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It's been a little over a month since I've started lifting weights at the gym. I'm 5'5" and I was 155 lbs, never did any form of real weight lifting in my life. I was one of those guys who thought they could just get strong with just curls and push-ups haha.
A week into it I was lifting waaaay too much weight... I didn't know what the fuck I was doing =_=. I knew that I should be lifting light weights but that was under the assumption that I had some muscle when in reality I had practically nothing. It was the first time ever stepping into the gym so I should have known better.
As embarrassing as it is what I was struggling to do was like 115 lbs on the bench press, 90 lbs on the squat, and the deadlifts were actually ok because I was scared of them of the most (ooo the irony) so fortunately I lifted the perfect amount of weight for a complete novice. As light as those weights might seem to you guys I was doing horribly with them, at least I understood the importance of keeping good form but if I can't handle the weight then everything just goes to hell. Otherwise I would've injured myself in a way I wouldn't be able to recover from.
I was trying to copy the sets I see some of you guys doing like 5x5 for each workout with like 100+kg or something lol. I read a lot of the TL Health and Fitness posts on a daily basis about people's progression with their workouts and I admire them a lot, but for some strange reason I never put up reading the OPs and their links word for word on top priority... With the bench press I remember struggling like hell to get through the 1st set. And of course being stupid as I was, going into the 3rd rep of the 2nd set and my arms failed and nearly snapped my own neck off if it weren't for a really awesome quick to act guy who came to my rescue. That was the real turning point for me there... Before that I minor incidents of failing because of heavy weights- with the squats I wouldn't be able to finish a 2nd set and would fall over in the middle of it, I tried doing Dumbbell chest presses and ended up with a bruise on my rib cage... Yeah it was stupid...
But after the bench press incident I decided to stop being an idiot and read up the Starter Strength book and followed it word for word. Dropped my weights down for each exercise like 10 - 15 lbs each and work towards that perfect 5/5/5. Slowly but surely I finally completed a week of workouts in all my sets in perfect form with weights that I couldn't even squeeze a 2nd set out of. I think that I can now safely say that this is my first real strength gain right?
It's only been a little over a month, a month isn't that long. But with the failures and DOMS in all the muscle groups, I feel like I just went through a crazy life changing event lol. Lifting weights to build strength is by the far the most humbling thing I've ever done. Because when all your other friends aren't going to the gym and just playing games, being the only guy pumping that iron is a huge ego boost even if you try to hide it. Man I wouldn't mind at all if you guys laughed at me but fuck I thought I was tough shit that first week LOL. But reading Starter Strength changed all that when I learned that to be considered "decent" you had to be lifting your bodyweight and much much more. So that meant that I am pretty much a lady boy with nothing but body fat hanging off my body.
Well now here's what caused me to blog about this, because I wouldn't have blogged about anything when I feel embarrassed as hell about how lightweight my workouts are... I haven't weighed myself since my last doctors appointment which was about 2 months ago. I weighed myself today and I weigh 140 lbs, I shit you not. I didn't exercise or diet at all a month before then so that means that I dropped roughly about 15 lbs in a month. I made sure to check twice on two different scales too. 140 lbs WAS MY WEIGHT LOSS GOAL FOR 2 YEARS WHAT THE FUCK, I burned all that shit up in a month I still can't friggin believe it. I did start doing Intermittent Fasting almost a week ago, but I doubt that it made that majority of the fat loss. Doing nothing but cardio never did anything like this for me, it's just so ridiculous that I wanna grab a third scale and re-weigh myself.
[TL;DR]
What I'm trying to say is, man if you want to burn some fat and gain some muscle, make sure you know what you're doing and you WILL get results. I am the WEAKEST guy in the free weight area, if I can get results then anybody can. Today I just found out that I blew away my weight loss goal without even knowing it. Just head over onto the TL Health and Fitness forums, READ EVERYTHING in the OP or your going to hurt yourself or just waste a lot of time at the gym.
As for myself I'm still in shock. The fact that I still have some fat hanging around means that I need more muscle gains. All I can do is keep working slowly and steadily week by week. I'll probably have to consult the nutrition forums again to see if I'm losing too much weight too quickly and adjust my calories.
Thanks if you read folks, this is just the first chapter in my strength training, I still have years of training to come.
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Congrats on your weight loss. Although I didn't know 5x5 can be used as part of a diet program. Figured people did high reps/more cardio type of routine.
I'm glad you got to experience humility through this. It's good to receive an ego check once in awhile and pull you back to down to ground level. Anyways, good luck on your progress.
