The Zen of Weight Lifting
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
At some point a few years ago I decided to join a gym for the first time. While I improved my posture and BMI a good bit, I might be happiest with the elimination of RSI in my wrists and hands. It started out as something annoying in my 20s, and got very painful in my late 30s. Gyroscopes, powerballs, and other recovery devices never seemed to work.
What keeps me going 2-3 days per week, most weeks, is the knowledge that RSI will come back without lifting weights. At the onset of the pandemic I tried working out from home, and while better than nothing, it isn't comparable because of equipment selection.
If you have repetitive stress issues from being in front of a keyboard all day, try going to the gym and use the machines that work your arms and forearms. Keep going until you feel you feel the burn.
I'll be a gym member for life, or at least as long as I type into a keyboard regularly. Maybe that's zen for me--life without pain from regular keyboard usage.
modern science /s
90% of the time they want something that can be done while sitting on their ass, like an injection or a brace.
They are, presumably, afraid that you might get "injured". To me the easiest way to get injured is to let one's back musculature to atrophy, and there are likely tens of millions people in the US alone with back problems because of this.
Unless you're about to die, or have a profitable chronic illness of some sort (such as, say, diabetes), US "healthcare" is borderline useless.
I hate visiting doctors for some reason. Probably because we're supposed to just default-respect them, and I just see no reason to do that with how they're not able to help me.
Edit: able to help rather than helping.
I also wish my wife and daughters would experiment with weight training, but they seem very resistant to it with some sort of fear of "bulking" up.
I wrote a essay on the benefits of weightlifting for knowledge workers https://ravinkumar.com/WhyFitness.html
It's so thrilling to see other folks here post experiences similar to mine. To echo them
Weightlifting has * Improved my appearance and subsequently self confidence * Eliminated RSI and ergonomic pains that used to occur on long coding day * Auto regulated my overall health and wellness by adding an objective measure of my capability * I feel as though its improved my sleep and mood * Given me a goal that I truly own and can achieve, unlike promotions or titles or money which others control
I personally went from being a typical skinny nerd in college, to an overweight one in my mid 20s (from completely neglecting my health) to losing 35 lbs, of mistake and regret, in my early 30s.
I urge anyone reading this, don't go through the same cycle and/or start making changes now if you can. It really is worth it.
It's not necessarily a self-discipline thing, because I've run thousands of miles over the past decade. When you run, you get outside, you go somewhere, you see and feel different things. There's a race ecosystem that encourages you to get in when you can barely run a mile without stopping and allows you to push yourself as much as you want. It's cheaper to start, it's easy to create routes that are as varied as you want them to be, and if you pick the right spots it's safer.
But the gym is the same sights, smells, and sounds over and over again. I wish I enjoyed it more; I love how I feel when I stick with it for a couple months! Any tips on this?
This example hits alternating muscle groups so you can minimize rest in between. If I do something like this I can usually get my heart rate up as well.
Thompson says that running has worked as a powerful medicine for the mind, and that, much like the analyst’s couch, the running trail has become his therapeutic space, allowing his traumatic memories to be processed in a safer way. Ultra runners, he explains, experience physiological changes in the brain, entering trance-like states that alter perception and enhance free movement of thoughts and memories.
https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/life-examined/jm-thompson...
Not a runner myself but found it pretty interesting. Goes a bit beyond the usual "runner's high" stuff. I imagine there are comparable effects across physical activities.
> When you run, you get outside, you go somewhere, you see and feel different things.
I disagree. When I run outside, I see the same thing every time. Maybe if I lived in a wide open meadow or forest where I could take infinite paths it would be different, but in a suburb/city, it's just buildings and streets. Not that interesting to me.
> There's a race ecosystem that encourages you to get in when you can barely run a mile without stopping and allows you to push yourself as much as you want
I hate group sports. I don't want to see other people at all when I'm exercising, so this 'race ecosystem' has no value to me.
> if you pick the right spots it's safer.
I don't really understand your point here. Are you saying running is inherently safer than weight lifting? I would need to see some evidence. Safer than strongman or powerlifting, maybe. Safer than light-moderate lifting with proper form? I'd be skeptical of that claim.
