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[KaelGotDwarves]

You have a max weight you can lift. The first number is what percentage of that you should do for each exercise, depending on what you want to train.

It's worked for me. Since I came back from the monkhood *6 months ago, I put on 20 pounds of just muscle. I'm not even eating any particularly crazy things or doing specific exercises, just following the daily training of that guide.

[chaoticag]

Ah, thanks, although god knows where I can find those supplies for myself here. Well, that's another problem in and of itself anyway.

[Heron TSG]

The joy of being in high school: free access to a bunch of weights to use for 5 days each week. I won't be focusing very heavily on anything but endurance, but even that should help me significantly.

[Miggy]

I've been working out for the past 2 months (purely strength, not endurance. Already have enough for my needs gotten through biking) and I'll definitely keep going through the winter unless something unexpected stops me. I've been wanting to get fit forever (I've always been skinny).

The chart looks similar to what I was told, except I was told the "Muscle mass" column was "Muscle strength" and the "Strength" and "Power" columns were both combined under a "Muscle size".

In essence: A set should always keep going until the point where you simply cannot do a single repetition with the weight again: You reach your "Repetition Maximum" or Repmax. This can be achieved in two ways: Either you do the set with a heavy weight, thereby achieving a low number of repetitions, or you can use a light weight and then do more repetitions. In both conditions you must train until you cannot lift the thing one more time, but the muscle you achieve through the different methods (heavy and short vs. light and long) have different characteristics: Heavy but short gives you big muscles with little comperative endurance while light and long gives comparatively small muscles but very endurant. This is why olympic weight lifters are huge while marathonners are skinny. They're both very strong, just in different aspects.

If anyone's interested, here's the workout I do:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

5 minutes of rowing for warmup

3x10 repmax of deadlift
3x10 repmax of leg press

3x10 of breast press
3x10 of vertical row

3x10 of pulldown (laterals)
3x10 of horizontal row

3x10-15 situps on one of those big bouncy balls

I do this 3 times a week on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.

The diet is actually very important as well if you want to get quick results. The way I look at it is like this: Training does not directly give you bigger muscles, however it releases a lot of hormones and other funny chemicals that promotes protein storage in the muscles. These chemicals are on a raging fury about 30 minutes after you've worked out, then they tone down and return to normal levels after about 48 hours. This is why it's important to spread your workouts evenly (3 times 1 hour workouts spread out is better than a single 3 hour workout). This is also why you have all those commercial protein bars and powders: If you ingest a protein rich meal in that 30 minute window after you've worked out, it all goes straight to the muscle. If you want to do this trick as a sort of "homebrew" without shelling out loads of cash for "Specialised fitness TO THE MAX!!!!!" stuff, just drink a bunch of milk after the workout. Something along the lines of half a liter should do.

And finally, if you're going to do free weight exercises make sure to have someone show them to you, or have a very strict diagram to adhere to. The different exercises are often very strict in order to gain maximum effeciency, and you'll also be wanting someone to show you the ropes so that you end up doing an even workout instead of just focusing on a single muscle. Big biceps are cool and all, but if you have absolutely no shoulders, chest or triceps, they just look and feel awkward.

My 2 cents

EDIT:

Some of the most important information to know.

This was very interesting. Some of the things I already knew (Proper free-weight training beats machines any day, doing a bad compositioned workout with bad exercises leads to bad results), but I'll definitely be looking into those 4 "prevent-injury" routines as well as finding some of those books.

[Itnetlolor]

Some of the most important information to know.
 
 [good-to-know-chart]
 
 You don't need an expensive gym and fancy machines. If I did bother with a gym, I'd only use it for the option for dumbbells and freeweights of all shapes and sizes.
 
 As it stands, do yourself a favor and get adjustable dumbbells from a place like walmart or online. You can get everything you need for for a pair for less than $60 and over 50 pounds per side. That's less than a month or two at a gym.
 
 Check out the far right sidebar in http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/ for more do-it-yourself awesomeness.
 

