Help getting started

[sharkak]

I am wanting to start taking a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class... Here is my problem: I am 28 years old with no martial arts experience. I'm 176lbs, 5'8". Not a muscular build at all... kind of a skinny guy that is now starting to really pack on the pounds around the belly. I don't want to go up there and get started with all you 20 year old, ripped guys and embarass myself. I want to train at home over the next 3 to 6 months and get a little better apperance before hand. I have a Weider 3-station home gym and I get up every morning at 5:30 and work out for about 30 mins before work. I do lat pull downs, butterfly, and sitting bench press (horzintal??). I do these with enough weight that I can only do about 10 reps per set before exaustion. I wait about 60 seconds between sets and end up doing about 3 sets of each. I also rotate between these. (lats, then butterfly, then press, lats, etc.) Then drink protien power with milk and off to work.
My question is do you think this is enough to get in shape? Are these the right exersises? Should I spend more time with this or more times per day?
In my diet I'm trying to cut down on the carb intake and eat more protien like fish and chicken. What does everyone think about this diet?
Any input will be helpful. I relize that each persons exersise and diet is different based on their body which is why I gave so much detail.
Thanks in advance

[darkrelevance]

adding some cardio (running, biking, swimming) wouldn't hurt.

[shirase]

not everyone who does BJJ is a 6'2 240 lb UFC Ken Shamrock, there are people of all kinds of builds and appearances who do BJJ, theres a 5'0 100 lbish guy at my gym and hes pretty damn skilled, theres a few overweight guys and even a few girls there. Of course there will almost definitely be a few hardcore muscular guys at your gym, but dont look at it as a bad thing, you can learn things from watching them, and from rolling/sparring with them. Besides, these guys wont judge you if you arent ripped, and if they do then theyre assholes that you shouldnt give a damn about. I think doing cardio and weights on the side wont do anything but help your game, but id suggest you at least go in the gym and try it out before you decide you shouldnt start yet. Good luck!

[shirase]

just read your post again and decided to give a few tips. If your just trying to get into basic shape then i think that weider machine would be great, doign something like 5 sets of each exercise for 8-10 reps and slowly increasing the weight would be great to develop a basic level of strength. A good idea would be to include lots of ab work to because its important to have strong abs in BJJ. Also i think the protein powder would be great, and try to eat 'clean' foods, low in saturated fats and try to maybe keep your simple carbs at a lower level then normal but you dont need to cut them out completely. Also something like a mulitivitamin would be good to keep optimal health.

[seppuku]

run up hills. i cant overemphasise that enough
find a steep hill, run up it. then run down and run back up it. repeat. thats your legs sorted, and overall fitness greatly improved. arms i cant advise on cos im crap with arm muscle.. im trying to improve that atm.
get there now mate, dont wait till you think you look better. i do muay thai, and i only started getting back in shape cos i went there.
RUN UP THE HILLS

if you want press-ups, and cant do lots continually, try this. do 15. then 14. then 13. keep going until you get to 2.
then do one more.
if your arms actually last that long im impressed, mine dont. get closer to the end each time, keep going until your amrs actually collapse. dont give yourself anythign like 60 seconds between reps, like 5 maximum. and yeah, thats not easy... if you dont wanna work it out thats 120 press ups