> But the gym is the same sights, smells, and sounds over and over again
Again, I feel the same way about running outdoors. For me the differences from you seem to be (1) I don't need novelty, I exercise for the health and physical sensation of exercising itself. If I want novelty or new sights I'll watch a movie or take a trip somewhere. (2) I love the sensation of lifting itself, just like I also enjoy the sensation of running or biking.
Maybe find a way to focus on the exercise, not the environment. Or just watch videos or listen to music. There's no way around it, weight lifting is inherently repetitive
It's pretty clear that different people want different things out of exercise, and will have different individual risk factors based on what they're doing.
Thinking about it more, I know that weight (fat) loss is often a goal for my exercise, and I think it's hard to do that while lifting. With running it's simple: Loosely track calories, and each mile on the road gives about 150 extra calories to play with. When I've tried to lose weight while lifting, I usually end up really hungry and struggle to find a balance.
Agreed. Diet controls weight, exercise controls fitness. I've lost tons of weight while having varying levels of lifting/cardio, sometimes almost no exercise at all. Just eat fewer calories and more substance: cabbage, broccoli, things like that.
It’s contrary to popular belief, but the truth is in the numbers. The calories burned in the most intense cardio session are negligible compared to your next meal, and with calorie trackers it’s something everyone can see now for themselves. Running is good for cardiovascular health and some people enjoy it for various reasons, but it’s not the tool for managing weight.
Interestingly, lifting weights over time does positively affects fat loss. Maintaining every additional pound of muscle takes more energy than maintaining a pound of body fat, and so having more muscle means you burn more calories by just breathing and existing. You don’t need to become a body building hulk for this effect to have a noticeable impact, either. Muscle is denser than fat. But, as with cardio, don’t bother measuring your calories burned for a weightlifting session. The benefit happens outside the gym.
If you get hungry between meals, drink more water (most people don’t drink enough, anyway) and have a lot of popcorn on hand to snack on. Popcorn is so voluminous yet has basically no calories, helping manage appetite.
The other big trick with weight is to develop consistent diet habits that you’ll follow consistently forever. Slow and steady wins the race. If you go hard and fast you might temporarily reach you goal but you won’t be able to maintain it. You need to develop habits that you’ll follow for life, because without it the fat will just come back later as your calories in go above your calories out.
Without strength training, you're as likely to lose muscle as you are to lose fat. (E.g., lose a pound per week on the scale and 50% may be fat tissue and 50% may be muscle tissue.)
With strength training, the ratio skews towards losing mostly or even entirely fat without losing muscle while having the same rate of weight loss all things being equal. (E.g., lose a pound per week on the scale and 90% may be fat tissue and 10% may be muscle, or 100% fat and 0% muscle.)
For people sufficiently new to strength training or for people who are sufficiently overfat, it's even possible to build new muscle tissue while losing fat, though this gets less and less likely the more advanced you get and the leaner you get. (E.g., lose a pound per week on the scale and 1.25 lbs of fat might be lost while 0.25 pounds of muscle might be gained.)
I can’t seem to find any mentality which makes lifting enjoyable at all for me. Yet somehow sitting on a bike for hours at a time, even indoors, is great fun.
This year, though, I got to enjoy it a bit more when I tried some "triathlon", sprint distance, which encompasses 20km of cycling (a joke for every serious cycler). Maybe next year I'll try to tackle the olympic distance.
Lifting with someone else can also go a long ways in making it more enjoyable although this can often be difficult. A personal trainer can be a great substitute if you have the disposable income.
Lastly quantifying your lifts is great. This is coming from someone that ran cross country in high school but now mostly sticks to the gym and Jiu Jutsu. I have the opposite problem :)
Go with someone and write down your gains and take photos.
any recommendations?
EDIT: thank you for the overwhelming response
Now put it back down
Nice, repeat 10x
All jokes aside, check out athlean-x on youtube
it can be you, do some pushups, or half pushups even.
