Every year I have a few flimsy ‘new years resolutions’, which never seem to pan out. For this year, 2018, I’ve decided that I need to lift weights. Now, just so we are clear, I am in no way someone you would consider to be a ‘lifting’ type of guy. I am the very definition of an ectomorph or hard gainer. I am super skinny, my bony arms and legs have measly amounts of muscle. I’ve always thought that this was who I am, and that I could not change it. But, I’ve decided that I want to give this whole ‘resistance training thing’ a full-hearted crack. I started just three weeks ago, with a 20kg dumbbell set, on the floor in my front room. Just this weekend gone, I purchase another 100kg’s worth of weight. So, financially speaking, I’ve committed to the program.
I spend countless time either on my phone or computer, reading blogs, forums and various fitness or men’s health websites, and I’ve accumulated a whole lot of knowledge about which exercises to do, correct form, number of reps and sets, whey protein concentrate, and the list goes on. It’s funny to be in this headspace, as I spent my twenties being a gangly musician, and I always looked at dudes who went to the gym with a hefty load of judgment and superiority. What changed for me was that, through my endless time on the internet, reading about resistance training, I’ve formed the opinion that it is less about me trying to ‘get ripped’, and more about my long term health in terms of cardiovascular fitness, bone density, maintaining healthy joints, and even scarier, the realisation that now that I am edging towards forty, that my muscles will start to disappear as I move in to the middle ages.
In terms of my initial thoughts, three weeks in, I feel great and when I am pushing and pulling those dumbells, I feel invigorated and really, really, alive. I have been trying to do these workouts in the morning, which has involved getting up at 5am, so I have time to have a coffee and then spend 45 minutes warming up and working out, all before the kids get out of bed. The only downsize to this has been feeling flat and fatigued at work on the days I train, although this has been gradually diminishing as time goes on, and I hope that it will continue to improve. At the start of February, I took photos of myself and measured everything. I hope to report back here in three months and then six months, in terms of tracking progress. Please share your newbie stories with me at our Facebook page!
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June 2018
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