How do you get the motivation to? I’d love to get more fit, especially since I’ve got a kid coming in September and want to be in shape when she comes. I’m not exactly out of shape too bad (not overweight or underweight), but I’d like to be more muscular. At the same time, my neurodivergent ass won’t let me for more than a couple weeks at a time, and then I’m burnt out for months on end. It’s extremely frustrating. I’ve heard it gets easier the longer you do it consistently, even for ND folks, but I haven’t been able to get to that point. If you have any advice I’d love to hear it.
Brace yourself, unskippable special interest cut scene activated.
For myself I was relatively active my whole life but I had always been curious about lifting weights and wanted to get more muscular. I felt awkward about gyms and would have felt super uncomfortable getting a personal trainer, and having to learn dozens of different exercises, the whole thing was just daunting.
But it turns out there are quite a few ways to get jacked, and one of them is very straightforward: barbells. In the most basic form there are 4 lifts to learn, and you can teach yourself using YouTube (You can add a few more lifts later on but they are so simple to learn a 60 second video and you’ve got it) With a rack, barbell, plates and a bench in the basement I was able to completely avoid the gym and trainer experience. If you don’t mind going to a gym then the cost of entry is very low.
There are apps to help you select a routine, tell you exactly how many sets and reps to do, the correct weights to use, can demonstrate how to do the lift correctly, track your progress and graph it for you in a dozen different ways.
As a beginner if you even brush up against a barbell you will start growing muscle really quickly. And your progress will be impressive and addictive, particularly since we are only talking about the same 4 lifts. You’ll be tracking your progress on the app week to week, watching the numbers go up, getting stronger all the time. Technique getting better all the time. Before you know it you’ll outgrow your clothes. And we are talking 3 workouts a week, less than an hour each. The minute work is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday immediately hit the weights, you’ll have time to wash up before dinner.
I went from about 165lbs to 210lbs in the last 3 years. Size medium shirts to size L and XL, Size medium underwear to size XXL. I underestimated how undeveloped my legs and butt were. Regular squats and deadlifts will give you a monster truck ass. My family friends and coworkers that I haven’t seen for a while have trouble believing it’s the same person. I’ve walked right up to a coworker that I had known for 10 years and started talking with them and it took them more than a minute to realize it was me. This really makes you feel good and will keep you motivated. As time goes on you’ll want to expand your routine a little bit, add in some more bodybuilding exercises for bigger biceps or whatever you want.
Anyway if you ever did want to get started I would be happy to help you out with specific advice: apps, exercises, routines, eating, cardio, etc
Really great info, thanks for posting! Mainly want to second all this for others and say most of it was true for me as well. I’m only a year in, though, so my results aren’t as dramatic yet. Your story is pretty motivating, so thanks for that too!
Also want to add that I found the fitness wiki to be a great resource for no-nonsense advice like the above. It’s a wiki based on Reddit, but it’s a separate website at this point. It does a good job focusing on keeping lifting simple and eating right.
In the spirit of casual conversation, two questions mostly out of pure curiosity: what routine did you start with, and what routine has been your favorite so far?
The fitness wiki is a fantastic resource +1 for that suggestion!
I started with GZCLP and followed with 5/3/1 for Beginners and then a few other 5/3/1 templates. The most eye-opening/fun would have to be super squats for sure. 20 rep squats and a gallon of whole milk per day really pushes a person.
Eventually I settled on tactical barbell which seems to work well for me. I’m in my 40s and prefer staying away from heavy 1 reps. TB is higher frequency compound lifts with squat, bench and weighted pullups 3x per week and deadlift 1x per week. It’s marketed towards first responders and military people who need to have gas in the tank for their day job but I feel that also applies to normal folks who care about strength and longevity not wanting to be completely wiped out from workouts. They have a book focused on mass with lower intensities (8/6/3 rep weeks) so that’s probably where I’ll stay for a while.
How about yourself? What did you start with and where did you end up?
20 rep squats sounds insane. I just started doing 10-rep with BBB, and that’s plenty brutal for me already.
I’ve done 5/3/1 since I started. Used Beginners for the first year or so, and over the last month or two I’ve switched to Boring But Big, and I’m planning to mix that with First Set Last. I mostly hate switching things up and prefer just to go and do my lifts without spending too much mental energy on planning, so I’ll probably stick with 5/3/1 indefinitely.
Longevity and trying to feel actually healthy/mobile/etc. is really important to me, and one of the main reasons I picked 5/3/1 was the emphasis on slow growth and always maintaining clean form. So, TB sounds like it could be right up my alley as well. I made a note of it in case I ever do need to switch things up for some reason.
Also, just subscribed to the Weightroom community!
Full Body 1000% Awesome from 5/3/1 Forever is basically the same thing as Tactical Barbell, so if for whatever reason you needed a break from BBB you could try a cycle of that and see how you feel about the full body split without leaving the 5/3/1 ecosystem. And Jim has a few templates with widowmaker squats if you’re ever up for a challenge. Always happy to bump into other fediverse lifters, there are literally dozens of us!
