Recently I had a female friend tell me she wanted to get into fitness more, but has never touched weights. With all of the worthwhile and all of the less-than-worthwhile stuff out there, I thought a little guidance was in order.
The most ideal situation is to find a knowledgeable trainer to coach you through things. If this isn’t an option, keep reading.
The Basic Bunch
If you’re just looking for something cheap to flip through, you can pick up plenty of books like Starting Strength, which will give you an overview of the basic lifts, or the NSCA’s Essentials of Strength and Conditioning, which is kind of all over the place. Both are quite well-respected in the community.
The problem with these are that they aren’t the high quality stuff I would recommend if you want the best results.
Then there are books like Science and Practice and Supertraining that will give you a little bit more of the “behind the scenes” of training. These are a good bridge if you want to start training others, but it doesn’t give you a lot to act on, which is very important for newbies.
Plus, Supertraining feels like the longest book ever written with it’s 6pt font and 11×17 inch pages. Though it would show your dedication, you would waste a lot of time at this point.
The Bread and Butter
The best way to get what you want fast is through Bulletproof Athlete.
You need to get hands on, and BPA lets you do that. It’s a program written out that you can perform and tweak to where you want to go.
You want to lose weight? Get on the Fat Burner program.
You want to get after it? Get on the Monster program.
Somewhere in between? Get on the Weekend Warrior program.
To make sure you’re not lost, Mike takes you through his rationale for everything he programs (this is the first sign in identifying whether your trainer is worth his weight in salt).
There is a warm up included, strength/speed/endurance exercises, conditioning, and even coaching. There are dozens of different exercises you’ll be doing, and there’s a video for each one.
Not only does each week have the program listed out for you, but there are also strategies for improving your nutrition and recovery.
- Nutrition is your fuel. Any exercise you do is only as good as what powers it.
- Recovery allows you to realize your goals. If you simply beat yourself in the ground, your fatigue will forever mask your fitness levels.
This thing is riddled with actionable items – and you know how much I like actionable items. You’ll also get 9 bonus products (ridiculous, I know).
Plus, the thing is beautiful. And you get it right away since it’s an electronic product, so there’s no wait to get started lifting weights.
I recommend BPA over all of the other options because I trust the author, my friend and mentor, and because you’ll see the best long-term results. If you’d like to see some sample videos and hear from Mike about exactly why he made Bulletproof Athlete, it’s on bulletproofathlete.com.
Happy training!
-Lance
