If you knew then what you know now...

[Goldfish]

...what would you have done differently when starting out?

The exercise programming I followed when I started out wasn't too bad, mostly because I spent my first year paying attention to the trainers at my gym, and while there's stuff they could have done better, they were could at giving balanced routines and setting up safe but effective parameters.

The things I really would have changed, if I knew then what I know now, were my attitudes/ego and approach to nutrition. I had too much of my identity caught up in my body, and I had something to prove, which resulted in a lot of bad lifting for the sake of my ego. It also caused further emotional issues -- you can't out-train a bad head. I didn't understand that eating is actually a good thing (thanks largely to the general media focusing on fat people and telling them: "You need to put down that sandwich 'cus you're fat. I ain't sugar-coating it, 'cus if I do you'll eat that, too."), which hindered my results, appears to have stunted my growth (not just muscular growth, but skeletal growth), and basically meant I expended a lot of effort getting nowhere. So instead of putting down that sandwich, I'd be picking it up and going in for seconds.

If you were thrust back into your shoes when you started training, what would you have done differently, knowing what you now know?

 

[CrazyOldMan]

My first ever weight training was as a youngster with a small barbell and list of 10 exercises that I did for around 2 to 3 years 3 or 4 times a week.
My mother and step father made sure I was doing the movements safely and likely thought I would quit.
I gained exactly what I know now comes from doing the same thing for years, familiarity with those movements and not much else. I knew nothing about training and was far too young to be allowed into a gym. If I could I would make myself learn a bit back then.

The reason I started doing that back then was the same reason as I started weights as an adult, I was a pathetic looking weed and wanted to get laid. I had finished a spate of dangerous sports and realised that the only reason I had been getting any was reputation and who I was in the sport, back on even keel with everyone else was threatening a life of celebacy and I wasn't up for that.
I had a specific bodyweight in mind and in fairness despite starting in springtime wanting to look good for summer as many do, I was aiming to look good for the next summer so wasn't in a rush. I started at a small gym with very little in the way of free weights, heaviest barbell 50kg, dumbbells 15kg. After a few months, can't remember how many, I could curl the dumbells and realised it was time to move on.
The place I moved to was a real roid pit, and I loved it. I learned a massive amount there and the biggest mistake I made was changing workouts too often based on whatever magazine I had read that day, or what the latest beomoth was telling me.
Another issue that ended up in my head and has never left was the obsession with lifting more than bigger guys. When I started there I was between 130 to 140lb so that was basically everyone but somehow I decided I needed to prove my natural strength against those who could afford the roids. The result was a few injurys including a pulled bicep when doing dumbbell swings instead of curls and failing part way up.
So wish I had figured out what the best roatations are for me back then.

Diet wise wasn't too bad except for the obsession with protein and supplements many body builders have and I only later learned was insane. I consumed shakes which had more protein than I could absorb in one go and got so used to it that it was only when I stopped that I realised my toiletry was more comfortable. I tried mass builders, tablets, amino acids, you name it. Crazy part was my diet was really good without all this junk so I needed none of it. Once I learned that I realised that my muscle gain didn't slow down but I got leaner and had more energy, and had more spare cash.

The gains came faster than my genetics would have predicted, but I trained like hell so this wasn't a matter of luck. Training became my god and the gym my alter, so much so that there were times that when I could have got laid as was aiming for I was thinking about the next days training and blew it. Apparently women like the look but not being told in explicit detail what you are going to be doing to get it, kind of like a lot of men like a well made up woman but won't want to hear about the routine they use to look that way, well worth knowing.

Most of the people I knew training back then have quit for various reasons and it has taught me one valuable lesson that I was fortunate to learn early on. Train for the enjoyment of it, not because you feel you should. I wanted more nocturnal exercise but found training I really enjoyed, so carried on doing it. Many who start with the same motivation stop after they have found someone because they never enjoyed the training, often they end up with neither. I have guided people into forms of activity that were slower on the aesthetic gain, but they enjoyed more and they have done brilliantly in both respects too.

Biggest lesson I have learned in training and this has left me with a king size chip on my shoulder. If people say you can't be good at everything, they are wrong! You can't be the best at everything but good is doable if you are willing to work at it.

