Do you remember your first ever workout?

[p1nkangel]

Hey All

Well we all would have had to start out in BB as a beginner at some point so as a beginner myself I would like to hear how you're first workout session went.

Were you nervous walking into the weights area? Did you have a clue what you were supposed to do? Did you do something embarrassing? eg Like drop a weight too hard or loud? Did you end your first workout feeling awesome or maybe deflated because you were all over the place?

I'm sure you lot have loads of first time stories to share so lets here them... :D

Mine? Well I was damn nervous! My gym's weights area is testosterone filled. I'm the only female it seems who dares enter LOL

I was thinking gosh all these dudes here are going be checking that I'm doing stuff right or just waiting to have a snigger because I'm a female. Paranoid I know but that's how nervous I was. I'm lucky because I train with my OH but it didn't stop me being nervous.

Thanks

Lavinia

[MichaelWayne]

I've yet to step foot into a gym. Prefer to workout in my own dungeon, which I feel very blessed to be able to do.
Regardless, I still remember my first time working out. Of course like 99% of people I did chest/biceps as my first workout. Wasn't too awful bad with form, most everything I did mad sense of how it should feel, so that went alright.
Now the next day....that was the problem. Could hardly lift my arms and it felt like my pecs had come off the bone! As much as it hurt, I enjoyed it (waited a day) and lifted again.
I do enjoy when people come down to workout with me for the first time, because I can tell how paranoid they are. That is until they realize that as long as they are giving it there all, paying attention and having a good time, we in the iron game are always wanting to greet people with open arms into our little subculture. Size and numbers don't matter, heart and dedication lifts the weights.

[Suzy Brown]

no.

[Orca]

I also workout primarily at home. First time was with my dad; he taught me a few barbell moves (mostly shoulder stuff).

As I got more ambitious I tried to figure out on my own what moves hit the chest (we didn't have a bench). I got the motion right (flye or pulling the upper arm across the torso) but I did it standing up! So that became another -inefficient- shoulder exercise.

First time in a gym, I stayed in the DB area and did -you guessed it- mostly shoulders! Hahaha.

A weight room can be over loaded with test, but then again test LOVES females so I don't really see a problem =P (aside from the men trying too hard to impress you/come on to you)

[buster12]

yes. It was legs( big mistake). It was the most painful thing ever.lol. The soreness lasted a week1/2.

[GREENMACHINE23]

I remember going out with the family to buy a Weider workout bench 16 years ago.
Lets just say I got the most use out of it. I can still remember putting that time in down in my parents basement.

[The Thinker]

Yep, if that is what you want to call it. Freshman year football ...... we were a bunch of douche bags trying to see who could bench, squat, or deadlift the most. Too many chests were crushed that day. And the squats! LOL It was old school two stand alone posts that held up the weight with no safety bar if you got stuck. Definitely not the way beginners should be lifting.

[bigdaddyd]

Back in the day my brother (neversurrendr) was a bodybuilder. The man was big and ripped. I wanted to be like him so I remember my first workout in the garage with him. Man, I remember not being able to lift my arms, brush my teeth, eat, etc. because we worked chest. I never forgave him, but I never thanked him either.

[sassy69]

27 yrs ago, figured out how to use the leg press on the Universal machine, and holy shit, I could press 100 lb... Wohoo!

[p1nkangel]

I'm loving reading your replies! Thanks All.

Hope to read more. :)

[Mouse]

Not really the exact first one but I do remember those very early days. A buddy who was just slightly more experienced than me was training me and I worked way too hard. I remember I couldn't completely straighten out my arms for about a week. Horrible. It's surprising I ever went back.

I do vividly remember getting pinned under 95lbs while decline pressing. Some big dude one-armed the bar off me. :p

[MartyMcFly]

I do, it was friggin embarrasing, here I am thinking I could bench a decent amount and I almost choked on the bar. Some dude there helped me and I ran out of there as soon as I could. I didn't come back until a year after. I was 18 at the time (in college).