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i was incredibly weak for the longest time in my life as well. but im not embarassed about it because i know i am working hard to increase my strength, gain weight, and look hawt. no one can give you disrespect for that.
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Congrats on your getting fit. I lol'd hard when I read that you were benching more than you were squatting.
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Hell 115 pounds was my max on the bench if I remember back to junior year of hs. I thought it was pretty weak too, but there happened to be a lot of kids in my weight-lifting class that could also only bench around 115. Some even less. I wouldn't worry about what your max lift is. Every person is different.
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well thanks for making me feel even weaker than I already am...haha jk, kinda...when I first started, I couldn't even bench the bar. Like 2 sets of <5 and I'd be done. I've gone to the gym on and off since then and can now do 95, almost 100 lol. Also finally managed to get my weight past 100lbs~ hehe yeah I'm a really small guy. Ironically, my initial goal was to bench my weight but I kept gaining weight in muscle as I gained strength so I still have yet to reach that goal T_T
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Could be worse, my first time at the gym ten or so years ago when I was 12-13 I did not know the area and ended up going into the women's gym area. Me being quite nervous I didn't really notice the sex ratio going on.
And ya, I noticed kinda quickly that I was basically the weakest person in the area (still in women's area) and I left like 20 minutes after I got there lol.
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First of all leave your ego at the gym door. Not sure why you're finding it embarrassing lifting lighter then gym goers around you. Everybody has to start somewhere.
Second of all please watch your diet (about 6kg a month seems quite drastic) - seems like you're losing not only fat but muscle along with it. Please balance your cut and do it slowly. Seems like you want to gain - cutting like that is ant going to help your situation at all.
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On August 24 2012 10:25 Game wrote:
Congrats on your getting fit. I lol'd hard when I read that you were benching more than you were squatting.
Yeah I know @_@ its weird as hell. I actually have a bench press set up at home that I used to use a whole lot so that could be why. Never in my life have I ever Squatted until I hit the gym. Even in poor form, my first workout with squats gave the worst DOMS I have ever experienced in my life.
@QQAura
6kg a month IS drastic. I just didn't know I was losing that much until I weighed myself. I'm just a really fat ass mother fucker for not noticing lol. I'm not entirely sure if I'm chewing out my muscles but if I do drop down to 135 I'm just going to have to really stuff my face with all kinds of shit. I just don't want to get fat while putting on more weight, muscle weight is fine but fat can go to hell. But yeah gains are now my biggest priority, I need more muscles, I'm happy with the weight I loss so screw eating less calories.
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It's true everyone starts as a "noob" but you just have to accept that and strive to be better. There are always going to be pricks at the gym who think they run things because they've had more experience. It happens inside the gym and pretty much everywhere else in the world.
Hopefully things continue to get better!
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Am I the only one who doesn't like to do things like benchpress and other compounds?
I only do isolations. Check out Scooby's Workshop if you want to learn a fuckton about how to lift weights and create a plan properly, all for free!
You don't even need to go to the gym. I sure don't, and I've saved a crapton of money compared to when I did.
In the end, though, it is better to do something than to do nothing at all.
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@Snuggles
6kg a month IS drastic. I just didn't know I was losing that much until I weighed myself. I'm just a really fat ass mother fucker for not noticing lol. I'm not entirely sure if I'm chewing out my muscles but if I do drop down to 135 I'm just going to have to really stuff my face with all kinds of shit. I just don't want to get fat while putting on more weight, muscle weight is fine but fat can go to hell. But yeah gains are now my biggest priority, I need more muscles, I'm happy with the weight I loss so screw eating less calories.
Cut to where you want to be and do a clean bulk so just eat slightly above your maintenance about 100-200 calories above if you don't want to put on too much fat. When you're bulking you will always put on fat whether you like it or not and good metabolism or not. Yes prioritise your muscle over the fat, you're bulking now remember forget about the fat just think about your end goal which is a reasonable muscle mass weight you want to be at by the end of he year. For example i started lifting and bulking early 2012 with 60kg lean body mass and my end goal of the year will be 70kg lean body mass. Naturally you can only put on about 10kg muscle mass p/year more or less. So don't waste your time cutting, so remember EAT EAT EAT. Good to hear that you're going a different path with your calories. Make sure you're doing the big 3 (compound exercises) - deadlifts, squats and benching
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Congrats on your strength gains!
I remember the first time I went to the gym. It was a gruesome experience, wish I had known how much information was on the internet all those years ago.
My gym tips: Stay humble, eat your oats, squats, try to cook amazing meals to make bulking enjoyable to the max, be cool and squats
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EPT
