Weight Lifting & Starting Strength.
I was a relatively skinny guy in High School, standing at 6′1″ and weighing around 150lb. But of course, Freshmen year in college fixed that “problem”. Instead of the infamous freshmen 15, I overachieved and got the freshmen 35. But weighing 185lb isn’t ridiculous at 6′1″ (actually quite standard depending on body fat %), so I wasn’t obese or anything, just overweight and out of shape. Anyways, about a year ago, I decided to take up weight lifting and since then, I’ve gotten pretty passionate about the subject.
I started researching online, visiting different sites and forums on weight lifting and learning the numerous exercises available. In the end, my research lead me to the book “Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training” by Mark Rippetoe and let me tell you, it is an amazing book for novice lifters. Coach Rippetoe’s lifting philosophy is to focus on major compound exercises involving the barbell. In the book, he dedicates a 30-50 page chapter on each of five main lifts: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, (Overhead) Press and Power Cleans. He preaches doing exercises/lifts where it works your body as a system instead of individual parts. The five lifts he emphasizes in the book provides functional strength, as in they are actually useful in real life. Furthermore, he mentions the exercise machines available in modern gym and says:
“For instance, there is no way for a human being to utilize the quadriceps muscles in isolation from the hamstrings in any movement pattern that exists independent of a machine designed for this purpose. No natural movement can be performed that does this. Quadriceps and hamstrings always function together, at the same time, to balance the forces on either side of the knee. Since they always work together, why should they be exercised separately? Because somebody invented a machine that lets us?”
Coach Rippetoe especially emphasized Squats in the book, saying it is a poorly understood exercise since its fairly technical. Wrong forms of squatting can lead to injuries and knee problems, which is one of the reasons why squat has a bad reputation among ignorant weight lifters. He summarized the importance of squats in any training routine in this quote:
“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed squat.”
After having squats as a regular exercise in my lifting routine, I can say I strongly agree with coach Rippetoe. There is nothing quite like doing a heavy, deep squat. It truly works out the bar down, which is basically the whole body. I personally actually despise doing squats, since it is such a tough exercise and really demands a lot from the person both physically and mentally. Every time I finish squatting, I always think to myself “Phew…don’t have to do this for the next couple days”. But since I know the benefits of doing squats, I really got no other choice but to suck it up and do it. Especially after reading coach Rippetoes infamous line “There are very few certainties in the gym, except that if you don’t squat, you’re a pussy”. Anyways, Strength Strength is an amazing book for new lifters and is universally considered as novice lifter’s bible in the weight training community.
Onto my own progress. When I started lifting around a year ago, I was obviously weak as hell. I was barley squatting 115lb, benching 110lb and I was too scared to do the deadlift. Fast forward to a years time, I would have to say I’m doing pretty well. I am currently squatting (these are all in 3 sets of 5 reps) 235lb, bench pressing 205lb and deadlifting 250lb. Plus, I can do dips with a 45lb dumbbell attached, not too shabby I’d say! As for my weight, I actually haven’t lose much weight in terms of numbers, but appearance wise, there’s a huge difference. I am currently still floating around 180-185lb, but I have much more lean muscle and cut down my body fat percentage. My quads, chest, shoulders and arms all got much bigger and more defined. All in all, I’m still trying to get stronger and improve my main lifts while keeping around the same weight. It’s really tough as diet is a very important part of working out. But all in all, I’m really glad I picked up weight lifting, it has become more than a hobby, but more of a life style for me. I am much healthier now, and much more confident about my appearance.
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