[STEELERJ-XL]

Great Thread. I went to live with my Dad when I was 14 and he was into powerlifting. I was FAT and weak. He had a nice set of olympic weights and a nice setup over all in the basement. The bar was heavy for me lol. I could remember finally getting 135 on the bench and then 155 lol. I was addicted from that point and I would be down there everyday doing something. I remember the first gym I joined "Blacks Healthworld" In Cleveland. Thats where I learned what hardcore was. John Black was the owner and there were some top powerlifters that worked out there, "BIG, UGLY, HAIRY DUDES". I loved it.

[rich_fox117]

i remember the first time, i tried to get my dad to bust out his old weights but he wouldn't...so i did

the bench was so old school, it was the short kind that had the poles right up against your head to hold the bar instead of way out wide like nowadays. needless to say i tried my hardest to bench press a 25 lb plate on each side of the bar and i could only do a few reps, my mom finally made my dad come down and lift with me, and thats when he showed me his "golden" moves for upper body growth

bench press
military press
press behind the neck
curls

i did that same stupid regimen for a few months until i realized there was so much more, i started doing skull crushers, lateral raises, deadlifts, and even squats with the makeshift weights i had, and soon i was out pacing my dad twice over

i finally got to out bench him, and i joined a true gym soon after, and i have never looked back since :D

[AVBG]

I remember my first workout, it was at a local gym and I was working out on an old universal multi station gym.. sheesh, I was sore for weeks. I didn't have my second workout until 2 years later

[greuceanu]

Fuck yeah, i remember it well.I entered this dingy room, about 30x15 foot.It had 3 glassless windows covered with paper,paint was falling off the walls and the ceiling was looking like it was about to collapse.

Hand-made everything:benches, pulley,bars, plates, dumbbells,even a rudimentary leg extension machine.

I've never seen more worn-out equipment since.

Anytime i see people commenting how hardcore some gym is, i smile, most people have no idea how it feels when your hands get stuck on the freezing bar in the winter or when you have to squat in darkness because the fucking one light bulb died.

I felt a mild smell of sweat, there were about 15 guys in that tiny space.But what remained in my mind was this one guy, Sorin, doing dips wearing a wife beater.

I though he was huge at the time and instantly wanted to be like him.I felt small and weak and that's precisely how i was.

I was told to lay on a bench and pick up the bar,so i did.Benched 50 kilos for 10 and 65 for 1.

That's how it all began.I've been in countless gyms since, from average to top notch equipment, but i still miss that atmosphere.

I've partially recreated a dungeon atmosphere in my home gym and i like it better than any commercial gym i've been to.

[Canuck_Muscle]

I actually first started working out in my basement. It was ghetto as hell lol. I would do pushups, sit ups, and curls. That was all I did. Then I got my first membership at the age of 18 and when I went in there I can guarantee I did chest for sure lol. I always love to train chest. So yeah it was chest or arms for sure. One of the best feelings was stepping into that gym for the first time and thinking that this is gonna be my second home for years to come. Still is to this day. I am a feind now it is retarded lol.

[JaimeSandovalJr]

First workout with bodybuliding in mind was 1 year ago Back and Biceps. First workout in general 2000 with my cement weights in my friends garage biceps and Chest (thats all I did for like 2 years lol).

[Strikerrjones]

I don't remember my first workout, but I do remember the first time I bench pressed. I was 14 years old, and it was the first day of weight training class in high school. We were doing maxes on bench, deads, and squats (our grades depended on showing progress in all 3). I tried to get 100 pounds and failed miserably. My second try I managed to knock out 85 pounds for one rep. Good times...

[Manavs]

i am still shaking my head from that first workout ever.

december 2000 - i had met Steve Michalik not knowing anything about him, what he did to John Defendis at the beach, or any of the other crazy things he did back in the day. My former golf coach thought it would be a good idea to "get fit", and thru a friend of a friend Steve was kind enough to sit down with me and tell me what we could do together to get me where i wanted to for my career in golf.

