a bit of research to start and get some advice.

I want to start body building, but apart from the odd weights session here or there, have never really looked at it seriously. Anyway, just split up from the wife and so determined to get my body into shape.

I work all over the place and don't tend to get home till late, so gym membership is not really possible, so I hope to start doing stuff at home. At the moment it's just press ups/sit ups and pull ups. I've read lots of the stuff around here (many thanks), but any advice for a starter at home? e.g. what should I invest in, what do I need as a simple starter plan?

Always been a dab overweight, so not skinny, but would like to turn the excess fat into muscle!!

All help/advice gratefully received!

Cheers.

 

[gwcaton]

welcome to IM

A cage, bench and barbell should be enough to get you the basics . And if you are a beginner basics will take you far

 

[Arnold]

Alex616 welcome to IM!

a lot can be done with a basic set of free weights, and of course getting your diet in order.

 

[Alex616]

Thanks! Will keep you posted.

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Eggs]

Hey Alex, welcome to IM!

Well let me tell you, you can do well starting off using the basic push-up, pull-up, and sit-up routine. It'll help you in the starting stage when your body is getting used to the activity. I think that if you do that for a few months while you think about what equipment to get, you cant go wrong! If the regular stuff gets boring before you get equipment, I'd suggest plyometrics. Even once you start lifting they would prove useful to do.

Anyways, as far as equipment goes, let me stress the stress the importance of getting decent quality stuff. For one, it'll last longer, and two, it'll grow with you (don't trust the crappy stuff for heavier weights, right!). At first I was going to suggest a bench to use with dumbells because of safety, but then I remembered that I use barbells myself and as long as you make wise decisions when benching it shouldnt be a problem for you.

What I have is a nice bench from Nautilus that I use a barbell on. But I dont lift so much that I couldn't ever just roll it off if I needed to. If you dont plan on lifting extremely heavy, then I'd probably suggest going this route. Then just purchase some medium dumbells for shoulders, biceps, triceps, some smaller chest movements.

The downside I've found to working out at home is that its not quite as motivating for me.

Oh yeah, if possible, put up a pull-up bar in your garage or something. You dont actually need a lat pulldown machine, just use that bar, and then get a weight belt so you can add weights on. For further back exercises, bent over rows, etc will do the trick.

Anyways, if you have any other questions feel free to ask! Welcome to IM