How do you get the motivation to? I’d love to get more fit, especially since I’ve got a kid coming in September and want to be in shape when she comes. I’m not exactly out of shape too bad (not overweight or underweight), but I’d like to be more muscular. At the same time, my neurodivergent ass won’t let me for more than a couple weeks at a time, and then I’m burnt out for months on end. It’s extremely frustrating. I’ve heard it gets easier the longer you do it consistently, even for ND folks, but I haven’t been able to get to that point. If you have any advice I’d love to hear it.
Brace yourself, unskippable special interest cut scene activated.
For myself I was relatively active my whole life but I had always been curious about lifting weights and wanted to get more muscular. I felt awkward about gyms and would have felt super uncomfortable getting a personal trainer, and having to learn dozens of different exercises, the whole thing was just daunting.
But it turns out there are quite a few ways to get jacked, and one of them is very straightforward: barbells. In the most basic form there are 4 lifts to learn, and you can teach yourself using YouTube (You can add a few more lifts later on but they are so simple to learn a 60 second video and you’ve got it) With a rack, barbell, plates and a bench in the basement I was able to completely avoid the gym and trainer experience. If you don’t mind going to a gym then the cost of entry is very low.
There are apps to help you select a routine, tell you exactly how many sets and reps to do, the correct weights to use, can demonstrate how to do the lift correctly, track your progress and graph it for you in a dozen different ways.
As a beginner if you even brush up against a barbell you will start growing muscle really quickly. And your progress will be impressive and addictive, particularly since we are only talking about the same 4 lifts. You’ll be tracking your progress on the app week to week, watching the numbers go up, getting stronger all the time. Technique getting better all the time. Before you know it you’ll outgrow your clothes. And we are talking 3 workouts a week, less than an hour each. The minute work is done Monday, Wednesday and Friday immediately hit the weights, you’ll have time to wash up before dinner.
I went from about 165lbs to 210lbs in the last 3 years. Size medium shirts to size L and XL, Size medium underwear to size XXL. I underestimated how undeveloped my legs and butt were. Regular squats and deadlifts will give you a monster truck ass. My family friends and coworkers that I haven’t seen for a while have trouble believing it’s the same person. I’ve walked right up to a coworker that I had known for 10 years and started talking with them and it took them more than a minute to realize it was me. This really makes you feel good and will keep you motivated. As time goes on you’ll want to expand your routine a little bit, add in some more bodybuilding exercises for bigger biceps or whatever you want.
Anyway if you ever did want to get started I would be happy to help you out with specific advice: apps, exercises, routines, eating, cardio, etc
Really great info, thanks for posting! Mainly want to second all this for others and say most of it was true for me as well. I’m only a year in, though, so my results aren’t as dramatic yet. Your story is pretty motivating, so thanks for that too!
Also want to add that I found the fitness wiki to be a great resource for no-nonsense advice like the above. It’s a wiki based on Reddit, but it’s a separate website at this point. It does a good job focusing on keeping lifting simple and eating right.
In the spirit of casual conversation, two questions mostly out of pure curiosity: what routine did you start with, and what routine has been your favorite so far?
The fitness wiki is a fantastic resource +1 for that suggestion!
I started with GZCLP and followed with 5/3/1 for Beginners and then a few other 5/3/1 templates. The most eye-opening/fun would have to be super squats for sure. 20 rep squats and a gallon of whole milk per day really pushes a person.
Eventually I settled on tactical barbell which seems to work well for me. I’m in my 40s and prefer staying away from heavy 1 reps. TB is higher frequency compound lifts with squat, bench and weighted pullups 3x per week and deadlift 1x per week. It’s marketed towards first responders and military people who need to have gas in the tank for their day job but I feel that also applies to normal folks who care about strength and longevity not wanting to be completely wiped out from workouts. They have a book focused on mass with lower intensities (8/6/3 rep weeks) so that’s probably where I’ll stay for a while.
How about yourself? What did you start with and where did you end up?
Oh and for a fediverse oriented resource check out !weightroom@sh.itjust.works :D
20 rep squats sounds insane. I just started doing 10-rep with BBB, and that’s plenty brutal for me already.
I’ve done 5/3/1 since I started. Used Beginners for the first year or so, and over the last month or two I’ve switched to Boring But Big, and I’m planning to mix that with First Set Last. I mostly hate switching things up and prefer just to go and do my lifts without spending too much mental energy on planning, so I’ll probably stick with 5/3/1 indefinitely.
Longevity and trying to feel actually healthy/mobile/etc. is really important to me, and one of the main reasons I picked 5/3/1 was the emphasis on slow growth and always maintaining clean form. So, TB sounds like it could be right up my alley as well. I made a note of it in case I ever do need to switch things up for some reason.
Also, just subscribed to the Weightroom community!
Full Body 1000% Awesome from 5/3/1 Forever is basically the same thing as Tactical Barbell, so if for whatever reason you needed a break from BBB you could try a cycle of that and see how you feel about the full body split without leaving the 5/3/1 ecosystem. And Jim has a few templates with widowmaker squats if you’re ever up for a challenge. Always happy to bump into other fediverse lifters, there are literally dozens of us!