We talked alot about the mental barriers that youll face during the workout and that "failure is winning" inside the gym. being able to push beyond the sounds of quitting the mind and body will throw at you.

i was green and as gung ho. didnt sleep a wink that night, all reved up. i get there the next day for our workout. first time ive ever walked into a gym or to lift a weight. he turns to me and says you ready for this - i stupidly said, whatever you normally do for your beginners, DOUBLE IT for me, cause i want to be that much better!

to his credit, he didnt bust out laughing hysterically over my 24year old 128lbs pathetic frame. and just said great lets go.

3 sets of 25 reps on an icarian leg slide no weight on it -
3 sets of 25 reps on a leg extension - (maybe 2 plates?)
stood up wobbled to a rope pushdown -
did 15 reps, fell, staggered to the bathroom threw up, saw stars, tweety birds, room spinning the whole nine yards of a liver shut down and the commencing sugar drop.

i lasted a whopping 7 mins

during my comatose state where im being fed gatorade and glucose tablets from the front desk lady, i hear Steve yelling - you want to take on Tiger Woods with that body?!?! i have 65 year old grandmothers who train harder than you!!!

that was day 1

as pathetic and demoralizing it was, i was certain that i couldnt be in any worse shape. and that if i were ever able to endure and go thru this intensity/insanity training that i could actually be mentally stronger than any golfer out there.

training from that moment on for me took on a specific meaning. that this was harder than life, and anything outside the gym - especially hitting a little white ball - was a comparable blow job to it. 8 year later - 62lbs and 30 shows later - i went from hitting the ball 30 yards shorter than everyone to 30 yards longer. physically i couldnt have imagined i would ever be where i am today. i just didnt know that it was possible, that this little Armenian kid from boston with zero genetics, but with a lot of grit and detirmination could ever stand on a bodybuilding stage in posing trunks, never mind win multiple times. if i look in my high school yearbook and see the line under your name "most likely to be blank...." then this was the most impossible of impossibilities situations.

so for all you beginners on these boards, learn and absorb from these forums - sift from the all the info here and figure out what is applicable to YOUR body and go get whatever it is you want out of your life!

Mikey

[sturrific]

Sand weights and a crack head uncle getting me pumped up for my 4th greade basketball game...classic!!!

[Mindgame]

the first thing i did was arms back when i was like 13. Then did touch anything until 18 lol i dont remember my first excercise in a gym though

[red barraca]

bench and curls

[Tiki]

I would have to say, about 13 years old. In the comfort of my bedroom I started with doing sit-ups, push-ups, standing calf raises, jumping jacks, and curls with an old ez curl bar my dad had laying around the house.

Well, one day I was at school (junior high) and jogging around the field during P.E., when I was stopped by two boys (total slackers) and Slacker No.1 asked, "Do you like lifting weights?" I was pretty shocked by the question! And somewhere between me pretending that I had no idea what they were talking about and, thinking up something clever to say - Slacker No.1 then blurts out in laughter and tells me that they sit in Slacker No.2's yard, use binoculars, and watch me workout!

*f'ing weirdo's*

To make a long story short - I learned to keep my curtains closed at ALL times (I still do to this day) and, I asked my dad if we could join a gym not long after! *lol*

I've been in and out of the Gym ever since.

[bbrules]

Well i do not remember the first day i train but.. a remember the sore of the first weeks LOL!!!!

[thepump]

yea i can look back. i did every thing in one day. six seven sets of every thing i could get my hands on in the gym. form who new lol
and getting out of the tanning bed after working out ha i went to sleep. they all most locked me in the gym. haha them where the days.

shakes taste like chalk the raw eggs yummm lol

[matt1005]

I remember my first workout, it was at a local gym and I was working out on an old universal multi station gym.. sheesh, I was sore for weeks. I didn't have my second workout until 2 years later
That is awesome.
I hated working out at first. Then about a year later of not doing it, all of the sudden I liked it. I can't remember my first workout, but I can remember reading Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men and noting sections. Those were the days.

[prettymuscles]

I was 16 yrs old when i set foot in a gym for the first time and did 1 rep leg press LOL - Not too sure how it worked, I couldn't lock it back in so i let fall.. I remember it to be super heavy too lol..

