I’m new to this forum and pretty new to Jim Wendler’s ideas. I just wanted to give a short account about what I’m up to.
I’m 34 years old, work a full time job and have just recently become a father of a beautiful baby girl. Obviously sport is not number one priority at the moment. Actually I’m not a lifter, but a Martial Artist since I was a kid. I’m a grappler and have used strength and conditioning as a supplement to training. At the moment I cannot grapple at all and I won’t be able to grapple and compete a lot in the future (Family comes first!).
Enter 5/3/1! What I can do is to go down in my cellar twice a week and work on Wendler’s BBB template. At the moment I’m on my third cycle and I’m loving it! So far weight lifting was boring and unstructured to me - not any more. I love to weight-train now. I’m nowhere near the numbers I’m reading here in this forum, but I’m improving…
I’m constantly challenging myself with PR’s which really is a lot of fun and keeps me relaxed when dealing with a crying infant. I hope to be back grappling in a few weeks time and am really looking forward to test how my strength gains will affect my grappling.
Kids are great man. I got 3. Family is #1. Don’t EVER forget it. It’s easy to do in todays world. Don’t get caught up in the rat race. Being a parent is some big shoes to fill & being a parent is crazy. You’ll blink and they will be 5 years old. Blink again they are 10, next thing you know that baby of yours is asking for the keys to the car. Shit man, I hear that damn cat’s in the cradle song and get choked up 1/2 the time. I’m sure you’ll be a fine dad! stay grounded on the training you’ve had. It’ll carry you far. Welcome to the iron game and welcome to the forum. Now go make your cellar the Iron Dungeon and as Jo Jordan says, summon the meteors. lol
Thanks, mate! I’m so happy and excited that my wife and me finally got a baby. I’m grateful very single moment. So far I sleep very well since my daughter only wakes up once a night - but that may change of course. I try to sleep as often as I can. in addition I thought that maybe I should ‘slow down’ my training a bit more and here I mean to go through every cycle twice. Thus I want to build a solid base and maybe my body can tolerate the different sleep pattern a bit better while still making progress concerning the PR’s. Is that a good idea?
Congrats! Becoming a first time parent is a great test to see how flexible and resourceful you are with your training. The weak will give up because they try to work their lives around their training instead of their training around their lives. That routine they planned day-by-day for the next three months? Forget about it. I myself have four kids age 7 and under.
I have a garage gym that I train in nearly every day early before the family wakes up; I work nearly 60 hours a week; and I still have a fulfilling relationship with my wife and each of my kids. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
I hope to be back grappling in a few weeks time and am really looking forward to test how my strength gains will affect my grappling.