So after lurking around for several years I think it may be time to start a Journey thread. I am hoping it will add a bit more accountability to what I am doing and if I get some tips and encouragement along the way that would be a good thing as well. For me lifting has always been a solitary activity for the most part, simply finding and coordinating someone to partner with, that shares my goals, and is roughly my height has always been a challenge I have decided not to fool with, although some day it could be beneficial. Online, the forum in particular, has filled that gap for many years, and meeting up with fellow animals last weekend made me think staying in touch on the world wide web could be fun and beneficial.
I have been lifting since HS, back when I played basketball. I loved what it did to transform my body (I was 6’3” and 180lbs), and in college loved to lift more than playing intramurals. Actually hurt my knee in college, tore up my ACL and a bunch of other stuff and finally had surgery about 8-9 years ago. While I have a nice new ACL since then, they took out most of the cartilage in my knee. Due to that, legs are the only thing that I physically have to be careful with, despite wanting to kill it on leg day, I suppose walking around someday would be a good thing, haha. I started back lifting seriously about 5-6 years ago, I have lost count somewhat, but I do remember it being the start of lifting both smart AND hard, and it’s when I found deadlifts and squats, something I think separate the hardcore lifters from the non-committal ones.
Where I am right now in my journey is an ok place. I am sitting at 235lbs, after losing about 15lbs since last January. I am happy with my lifts which I consider ok to moderate, but really would like to start reaching for some PRs and see what I could do. I typically have a 5 day split, but sort of feel like I have been coasting for a while. If I could put on some more muscle it would be cool, but staying injury free has always been a really important thing for me so trumps that. I really want to focus on just pushing some heavier weight and seeing how my body responds. I just have to be careful as I gain weight pretty easy, and lose it not so much...
Today (Due to the ABC event back soreness) I am going to be working chest and core, instead of the usual shoulder day. It is international bench day so hopefully it will be ok, usually I try to avoid any chest on the first two days of the week. I will post my work out later…