[Gunz]

First, I will say that I consider my first workout to be when I switched teams :-) (from figure to BB) and I met my now current husband at the gym so that he could start training me for BB'ing. Well, he's a BIG MF'er and he made quite the impression on the soccer moms that seem to permeate the gym. I don't remember the workout but I do remember his yellow/brown flowered "gym" shoes. Just so happens one of my clients sees us working out from afar, and of course later she wanted to know who the BIG guy was in the flowered shoes?! (He gets all the attention!!)

[Big Al]

First workout is unforgetible...let me rephrase it: first week or so after the first w/o is unforgetable. I did a little bit of every bodypart, that probably was the most painful week in my life. And I loved it..... am I normal? :)

[esplendido]

Hmmmm....Gunz gets the attention now!

I have 3 stories, 3 beginnings.

First story, my grandfather bought me a 30lb sand-and-plastic beginners barbell set on my 12th birthday. I was nearly 6' tall and weighed maybe 120 lbs. All I knew to do was military press, which I could barely do with the bar loaded (30lbs). I pressed for a few weeks until I could do the whole 30. Then I worked to do a 1 arm 30, which I did in 2 more weeks. After that, I quit.

Round 2: My best friend at 15 years old had amazing biceps. His dad always bragged him up and I asked if he (my firend) would show me how to get arms like his. We used his cheap Sears bench set up in his bedroom to bench and we follow with curls. I worked up to a 100lb bench in a month (wow!) and curled 50lbs for 3 sets of 10. The next year (10th grade) we started using the Universal machine at the high school. We did the circuit, which was bench, dips, miltary press, and pulldowns. I 'bulked' up to 160 lbs in that year at 6'-4".

Round 3: At 18, in 1075, I decided I wanted to bodybuild. I was now 180lbs and very, very lean (who wouldn't be at 6'-4"). I started at THE Ohio State University and inquired immediately about lifting. They had a barbell club, exclusive to enrolled students and maintained by the members. It was located in the west end of the then horseshoe stadium. It was a cave of concrete with massive 3' square columns that various handmade equipment was atteched to. There was 1 squat rack, one incline bench, 2 flat benches, a pulldown and low row piece attached to a column, a powerlifting platform, and rusty dumbells everywhere. No leg curl, no leg extension, no scott curl bench....just basic stuff. Membership was $30/trimester. Everyone (all 50 of us) was a bber or powerlifter. I remember doing my first workout of pulldowns, low rows, and deadlifts and getting sick to my stomach. The next day I was a little sore but the day after that I couldn't bend over or raise my arms forward. I loved it! Ferrigno had just left to go back east (he worked out there for year) and we had Jim Seitzer working out there, a 5'-6" monster who could behind the neck press 315lbs for reps.

I competed in the Mr. Ohio State the next year and got 3rd in the tall class. I beat 1 guy and he bitched the whole week following that I beat him. I weighed 195lbs!

[partsRheavy]

My first real workout wasn't really in a gym, although I'd messed around a little in the weight room during high school and a little in a small neighborhood gym many years later. I didn't work out consistently enough to see much in the way of strength increases. My main form of exercise was walking outside.

As for a real workout where I started lifting things consistently, it was a first day at a factory job. A veteran employee explained tasks involving auto parts, and warned me about the fact that one of her fellow employees had a rotator cuff injury that had required surgery. At the time, I had hardly even heard of the rotator cuff!

I noticed that I became more hungry for _good_, rather than junk, food, and noticed that my sleep patterns were improving, and noticed that my strength was improving. After a few months, one day when I was wearing short sleeves, I looked down at my inner elbow and noticed that something had changed because the forearm and bicep had each grown a little.

[greuceanu]

Round 3: At 18, in 1075, I decided I wanted to bodybuild.

I heard that Robin Hood dude was a cool guy.Got any stories to share?

[jjjohns_10]

YES!!!! It was good old chest with a few buddies my freshmen year of college. First thing, they loaded 135lbs on the bar and each of my other two workout partners layed down and repped out an easy 15 reps. THEEEEN i got in there, took the bar off and pushed out a might impressive 3 REPS haha!!!!! They hesitently looked at eachother and said "We've got some work to do on this one." Been addicted ever since...

