Handy Polymath

I went back to the weights yesterday.

I always do go back. I began over a decade ago when bad knee mechanics had sidelined me from not only the gerbil wheel known as cardio, but from walking more than a block at a time. I began with a few dumbells and some chest flys, and gradually a new world opened up where exercise wasn’t a long hot boring slog. It was energizing, focusing, gratifying. There really is nothing like moving a great deal of weight under your own power.

This time I’m working with the Strong Lifts 5×5 program, which comes with a spreadsheet and an ebook, but best of all is free. Mainly I just need an outline to easily follow, I don’t have the spare mental cycles or time to devise my own, follow a book or check a website.

I need to concentrate on form, on diligence, and just moving weight three times a week until both my body and my habits are stronger. Then I can play around with my options. Right now, options are only distractions and reasons not to get to the work.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t tweaked the spreadsheet a little. But only after I’d spent quality time with the barbell.

So yes, I wander away. I get distracted by other demands, I get lazy, I get sidelined with a virus or an injury. But I always come back, and I pay the late fees, and I court the weights once more.

The price paid: falling prostrate on the stinky old carpet, panting after 5 push-ups. Not even full push-ups, which are currently beyond me, but push-ups from the knees. The benefit earned is that I’m already walking straighter, my body reacquainting itself with proper alignment by negotiating squats under a seven foot, thirty pound bar.

In plumbing the depth of my weakness, I begin the journey to strength. That’s the theory.