i put this up in a thread in general discussion. thought it would be appreciated here, though.
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ok, i'll try to give some advice here, but i'm no expert - just an average joe like you who decided a couple of years ago to whip my peanut butter ass into some semblance of shape.
maybe a bit of background will help to add a grain of salt to my opinion. in highschool i was in cross-country and track and in kickass, outrun my neighbor's dogs shape. then i met a girl in college. fast forward four years -girlfriend gone, and i couldn't run a mile in under 10 minutes to save my life. so, i moved back in with my parents (deride all you want, deriders) and started pushing.
i wouldn't say i'm ultimate warrior material quite yet, but me right now could whup me two years ago one handed.
Food - if you are consistently working your body this will pretty much take care of itself. you should eat about a half hour after
working out as this will teach your body that it doesn't need to store fat, you'll feed it. this will also help stop your body from consuming its own muscle. otherwise, eat when you want, what you want, as much as you want. i mean, keep it civil, and don't start making butter and raw egg milkshakes, but if you have a routine you can easily process a ton of food.
try to keep it healthy, but, if you're like me, your meals are erratic as hell - so you shouldn't worry too much about it. protein shakes? i've tried a bunch and they put a spare tire around my middle. they're basically cake batter w/o sugar. maybe later on, when you're in shape and decide to go for competition level in shape you should reconsider your diet. until then, this should suffice.
Cardio (aerobic exercise) - unless your goal is to become better at running, or you want to do triathlons or something, you shouldn't focus on cardio very much. in your routine, cardio should be used for opening capillaries for increased oxygen flow to your muscles and for burning any excess fat. i'd recommend twice a week/30 minutes of cardio. that should keep you lean and give you energy for the weights. running is a very effective fat burner, but that doesn't sound like your problem - any other repetitive exercise will suffice. shin splints can be taken care of. the best way is to run through them. however, that is tough. our cross country coach told us that letting your feet dangle (say by sitting on a tall bed) and writing the alphabet with your toes a couple of times will strenghten those little muscles in your shins that ache ('shin splints'). do that a couple of times a day and you shouldn't get shin splints anymore after awhile.
Weights (anaerobic (w/o oxygen) exercise) - damn, this is a big area. to gain weight this is the best part of a routine. ok, the basics first. when you're sore, it's because you just tore the living shit out of your muscles. you need to let them rest and recover if any gains are to be made. and, unless you plan on gaining weight at mcdonalds, gaining muscle is your only option. wait at least three days before hitting a muscle group hard again, i wait a week but i'll explain why later. with gaining weight, it's best to do low-rep high weight workouts. 3 sets of ten is what i usually use, but you might want to go lower - 3 sets of 8 or 8,8,6 or 3 sets of 6. the trick is to be really pushing yourself when you do those 6 reps. if you can curl 25 pounds 15 times, curl 30 pounds 8 times. just make sure you feel beat at the end of the exercise. keep a notepad and write down the numbers, this is really important to feel like your accomplishing something and to keep track or your boundries. there is nothing worse than picking up too big of a weight and hurting yourself because you forgot what you did last week. give yourself 30 seconds - 1 min between sets to let your muscles reset. don't worry about carrying a notebook around and using the same weights that the woman next to you is lifting - you have to start somewhere and most of the meatheads in the gym started at home to avoid the 'embarrassment' of lifting small, so you're already a step ahead of them. Breathing is very important with weights and to keep a rhythm going. Breath out when you lift and in when you release. It really is important - you'll see.
Weight Workout - first of all, don't use the machines if you can avoid it. they hardcore focus on one muscle and don't allow for movement. which is good as long as everything you lift in life is on rails attached to a pully. it would be bad if you got in shape and then hurt yourself lifting boxes - kinda counter productive. the same principle applies to back braces at a warehouse job - sure you run less risk of injury but if you ever lift w/o it you will almost definately get hurt. just learn how to lift properly in the first place and you won't have to worry about it. as an added bonus, with free weights you work secondary muscles at the same time, giving you better tone and increasing your fat burning potential, increasing your appetite.