[meatheadio]

I can vividly remember my first leg workout. Sqauts, leg presses, extensions, lying and seated leg curls, seated and standing calf raises. Like most first time idiots it was WAY too much volume and as expec ted I felt like I'd spent the night in the jail showers!
I woke up the next morning, got out of bed, and collapsed on the floor! Hams were as tight as a drum, quads were like jelly, and my glutes were numb. As Im sure you all know going to the bathroom for the next few days was hard, just sitting down on the toilet.
But I love this sport and would do that every week if it was needed.

[thepump]

Greatest day of my life (in addition to marrying my wife) the start of my bodybuilding passion and career.

[HumanAnvil]

15 years old in my basement with sand filled York weights from Sears. It had a black & white poster with the 1960's crew-cut superhero body type doing basic barbell exercises: Squats, benches, rows, military press, deadlifts, triceps extensions, barbell curls, sit-ups & leg lifts. I actually did all those same exercises for years even after I got a gym membership and not much else.

[figgy]

i remember the first time i stepped into a gym. i was 20 maybe....(working out isnt very popular in my area)..i went with my boyfriend who is a personal trainer. i was so embarassed because i had no clue what i was doing..i was afraid people would stare at me and make fun of me because i was clueless. i cried in the parking lot. not kidding. my boyfriend had to drag me in and not he cant drag me out. now im 5'1, 110lbs and squatting 135lbs :)

[Curt James]

Hey All

Well we all would have had to start out in BB as a beginner at some point so as a beginner myself I would like to hear how you're first workout session went.

Were you nervous walking into the weights area? Did you have a clue what you were supposed to do? Did you do something embarrassing? eg Like drop a weight too hard or loud? Did you end your first workout feeling awesome or maybe deflated because you were all over the place?

I'm sure you lot have loads of first time stories to share so lets here them... :D

Mine? Well I was damn nervous! My gym's weights area is testosterone filled. I'm the only female it seems who dares enter LOL

I was thinking gosh all these dudes here are going be checking that I'm doing stuff right or just waiting to have a snigger because I'm a female. Paranoid I know but that's how nervous I was. I'm lucky because I train with my OH but it didn't stop me being nervous.

Thanks

Lavinia

Kudos on your courage.

I was 15 and although I don't remember the first workout I do remember not being able to pull the hundred-pound barbell from the trunk of the family car. My stepfather reached in and pulled it out one-handed.

And I remember the loose picnic bench that I used to do my benches (with forty pounds).

Had an idea of what to do because I had previously picked up a copy of Lou Ravelle's Bodybuilding For Everyone (http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=lou+ravelle%2C+bodybuilding+for+everyone&hs.x=11&hs.y=11&hs=Submit) - a fine beginner's book.

[Curt James]

First, I will say that I consider my first workout to be when I switched teams :-) (from figure to BB) and I met my now current husband at the gym so that he could start training me for BB'ing. Well, he's a BIG MF'er and he made quite the impression on the soccer moms that seem to permeate the gym. I don't remember the workout but I do remember his yellow/brown flowered "gym" shoes. Just so happens one of my clients sees us working out from afar, and of course later she wanted to know who the BIG guy was in the flowered shoes?! (He gets all the attention!!)

lmao :D

Classic!

[Shadow]

Chest. That was the first thing I remember training in a real gym. I was sore immediately, walking right out of the gym doors. I remember walking down some steps to get home, and every time I dropped down, my chest bounced (MAN BOOBS!) and it felt like they were about to bounce right off my body. I have no idea why I went back.

