Please understand I knew nothing about lifting weights when I started and the only source I had was from posters in the college gym and those who had taken weight training as a PE course.
I like doing gymnastics, though I wasn’t very good at all, but I could do 20 pull-ups and 20 bar dips before I ever lifted a weight.
I started with this simple routine:
OHP 60lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps
Upright Rows 60lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps
Bent over Rows 60lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps
Barbell Curls 60lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps
Hanging Leg Raise for 3 sets of 20 reps
Occasionally I would see the only two football players who lifted weights. I didn’t know how to approach them, so I would just watch them and attempt to mimic their workout as I got up to 80lbs in my simple starting routine.
I very much appreciate that for sure. I understand exactly what that is like. So knowing what you know now, what is something you would have imparted to your 19 year old self?
Spend one year growing accustomed to the weight room and become proficient doing 3 or 4 exercises for every body part. If you are not yet proficient, then you are not ready for the next step.
Year two focus on powerlifting and competing, but still do some bodybuilding movements, all the time knowing to avoid overtraining.
As years go by, you can assess whether powerlifting or bodybuilding is your best opportunity to succeed.
If you just want to “look good naked” just keep evolving your workout program. That too should avoid overtraining.
I started to write about squatting from day one, but I think I would have benefited from having a good training partner. I never found anyone who would show up consistently like me. The ones that tried were feeding off me and inconsistent so I never benefited. I did okay with training knowledge thanks to dumb luck, but I never had anyone to push me day in and day out.
This site pushed me to deadlift 500+ lbs when deadlifts weren’t even in my training vocabulary. I’ve been pushed to do things I doubted - bulk to 250 lbs and cut to 207 lbs (over the course of one year). I wish I could say I’ve done more, but I think I found the motivation from here a bit late. I wonder what I would have accomplished in college if I’d trained smarter.
I wish I knew that you have to maintain your bodyweight for a while before trying to change it again. I bulked up in college and gained some considerable mass. Then I immediately went on a cut without maintenance and lost most of the muscle I had just gained.
I agree, if an easy gainer uses guidelines created for hard gainers, it pretty much outlines a fail proof plan for us to get us better gains over a longer period of time. Definitely a philosophy I should’ve found sooner in my lifting life.
An understanding of how mentally and emotionally profound working out would change me through life. How it would effect my career choices and influence my relationships, my motivation, and perception of myself, all for the better.
I can’t say for sure if it would have made me start training or eating right earlier, but I wish I had had a dad who was into fitness and lifting. I suppose it ties into the mentor thing.
I spent my first few years of weight training getting hurt after a few weeks of deadlifting or squatting, no matter the program. I watched every video, talked to Drs, tried every variation. I talked to Mike Robertson (T-nation author) about it back when he had a training forum.
I’d kinda given up until I read something by Thibs. I’m paraphrasing, but it was basically: “Some people suck at squatting. If you’re always getting hurt, you may be one of them. Get some Olympic lifting shoes or heel lifts.”
I got a $20 pair of lifts a year ago and haven’t looked back. I wish I had them three years ago when I began lifting in earnest.
This was a massive thing for me and definitely one of my original inspirations for training and helped me understand work and consistency from the start.
Thanks for sharing this - it definitely validates my feelings on the subject a bit. I learned, from the Marines, from some gym buddies, about hard work and all that, and I won’t lose it, but the things that my Dad was passionate about hold a different kind of meaning to me - I can always hear his voice and imagine his reactions when it comes to learning and education (his biggest passions).
I feel like having that association with lifting and fitness would have been huge for someone who spent their teens drinking, smoking, and barely moving.
I think you are spot on. I still did a lot of drinking in my teens and my dad was a big drinker too. But he worked hard and played hard, and that definitely rubbed off on me in terms of work ethic both in life in the gym. Heck my dad is in his late 70’s and still trains 6 days a week, its been more than 30 years since I first picked up a barbell and I am still chasing him.
Jesus, I feel this.
My dad is a severe workaholic. I was a lousy/average student but as soon as I entered a professional career it’s like as if everything he’s ever shown in his personal life and said about himself and his concept of working just screams in my subconscious and drives me to do MORE MORE MORE.
I have to make a conscious effort to quiet it and make time for myself. Lifting really helps in that regard.
On topic-
I would have loved to have started with 5/3/1 Forever as my guide instead of Starting Strength.