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Notes -
I appreciate the advice you were already given. Stronglifts 5x5 looks like a great program. My question is how you guys keep this kind of routine up for any extended period of time. You're giving up 45 minutes or more to drive to the gym, get changed, wait for your spot to be empty, lift weight for 5 sets, then repeat a couple more times for other spots, then drive home, 3 times every week. Do you lift alone? How do you make it bearable? I'm not having fun when I do it and it really hurts that it's cutting into my already limited free time. I just feel like it's a bit overvalued in comparison to something like deciding to spend more time cooking at home, which I find to be a lot more fun and tends to save you money.
Suggestions:
You might just not like the Stronglifts format. I used 5x5 when I started, and it's very valuable for getting started, but rarely have I gone back to it over the decade since. Mostly, I find something like the Bulgarian Lite method, where I'm trying to hit a PR on something. Rarely do my lifting sessions last longer than 45 minutes. When they do, it's normally that I am enjoying them.
You might not like barbells. Try kettlebells instead. They're easy to store and use at home, they encourage a certain degree of "owning the weight" and focus on reps and density rather than increasing weight, they're a little more explosive and athletic and fun than the classic powerlifts.
There's no real reason you have to or should keep the same routine for longer than three to six months. You're likely to start to stall out after more than twelve weeks on the same routine. At that point, you should always be switching to a new routine, whether that's the same format with new lifts, the same lifts with a new format, something other than weightlifting entirely, just something new that you're stoked on. In the past year or so I've focused on the barbell clean and jerk, the moonboard, the kettlebell pentathlon, push pressing a 97lb kettlebell for 32 consecutive reps, hitting a max on the Landmine Jerk, and for the last four months on BJJ. I still mess around with the other exercises in between, but I'm only ever focused on advancing one at a time. When I start getting bored of one, I move on to the next. I'm 33 and I'm not making the olympics in anything so what does it matter if my progress is slower? I'm getting strong and having fun.
You might like more of a social/class format like Crossfit. Crossfit is where I started lifting, at any decent box you will get good at the big lifts, and I think most of the people talking shit on it are either fat or not nearly as strong as your average Crossfitter.
Home gym master race.
Because it isn't overvalued, it isn't expensive, it doesn't take up much time done right. Lifting weights and working out is massively undervalued, it's the best thing you can do for yourself. Strength is the master trait that makes everything else easier. Rock climbing, when I took it up, was easier because I was strong; BJJ is easier because I was strong when I started; team sports and living your life in general will be better and easier. The only thing it makes worse is getting dressed.
I never actually tried Stronglifts. What I tried for a few months last year was the basic beginner routine. It actually resembles Stronglifts a bit, I guess. I just liked how straightforward Stronglifts looked while still having the exercises I liked from the beginner routine.
There were fun parts about it, actually - I like overhead press and chin-ups, I am okay with bench press and barbell rows. Deadlifts and squats are things that scare me, because the weight is high enough that you could be seriously hurt for a long time if you mess up. That kind of goes for bench press, too. As I started putting on more weight, I started getting less confident in my form. With bench press, it was warranted. I took a look at some more videos and found that my elbows were too far out to the sides, and that you need to basically curve your lift a bit to do a proper rep (which was disheartening, because I had to go down in weight to do the proper reps). But I was never confident enough to put much weight on a squat or a deadlift, especially after I did increase my weight according to the guide for deadlifts and came away with a horrible tailbone pain to drive home with. I don't think I ever did more than 170 for squats, and maybe even less than that for deadlifts.
Seeing you write about kettlebells does sound fun. There are actually kettlebells at my gym. I've never seen anyone with one in the section they're in. Do you recommend a workout? Can you actually get stronger with a kettlebell? What about lower body stuff, can kettlebells do that? As I've said, I seem to prefer jogging over most resistance training, so maybe kettlebells would be more fun than barbells. There's also the benefit that I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars and allocate a ton of space for kettlebells.
I am open to class formats. I took Tae Kwon Do when I was a kid, and it wasn't boring. I didn't really get along with the other kids very much, but you don't really need to to have fun sparring or hitting a bag. Increasingly, the class got worse as I grew older. It started seeming to be for mostly young kids, and as I got taller and stronger, the only sparring partner was my brother, and the brutality of those seemed to increase over time, along with the weird feeling of bitter rage holding back inexplicable tears in my throat after a spar, usually after I perceived that I had lost or after having taken some blows with some high amount of force (not exclusive to him, I felt the same thing losing in a tournament). I never got injured since we were padded up and kept the hits to the pads. We stopped going due to loss of interest once I was 16 and my brother was 18.
