How to Workout?

Believe it or not, when I first started working out one of the biggest problems I had was literally not knowing *how* to have a good workout. Hearing that statement on it's base level probably sounds a bit silly, but in the broader sense it gets immensely complicated quite quickly when you are starting out.

How often should I workout?
How long should I rest after a workout?
How many different exercises should I perform when I workout?
How many reps?
How much weight?
Should I be a toolbag and *only* workout my Biceps and Abs?
Will working out make my neck disappear?
If I go to a gym and I can barely lift any weight will people laugh at me?

Be creative and add some of your own. That list took me about a minute to think of, give or take ten seconds.

The bottom line is a lot of beginners have a lot of valuable questions-along with some of less importance-and because of this a lot of people get the wrong information from what would seem to be the right places. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise as people need to make money, and inevitably someone is going to start preaching exactly what beginners want to hear, with more regard for their wallets than their waist-lines.

Despite an overwhelming majority of promising ads with expensive quick fixes and smooth talking fitness gurus, there is also a large amount of correct, free, and reliable information out there. I have spent a long time scouring the intarwebz, looking for decent sources of information, and to end this blog I'll list a few. I am not currently affiliated with any of the following people, websites, companies, or fitness systems.

exrx.net
Despite sounding suspiciously like the type of website you'd visit on a lonely Saturday night, this website catalogues just about every conventional exercise there is, explains how to do them, what muscles they work, and a few other important tidbits. I recommend the exercise menu section to get started.

scooby1961 - youtube.com
If you've ever looked up just about anything to do with bodybuilding on youtube, then chances are you've watched one of his videos. Although by no means has he been one of my greatest influences on fitness, he has never failed to deliver a steady stream of easy to follow, thoroughly explained, none infomercial-style videos. There are a few differences in our opinions on a few key areas, but Scooby has been around fitness about twice as long as I've been around at all, and I don't believe he'll steer you wrong.

beastskills.com
My thanks to Mr. Jim Bathurst for creating this great website. Devoid of annoying advertisements (although that may possibly be due to my ad-block), this website provides you with tutorials on how to train for many advanced movements, especially gymnastics. My only issue with the website is that a majority of the first progressions for the tutorials require the learner to be quite strong already, but then again you shouldn't be trying those moves without the basics down first anyway.

Here!
Yes, I know you probably hate me for saying that but please check back with my blog every once in a while to see what's new. As the more general subjects I have to talk about begin to thin out a bit, I'll be writing about more specific things, such as exercise tutorials, and others soon.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully that gives you beginners a helping hand.
Ryan