StartingAgain is Starting Again!

[startingagain]

My main hobby is fiction writing, and yet I’ve always been terrible with titles

(Not so) Brief background about me:

• Was obese and pre-diabetic as a kid
• Turned it all around at 15 and became very active. Was lifting and doing conditioning every day.
• Both hip labrums tore at age 20 while walking, and both of my shoulders suddenly became extremely unstable.
• For the next 7ish years, I couldn’t even jog or do wall push ups without pain and inflammation. Obviously had to quit lifting because of this.
• Had two hip surgeries in 2018/2019 and was diagnosed with Elhers Danlos/Genetic Joint Hypermobility. Was told I’d never do a push up again.
• Being told that pissed me off, and my goal is to metaphorically beat my genetics into the ground as a sort of revenge.

Start of Revenge vs Now:
Just some PRs I’m proud of. The before is early 2020. The after is now or during the past few months.

• Couldn’t do a split squat halfway down from the lowest couch in my house without bad hip pain
  ----->
  Did a moderately difficult 170 lbs x 12 (two 85lbs dumbbells) off the highest couch in my house two months ago. Also did an easy 120 lbs x 10 x 10. It’s only been one month since my PT gave me the green light to do bilateral squats, so I don’t know what I can do with both legs. Currently aiming for 210 lbs x 10 x 10 on each leg and then puke into a bucket haha.

• Literally couldn’t bend over with a straight back and hinge with my body without extreme effort haha
  —>
  Did 305 lbs x 1, 275 lbs x 3, 255 lbs x 5, and 235 lbs x 10 on DB RDLs (total weight is both dumbbells). Currently aiming for 305 lbs x 20.

• Had to start with 3 lbs dumbbell rows and didn’t have the shoulder blade stability to bring the weight to my chest
  ---->
  Did 120 lbs x 3 x 10 followed by 130 lbs x 6 or so, each rep pausing a second on top and squeezing the back. Also did 160 lbs x 2 x 2 with no pause for fun. Currently aiming for 160 lbs x 5 x 10 with pauses.

• Couldn’t hold a remote control in front of my body without shoulder pain and inflammation
  ---->
  Did 224 push ups at 224 lbs with my feet on top of the highest couch in my house. Didn’t record the time, but I did them as fast as I could.

• Couldn’t hold a cup of coffee without extreme elbow pain and was too weak to do 3 lbs dumbbell curls
  —>
  Can dumbbell and hammer curl 40 lbs for reps with a 1 - 3 second squeeze on top of each rep.

I could go on, but you get the idea
…

GOALS

Actual Goal:

• Guy on left

“Reasonable Goal”:

…

PLAN

I do two upper body sessions and one lower body session a week. My sessions are based upon what lifts I can do, and thankfully I’ve been able to do more exercises every month. I can probably move on to a more normal upper/lower by this summer, and also restart MMA training. Truthfully, I have no real plan outside of “get stronger for reps” and “eat to recover.” A big part of that is because I’m still limited in terms of what I’m allowed to do. However, I’ve always been way too “big picture” focused for my own good.

The way I set up my lift goals is like the following. This isn’t the exact list, but it’ll give you a good idea.

Biceps:

• Dumbbell Curl 25 lbs with squeezes (DONE)
• Dumbbell Curl 45 lbs with squeezes
• Dumbbell Curl 65 lbs with squeezes
• Dumbbell Curl 85 lbs with squeezes

I have 1 - 3 lifts per bodypart, with each lift getting 3 - 5 check points that increase in difficulty. The hope is that the process of reaching the final checkpoint will get me to my physique goal. If you can’t tell, I’m heavily inspired by Dante Trudel’s concepts and simplicity.

Lifts can change too once my joints allow for better options. For example, my checklist for Quads included the following:

• Bulgarian Split Squat 120 x 1 (DONE)
• Bulgarian Split Squat 170 x 10+, 120 x 10 x 10 (DONE)
• Bulgarian Split Squat 210 x 10 x 10
• Bulgarian Split Squat 300 x 10 x 10

However, once I start doing squats, I’ll most likely replace the last Split Squat checkpoint with “Front Squat 405 x 10 x 5” or something similar.