> check out athlean-x on youtube
yes
Do one set of pushups each day for the next week (one set of pushups for me is 30-40 pushups in a row, I basically keep going until I can't anymore). After the first week, add in another exercise, situps are a good one. And the week after that, get a pullup bar or some dumbbells and add in another exercise. Keep adding a different exercise until you have 5 or 6. Do one set of each exercise with little to no rest in between each exercise. This should take less than five minutes each day. At any point if you fall out of habit, go back to square one, i.e. one set of pushups each day.
Once you have made this into a regular habit, you can start adding more reps or add a second workout (i.e. one in the morning, one in the afternoon). Continue to add more reps/exercises/workouts until you feel satisfied with the routine. For me, I do one set of 6 strength exercises per day. It takes me less than five minutes each day. Keep in mind this is just my strength routine. I also run, hike/walk, bike or surf 3-4 times a week. If I wasn't already in the habit of doing that, I would add some cardio to my daily workout (jumping jacks, up/downs, etc...)
I wouldn't even consider getting a gym membership unless you have a very specific need for a certain routine or set of equipment. For example some folks like to mix in cardio on a machine (rower, elliptical, etc...) with weight machines in a single workout. Keeping all that gear at home would be tough. That is fine, but just remember that getting to and from the gym requires a time and effort, and that can result in losing the habit. So only go this route if you either have a very specific need that you can't replicate at home, or if you know you won't drop the habit.
A barbell and some plates w/ rack will cover the main lifts. Squats, deadlifts, presses (chest and shoulder) are the first ones to build. I recommend Starting Strength for an on-ramp to get going. Adjustable dumbbells are great too- plenty of options out there. Some of this equipment is expensive, look for used and consider it an investment in health.
Happy Lifting!
The exercise routine itself matters less, IMO, than building the habit. Some basic calisthenics (bodyweight exercises) would be fine to start. You could add dumbbells or a kettlebell at some point to add weight for a minimum of space.
The exercise I "enjoyed" the most was barbell lifting: deadlift, squat, benchpress, cleans, rows, etc. Starting Strength was a really good read for that, and there are videos to go with them. I also worked with a trainer at the gym for a while to get the form correct. That all requires a fair bit of equipment or gym access, though.
After reading the book, I would still go to a personal trainer. A few hundred dollars to have someone help you learn an important life-long skill is good value. Book is great, but having someone watch over you and correct you in the beginning is still very important.
https://thefitness.wiki/faq/starting-strength-and-stronglift...
Both will be modified as you become more experienced - you might tweak your form to take account for EG short upper body, or you might find you respond better to volume rather than intensity in your programming. But it's like a lot of things - you need to learn the rules before you can break the rules. I'd say it's a good, simple starting point to find those things out about yourself.
There are also a lot of Starting Strength adjacent companies that also provide good programmes - Barbell Medicine, Barbell Logic, Andy Baker etc.
The way to trade fat for muscle is to continually stress your muscles (by increasing the weight you can lift), and getting enough sleep (which I am bad at). Also, don't each too much (especially sugars).
+ Beginners: do air squats (multiple sets and repetitions) and static squats / wall sits (for as long as is comfortable. rest 90 seconds and repeat). Once you are stronger, do the same while holding a gallon of water.
+ Making Progress?: The above + yoga moves targeted at strength. Try out planks and wall hand stands. Single leg split squats (your back leg on your sofa).
+ Feeling Strong?: All of the above + adjustable kettlebells (let me know if you need recs) + gymnastic rings (you can attach the straps to a high place at a public park, or drill some hooks into your ceiling, or buy a doorway mount). Check out the bodyweightfitness community on reddit.
+ Advanced: This takes up space and costs a decent amount of $, but you'll need to build a home weightlifting gym with a barbell, olympic weight plates, and a squat stand / pullup bar / flat bench. Check out the homegym community on reddit.
Make sure you get the main items: Olympic bar, squat rack, maybe a multi-gym machine thingy with ropes and weights, and hand weights of some sort. Also get one of those modern scales if weight is one of your goals, it will record your weight to 2 decimals on an app for you.
