The Barbell Will Never Lie To You

My life has changed so much over the last couple of years that I’ve learned one thing: No matter what else is happening, that 45 pound plate is always going to weigh 45 pounds.

Over the last two years, I’ve went from a job I was at for 5 years to a new one, I’ve gone through a divorce, I’ve met someone that’s made my life infinitely better and I discovered what was missing from my life for the past 6 or 7 years: fitness.

When I graduated high school in 1997, I was six feet tall and weighed 150 pounds. I was skinny. So I decided to do something about it. I bought some Muscle & Fitness issues and started working out in my basement. I eventually started going to a gym, bought Arnold’s encyclopedia of bodybuilding and 7 or 9 years weighed 240 pounds. I wanted to be a pro bodybuilder until I found out of the drugs and lifestyle those guys had and wanted no part of it.

In 2006, I figured out what I wanted to do with my life and went back to school. Unfortunately, going to school from 8:30 to 4:00 every day and working full time didn’t leave any time for working out. I’ll always promised myself I’d get back into as soon as I graduated, but that didn’t happen. After graduation, I moved to a different city and didn’t workout at all for a couple of years.

I did eventually start “working out” again but it was with minimal effort and the results were exactly what you’d expect. Then, in 2012, I realized that even though I hadn’t done a serious, hardcore workout in years, I still weighed 240 pounds. People have a filter that they use when they look at themselves in the mirror. I think in some ways we need that filter or else we’d go crazy looking at every flaw. I had used my filter to convince myself that I was still 240 pounds of mostly muscle and not fat. Then one day, I took that filter off and saw myself for what I was. I couldn’t believe I’d let myself get like that. And I would do whatever it took to have the body I wanted to have.

When I first started working out, I did bodybuilding routines and they worked. I put on a lot of muscle but I would get winded walking up stairs. All that muscle has a cost. When I got back into fitness, I bought an issue of Men’s Health. It was full of circuit routines. My old way of thinking said that was for women who went to Curves! But I read the articles and realized the only people that should train like bodybuilders are bodybuilders. I wanted overall fitness and I had to change how I looked at things. There isn’t a one size fits all workout for everyone, you need to pick a goal and train for that goal.

I have a theory about why most people don’t like working out. We live in a world where kids get trophies just for trying, where feelings are more important than the truth. People don’t like the gym because the barbell will never lie to you. If you can’t lift it, you can’t lift it. It doesn’t care about how that makes you feel. It doesn’t care how hard you tried. Most people don’t want to deal with that. They want to walk in, put in the minimal effort and in 2 weeks lose 20 pounds. It didn’t take you 2 weeks to put that 20 pounds on, why would it take that long to lose? Fitness is hard and you only get in return what you put into it.

One of the best things I’ve ever done is read Joe Manganiello’s book, Evolution. He talks about how working out hard isn’t enough, you need to work out smart. He pulls no punches and talks about how people need to understand you must put everything you’ve got into working out if you want to see any results. Reading that book has changed my life.

How committed was I? I worked out twice a day, I ate super healthy, but I still wasn’t 100% all in. I would get near the end of workouts, get tired and even though I had a rep or two left, I’d convince myself I was exhausted and stop. Now, I’ll do three or four more reps because I’m always pushing myself to be better than I was last work out.

The best workout is one you’ll do. I love doing barbell complexes. A complex is a series of exercises, between 5 and 9, that you do in a row without putting the barbell down. If you pick the right exercises you’ll do an intense full body in under 20 minutes. I love the challenge and the intensity.

Look, I’m not saying everyone needs to be me and workout 7 days a week. But I think everyone needs to find something that they enjoy doing that pushes them to be better. It can be anything, run a marathon, do Zumba, spin class or yoga. Just go all in. I wasted the first half of my thirties sitting on the couch, being miserable. I’ll never do that again.