So, am I stupid or what?

[throwawayfitness]

@startingagain

So, am I stupid or what?

No.

Only thing missing is the before pic.

[dagill2]

Looking forward to this.

And take a before pic. You can always delete it later, you can’t go back in time and retake it. I always regret not taking mine.

[startingagain]

To be 100% honest, I’m way too embarrassed to post pics yet haha. I was hesitant to post this log to begin with.

[dagill2]

I’ll do one if you do

[startingagain]

I feel terrible because you’re all very encouraging. But I choose not to post one… for now, at least.

[dagill2]

Do yourself a favour and take the picture though. No obligation to post, but you’ll regret it if you don’t take it.

[Andrewgen_Receptors]

Your actual goal is quite reasonable, but your “reasonable goal” perhaps not so much - at least not without great genetics, steroids, and Instagram filters .

I second what @dagill2 said. Seriously, take a true - honest picture of yourself and don’t share it. Many people regret not taking this picture.

I’ll try to follow along!

[startingagain]

@dagill2
@Andrewgen_Receptors

I’m definitely gonna take a few pics soon to start keeping a monthly log of how my body changes.

And the guy in the “actual goal” is 265 lbs lean without caring about muscle gain and is around 285 lbs in the off-season for MMA. He’s probably like 275lbs in that picture, if not a bit heavier. That seems far more daunting than the other guy, who’s only 210 - 220 lbs at that leanness haha.

[dagill2]

He’s also a lot taller and a lot softer. I didn’t comment on this originally, because it didn’t feel relevant, but I agree with @Andrewgen_Receptors.

[startingagain]

@dagill2

That’s a fair point. The reason I chose him as the unreasonable goal is simply because I know how unhealthy it is to get that heavy, regardless of whether the size is fat or muscle. Shooting for a somewhat soft but still solid 285 lbs seems like I’m signing away 10 or maybe more years of my life.

You’re right, though, since if I was 6’5/6’6 like him, then Francis Ngannou would actually be the more reasonable goal.

[Cyrrex]

Long term goals are great. Short and medium ones are more effective.

[startingagain]

Wouldn’t the checklist system include short and medium-term goals as well? Assuming you meant to imply that I don’t have any short/medium goals.

I could do the 45lbs dumbbell curls with a 1 second squeeze, slow eccentric and no cheating right now, so that’d definitely be a short-term goal. And the 210lbs x 10 x 10 Bulgarian Split Squat will take a few months, so that’s definitely a medium-term goal.

Unless you meant physique goals and not lifting goals…

[Cyrrex]

Just kinda saying that the long term goals you have called out are all well and good, but you can still achieve amazing things without looking like Francis. Hell, almost none of us will ever look like that dude.

Also, you mentioned that you may have more exercises that you are already capable of doing? Make some goals for those as well. Keep them short term. 405 x anything is not short or even medium term. Some people never get there.

[dagill2]

I like this article by Wendler for the process of moving from goal setting to an action plan.

The Action Plan

Edit: fully aware I should actually include the link to make this post meaningful.

[startingagain]

Read the article, and that’s pretty much how I think. That’s actually how I’ve been approaching all my hobbies for years. Turning the process of learning into actionable steps (such as “Draw for at least 30 minutes a day”) makes life so much simpler haha. Though I’ve never had a physical daily planner and typically just remember what to do in my head.

[dagill2]

Some people like to write shit down, others can do it in their head. I see benefits to both, but as I get older, I find I have to write more and more down.

[startingagain]

Been a while since I’ve been on here in a serious manner.

Elhers-Danlos symptoms getting better for sure. I can stand for hours now with only minor pain (like 3/10), versus having moderate to bad pain pretty much within minutes.

I can finally run again and push myself while doing it!!! I haven’t been able to run with any sort of effort since early 2014. So I basically hopped out of my couch recently and managed to run a little over 1 mile. It was HARD for my leg muscles since they were obviously not used to doing this at all. However, despite being 225 - 230 lbs, the run was surprisingly easy breathing-wise.

