Time to Get My Ass Moving

A few weeks ago I was sick. Really sick. My temperature got up to 105.7F. I was sick for 8 days. It was some viral infection, probably, or at least that is all the hospital could say. During that time I lost over 25 lbs. It felt good to lose some weight, even though the way I lost it was not that great. I decided it was time to get moving again. I was in the best shape of my life about 7 or 8 years ago. I went to the gym 6 or 7 days a week and did martial arts in the evening. This was all while working a full-time job and a full-time grad student. I did this for over a year, but life happened and I stopped both. I wish I did not stop. I got my deadlift up to 505 lbs. This is well after my spinal fusion surgeries and my surgeon telling me I would not be able to deadlift again. Those of you who know me know I do not like being told I cannot do something. I take that as a challenge. After I stopped going to the gym and martial arts I got lazy. I started working as an adjunct professor part-time to supplement my full-time income since I was an associate software developer and not making much money. I am no longer teaching. I may go back to teaching, but for now, I am done. I have also been promoted a few times at my full-time job so I do not need a second job. I am tired all the time. I sleep like shit. I feel like shit. Some of this has to do with the colon resection I had done due to colon cancer. Some of this is due to my lazy ass just sitting around. I do not like cardio. Saying I do not like it is an understatement. I hate it. I will never be a runner. I will do cardio at the gym, but it is walking on the treadmill or riding a stationary bike. I like to lift weights.

A couple of weeks ago, while finally recovering from my illness, decided to get another gym membership. We have moved since I last went to a gym so I needed to see what was near me. I found some local lifting gyms and standard franchises, such as Planet Fitness, Crunch Fitness, and Anytime Fitness. I chose Anytime because they have two locations within 10 minutes of me, have free weights (fuck the machines), and are open 24 hours. Next, I had to decide what my workout would look like. I have done my own plan before, and it worked OK. The last time I was regularly going to the gym I followed the StrongLifts 5x5 plan and had great success. After a few months, I started supplementing it with additional lifts and was squatting 6 days a week. I decided StrongLifts was the way to go again. I weighed it against Starting Strength, Ice Cream Fitness, and a few others, but felt the simplicity and steady progress were the way to go. I will do the standard StrongLifts 5x5 for a few months, but will almost certainly add additional lifts after that time. I really enjoyed doing squats 6 days a week. My legs were never sore and I varied the intensity throughout the week. Some days were 5x5, some 3x3, some 10x3, and every other week or so I would do a 10x10. It was fun. I do not care about getting big muscles as I would rather gain strength. Obviously, if you gain strength you also gain muscle, but heavier weights and low reps are better for strength than size.

StrongLifts starts very slowly but progresses fairly rapidly. You start with just the bar, but add 5 lbs. per lift each day. It only takes a few months before you hit a plateau. I will start with just the bar for the barbell rows, bench press, and overhead press as these are the lifts that I will hit the plateau at first. I will probably start deadlifts and squats with a 25 lbs. plate on each side (95 lbs.). StrongLifts 5x5 alternates between Workout A and Workout B.

Workout A:

Squat 5x5
Bench Press 5x5
Barbell Row 5x5

Workout B:

Squat 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5

Let's do some quick math to see how quickly the weight jumps. The bench press is done twice a week, starting with just the bar which is 45 lbs. It goes up 5 lbs. per workout, so that is 10 lbs. per week. After 10 weeks, which is about 2.5 months, it will be up to 145 lbs. Squats are performed 3 times per week, and I am going to start at 95 lbs. It also goes up 5 lbs. per workout, so that will be 15 lbs. per week. Using that same 10-week timeframe the squat will go up by 150 lbs. which would put it at 245 lbs. Many people say StrongLifts is too simplistic and does not include enough lifts. They may be right, but it works for me. It covers the main muscle groups. The bench press hits the chest, triceps, and deltoids. The barbell row hits the lats and biceps. The deadlift will work the lower back, hamstrings, some forearms (due to grip strength needed), and a little bit of the quads. Squats will work the quads and glutes. Overpress hit the delts and triceps. These are just the major muscles that are used, but there are plenty of smaller muscles used as well. Many people will complain that the biceps are not hit directly and back in the day I probably would have been one of those people. Again, I am going for strength and not size, so having lifts directly for the biceps is not needed. They get hit plenty with the barbell rows. I may add a curl after a few months, but it will be used more to break through a barbell row plateau. Some of the other lifts I like to eventually add include dumbbell flyes, bent-over dumbbell flyes, and straight-leg deadlifts. These additions served me well in the past. I avoid machines like the plague, but I will do some lat pulldowns and rows (with cable, not the machine that has a set path).

I will use this blog/site to update my progress. I would like to post 3 times per week, or at least that is my goal. I will also post a Spotify link to a song that expresses my feelings or mood at that moment. Most of the songs will contain explicit lyrics because that is what I listen to, so listen at your own risk. This blog may contain explicit content. It will not be like my other two. I will probably swear, and I will not give a fuck about it (see, I warned you). If you want something more professional, or at least less explicit, please see my other blogs at https://mullins.io and https://nicholasmullins.com.

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