Reading through that article, I actually seem to have intuitively figured it out a whole lot of it without really thinking over it too much.

I never liked gyms whatsoever: Intimidating environment (the machines more than the people), really dull places (and those flourescent lights), and not all that fun (I kept quitting after 1 week of submitting (more to shut my siblings up; and also for the same reasons listed)). Even as unorthodox much of my routines have been, they followed many of the things listed in that link. I mean, I haven't had as much endurance (and speed) training for running (actually revived my stamina) from any other exercise than when I regularly fought ocean currents for a good distance, taking short breaks at a time. Similar for extending the time I can hold my breath in similar manner. Really helped out when I mis-stepped a current that went AWOL (or a rip-tide) and had to endure until I reached a safe spot to return. A good trade-off as well is that I actually increased my personal acceleration and top speed, which in-turn makes me a bit of a nightmare in some games like football or anything that calls for running (or at least sprinting a short distance).

Nonetheless, that is some good stuff to know. What I haven't already known intuitively, I can apply to further refine how I go about things.

[Heron TSG]

Today I started training with a good ten mile run. It started snowing near the end, and I'll have to take advantage of DST so that it's still bright out when I finish. It did remind me of one thing to tell you folks, though.

If you go running in winter, dress warmly or do not run. (For very long.) If your muscles are cold, your tendons stiffen and you're liable to hurt yourself. It's generally just a bad idea.

[PsyberianHusky]

Speaking of Training Like A Masochist, anyone ever noticed how hard it is to have a middle ground in their workouts,
I either do nothing, or spaz out, I have a hard time doing the balanced part of a lifestyle thing.

[Heron TSG]

I rarely take a middle ground. I'm either recovering after a season ends or training like I am now. I should probably work on that after Track ends...

[Miggy]

I'm well on my way through "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, and it's absolutely amazing and wonderful. I'm probably going to reschedule my workout to contain more of these bar exercises and less of the machines I am using now. Going to try his proposed Squat-bench-press & Squat-Press-Clean with some pull ups and ab-crunches somewhere in there once I read everything through and feel comfortable enough with the drills to try them.

[MaximumZero]

I am in! So far this month, I've spent a combined time on my punching bag of about 4 hours, and about 4 hours on the treadmill. Hoping to make it about an hour each every day, and work dumbbells as well (although I only have 8lbs of those.)

[Vector]

It's a funny thing, but my kendo exercises have gotten a lot better recently.  There's a nice, thick, audible swish and my extensions are better, too.  I'm also doing better at not hitting too high, which has been a real problem throughout my training--basically, that I don't extend my arms forward enough.

I'd like to go back to doing martial arts someday.

[RedKing]

I do multiple reps daily with 32 and 40 pound weights. Sometimes they give me hugs.

[Comp112]

I have recently started walking again, about an hour per day. What is a good pace? Should I walk faster then standard, or just keep standard? Should I also start two hours a day, one in the morning, and one at night?

[Vector]

Do what you can do, and no more.

When you get bored, you'll automatically start walking faster, or longer.  But there isn't some sort of machine-based regimen that can tell you how everything should be done.

[Dakk]

I have a daily exercise schedule that I do at home just to keep in shape. Nothing fancy at all, just 40 (20 at a time, should go back to doing 30 but i'm lazy) pushups, 45 abs, 40 bent over lat pulls, 60 of leg/glute exercise. Doesn't take alot of time and works nicely. I used to run 3 kilometers two times a week but I stopped after a while cause my knee started hurting and didn't come back to it

Pushing your limits is good, but you after a certain point you should seek someone who is actualy knows something about phisical training/bodybuilding (depending wheter you want more detailed and/or strong muscles or more phisical resistance), there's a good chance to hurt yourself if you try to achieve significant results in a very short time.

Also, don't bother with what people call "workout suplements". They tend to be expensive and are nothing special. A easy to follow balanced diet with carbs, protein and some vegetables is everything you need unless you wanna go HULK SMASH.