I’m glad I opted to not do much “work” over the long weekend, because it gave me a lot of time and ability to read, to think, rethink, and reevaluate.

I am changing my fitness goals and I do believe a more straight-up strength training program is in the cards for me. No matter what, it seems that route will lead me closer to where and what I want. My goals may change again later on: maybe I realize I didn’t want this, that I don’t like it, that I want something totally different, or this is good but just needs refinement or has a hole that I need to fill. Either way, the bottom line is to shut up and lift.

Before I can lift, I need to figure out how.

While originally I was leaning towards the StrongLifts 5×5 method, I’m thinking I may instead do the “original” system of Mark Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength”. I ordered his books and DVD, and since he’s up in Wichita Falls I reckon the should get here within a few days. Meantime, I’ve been reading through the SS wikia. Why his? Frankly, there’s more information and a lot less hype-y bullshit. It’s old-school, proven, and straightforward. Plus, there’s a lot more support and resources for learning how to do things right, which is key. Just watching some YouTube videos of Rippetoe discussing proper form on squat taught me a LOT that I didn’t know, and apparently a lot of people don’t know since I’ve obviously gotten a lot of wrong advice over the years.

The one catch? I will not be able to do the original SS program (A – squat/bench/deadlift, B – squat/press/power cleans). Instead, what I’m going to have to do is his Practical Programming Novice program: Mon – squat/bench/chin-ups, Wed – Squat/press/deadlift, Fri- squat/bench/pull-ups. Why? There’s just no way at the gym I go to that I can do the power cleans. Not enough room, consideration for other patrons, etc.; if you saw the gym, you’d understand. Kinda sucks, but there we go. I’m actually not even sure how deadlifting will work out given the room factor. Regardless, I think things should work out alright.

Another thing I’ve decided is to fully track my progress here, including weights. There’s an ego thing involved for sure because hey… we’re men, we’re supposed to be strong, and lifting weights less than 3 digits (or really, 135#… meaning a proper olympic bar with 2 45# plates) is a hit to the male ego. To post that today I only benched 85# is like proclaiming to the world in a tangible, measurable way how wussy I am. But… screw it. We all have to start somewhere. My strength is what it is. The difference? I’m doing something about it. If this program works out as it should, I’ll be putting on more weight every workout, I’ll be growing stronger by the day, and it won’t be all that long before I stop working with “wussy weight” and am moving around more weight than I ever imagined. But I have to be humble. I must check my ego. I must remember the long-haul. In the end, it will all pay off.

Getting concrete…. I may stay out of the gym this week and instead work on form and movement at home. Why? Well, one simple thing is I just gave blood so I need to wait a few days to let me arm heal up. But more importantly, I still have a lot of information to digest. Plus, it’s difficult to refer to my laptop while in the gym. Instead, I can watch videos, read instructions, and work on the basics at home so I’m not wasting time (mine and of others) in the gym. Mental. Visualization. Preparation. Get it right, get form down. That’s been my biggest issue so far, so why continue to fuck around and do it wrong?

Onwards and upwards.