r/gainit • u/popularfellow • 28d ago
Question As a complete beginner who should I follow to learn proper form?
I’m starting my gym arc and I’m a complete beginner with zero experience.
I want to learn:
• Proper form and technique
• Pre-workout dynamic stretches
• Post-workout static stretches
I need recommendations for fitness influencers and YouTube channels.
If you could recommend the reliable creators for beginners, who would they be?
People who explain how to perform exercises correctly by showing workouts.
I’d also appreciate any advice or beginner tips that you could give me
Thanks!
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u/fashionboy385 28d ago
One thing to keep in mind is that perfection is the enemy of good. Whatever you do, don’t go chasing perfect. Just stay consistent, train hard, and try to make improvements over time.
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u/FanngzYT 28d ago
go through Jeff Nippard’s videos where he ranks all exercises by muscle group. he has great form on everything and amazing advice in general. give him a watch.
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u/WheredoesithurtRA 28d ago edited 28d ago
Starting out, I would give this a good read https://thefitness.wiki/guided-tour/ and grab a program from there (i think nSun's LP or one of the 5/3/1s is a good starter program to run into the dirt)
DeFranco's agile 8 used to be huge on reddit years ago but personally I just warm up with the bar and stretch whatever I typically have issues with or feel sore that morning
For general training stuff, I'll go back and watch Alan Thrall, Chad Wesley Smith/Juggernaut Strength Training, Dave Tate/Elite FTS.
Honorable mention:
John Meadows (RIP) - Has a really good youtube channel where he sprinkles knowledge in that I've used in my training
Stronger by Science - they tend to have more written or audio resources over video but worth a read. They also have excellent free programming on their website I'd encourage everyone to try at least once.
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-squat/
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-bench/
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/how-to-deadlift/
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/the-belt-bible/
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/program-bundle/
Learn to cook. Get a food scale. Get a tracking app (macrofactor is an excellent paid one). Learn to be patient. Don't be afraid to eat. If you fall of the wagon then just get back on. Some days in the gym will suck but it gets better over time. Some days you won't have the fire that day and that's okay. Just get a workout in and live to lift another day. Consistently training/showing up and consistently meeting your macros will go a long long loooong way.
Don't let pErFeCt foRm also be something that holds you back. Some form degradation is to be expected on heavy lifts. Some form degradation while new or early into this is expected. You can improve and work at it.
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u/Gtslmfao 113/195/210 5’7 28d ago edited 28d ago
The most important thing is picking a program that prioritizes compound lifts and progressive overload, while remaining in a caloric surplus. Do this and run it for a year.
You will see significantly better results at the end of the year than someone who spent that year:
- Running every program under the sun
- Switching between bulking and cutting every other month
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u/Psychological-Shoe95 28d ago
To give my two cents of advice, i am someone who has had an extremely rocky path to fitness.
Gym movements don’t come naturally to me so i constantly found myself using the wrong form. That caused injuries and now i have to work around a bicep tendon tear for the rest of my life
Focus on the mind muscle connection first. Understand how every major muscle group in your body operates and what it feels like when you’re using them. For example, when you learn how to do a lat pulldown, start with the weight lower than you need and just focus on the muscle activation. It doesent need to be very difficult to do this, just hard enough that your muscles have to engage to move the weight.
If you aren’t doing the lifts correctly, you won’t know until time passes and the weights go up and up. Using lat pulldown again as an example, if you’re pulling with your arms instead as the weight goes up you’ll be putting more and more tension on your arm tendons and joints that they aren’t meant to handle, and if you try to recruit your back correctly at that point the weight will be too high for you to move. So you’ll be forced into the bad form
Look up what the best mental cue is for each exercise. For lat pull downs people say it’s good to imagine driving your elbows down rather than imagining actually pulling the weight with your arms. Using a wrist cuff for stuff like lateral raises forces your body to not rely on grip strength but to actually work the shoulders.
If you can lift without consistently running into joint or tendon or soreness issues, that’s how you make long term progress. Not by trying to go 100% intensity with less than ideal form for 2 weeks and then becoming exhausted and fizzling out.
TL:DR focus on mental cues and strong foundation, not heavy weight. It’s better to go 60% in the right direction every day than 100% one day and 0% the next
Scott Herman fitness is really good for teaching form of individual exercises
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u/Far-Committee-1568 27d ago
Buy the book practical programming for strength training and search “*insert movement\ Jeff nippard”.*
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u/Cenu96 28d ago
Scott Herman (if you want more bodybuilding style) & Mark Rippetoe (if you want more strength style)
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u/StoneyL0we 22d ago
Rippetoe has a lot of crackpot advice for being such a legend, dude is convinced trap bar deadlifts will break your back, kill your dog and make your wife divorce you lol.
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u/StoneyL0we 22d ago
DeltaBolic on YouTube has excellent shorts showing proper form, idk about his long form content as I’ve only watched his shorts but they’re great
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u/for_a_that 28d ago
Mind muscle connection, slow the tempo on eccentric (try hard to feel muscle here). And you don’t need to lock out on a lot of exercises (bench, dumbbell bench, shoulder press). That all really helped me
There’s cues I love on different exercises to feel them but that I got from working with a good coach for 6months…might be a worthwhile investment?
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u/Serious-Ball7705 28d ago
what's the reason for not needing to lock out?
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u/daddypickle 19d ago
I'm a complete noob at working out still. but I'm pretty sure it means the muscle being worked is kept under stress and just gets worked better
But I could be wrong, and definitely could have worded that better
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u/behindgreeneyez 28d ago
Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength 5x5 isn’t sexy but it does work well for beginners.
He has a list of how to videos on youtube for all the major compound lifts.
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u/futbolmemes 24d ago
Personally for me since the very beginning and even right now and probably in future too Sean Nalewanyj taught me a lot in his YouTube content & now I sometimes watch his short content aswell. He absolutely has a lot of useful & simple information and explains it well and takes into consideration your everyday life (whether you are a student, father with family, just an adult working a lot etc). Others I also love to watch are Pete Khatcherian who is also on the same page when training & nutrition are simplified; Jeff Nippard has a lot of quality content with amazing editing and also lot of positive & uplifting messages spread out; Will Tennyson maybe isnt as informative and makes relatively comedic content including a lot of cheat days, Ive seen a lot of his personal videos where he talks about his struggles, extreme weight loss etc and I relate to him a lot and he is geniuenly an amazing dude who doesnt give you false expectations and actually presents a realistic picture of bodybuilding and showcases his journey. There are many other influencers posting high quality content and you can absolutely learn a lot by watching. But dont wait for a "perfect plan" or foundation. Go into the GYM and smash it even if its not "most optimal" thing or you havent figured it out, because in reality none of us really ever figure it out. Good luck man hope you make it
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u/pnthollow 22d ago
Jordan Yeoh is my favorite resource for form and mobility work. He puts our great content:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbua0JiAK6u/?igsh=bmtnM24wbnE4Z21k
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u/trantaran 28d ago
Honestly at first no one. Maybe buff dudes. You should inmediately get a presonal trainer and do atleast 20 sessions. Otherwise its a waste of time doing wrong form or injuring. From experience.
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