“Fat and strong” is better than “fat and weak”
A couple of years ago, I hit the 40-year and 295-pound marks. I’d gained nearly 150 pounds after college after spending years at a desk and not eating right. Being fat and weak got really depressing. I’d occasionally tried dieting (sometimes with fleeting success) and weight training. I never really knew what I was doing in the gym, though. The last time I had given weights a go, I ended up with a pinched nerve in my thoracic spine and quit going to the gym for almost three years.
When I learned about Starting Strength, it gave me hope that a slob like me could stop being fat and weak. If I stopped focusing so much on my weight, maybe I could be fat and strong! So I started my Novice Linear Progression in August 2017. I read the book and started with squats at 155, presses at 75, deadlifts at 135, and bench press at 135.I worked hard to learn the lifts correctly, and I still spend a lot of time critiquing my form.
It has paid off! Two years later, I still weigh 295 pounds, but I’m stronger than I’ve ever been in my life. My PRs are: squat 465x5, press 152.5x3, deadlift 425x5, and bench press 215x3.
In the past, I had hopes of someday squatting and deadlifting 405, pressing 135, and bench pressing 225. Now I’ve done all of those things and dream of squatting and deadlifting 600 pounds, pressing 225, and bench pressing 315. I’m still fat, but I don’t look (or feel) soft anymore. My waist size hasn’t changed, but my pants are getting tight around my thighs, and my jackets now strain at the shoulders. People who find out my weight are surprised.
The other day, I read the article “Why Do You Lift Weights?”, and it gave voice to my own reasons for lifting weights: to get strong. Everything else is secondary. I’ve got a long way to go to reach that goal, but Starting Strength got me going, and the long-term approach to strength training that it embodies has changed my life for the better.