That being said, I think most classes are usually the aerobic kind of thing, right? Hopefully there are some classes that actually build muscle and aren't 99% women.
So a class that has significant big lifting mixed in is CrossFit. You get competition, you get teaching, and you get lifting and cardio.
For Kettlebells any of the classic Pavel programs from Enter the Kettlebell will work and are simple to follow. Start with a 35#/16kg if you're a normal size man, and work to get to a 24kg/53# in a few months. Stick to the 24kg until you can complete the 100 snatches in ten minutes test. By the time you get there, you'll be in pretty good shape and pretty strong, go back to barbells and you'll be shocked at your strength in the DL and squat.
Okay. So I have to buy just two kettlebells, then?
You really just need the 16kg to get started, then a few months later the 24kg.
If you catch the bug like me you'll end up with a bunch over the years.
Don't buy an adjustable they're shit and gay.
Is this what I should start with? Not seeing any other real in-depth description of Program Minimum from Enter the Kettlebell.
Idk that version looks annoying to me.
https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Fitness/Pavel%20Tsatsouline%20-%20Enter%20The%20Kettlebell%21%20Strength%20Secret%20of%20The%20Soviet%20Supermen%20%282006%2C%20Dragon%20Door%20Publications%29.pdf
If you don't want to just pay the $10 or borrow it from the library. At any rate the basic concept is something like: Do a bunch of KB swings, do a bunch of Turkish Get Ups. Don't worry too much about doing "more" reps, and don't add weight, just try to do the exercises and keep your muscles under tension. Both Swings and TGUs are exercises where you have to focus on form and they're easy to pretend to do. The program minimum will not take long each week, will work your whole body, will accustom you to lifting weights. If you can master the swing, it gets you ready for everything else, it's the basis of the clean and jerk, the snatch, all the fun stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=16kg+kettlebell&crid=V6L0W7O31JJ9&sprefix=16kg+kettl%2Caps%2C268&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Buy literally any cast iron 16kg kettlebell. I splurged on Rogue MiUSA ones, but that was after I already loved kettlebells and had spent a ridiculous quantity of time working with them so I didn't mind spending extra, and I was ordering enough stuff from Rogue to get free shipping. I also have some random enameled ones I got at a local store 14 years ago, and some off-brand Amazon ones in heavier weights I ordered because I got free shipping. AVOID GETTING KETTLEBELLS MEASURED IN POUNDS, GET THEM IN THE CLASSIC 8KG INTERVALS. I started with 50#ers I picked up at a local store, and it didn't matter to me at the time, but years later it pissed me off because the classic benchmarks are measured in KG and mine were always a little off.
That version does look annoying! I'm glad that that's not what you meant, because it looks way more complicated than was advertised in this thread. I will see if I can get the book itself. Swings look fun. Thanks for the purchase advice.
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Sweet, thanks. I'll take a look at the Program Minimum lifts somewhere. Hopefully there's a video. I don't want to buy the book. I'll check at the YMCA if they have any kettlebells there. Seems to me like a 35 pound kettlebell is a lot safer than loading up hundreds of pounds on your back and lowering yourself, but I might just not be creative enough coming up with failure scenarios.
I did 3 great chin-ups the other day. I was proud. Someday I'll be able to do 5, hopefully.
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It's simple. Put the gym in the garage.
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Different things work for different people. Like any other behavioral change, it's nearly impossible to have a single across-the-board strategy that is going to work for everyone. Some that I've heard of or have worked for people I know:
Pick a gym on your way to work (if you're lucky and have one available), so if you take a shower there, it at least cuts out the extra driving time, and every time you drive by, it's a reminder
Spouse or other training buddy; some people like the 'accountability' of committing to meeting with someone else at a particular time
The various suggestions around turning something into a 'habit'; I know a bunch of people who like the whole 'atomic habits' thing
Similarly, whole groups of folks like SMART goals; there are various ways to track your numbers, and you can pick a method that helps you get a 'win' nearly every time you go
"Change your identity"; I've heard that various folks feel like they just have to change their self-perception. "I'm a person who does X."