For motivation, I pay an online gym some money to do a training + diet + measurements program. I've done weights for a good long while now, so I don't need the detailed instructions so much, but they do also offer videos of every exercise, exact recipes for every meal (with my goals in mind), and instructions about how to measure yourself, all on web/mobile. It even lets you record what weights you're doing and has a convenient clock to measure your resting time. Coach then checks in now and again to see how I'm doing.
You definitely can’t hit your legs as hard as you can with a bar and a rack, but kettlebells are much much more “small apartment friendly”. You can hide them in a closet easily.
You can get a lot of value starting off from just bodyweight exercises as well.
YMMV, but the app FitBod has done wonders for me.
If you want lean, its diet. Only.
If you want fitness, circuit training. Can be done in your living room.
If you want swoll, hit the gym.
Honestly, a gym membership is worth it, if you live close to one. While you can get decent results from home gyms, I've found the jump from "decent" to "good" results takes a bit of money/equipment. There are muscles groups that basically require heavy weights to really get good results.
Leg workouts in particular are really easy to cap out on without equipment. I can personally do body-weight squats indefinitely (probably). If I tried to do weighted squats with dumbbells, I'm sure my arms would tire well before my legs do.
A good leg press machine will run you the same price as a decade of cheap gym memberships, and that's not even getting into weights or other useful equipment.
I personally find it valuable to travel to the gym. It's only 5 minutes for me, but once I leave, I'm committed to a degree that is harder to maintain when I workout at home.
Also, to answer your question: yoga is great. It's a very underrated exercise (particularly for men). It builds core strength and flexibility. The wrestler DDP has a series on it that people rave about.
The best advice I read was to start small, make it a regular thing and go from there. Like seriously, I started only working out 15-20min each session 4-5 days a week for the first 2-3 weeks. I enjoyed it so much and saw great results that now I'm at 45-50min minutes each session a few months in.
Start with basically no weight (1kg x 2 + bar for anything with arms, 2kg x 2 + bar for anything legs). It's cardio + weights, and they cover all the major muscle groups, and you're doing fairly rapid repetitions of a bunch of different lifts.
After 3-6 months doing _that_ class, I would then start supplementing that with occasionally (once every few weeks) doing a smattering of the lifts, but "heavy" and only a few reps out on the gym floor.
It's a great way to expose you to the lifts in a group setting, the instructors (in my experience) are always up for a quick chit-chat afterwards about form + safety, and once you've mastered the movements, it's pretty low equipment to set up a station at home and follow along with videos.
...but... it's super helpful to have a professional who can monitor your posture + movements and guide you to good habits when you're starting out.
I was typical nerd in high school, and now I can rattle of all the different curls, chest presses, flys, squats, deadlifts, clean and press, lunges, planks, crunches, blah blah blah, and I've enough confidence in my form and not hurting myself to pick up a bar + some weights and do it at home. It's a really nice skill to have and it's something I really miss... I'll have to make time and pick it back up!
https://renaissanceperiodization.com/rp-gym-free
The company is staffed nearly entirely by PhD researchers who also compete in sport:
https://renaissanceperiodization.com/team
It is imo the best source of cutting-edge science-based exercise and nutrition info, and while they work with elite athletes, they also produce a lot of guidance specifically for everyday people who want to casually get in shape with the minimal amount of effort.
They're small enough that you can store and use them in most rooms, and in my experience, the ease with which you can add and remove weight reduced the friction of deciding whether or not to work out, which helps a lot when trying to start a consistent habit.
They're not as versatile as an actual gym, but I got a pair of these when between gyms for a couple of years, and you can do a lot with them if you're creative. (For example--instead of squats and deadlifts, which would have required far more weight than I had available, I switched to lunges and one-legged squats).
https://www.hybridcalisthenics.com/routine
I've never been able to keep doing a program like this, but I'm a couple of months in and loving it.
I'll give a plug for Mind Pump [1] and MAPS Fitness Products programs [2]. No affiliation aside from being a customer. I just finished the MAPS Starter program (a three month program). With one of their 60% discounts it set me back less than $40. I bought a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a $30 fitness ball and was able to do everything in the program. I did get a bench, too, but it wasn't strictly necessary (though I preferred the stability of the bench for certain exercises).
Tao of Stefan [4] has some pretty thorough reviews of MAPS products.