 

[Goldfish]

Most of the people I knew training back then have quit for various reasons and it has taught me one valuable lesson that I was fortunate to learn early on. Train for the enjoyment of it, not because you feel you should. I wanted more nocturnal exercise but found training I really enjoyed, so carried on doing it. Many who start with the same motivation stop after they have found someone because they never enjoyed the training, often they end up with neither. I have guided people into forms of activity that were slower on the aesthetic gain, but they enjoyed more and they have done brilliantly in both respects too.

Biggest lesson I have learned in training and this has left me with a king size chip on my shoulder. If people say you can't be good at everything, they are wrong! You can't be the best at everything but good is doable if you are willing to work at it.

So much truth there. If you don't enjoy training and are doing it for some other purpose, you'll probably quit once that other purpose has been achieved. It's the people who find something they like and do it that continue regular exercise long term.

I think rugby players do a good job at disproving the belief that you can't be good at everything, as they need to be good at everything. They can't afford to not be strong, powerful, fast, tough, agile, and full of stamina and endurance. They may not be able to deadlift more than a powerlifter of equivalent size and experience, or to run faster than an Olympic sprinter, or snatch more than an Olympic weightlifter, but they can certainly be good at all of the above.

Like you, I got particularly stupid once I started paying attention to a broader range of advice and reading articles on how to train. The trainers at my gym early on were reasonably knowledgeable; the authors of the articles I read were largely full of skubala. My most significant era of stupidity was when I bought into the idea that the more weight you move, the greater the effect -- period. Not the more weight you move with good technique through a full ROM. Oh no, I totally got sold on the idea that using 300% of my 1RM (seriously not exaggerating) for static holds at the top position of a lift, for 1 set, once a week, and doing nothing else, was a productive use of my time. How I didn't get injured in the process is beyond me. How I kept believing that this was a good idea in spite of it achieving nothing other than me being able to hold heavy weights an inch away from lockout is also up for questioning.

 

[CrazyOldMan]

t One of the bizarre things with getting older is finding out how much 'new' advice and latest fads are things I have been doing for decades. There was a post about prehabilitation recently, good one too but I thought it was strange to see a new word for training to build strength were people get hurt, something I have been doing so long.
I have done the stand with weight task before, but only on squats. I found that the weight felt heavier before the lift than during so I got used to lifting off holding for a moment then returning the weight, it didn't really help but at the time I thought it did.
Funniest thing have done with someone holding way over their lift capacity was help out as someone stuffed their shirt, laid on a bench while we lifted on a bar with 4 discs a side, let him hold it for long enough for a photo then took it back. Photo was great he looked fit to burst and hugely impressive, comment on the postcard he sent back to friends at home was these roids are great. Looking back really stupid and dangerous but still funny.

A lot of things are suprising in many ways. I think my never ending quest to be fit in all ways at once and likely die trying, has definately proven that. Some of the shocks are below.
Weightlifting for size means resting well.
Improving strength requires co-ordination to aviod injury.
Ballet movements are surprisingly fast.
The most tiring part of boxing is being hit.
Genetics cannot be overcome. (Ignoring this is important)
Stamina is important, no matter what you want, heart and lungs have to work.
Flexibility is irreplacable and surprisingly useful.
You won't be good at everything first time, and often second time won't be great either.
Stole this one. Powerlifters can do what body builders look like they can do.
Most of the fitest old people started young.

Training hard is the key to most things in fitness. This is obviously a lot of physical work but mentality is more so. It is depressing to see someone genetically gifted walk in and achieve in a year what would take you at least 3, but someone will have looked at you the same way. I looked on as others piled on muscle like it was being given away free with cornflakes, some of them looked on at me wondering how I stayed so lean and could move so effortlessly.
One of the greatest things about getting older is the ever reducing number of people attributing my shape and ability to my age. I have now had 3 people trying that who were younger than me, they weren't pleased to find out. Don't underestimate experience or assume that doing something for years means having done it all right. I have met a number who are my age or close to, still training but have major joint issues etc. from uneven training, younger people won't see that and often try to copy them. Ask the zimmer frame brigade about their mistakes, to avoid making them yourself but as with any advice, assess it's value harshly, none of us are always right.