My Fitness Journey
The (gains) struggle is real
Hello, people! Ok — I know it’s been a little while… still trying to get a hang on this whole blogging thing. Know I gotta work on consistency. Hey, life gets in the way, as I described in my last post, Everything Everywhere All At Once. Anyways, I figured it’s time I share a major part of my life… fitness.
So, first things first: I’ve been exercising since I was a kid. I’d do push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks every night, starting out with 5 each, then 10, 15 until I gradually reached 20. I later added dips on some days, 20 of them, between the coffee table and couch. I eventually added jumping, jogging/running in place, and some crazy move where I ran in place with my arms dangling. The whole point was to really just be active.
This routine would be replaced when I got my first weight, a 16-lb barbell from a classmate when I was in the 9th grade. I did variations of seated one-arm rows (didn’t know the name at the time) and curls. Then, I eventually got 10, 15, 20, and 25-lb dumbbells. I did those moves but then added standing variations. Mind you, I’d do this while watching tv… I’d lift with 10s, stop for about 20–30 minutes, then go on to 15s and so on. No real direction, just doing SOMETHING to try to be fit. I figured that’s all I needed to do. Hey, I was a teenager… what did I know?
I’d continue this well into my 20s… just kind of going through the motions of lifting. Consistency has never been an issue for me. But it was brought to my attention that you should have a goal in mind. First, if you want to lose, gain… or really just maintain. Now, I’ve been slim all of my life, so I’ve never needed to lose weight. Unlike most, I knew this wouldn’t be my aim. Then, I learned you should get specific — have a specific goal you’re working towards (kind of a motto for life 🤔), I.e., how much weight. I guess I just always thought that everyone should workout to stay healthy.
Enter my mission: To gain weight.
Secondary goal: To get to 190 lbs. I decided to tentatively set my goal at 180 to see what my body would look like.
Someone then told me that whether you’re trying to lose or gain, the key is to get serious about your diet. This spearheaded my TRUE fitness journey.
Up to this point, I was just lifting those dumbbells (and that barbell — shoutout to my Health classmate… ironically enough) EVERY NIGHT! Again, I thought as long as I was consistent with my lifting, I was good. This gave way to another piece of my fitness journey: REST! I was also told that it’s not good to lift every day. The muscles need time to rest — this is when they actually grow. These two factoids are pretty much common knowledge now, but at the time (about 13 or 14 years ago… YIKES!), I didn’t know. Aside from a few workouts at a local sports complex and hotel fitness centers when out of town, I’d lift those weights every night without fail.
Enter the science of working out.
So, I started to delve deeper… I began reading fitness articles (my first serious “challenge” was this 777 plan, where you ate 7 meals 7 days a week for 7 weeks), read LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout (finished twice), did P90X, P90X+ and Body Beast (another Beachbody workout). I used to be 140. My heaviest was 165, after Body Beast. This was in 2015 or 2016. I’ve been hovering in the 150s. (Ahh, that ever-elusive 180 lbs). I finally was able (after some time and money were freed up, two major investments that I may cover in another post) to join Gold’s Gym in January 2019.
In addition to food intake and resting, I’ve learned, more specifically, that lifting heavy and eating A LOT, with a focus on carbs and protein, is important for gains. The classic rule of thumb is:
For size, heavy weight low reps
For shape, low weight high reps
Those rules may be changing, though, as overall volume (what you lift in a session) is what’s important. May cover this in a future post.
I’ve also learned that tracking is important — both your workouts, as well as nutrition. First, nutrition.
