Adam,


Your story sounds so familiar. I started working out 3 years ago. I always thought I was strong as a bull, cause I was heavy and used my weight to do things such as push, and resist.. However, when I got to the gym for the first time I received a rude awakening... My trainer wanted me to warm up a bit, so she asked me to go on the bike. After 5 minutes I could not go any further, my leg muscles were burning, my heart wanted to jump out of my chest, and I saw those weird spots floating in front of my eyes. Then she gave me 4lb dumbbells to warm up my shoulders and after 15 reps I almost died.. So the first day of working out I could not even complete a WARM-UP!!!

the second time to the gym I asked to work on my legs since I thought being so heavy would mean I have strong legs.. WRONG! I could only leg press 150lb. probably half my weight at that time. (today I can leg press over 600lb).


My advice, get a trainer! do not have your friend "show you" stuff. You'll end up hurting your self and getting discouraged. A trainer will help you ramp up properly and make sure you do not advance faster then your ability.

and one more piece of advice, when you get this feeling of dizziness again: as soon as you can, find a place you can lie down, and see if you can prop your legs a bit higher then your body. I learn this the hard way. I lost it and fell. The only thing I injured was my ego, but it was so bad I would rather have broken a leg....


it took me 3 months until I started to see improvements.. but once improvement started, there was no stopping me. three years later, I am stronger now that I have ever been in my life (I served in a combat role in the army!), and I can ride my road bike rigorously for 40 miles without batting an eye...

take a look at my journal entery re my workout these days. I have switched trainers a couple of months ago, and had an opportunity to review my old logs to see how far I have come... Oh man, I was in such bad shape when I started...