Reflections on one week back in the gym

Let me say up front, I really enjoy lifting weights. As far as cardio is concerned, I’d rather have a root canal. There is nothing more boring to me than a treadmill, elliptical machine or stationary bike.

With that said, this week has stunk!  Not working out for two years has majorly hurt me. No, really. My hamstrings hurt, my triceps hurt, my abs hurt…EVERYTHING hurts!  However, this hurt is of the good variety. It feels good to be back in the gym lifting weights. The other thing that has caused me trouble is weakness. I am dying to jump right back in where I left off and it just cannot happen. A two year break would wipe out anyone’s strength, but unfortunately when I hurt my back, I ended up with some significant nerve damage, particularly my left leg. If it helps you understand, I have no feeling on the outside of my left leg, from my knee down to my left two toes. That caused a decent amount of atrophy in my calf muscle particularly—the size difference is visibly apparent. It is amazing what one small protrusion into a nerve channel in your spine can do to the rest of your body (I’m sure there’s a sermon illustration in there somewhere, I just can’t quite pinpoint it). I have to be very careful with deadlifts and back extensions. Perfect form is imperative.

Of course, you can’t forget the knee! Leg extensions are right out. Too much pressure on the joint can cause more issues. A few years ago, we were loading up the leg press with every 45 pound plate we could find in the gym. The most I ever pressed was 1210 pounds. 200 pounds was difficult this week. That is a bit discouraging because leg day is my favorite workout.

It was not all bad news though. In fact, overall, the week has been great. Despite a few headaches and disappointments, it does feel great to get back to iron pushing. I have been able to reconnect with one of my best friends to lift together. This is key for me. As much as I enjoy lifting weights, without that partner, it is too easy for me to sleep right through my workout. He encourages me to push that one more rep that I’d otherwise probably give up on. And by encourage, I mean he’ll let the weight sit on me until I can find a way to push it off.

One struggle I’m having is counting calories burned. I’m having difficulty pinpointing how many calories I’m burning so that I can account for them in my daily calorie budget. This is evidenced in the fact that I lost about half a pound this week. I’m just not eating enough to keep my metabolism going at its optimal rate. I am looking into heart rate monitors to try to get a better handle on just how much I am burning. Lose It isn’t real helpful here. It gives you two options for weight lifting intensities: light/moderate and vigorous. We’re not taking a difference of a few calories. For instance, on leg day, the difference was almost 450 calories. The difference.  That is more than enough on a 2000 calorie diet to cause your metabolism to slow if you consistently underestimate calories that much. If you have HRM suggestions, I’ll take them. I like the Polar FT7, but I don’t know enough to make a very informed decision. Please leave a comment if you have a unit you would recommend.

Similarly, I’m struggling a bit trying to figure out supplements. These are key to weight lifters—Protein, creatine, nitrous, vitamin packs and BCAAs—they’re all important. Most weight lifters have their supplementation down to a science. I’m not taking anything right now in this weight loss phase. I may not do too much until I can knock these last 20 pounds off. Many supplements have calories in them and I’m not too willing to give up many of those right now.

I’ll give you more on our workout plan later for those that are interested.  Maybe we can be helpful to one another on workout plans and schedules.