Yes, I know it’s a pathetic 1 mile, but let me have this win

[startingagain]

Lifting wise:

• Actually getting close to one of my long-term goals. My eventual goal is to DB Row 220lbs for 10 sets of 10 with a good pause and squeeze on each rep. No clue if I want a time limit on it, like all sets done within 20 minutes, for example. I’m currently at 170lbs for the lift (doing step-loading). Next “step” is 180lbs, which I want to get to within 2 months. And all reps are paused, of course. Considering I had to start with a 3lbs dumbbell, and even THAT was too hard for me due to my hypermobility symptoms, 50 more pounds seems super close. Going from 3lbs to 45lbs on this lift literally took me a **year. **

• Also getting a lot of progress on RDLs. My eventual goal is 405lbs for 10 sets of 10 within 10 minutes and with a pause on the bottom of each rep. I’m currently on “step” 275lbs/305lbs (I’ll do both depending on the session). And considering back in Dec 2019/Jan 2020 just bending over and getting back up was the hardest rep I have ever done, being able to easily do this movement with an added 305lbs is awesome!!! I try to go as low as my body allows me and pause at the bottom to make it harder.

• Pressing is still shit. My left shoulder is much more unstable than the right, making barbell presses a no-go long-term. I do want to try dips, though. Still, progress is progress. In April 2020, a 3lbs floor press was too much for 10 reps No clue what my maxes are for my presses since I don’t want to go heavy. Still, I can confidently say my max Standing DB Press is 75lbs and my max Incline DB Press is 75lbs for a few reps. Like I said, pressing is still shit.

That’s the gist of it. Lifts more affected by my hypermobility are shit, while lifts less affected by it are better. Because of this, my chest and triceps are VERY lagging, which is why I want to see if my shoulders can handle dips now reguarly. Hard to have lagging tris and chest if I can progress to 50 - 100 dips as assistance at the end of push sessions.

[startingagain]

Kind of a blog/rant post. Relevant to the post is today’s session:

DB Row (paused on top of each rep + stretch at the bottom)-
170 x 9 sets x 5 reps
170 x 1 x 6
180 x 1 rep (8 count squeeze on top for fun)
** Rest periods are as short as I can muster. No set was to near failure. It’s just me accumulating volume to make this weight feel easier.

Plan was 10 x 5 but did a bit more for the fun haha. And did it while sick + with a shitty sleep last night

Also, here is the absolute monstrosity which is the 170lbs dumbbell. After a certain amount of plates, this just gets annoying to hold haha.

Anyways, onto the rant…

So, my original “end goal” with DB rows was 220lbs. And to make it extra fun/hard, I’d do 10 sets of 10, all reps having a good pause on top. Why 220lbs? For one, if I can do that using my upper back, I’d assume it’d be big haha. But more importantly, that’s the weight Larry Wheels and his friends used in this video. Me being the dumb-dumb I am, my immediate thought after watching was “I should do that too!”

Make no mistake, though, muscle gain was the main motivator. If one can pause dumbbell row 220lbs x 10 x 10, their upper back should be at least decent. And, I guess that’s correct? Regardless, the issue I’m facing is that I just find growing muscle kind of boring.

Yippee, my back is bigger. Why do I care, though? Because… big muscles look cool? Because… looking good feels fun? I do care somewhat, but not enough to keep training. This feeling of “why bother” has been growing the past few months, and it took me until recently to realize why.

Lifting for the sake of muscle just isn’t me. Lifting for fun and to stick a middle finger to my genetics is so much more fulfilling. I had to start this lift with a THREE pound dumbbell! And I still couldn’t get the puny thing to reach my chest!!! It took me 7ish months to get to a 25lbs dumbbell. And it took me a YEAR to get past a 45lbs dumbbell!!! Going for 220lbs x 10 x 10 for a big back just feels empty and unfulfilling to me. Going for that performance out of fun and because it’s a cool test speaks to me so much more.

Oh, and I can’t be over 220lbs during any tests. More fun haha.