["Rodz"]

I was 12, i took 2 small baskets and filled them with rocks, and used my hockey stick as a barbell, did bench presses on my bed, lol

[Scottish Muscle]

First time I stepped into a gym 2 years ago, was the first time I really excercised :s. I'm pretty sure I trained chest and all I remember is that my bench press involved no plates........I failed on the bar, poor show :(. Different these days :)

[antonbrn]

I don't know if it was my first workout, but I can remember getting a bench with a squat rack attached. I had it setup in a back room and used some of my brothers old plastic weights.
I thought I was a tough 14-15 year old.:D

[Dan Rek]

I was lucky enough, to have two extremely knowlegable guys that were very good friends with my stepfather teach me the basics, as they had been lifting longer than i have been alive, so my first couple of workouts were very well structured and painful in later days, haha


:rolleyes:

[daciz2]

I can't remember my first time lifting but I remember not being able to lift 100 pounds back up after I tried that on the bench. I was yelling like a little girl for help. Luckily I wasn't the only person home.

[JAR OF NATTY]

best day of my life. it was at my community center just going from machine to machine for like 2 hours.

[Almaz]

I don't remember,and i'm not even that old ..........dementia :mad:

[sam the man]

my first workout in gym was a single circuit
if i remember correctly, the first one was bench press, then pull down, then rowing, then leg extention and leg curl.
if i remember correctly it was 3 set each

[jonnymontag]

i remember not being able to do 5 pushups!

[Overtrained]

I remember the first month roughly of when i started lifting. I was about 15 in 9th grade. My HS had this dungeon of a gym but all the necessary shit to get ya going. This senior who went to my school (James Gebbro-if your on here dude give a shout out) who i remember being huge used to work out all the time down there. Anyways, one day that month i was doin a chest workout probly with 90lbs on the bar, struggling my ass off when this guy james decided to load up 225lbs on the bar. I thought holy shit thats insane...then he told me to get under it. I was like i dunno man im gonna die. He said get under it, dont worry i got you. Once he lifted that bar off for me and i felt that much weight for the first time in my hand and on my chest i was pretty much hooked. He ended up doin upright rows and i thought one day for sure id be able to lift that no problem. Ive come a long way now that i look back 10 years ago or so and that 225 is just a warm up set now. I will never forget that day for the rest of my life.

[TheNatural]

my first real workout (i dont count the crappy high school weightroom - all machines no free weights) was @ the YMCA. I didn't think the 45lb. bar was gonna be much different than the 12 lb. olympic bar i had @ home so when i put 35 lb plates on each side and lifted it off the bench it fell right on my sternum! i had the let the weights fall off. luckily, there was no one downstairs.

[dublin-lifter]

my first one was a legs workout didnt do anythin bad cause i had a trainer with me and i was pretty decent at legs from playin rugby the diet was what sacred me at first cause he put me on a low carb diet ( i was carrying alot of bodyfat at the time ) and all i could hear was what couldnt eat:eek::eek::eek::eek: but once i got into the grove of it and the pounds started cummin off it got easier

[Larry C]

I think my first workout was when I first got dumbbells at home. I did some ridiculous amount of curls and couldn't lift my arms the next day.

[JVALDEZ]

Don't remember exactly the first,but I do remember lifting chest,lifting the 45lb dbs and thinking damm I'm strong!! over a decade later everytime i pass the 45's on the way to the 100's to warm up,I laugh at myself....

[schullax]

I had hired a personal trainer, and my first workout involved 15 minutes of cardio, followed by abs until failure... then he had me exercise my legs, if I remember correctly. I was so sore the next day that I couldn't even tie my own shoes.... Thankfully I was like 15 and lived with my parents. LOL My mom had to tie my shoes.. After the first week, I would say, I did alright. Just have to get over that first hurdle (the soreness). :) It's not as if I didn't use my legs when I first went in there.. I have a background as an equestrian.. But I wanted to become a competitive bodybuilder, so my trainer trained me hard. I met him through my dad, who had talked with Mr Missouri at that time, and Mr Missouri recommended this trainer to me.. Because they were friends.. So I went to him and got started... He was competing as a natural bodybuilder in the lightweight division (he was short lol)... But anyway, I learned a lot from him and I'm glad I started off with a personal trainer that knew what he was talking about.

Now my goals are different.. I just want to lose weight and get muscular, because I like the look. I don't really have any interest in competing. I just think women look good with muscles, so I want to get mine going again!