Strength in body, spirit and mind as well as patience and perseverance.
At age 36 after 13 months:
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Went from 241 lbs to as low as 194 lbs, while losing fat and putting on muscle. (I was 5’ 11" at about 160 lbs at age 21.) I don’t know about my body fat before I started, but my cheapo electrical impedance measuring scale has been reading 25 to 28 per cent body fat the last few months, while a 3-point caliper measurement nine months ago put me at 20 per cent. In any case, I definitely continue to look better and better!
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Cholesterol level dropped from 265 to around 185. Similar improvement in triglycerides and other blood work.
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My gums have improved, even though I’m flossing about five times a week instead of every single day like I had been! Pockets dropped from up to 6 mm to 3 or 4 mm even as I was getting a bit lazy about flossing! (All that protein supplementation? The fat fast dieting?) My dentist decreased my checkup schedule from every three months to every six months.
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It had been fifteen years since I could remember turning a woman’s head, but after only 5 months, I saw a young woman nudge her friend when I walked by at the mall! I have a great wife and no interest in betraying her, but I must admit that that was gratifying!
I don't plan to maintain this level of involvement for the rest of my life and I can't say lifting has revolutionized my life, but I am more confident in my appearance. (I do worry about the potential for vanity in all this.) I'm sure my over all health and longevity have improved (heart disease runs in my family) and it is gratifying to know that that blesses my wife and kids. And lifting has been a good distraction for the past very trying year. Another year or two of improvement like this would be great and then I'll back off and focus on something else. (I know this is blasphemy around here, but I'm not in this lifestyle for the duration, but I will certainly be more physically active from here on out than I was the previous 15 years.) Lifting weights is digging me out of a deep hole physically and has helped a little bit with the emotional side of things.
Newbie- you do know that once you stop lifting weights you’ll lose the muscle, right? This will, in turn, slow your metabolism and you’ll gain fat. It ain’t permanent, bub! You’re either in for life or you’re not.
Newbie, TEK is right about the muscle. If that’s what you like, then you need to keep a maintenance schedule after you hit your goal, with probably a couple cycles of concentrated effort a year. However, if that isn’t what you’re after, that’s cool. Just stay as physically active as you do now, whatever the pursuit, and you should be able to maintain the healthful benefits. Keep close tabs on it, though, as you don’t want to suddenly find yourself back in that hole and have to start digging again.
I suppose it’s the confidence thing & the general satisfaction of accomplishing something I’ve always wanted to do, along with the little health benefits on the side (like no more chronic lower back pain).
I lost my dad when I was 8 & I can remember cutting out an ad from a comic book for the old Charles Atlas course & being disappointed to see that it said you had to be 14 years old to get a response from them. I guess I was looking to get too strong to die or for a way to become invulnerable. At any rate, from that time on, since I was 8 years old, I wanted to be a bodybuilder. But, being the fat kid on the block, the last one picked for teams in P.E. class, the favorite target of the local bullies, I had real self-esteem problems that didn’t resolve until I got into college.
I first got up the courage to join a gym my senior year in college on advice from a counsellor to help me get over a bout of depression. I found a real T-Man gym: dark, sweaty & smelly, & chock full o’ free weights & steroid-using ironheads. I was hooked. I worked out regularly for a year & a half & loved every minute of it. Graduate school, starting a family, & an assignment to a low-paying parish kept me out of the gym for 10 years.
Last December I hit 40 & my pants size was keeping up with my age. That’s when I decided to turn things around & get serious in the gym again. My life is now more my own & I have time to work out & can afford to eat what I want & buy supplements. I’m amazed at what I’ve accomplished so far (thanks T-Mag!).
I don’t work out to look good for anybody else (except my wife), to turn women’s heads or make other men jealous. I outgrew stuff like that. I do it for myself. I want to see how far I can take my body. I want to push some serious limits. I want a place & an activity where I can get in touch with that core of raw masculinity & revel in & channel its power. For once in my life I want to see my abs. I do it also to counteract the negative effects of pastoral life (too much desk-work, too many pastries shoved at me by well-wishing people).
Forgive me rattling on. Others have been very open with their lives at times on this forum. It just felt like my turn.
T-Rev – I’m interested in your clergy history. My father is a retired Lutheran pastor, started a mission congregation in a small town in western Washington in '72. He retired in '93. He’s had a lot of great stories (and some scary ones as well). What denomination are you? How long in ministry?
i like the reserve horsepower!!!
by training consistently and hard, i’ve developed a higher level of discipline, toughness and mental strength - truly valuable assets.
Thanks for your interest. I’m an Orthodox Priest, ordained now 6 1/2 years. (That’s one reason I won’t turn any heads once I get buffed: no one can tell how I’m built given the cassocks Orthodox Priests have to wear. Hey, it takes cojones grandes to wear those things in public!) I converted to Orthodoxy from Catholicism when I was 23. My first parish was in Michigan; I’m in the Cleveland area now. As for stories – scary or otherwise – it doesn’t take long to accumulate 'em. But enough about my work. I don’t frequent the T-Mag forum to talk about religion, but about training & diet. Every discussion about religion around here goes wacko really fast, & I don’t want to be guilty of starting another wacko thread.
I can appreciate that. Thanks for the info.
One word…vagina