confused I Have No Idea What I Am Doing

[Mher]

Hey guys,  I am brand new and I feel in over my head. Is the layout 100% forum formatted? Or am I missing something? I am just confused on how to navigate. 

 

Intro:

 

What up guys I am a university student that used to be a gym rat and then joined the navy and started to hate working out while serving. I like to think it was the crazy long hours, so I just lost all motivation to do anything except sleep and drink beer in my off time. Since getting out I have not worked out a single day. Ive been out for a year and a half now. Anyway, I recently saw the new Warcraft movie (WHICH WAS AWESOME BTW) and I kept thinking to myself I used to look like an Orc. For anyone that doesnt know Orcs are beefcakes. Super muscular and not the lean type of muscular but Atlas strongest man competition muscular. I would like to restore myself to my previous glory and have fun doing it. When I heard about this community I got super excited and immediately looked into it. 

 

Could someone please tell me where to start?

[SevenofSeven]

You started in the right place! Welcome, welcome.

 

A lot of people will start out in Daily Battle Logs, which gives you a base and start to logging whatever it is you want to log, food, lifts, running km's ( yep I'm an Aussie ).

 

However we do have Guilds, there is one for everybody! You want to lift? Try the Warriors. Want to meditate/yoga? Try the Druids. We are in the middle of a four week Challenge, but pop on over and have a look. It is a wise idea to start in the Rebel Challenge and get a feel for it. The Guilds do have ambassadors that can help with any questions you may have. 

 

 

So really at the end of the day poke around, it gets easier to navigate and you will find your favourite threads!

 

Good Luck with your journey.

[Igaduma]

There is no one here telling you what to do.  You set you're on goals and then accomplish them.  There is a lot of "support" though.

Like @SevenofSeven said: you can start a daily battle log to keep track of what you're doing.  Telling people about what you did or didn't do will act as a form of accountability.

We also have 4 week challenges, where you decide to do something for/in 4 weeks.  You decide what that something is yourself, although some guilds offer suggestions.

 

There's a lot of info floating around on the forum.  The different kinds of "fitness training" (it's actually broader than just fitness, but I couldn't think of a better term) are divided into guilds.  You don't have to meet any requirements to join a guild, just start posting there.  Also, if you join a guild, nothing is stopping you from reading and posting in other guilds.

[Guzzi]

13 hours ago, Mher said:

Hey guys,  I am brand new and I feel in over my head. Is the layout 100% forum formatted? Or am I missing something?

 

I am just confused on how to navigate....

 

Dont worry, it's a big site and you're not the first to get a bit overwhelmed/confused by it all. There's a lot of information on here, a lot of sub-forums, and it has to be that way simply because this site covers almost every aspect of health and fitness. And that's huge!  

 

The way I would describe it is like this: think of the home page as a portal. From there you can access many different forums. What you have is:

 

The Welcome Page - There the FAQ section that is worth reading, there's a lot of info there for newcomers, and the section for posting intros. Once you get the hang of the forum you probably won't come back in here other than to welcome other members and give them advice.  

 

Rebellion Headquarters - This is mostly a social forum. There are general chat threads, the Woot Room to share any achievements you want to brag about, and a section to meet others in your area. This is also where the Battle Logs are. (Ps. Feel free to join in any of the threads, we won't bite. Much.  )

 

General Fitness - This is topics that apply to most people, regardless of what sport they do. Advice for general workouts, weight loss, clothing etc. 

 

Nutrition - Covers all your diet specifics like supplements, paleo diet, vegan diet etc. You will also find the recipe suggestions here. 

 

Fitness Specialities - This is the knowledge base for all your specific sports/training. Each speciality has its own sub-forum. 

 

Challenges - Everything to do with the challenges is in here. The "Guilds" are really just a way of grouping people together who share interests. People post their challenge threads under whichever Guild they want to belong to or feel matches their goals. 

 

Your first challenge should be posted in the Rebel section and then you can go on to post your challenges in whichever section you want. And as was said above, there's nothing stopping you from reading and posting in ANY section at any time. 

 

You can also take part (or suggest a new) PVP (person vs person) challenge or a PVE (person vs environment) with other members. 

-------------------------------------

 

How you use the forum is up to you. You'll find that you gravitate towards certain section and almost ignore others.  You can start a Battle log and use it to track your progress, you can take part in challenges, or you can simply soak up information and use it to improve your workouts/eating etc, or just hang out in the Chat Room. It's totally up to you.  

 

I like to recommend the 4 Week Challenges to people because it makes you an active participant in the forum...

 

You will meet other members, form friendships and get some accountability. They're also a really good tool to help you reach your long term goals by breaking them down into smaller, short term goals which I think is important in keeping you motivated.

 

It's a tough slog to just keep working away toward losing 50lbs (for example) and trying to change everything all at once - eating better, exercising more, cutting soda, stop smoking..... Arrrrrgh!

 

But if you have a challenge to, say, cut out soda over 4 weeks. Then go on to do another challenge to eat vegetables with one meal every day for 4 weeks and to use the stairs at work instead of the lift. You can focus on making small changes at a time, and make them lasting changes! And all the while you're getting support and advice from your fellow nerds  Coz we're like that.  

 

Thats my take on things, I hope I haven't killed you with a seriously loooooooong and boring post, lol! 

[Bookish Badger]

Welcome - for someone who's confused you found the right starting place!

 

From your intro, it sounds like you'll be right at home with the Warriors.  But choosing a guild doesn't limit who you interact with or which forums you can participate in at all. For example, @Guzzi mentioned using the Battle Logs as many folks do. I don't want to post about myself that often, so I've got a challenge thread in the Rebel forum and use that pretty exclusively.

 

Someone else might not want to do either, and just ask questions in the general or specialty forums when they need help.

 

Bottom line, there's no right or wrong way to participate (except trolling - neither the moderators nor the community have much tolerance for intentionally bad behavior). Take your time getting familiar with the forums, then jump in somewhere & say hi. You won't regret it.

 

Good luck on your journey to Orcdom!