Greetings from the land of Eng!

[MimettGreens]

Hello all

 

Well I have FINALLY joined here, after looking at Nerd fitness for several weeks, almost singing up, freaking myself out and rinse repeating, but after giving myself a kick up the bum I'm finally ready to get things started.

 

My name is Alexandria and I am from the Land of Eng, UK, Tea and crumpets land and so on I'm twenty six and work in retail after trying to do something with my degree and failing in my tiny town, hehe.

 

I finally decided I want to seriously get in shape after a year long slump after losing my job and graduating uni. I suffer from depression, and went through a tough time and as a result, didn't take care of myself. I ate rubbish because it was easy and lived off caffeine. In university I wasn't much better either as my first attempt at 'healthy' end up with me becoming painfully thin (I'm 5'7 and hit around 110lbs) and becoming utterly obsessed with calories and my weight, which then changed and I ended up putting the weight back on and more (I'm about 154lbs now) when I became so depressed. -__- But no more! I'm here to take charge! 

 

I'll be honest and say even after reading the introductions, signing up to the letter and reading the free downloads, I am still unsure where to start. Staci's story was super inspiring and it's made me want to work hard, the trouble is I'm just not sure where to begin! A lot of girls want to be very thin and slim, but my own goal isn't about looking slim and petite. It's about building muscle, dropping body fat and getting healthy. I'd love a healthy hobby that I get fulfillment out of (I used to LOVE jogging when at uni)and all the benefits that come with being healthy such as my asthma being more under control. A better looking body would be a plus side, but ultimately I just want to get fit and learn to like myself again after several years of hating myself.

 

Right now my current goals are to be stronger and healthier. I am starting to read up on the Paleo diet which sounds fantastic, but strength wise I am quite unsure how to get started. A friend very generously gave me a running machine they have never used, but I don't want to just drop weight and become skinny, I want to build muscle and drop body fat. So scale watching isn't on my agenda, nor is calorie counting. I'd like to stick as far away from those two as possible given how bad I got in university. I'll still check in with the scales but I don't want to be dependent on them again.

 

I don't know if this would be classed as a goal, but after reading Staci's story, I would LOVE to know how to use a barbell and strength properly and effectively, as it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to me. I have always been interested in strength training and weight lifting and have always said to friends 'If I knew what to do I'd spend so much time weight lifting and having fun getting fit' but was never sure how to go about it. Gyms' often say it's not for women, that I'd injure myself and so fourth and a lot of people found it hilarious when I said Meryl in Metal Gear Solid 4 looked amazing with her build compared to other game characters with no muscle definition. 

 

Finally my last goal, which is a big one in my eyes, is to cosplay either Meryl, or Salem from Army of Two (Okay a female version of him perhaps! ). I've always wanted to do this, but wanted to get in shape first, so this is some serious motivation for me as it also means improving my confidence and self esteem. Obviously I'm not just doing this purely for cosplay, but it's definitely a motivation for me, as I love it.

 

So hello everyone! Nice to meet you and I hope I get to know you all!

 

 

[Q_est]

Hello! If you're within travelling distance of London, I can definitely recommend a course to get started in weight training (women-specific). 

 

If not, check out your local gyms for trainers with weights experience and equipment: run away from any gym that only has Smith machines!

[MimettGreens]

Sadly I'm about two hours away by train!  I have had a look at my local gym (we've only the one o__O) and they do have a looot of Smith machines. I'm thinking I might try working out at home, since when I asked about the training he looked at me like I was insane and promptly told me I'd 'look like Arnie' if I used weights.

[Nannoo]

Sadly I'm about two hours away by train!  I have had a look at my local gym (we've only the one o__O) and they do have a looot of Smith machines. I'm thinking I might try working out at home, since when I asked about the training he looked at me like I was insane and promptly told me I'd 'look like Arnie' if I used weights.

 

Yeah if someone says that you're going to look like Arnie when you start lifting, then you're gonna want to stay away from that gym.  Maybe start out by doing a bodyweight exercise regime, or use homemade weights (water jugs, a toddler, anything heavy that you can pick up and put back down will work).  Good luck from Wisconsin!

[Q_est]

Yeahhh stay the hell away from that idiot!! I can't believe some "fitness professionals" actually believe that shit. 

 

This is the link anyway - I'm leaving it because they sometimes run once-off workshops at the weekend for beginners as well as weekly courses. http://strengthambassadors.com/courses-and-classes/

[Timmy M]

welcome fellow Angle (i live in scunthorpe), there's a few threads in the Powerlifting/Weightlifting knowledge base that you may find useful, you could also watch some of the form check videos and post your own, there's plenty of people who'll give you advise and tips on the major lifts (including myself until someone like jdanger gets there and embarrasses me with his knowledge)

 

P.S. good luck!

[Caramel]

Fellow toff here, South East represent! Welcome to the first step up Mount Badass. I feel where you're coming from with regards to failing at fitness stuff while at uni, unless you're a determinator or have cool friends then it's really not an environment that lends itself to healthy living!

 

There are plenty of Steve's articles on the site that can help you get started, like the bodyweight routines, which are great seeing as you don't need a gym and can adjust to your own level of fitness, and the lifting guides for guys and gals.

 

Paleo is definitely worth investing in, even if you're nor particularly strict about it. I'm following it pretty loosely and substituting one thing at a time and I'm already seeing results, which is awesome. 

 

Good luck with your training, see you around!

[vengefulpear]

We seem to have found quite a lot of UK NF-ers here! (From the Garden of England right here)

 

On a side note (before I get to Greens' post ) I'm not sure if one exists but does anyone fancy making a UK NF motivation/accountability group?

 

 

BUT! MimettGreens, it's great to have you aboard And equally great that you don't want to be skinny, you want to be strong!

 

I would second some of the other suggestions here that you can start with bodyweight fitness There's loads of things you can do to make those exercises really hard and some people get super super strong using nothing but bodyweight training.

 

As an example of the range of difficulty, just for push ups you can go for:

Incline Push Ups (for example with your feet on the floor and your hands on some stairs)

Half Push Ups (with a ball under your chest, touch your chest to the ball then back up)

Full Push Ups

Diamond Push Ups (Instead of your hands shoulder width apart, both hands are placed under the center of your chest)

And then you can work up to a one hand push up!

 

If you like I can take a look and make a good beginner routine for you Or point you to some resources at least

[IronGlider]

Hey Mimmet! Glad to have ya on board, I'm from the UK too, Zingo! :-D

 

lol Anyways, I'm 23 and going through many of the same things you are. In addition I've treated my body like crap for way too long as well, in addition to previously (and still getting away from) suffering from depression.

 

Hope to see ya reach your goals, I love Salem in Ao2 as well, fun times playing that game with a close friend at the time (only played the first game though) I'm sure you make a cool female version.

 

Keep us up to date! :-)