As for their programs, you can get on their mailing list and wait for one of their (usually) monthly 50% discounts. Or you can get Sal DiStefano's book [3] and use some of the programs in there. There's one program that can be done entirely with resistance bands - at home or on the go.
Or you can just watch all their free content on YouTube and figure it out from there!
1. https://www.youtube.com/c/MindPumpTV 2. https://www.mindpumpmedia.com/maps-fitness-products 3. https://theresistancetrainingrevolution.com/ 4. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyAV1LG0A66Hd75HSSco76Q/vid...
I did all of the above many years ago and even went to a seminar taught by Mark. If you don't know anything about strength training, this is the path.
Diet is super important. If you do not eat correctly you will not make progress. More importantly, don't expect strength training to be a weight loss program. It is not. In fact, you could get fatter and stronger at the same time.
If becoming lean is your primary objective, go to a knowledgeable nutritionist and get on a keto-type diet. Train yourself to be strict and consistent about your diet. It might take you a year or more to develop the right habits. Diet is EVERYTHING. Go take walks every day as your exercise.
I cannot over-stress the idea that diet is the most important thing to focus on if one is interested in becoming lean. For most of us we have to shake really bad eating habits that may have been cemented into our brains over decades. This is tough. And this is the first thing you need to work on body composition is a priority.
Having changed eating habits you can then start to look into exercise to optimize muscle and strength to the degree that might interest you. There's a difference between body building and strength training. In a nutshell, someone with big muscles isn't necessarily stronger. I'd rather be stronger.
So, diet first, exercise moderately until you learn how to eat better and achieve the kind of balance you are after and then add a higher level of exercise to get stronger. You will need to eat more. That's why it is important to learn to eat well.
For me the key is consistency and social pressure. I try to exercise every day (because that is more instinctive than any other schedule) at the same time (when my kids go to sleep). That means, when the time to exercise comes, it feels natural to do it. I keep a log which days I exercised and which days I did not, and I report the data to my friends. By the way, I don't exercise all muscles every day; I alternate two types of exercise on one day, the remaining two types on the other day.
Another thing that works for me, psychologically, is outcome independence. I treat my exercise as a virtuos thing, whether it brings the desired results or not. If I exercised, I did my duty; if I didn't exercised, I failed to do my duty. Whether the muscles actually increase and the fat actually decreases, that depends on the gods; I am just making sure that I did my part. This is useful, because the progress is real but happens on long time scale, and I need encouragement on short time scale. Of course, after you succeed to exercise regularly for a few months, you will see the progress, and that will motivate you to continue; but the problem is that you need greatest motivation at the very beginning, while you still have zero results. (It is easiest to give up during the first month. After half year, the change will be so obvious that you will want to stay that way.)
Don't overdo it. Muscles also need some time to recover; for me it is rougly two days (which is why I alternate the exercises). Take sufficient breaks between the sets; this is easier to do at home, because it doesn't feel like you are wasting your time; between the sets you can browse web, watch TV, or do dishes. Sometimes I just watch a movie, pause it at a random moment, do a set, unpause and watch again... and at the end, it doesn't even feel like I exercised; I was just watching a movie and taking an occassional short break. Generally, if you can somehow make it fun, that helps a lot. (After a few months, you will not need external sources of fun; the exercise itself will become pleasurable. But first you need to get there.) Never punish yourself for failing to exercise; reflect on the fact, then forgive yourself and start again.
In addition to strength training you should also do some cardio or take a walk regularly. Once I had a job that was 20 minutes by foot from my home; that was optimal. I try to minimize car use, and during covid also started minimizing mass transit use; now I always check the map first, and if my destination is within 30 minutes walking distance, I go there by foot. I think about it as saving time, because I am going to where I need, and I am exercising at the same time.
