Over the last couple of weeks I have been making some unusually big gains in strength since I got back into weight training. It’s felt so amazing that I can almost liken it to a drug addiction – not that I know what that feels like exactly. I started in November of 2009 by joining a small gym near my house. It had been nearly 15 years since I touched a weight with any degree of seriousness. I started strength training when I was 20 years old right before joining the Navy in 1986. In 1989 I was certified as a personal trainer and went to work training clients privately as well as fitness clubs. In 1998 I changed careers and stopped weight training altogether. From 1998 to 2008 I went from 200 lbs to 290 lbs. I spent a year from November 2008 to November 2009 losing most of the fat I had accumulated by walking, running, and eating healthy food in very small portion sizes. As a reward for going a full year without faltering on my commitment, I joined a gym knowing the money spent would not go to waste. Here are my approximate starting strength levels for the basic movements:

Dead Hang Pullups: 0
Pulldowns: 90 lbs. (8 reps)
Cable Rows: 70 lbs. (8 reps)
BB Bench Press: 115 lbs (8 reps)
DB Incline Bench Press: 35 lb DBs (8 reps)
DB Shoulder Press: 25 lbs DBs (8 reps)
Leg Press: 400 lbs. (8 reps)

These are the weights I am currently lifting:

Dead Hang Pullups: 7
Pulldowns: 170 lbs. (8 reps)
Cable Rows: 150 lbs. (8 reps)
BB Bench Press: 205 lbs (4 reps)
DB Incline Bench Press: 70 lb DBs (6 reps)
DB Shoulder Press: 65 lbs DBs (6 reps)
Leg Press: 800 lbs. (5 reps)

So on average I have about doubled my strength in most movements. It’s amazing how good it feels to be able to lift these kinds of weights. A great deal of this adaptation is neuromuscular rather than actual new muscle tissue development but I estimate I have gained about 10-15 lbs. of new muscle since I started. These kinds of numbers make the act of going to the gym kind of like going to an amusement park. I can’t wait to see how far I can take my strength potential. It’s going to be a great new year.

It’s so easy to talk ourselves out of exercising. Making excuses just seems like a mental process we can’t escape. There is something I have found that really works at integrating a fitness routine into your lifestyle so that it becomes difficult to talk yourself out of. This one thing is the MOST important thing to keep in mind in the earliest stages of an exercise plan…

Consistency.

At the beginning, consistency training is EVERYTHING.

When we think of getting into shape we immediately think of getting our body into shape, but we rarely put very much thought into changing our mindsets.  Since our minds are making all the decisions its important that we wire ourselves to first ensure we stick to any fitness routine we plan to undertake. After all, whats the point of starting on a fitness program if you just end up quitting a few weeks or months into it? Training ourselves to be consistent is all about training the mind. If you don’t do this first, then you are MUCH more likely to quit your fitness program.

When we wake up in the morning and look at that difficult and grueling workout ahead of us, it’s very easy for our mind to talk us out of it. The secret to making this automatic is:

Don’t make initial workouts hard or difficult.

Make them easy. So easy that your mind can’t really come up with valid excuses not to do it.

In fact don’t even make them work – make them fun. Go for a walk. How hard is walking around the block? OK, it may be difficult for some. If walking around the block is difficult then walk 100 feet and back. It doesn’t matter very much WHAT you do as much as it does that you DO SOMETHING, AND DO IT CONSISTENTLY!

Start with 3 times per week, every other day. By making the exercise simple, it becomes much easier to stick to and build that consistency you need. Over time your mind will re-wire and begin to think of this as a very necessary activity in your life. Once that consistent foundation is built, you can start increasing the intensity of your workouts and you will have a MUCH easier time sticking to your routines and feeling great.

If you are anything like me you will actually start to have the opposite problem – staying OUT of the gym on days when you need to rest.