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Lifting


lifting weights

One of the things I've been doing recently is lifting weights. This isn't exactly news to most people, as I've been exercising seriously on and off for more than a decade now. But what's different this time? Well, I think the biggest difference lies in the fact that I'm not just lifting bodyweight. This time around, I'm trying to graduate to more serious weights.





Okay, so maybe more serious is a little bit over the top. I'm only lifting a max of 80 to 100 pounds on the bar as it is, which is hardly something any serious weight training enthusiast would call impressive, not when most of them are repping 200 to 300 on the deadlift regularly. As far as the weightlifting world is concerned, I'm just a blip. A baby.

But with this shift from pure bodyweight lifting comes a shift from trying to lose weight to trying to gain mass. To which I'm pretty sure most of you would go and say, but dude you're already pretty massive as it is. Fat man today, remember? And I'm going to say yeah, I'm pretty massive.

The thing is, though, is that I'm fat-massive. Not only is being fat massive not something you'd call densely massive, but it's also the bad type of massive to be. Being composed of mostly fat leads to a lot of terrible life illnesses, especially when you hit your later years in life, and honestly, that bites. But shift some of that weight from pure fat to pure muscle, and a lot of nice, happy changes occur.

You start moving better. That's because there's more muscle supporting your frame, which means that the symptoms of stuff like osteoathritis are compensated for by denser muscle. You sacrifice a little flexibility by packing on the armadillo hide, but on the whole, I'd much rather be rigid on my own two feet than flexible in a wheelchair due to arthritis-riddled knees.

You also get the ability to carry heavier things. That comes in really handy here in the Philippines. I remember one time I had to move a small fridge up a flight of stairs due to severe flooding, and while I was able to do it, I can't help but imagine just how much better things would've been if I were able to deadlift that baby without throwing out my back. The same goes for carrying grocery bags too.

And finally, your bones get better. There's an old saying that my dad used to tell me about my grandfather, who was a swimming coach. He always made his team drink milk in order to ensure that their bones had plenty of calcium. That's because swimming works the muscles, but not the bones; apparently, working in a low-gravity environment doesn't do much for strengthening your bones. Who knew?

But this is also the same reason why astronauts don't spend too much time out in space. Stronger bones are made when you lift a weight against gravity. Which is why lifting weights is such a good exercise for folks with osetoporosis.

I'm nowhere near lifting what monsters like Eddie Hall or Brian Shaw are lifting. And I'm not even sure that I want to get to that point. But I definitely enjoy lifting weights more than plodding along on the treadmill (although a good brisk walk is good too, once in a while, don't get me wrong). Do I have a set goal? Nothing concrete as of the moment. But I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm happy with being able to consistently lift my current max weight by the end of this year.

Let's just hope I don't get too lazy, eh?
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