Rational analysis of costs/benefits; they say that if exercise were a drug, it would be the single most effective drug we've ever had at increasing a whole slew of health measures; a particular one that some people care about is old age quality of life, they really want to be able to play with or pick up their grandchildren or whatever
There is some research on this, and people have tried to put together some conceptual scaffolding; might be worth checking out. I learned about some of it here and here; I'd also pay attention to the discussion on flexibility and versions of "slack"
Obviously, life is full of tradeoffs, but instead of looking at the next highest value use of your time, think about how you could identify and trade off some of the lowest value uses of your time
A training buddy or a spouse would fix the problem entirely, because I like talking a lot and you can talk all you like during a lifting session. I think, also, if I had a home gym, there would be no problem either because there would be no or very little wait and you could put on a podcast or some music or an audiobook (or fall back on conversing with your training buddy) and you would be in your house after the workout instead of having to drive home. Another way to solve it would be to have an actually fun hobby for resistance training like rock climbing. With rock climbing, every session can be something to remember. But lifting weights at a gym alone is the worst, most boring time sink to me in a way that cooking, doing flash cards, reading, flossing and brushing my teeth, or showering is not. Even mowing the lawn is more compelling. Jogging on a treadmill is more compelling, though not by much.
I wear headphones at the gym and always have a podcast on. When my wife first started coming with me, I didn't wear them, because we were talking more, I was teaching her, etc. Now, we still talk a bit here and there, but I'm usually listening or doing flash cards or something on my phone between sets. She literally brings a laptop and sends work emails or reads books or whatever between sets. It does help that it's not a super high traffic gym (and we go when it's lighter in the morning), so there's not a lot of pressure to hurry. I've seen people who seem to be on actual voice phone calls, which is mildly bad gym etiquette, but they've all talked at low volumes, so I haven't really minded much.
I would observe that these are pretty mild concerns in my mind. Like I said, we go in the morning, and for me, it's almost as much time for my mind to wake up and just get my body going for the day. Would I instead be sitting around, having a cup of coffee, reading something, and not really doing much while I'm really just sort of slowly getting my mind awake for the day? Why not have a cup of coffee at the gym, listen to something, and also move my body/get some exercise in instead? By the end, I'm alert and ready to go for the day; in fact, I kinda feel less good during the day if I don't go to the gym in the morning. Exercise literally is a hellova drug, just one that is really really good for you.
I really feel like these mild concerns can be pretty easily overcome, even by just finding a training buddy... at least, once you've decided that you are going to incorporate it into your lifestyle. The much bigger barrier is, "Am I going to do this?" not, "How am I going to slightly improve the quality of this?"
You're right, the continuous decision to dedicate yourself is the bigger barrier. When I find a new job, I will consider it after I've settled in and everything.
You use headphones, not earbuds? Wireless, I take it? Does the sweat ruin them? Do you ever do aerobic activities wearing them? How much did they cost, and how often do you charge them?
My ears struggle with earbuds; I've tried several over the years, and I have particular features that make them hard to work for me. Both earbuds and headphones are commonly seen in the gym. Yes, mine are Bluetooth. I haven't noticed the sweat cause any problems, specifically. I've had them for several years; actually got them for free. I did replace the pads on them not too long ago (~$10 on Amazon), but I don't think sweat was significantly accelerating their deterioration. I do wear them when on a bike or stairmaster. I don't run much, but I can imagine that if you don't have a good fit, they might move around a bit when running. I do see other people running with headphones, so it seems doable. I usually charge them with my phone every night. I know I don't need to charge my phone every night, and I don't think I've ever run out of battery on my headphones (even when using them for a lot more time just doing stuff around the house all day; maybe when I was traveling and just never remembered to plug them in). I just have a habit of doing that every night, since we started keeping our phones outside of the bedroom at night, we just stash them away where they charge before we're getting ready for bed.
There are a couple exercises where I'm reaching overhead that they kinda almost get in the way, but it's almost never a problem that I can't easily manage. That reminds me, you talked about having to wait for equipment. There are a lot of strategies for that, but just having some basic flexibility in what you're doing is super helpful. As you learn more, it's easier. Pretty sure you have no chance of getting a squat rack for a long time today? Ehhh, just do split squats today and come back to what you had programmed for squats the next time (massive aside, but I preach front squats over back squats). I know some people are overly anal about their programming, but that's pretty pointless unless you're competing. It's probably better to have a variety of sort-of-similar exercises in your toolset anyway.
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