Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

I confess.

I've spent the bulk of my time last year split between watching the best of HBO's programming - The Wire, Sopranos, True Detective, Curb etc and watching Twitch a record 7 hours a day (Yikes).

Within this warped sense of space&time, I have let go of the initial fitness gains I had made last year by a combination of swimming, ""running"" and some compound resistance training.
And like most decisions I've made in life, I have taken a random moment of time to suddenly declare a new era of ultimate fitness lifestyle.

I was stuck deciding between getting a swim membership or joining a gym. But with the whole pandemic thing that's still going on, clearly overstaying its welcome, the Gyms do tend to stay open for a longer while. I found a new gym that had popped up quite recently and it was a quick 3min walk from my place.

I'm usually always stuck deciding on a consistent plan for lifting.

• Do I stick with my ol' pal Compound Lifts and nothing else because strength rules cardio drools?
• Or do I venture out my comfort zone and do Bro-splits with alternating cardio days?

I came across this super slick website by Julian Shapiro while watching my new obsession Ali Abdaal.
Julian has a series of posts("handbook" as he terms it) called Building Muscle where he talks about the science about gaining muscle and details a pretty comprehensive and scientifically backed routine for "the most efficient way to build muscle". Ali mentioned in his year end review video that he found Julian's routine to be the easiest to stick to for him and other routines hes tried like Starting Strength, StrongLifts was harder (hey that sounds like me). Figured I'd give the routine a shot.

Today was my first day and it was prep week.

And in prep week you gather data.

Data detailing what lifts can you do, what's your starting weight, figuring out a gym route and he even mentions getting used to the gym parking and crowd etc.

I was excited to get started and proceeded to start with

• Bicep Curls
• Dumbbell Incline Press
• Overhead Tricep Extension

I had conveniently forgotten about my dear friend, Shoulder Subluxation.
TL;DR my shoulder joint tends to partially dislocate everytime I apply stress on it.

I've injured my shoulder so many times now I'm honestly shocked I've not been the Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man because that is how my arms feel like everyday. It's a cool party trick to rotate your arms aaaallll the way around but it also means I cannot perform most extension excersises without ripping my rotator cuffs in two.

I ended up not finishing the set as shooting pain started taking root at my shoulder.

Fun Fact: if you have any shoulder related injury
you can describe yourself as having a wacky sense of Humerus.  

I decided to stick with my previous resistance training routine, StrongLifts 5X5.

• It's simple.
• Has 3 movements to do (5 in total) all of em being Compound Lifts.
• AAAAAND most importantly, I know how to perform em without being injured.

Not even a day in and I already had to abandon the fancy muscle building routine, all in the interest of self preservation. I've learnt from my previous runs of #PushThroughThePain #IfItHurtsItGrows well enough to not be pigheaded when it comes to injuries.

My goal is to hit the gym 5 times a week for the next 90 days. It is not to build noticeable muscle mass or to shed fat.

I've learnt this the hard way.

Systems >>>>>> Goals.

You try to build a system with a regular output of leading you to your goals and not the other way around. If that means not trying different(albeit basic) movements, and sticking to boring old routines then so it shall be. At the end of the day,

well done is better than well said.   

(my 2022 quote to quit being a perfectionist inert and lazy).

Why'd I write this post?

A form of accountability to all 3 of you who have mistakenly clicked on this website since its been up. AAAnd an excuse for me to stick to writing posts whenever I feel a sudden burst of resonant energy (thanks Ali!)

I'm already sore, and in form of a pseudo blessing the gyms closed for a routine maintenance tomorrow. So it is a day of rest and tempered excitement for me as I prepare to repeat today for the next 90 days (to the best I can)