Starting with that “777 challenge” in that magazine article, I’ve been tracking my calories. The formula for calories (at least according to LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout) is:
To lose- Current weight x 10
To maintain- Current weight x 12.5
To gain- Current weight x 15
Say I was 150… That would mean, for me, I’d have to consume 2250 calories a day. This really isn’t all that much, which is why many fitness experts would say it’s a general rule; there really is no EXACT formula to how much you need (although I have found another which escapes me at the moment). I’ve calculated that, for my fitness goals, I need about 3500 calories, 3900 for workout days. Now THAT’S a lot! 😦
I believe with that article I was just tracking my calories — it wasn’t until later where I started tracking my macros: Fat, carbohydrates and protein. Because I’m trying to gain muscle, I’ve had a focus on protein, and the formula I’ve heard over the years is 0.8–1.2 grams per pound of body weight. If you’re really trying to gain, you can shoot for 1.5g. This is my goal. That’s a little on the high end, but depending upon a few factors (height, weight, body composition), this may be ideal.
Secondly, workouts. Since doing P90X in 2012, I’ve been tracking my moves — how much, how many sets, forms, etc. This is essential to see where you are in your progress. P90X is where I learned variety is important… for those of you who remember the infomercial, Tony Horton wisely coined the phrase “muscle confusion.” This is simply to say that it’s important to vary your routine. In this famous program, he basically had you doing the same workouts for three weeks, then having an “active rest” week (a term I first read in Platinum Workout), before switching it up to avoid a “plateau,” where your body gets used to the stress it’s been under and adapts, prohibiting further progress. So, changing things up from time to time is also essential. I do so about every two months.
I’ve also learned progressive overload, adding weight each week or session of the same moves. If you did 10 push-ups last week, now you can shoot for 15. If you curled 15 lbs, now go for 20 lbs. This is not exclusive to just weight (as with the former in the example I just gave)… reps — the amount of a particular move — and sets — the number of sequences of that move — can also be included. For example:
If you did 10 push-ups 3 times, that’s 3 sets of 10. You can now go for 4 sets of 10.
If you bench-pressed 150lbs for 10 reps 3 times, that’s 10 reps at 150 (3x). You could either go for 155 lbs or add another set, making it 10 at 150 (4x).
Just trying to give a visual. This is something I, admittedly, have to remember… with my goal of gaining, I tend to harp on the fact that I MUST LIFT HEAVIER WEIGHTS than last time. As with calisthenics (bodyweight exercises, like push-ups), how do you progress where no weight’s involved? Essentially, you could add weight to your back — if you have access to a sandbag, for example — but ideally, you’d just do more reps or sets.
I’ve focused a lot on lifting and consuming protein, but as I mentioned, carbohydrates are also important for gaining muscle. Carbs get a bad rep since most people consume an abundance with little to no exercise. But they are important for energy. You use your muscles for working out (everything, really), and your muscles need energy. So, the more carbs you consume, the more energy you have.
Now, this is not to say that we should just eat a whole bunch of carbs to get fit… there are good carbs and bad carbs. The good carbs (known as complex carbs) are typically what you’ve probably heard before: Rice, oats, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, and such. Bad carbs (known as simple carbs) are loaded with sugars, and these are typical sweets, chips, and other junk food. Complex carbs are slow digesting, steadily providing energy throughout the body. Simple carbs are fast-digesting, giving energy as soon as they’re consumed. This is where carbs get their bad reputation from: “Bad” carbs can even be beneficial for those looking to gain — or really get fit in general, as the body needs fuel upon exercise. So, I’ve found that if I want to consume sweets, it’s probably best to do so around a workout, typically before or after. Otherwise, the body stores carbs as fat. As the old adage goes, use it or lose it.
Well, there you have it. That pretty much sums up my fitness journey. I could go further and talk about whey and casein protein, the timing of meals, good cholesterol vs. bad cholesterol, good fats vs. bad fats, supplementation, and sleep, but perhaps I’ll save these points for a later post. I’ve recently weighed myself… A whopping 155 lbs 😒. I’m a natural ectomorph, someone who’s naturally thin and struggles to put on weight. Also known as a “hard gainer.” I know the general public looks at fast metabolism and slim genetics as a blessing, but when you’re trying to build muscle, this can be problematic. Or maybe I should say, more of a challenge. The best I can do is keep lifting, varying my routine, and eating at a caloric surplus, with a focus on healthy carbs and protein.
Now if you all would excuse me, I need to go eat something…