Now, strength training itself can add you muscle, but will only remove a little fat. People usually overestimate how much energy is burned when exercising. Most energy is spent by simply keeping your body alive (body temperature, breathing, heartbeat, etc.), which is more or less a constant amount each day. An exercise will probably just add 5% or 10% to it. The inevitable conclusion is that to lose fat, you need to eat less. Even worse, you need to eat less every day, otherwise the calories you lost in a week can be regained in a day. On the other hand, starving can hurt you; your body needs enough proteins and vitamins. That means that you need to change the proportion of proteins and vitamins to fats and carbohydrates; on other words, not (just) eat less but eat differently. Raw vegetables with every meal. Proteins from meat, fish, eggs, diary, beans. (That means lots of beans, if you are a vegetarian. Like, literally every day.) Avoid sugar, coke, white bread. You don't need to get religious about this, just remove the greatest sources of sugar/carbs, learn three new recipes containing beans, and always take a raw vegetable as a side dish. (If you ignore this advice, you will get muscles hidden under fat, which is where I am now; but even that is an improvement over all fat and no muscles.)
etc. What others already said. Enough sleep (that means 8 hours minimum).
By the way, being healthy can take a lot of time. Eight hours of sleep + eight hours at work + commute, that already leaves you like 4-7 free hours on a workday. If you want healthy meals, you probably need to cook them yourself. Then you exercise... and there is little time left. Plus, you probably have other duties, maybe also kids, etc. You need to be smart about this. (It is one of the reasons I exercise at home instead of going to the gym; a few minutes saved every day.) I don't have a perfect solution for this, but two important components are: short commute (even if it means somewhat lower salary) and a big freezer (so I can prepare meals for several days at once).
There are essentially no downsides except a time expenditure and increased risk of lifting related injuries - vastly outweighed by the benefits (health, strength, aesthetics). The tricky part is just doing it regularly enough at first that your body and mind figure out that these stresses are so good for you, and then (at least for me) it’s pretty self-sustaining.
Is that a reasonable concern? Or am I overthinking it?
trying to beat PR or casually exercising?
The most dangerous for dropping weight imo are bench and squat, and both are easily mitigated with the bars adjust to the correct height.
Ex: https://www.garage-gyms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/squat...
So far my experience has been really positive, I find it hard to put myself in such situations as long as:
1. Always start with low weight and try to check if you're "feeling" the right part of your body, sort of like a form + mind-muscle connection check
2. If you plan exceed a previous maximum, try to
2.1. Do that with someone around you, or
2.2. Do it in really small increments
A quality adjustable fitness bench with a bunch of free weights can go a long way. Though important to note you can still injure yourself with free weights (muscle injury with long heal time).
The key is to start small and work your way up in reps/resistance over time. Your body will tell you what you can do.
I’ve been stuck with 185lb on my chest (modest difficulty at the time). I couldn’t lift it due to fatigue. That particular time, I was able to get it onto my lap.
My solution after a few uncomfortable situations was to buy a squat rack with 1 inch safety increments. Rouge fitness sells one. Most racks have 2” safety holes but that’s not enough granularity for full range and safety imo.
There are some competent personal trainers who do video-based sessions. Start light, and focus on the form.
A lot of lifts are inherently "safe" if you do them correctly (back squats, deadlifts, olympic lifts). If you want to bench press without a spotter, you need safety rails.
Start light, way lighter than you think you should and work almost exclusively on form. Then each workout increase your weight by 5#s. The entire time it's critical to keep watching your form. Then as you get heavier and heavier you will be much more capable of reading your body and deciding of a weight increase is warranted.
Like others have also stated most racks come with safety straps or bars, feel free to use those, especially when you go really heavy. But if you follow the above steps you more than likely won't ever put yourself in a position where you aren't prepared for the weight you have racked.
If you want to test your 1 rep max or something then do it with a friend there to spot you. But that's not something you should be doing every workout, it's more of a once in a while thing.
I was lucky and had a friend who also lifts, so for the first 6 months we lifted together 4 times a week. It's a big help to lift with someone initially so that they can critique your form and keep you accountable. These days though I work out alone and I look forward forward to that hour alone nearly every day. The routine and the goals and the tracking make me feel so good about my day, as the article mentions, even if I get nothing else done I am still happy having pr'd some lift or knowing how good my form was on squats or whatever.
I highly suggest Strong for those looking for an app to track their workouts in. It's the best I have found.
https://startingstrength.com/article/muscle-imbalances-and-i...