Steve v5.0

Posts Tagged ‘weightlifting’

I’m not suggesting everyone should sign up for a diet plan or join a gym but I am saying that even though some of these high-dollar weight loss plans and gym memberships charge a pretty penny, a person would likely be better off financially  in the long run than they would continuing to pack on the pounds.  I’ve become a proponent of the “eat less, move more” method of weight control but have friends who’ve done really well with professional weight loss programs.  They’re not cheap but doing nothing can get pretty expensive too.

Consider all the money spent on calories.  Those regular trips through the drive-thru at the local fast food place represented significant dollars over time.  That and all the ice cream, cookies, and other treats I was constantly gorging myself with to maintain my Michelin Man-esque physique makes it obvious as to where the bulk of my wealth was going.  The extra 6,000 or so calories I was swallowing every day was paid for with money I could have spent having fun.  But no!  I ate it.

And clothes?  Forget about it.  Before I ballooned into sweats-only territory I ordered stuff from the big&tall departments of a few online retailers.  No way was I going into a brick & mortar store.  The thing I noticed about clothing prices was that when you start adding x’s you start adding additional $’s.  One my favorites, Eddie Bauer, still tacks on about %10 for tall sizes.  If memory serves, they used to charge a premium for the x’s too- as do many other clothing retailers.  I still pay extra for the tall sizes (I’m 6’5″) but I’ve dropped three x’s off the prefix.  Yep, just doing my part for fabric conservation.

Need I go on about health care costs associated with obesity?  I don’t think so.  Google it.  There’s a plethora  of debilitating and deadly ailments and conditions lying in wait for a tubbier me.  Diabetes, joint issues, and more are just a super-size away.  I shudder at the possibilities.

I pay my gym dues without reservation.  I look at it as preventative medicine.

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• Fitness for Less

Over the past year and a half I’ve noticed a few things about the experience of losing weight and changing my body.  One of the things that has been a kind-of theme throughout is the effect and consequence of conditioning.  For me, this is becoming increasingly important as I get closer to my goal weight- closer to balancing my equation (calories-consumed versus calories-burned).

For example, I go to the gym six days each week and do some resistance training during each session.  I noticed that I had slipped into a routine of performing a certain order of exercises each and every time I was there- and always at the same (high) level of exertion and resistance.  What happened?  Lifting a certain amount of weight initially was tough- a real grunter, but over time got easier until I was routinely hefting it with relatively little difficulty.  I did add some additional resistance on subsequent sets but they too became easier over time.

The thing is, I got into a rut and was focusing only on a select few types of exercise.  Every day I would do the same thing and I got good at it.  “Max-out Monday” became “Max-out everyday”.   I could crank through those sets with a decent amount of weight.  It could be said that I was conditioned to perform a defined number of activities with a certain amount of ease- and being the inherently selfish and lazy human that I am, I was sticking to it- and neglecting some other important and beneficial types of exercise.

Negative results?  Well, yeah!  I’ve become somewhat stagnant in my weight loss efforts.  While I’ve lost a respectable amount of weight, I did it early-on and I’m not thin yet- in fact I am still considered over-weight.  My body has changed; I am thinner than I was and I am stronger– but I’m starting to look more like a stereotypical weightlifter than what I (in my mind) am working towards.  I’m not saying that the stereotypical weightlifter physique (not to be confused with “body builder”) is a bad thing- I mean, it’s a strong, powerful look (NOTE: I’m not quite there yet either), but it’s also “bulkier” than I want to be.  (I also have some extra skin from the weight loss but that’s a whole ‘nother thang.)

I’ve gotten a little bulkier since June.  I wish I had been tracking my leg stats because I’ve noticed them becoming larger than they were (curse you squats!).  I don’t see that as the best of things right now- and considering future implications of maintaining muscle tone and strength later in life has me thinking that I need to throw a little beneficial confusion into my workouts.  Sure, I want to be strong and all that, but it shouldn’t be my focus.  What I should be doing is working toward a level of overall health- a balance of strength and stamina and to do that I’m going to have to make some adjustments in my workout and my diet.

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“Hey Steve.  If you want to lose weight, you’re going to have to do lots of cardio.  You know run and stuff, join an aerobics class or something.”

“Oh man!  Don’t listen to that pansy!  Pump weights! (unintelligible grunt/sneering growl) Push iron, dude!”

I hate it when mom and dad fight.

So what’s a burly boy to do when there are great reasons to dive whole-hog into either activity?  Thinking back to the beginnings of my efforts to lose weight, I remember hearing that cardio was the best way to lose weight quickly.  I was never much of a runner, even when I was in shape, but I gave it a shot.  At the weight I had become, running was tough. I could half-sprint, half-fall-forward for short distances but maintaining any kind of pace seemed beyond my capabilities.  I was too heavy for the treadmill, so I used the stair machine and even ran around the track at the high school.  But I didn’t like it and I was gaining weight!

I also hit the weight machines and dumbbells about once a week and just pushed and pulled as much as I could for an hour or two at a time.  It was kind of fun but also a little intimidating because I really didn’t know what I was doing- as evidenced by how goofy I looked doing it in the gym’s wall of mirrors.  I also gained weight doing this.  Not good!

I was ready to quit all that sweaty stuff.  Here I was, a-ploddin’ and a-pumpin’, and a-sweatin’ like a goat, and after a few weeks, fatter than when I started.  My friend’s MLM weight loss program was looking really good.  I mean, there they were, not exercising at all, eating all their meals out of little envelopes, and dropping serious weight.  Going natural was not looking good at all.

So there I was, boggled.  That’s when I really started planning my weight loss; doing some research and laying out how I was going to get things going.  Lightning struck in the form of junkmail in my snailmailbox.  It was one of those mini-faux Mens Health Magazine meant to get you to subscribe.

What got me was a partial article in it which said something like, “Doing lots of cardio really burns the fat- if you’re a girl!”

That really resonated with me.  I know it sounds stupid but what it did was motivate me and send me in a direction.  I really didn’t like cardio at the time so anything other than cardio just had to work for me.  I knew that if I found something substantiated by a cool magazine about dudes getting healthy that it was a foundation I could build on and most importantly, stick to.  The short story is that I developed a routine for myself of diet, resistance training, and some cardio that I could stick with long-term.

For me it really wasn’t an issue of cardio vs. resistance training.  It was all about settling on something that I would be willing to do every day.  For me it’s about longevity.

Over time (551 days so far) it’s been going OK.