……who all take steroids to hide their inadequacies. There will not be any useful information from them on the internet other than how much weight they can all lift…

At least that’s what I thought before taking the time to actually read the forums. Had I ever spoken to the bodybuilders in the gym? No, of course not - didn’t need to, right?

Well it seems I need to give a very large apology to the bodybuilding community as a whole, because what I have found are kind, honest, dedicated people who are prepared to give up their time and experience to people like me.

I have been preparing to return to the gym for the first time in about 8 years recently. Of course, I knew exactly what to do and needed no advice, but thought I would look anyway.

Thank God that I did and that there are so many helpful people out there. My original idea of ‘using steroids to kick start my training’ went straight out the window as did the 45 minute CV workout before weight training.

I read Cashman and Toxictoffees guides at MuscleTalk (www.muscletalk.co.uk) which I found infinitely helpful and made me realise that I wasn’t just about to start at the gym at all - I was fundamentally altering the whole way in which I live my life. Weight training, when done correctly, seems not to be just about looking big but also ‘putting your house in order’; by which I mean having the right attitude mentally. A healthy body and mind run together. I can now see that by embracing the advice on these forums I am not only pumping weights but I am quitting the junk food diet, I am junking the Friday and Saturday night binge drinking and I am not only looking at myself with new respect but other people too.

Toxictoffee talks about saving up and buying his sofa once he had sorted his living room out. His point is ‘don’t bother with supplements of negligable effectiveness until you have sorted out the important things’. But it also said something else to me - he SAVED to buy the sofa. No ‘take it now and pay next year’ deal and no credit card. This seems to tie in with the whole bodybuiilding paradigm as it requires a well ordered mind, dedication and patience. I haven’t saved up for anything in years but I have sworn from here on in if I want anything (that Red and White ‘06 Yamaha R1 I dream of for instance) I will save for it.

So, to sum up (if anyone is still reading) - my thanks go out to Cashman, Toxictoffee and all the other forum members whose entries I have read who have taught me a few basic life lessons. For the last 8 years my partner and I have been, to all intents and purposes, living in a rather unpleasant place after my company went under and I got into massive personal debt, but now we are fully paid up members of the Human Race again.

I turned 39 last week and I am now champing at the bit to get to, and beyond, the level of fitness I had 8 years ago. My head is still spinning trying to keep up with all the information on here about diet and training and I am hoping that you guys can help me put together a workout plan to give me what I want. So this is me:

As I said, I am 39, 5′10″ tall and currently weigh ~72 Kilos, and haven’t done a great deal of excercise in years. I can’t jog for more than 5 minutes without stopping at the moment so I am totally unfit really. My diet has been getting better and better over the last 8 months and now I dont eat junk food, dont drink more than 2 pints of cider at a time (And only do that once a week) never eat ready meals, eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg. I have quit smoking. My body fat has been slowly creeping up due to sedentary lifestyle (mainly sitting in a car for many hours driving and doing little which involves activity).

My goals are to get rid of the gut and to put on muscle bulk. Specifically targeting (in order of importance) thighs, chest, buttocks, arms as these need the most work. I have quite nice calves but have always suffered from weedy thighs and a small ass. My chest is quite weak too.

I suppose the only other thing that may be relevant is that in my job as a surveyor I have to leave for work at 7am each day mon-fri and get home anywhere between 3pm and 7pm.

I am starting back at the gym in about 10 days and was hoping that you guys could come up with some advice on a good workout for me. I guess 3 or 4 days a week is the optimum.
I am raring to go and guess with a good diet and weight routine should be able to make some major changes in the next 10 weeks or so.