Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I have many things for which to be thankful - my wonderful family, great friends, health, a mortgage check that doesn't bounce, and a good job that puts food on my family's table.  Among those things, I am also very grateful for a website I frequent, Training Anarchy.

That's inaccurate, however.  The website is merely a forum.  There is no running blog, no list of informative articles or links, no great exercise program that helps cut 30 pounds in 30 days.  Training Anarchy - "TA" to most of us - is merely a shell.  The shell, however, contains the people who are most responsible for rejuvenation in the weight room the past two years.

I learned to love lifting weights in high school, while training for football.  I continued most of college, but never really learned much about program design or proper technique.  I mostly trained my upper body, while running for my legs.  (If you don't know, this is ridiculous concept.)  When I did squat, my form was pretty awful.

By the time 2007 rolled around, I hadn't lifted heavy weights in years.  We joined the Y and I jumped back into the weight room, starting with a program the trainer mapped out for me.  An orthopedist had told me to never squat again, but I cheated and did some body weight work.  I started reading Mens Health, joined the online forums there, and purchased The New Rules of Lifting.

It was a start.

But then I found TA and the people who reside there.  This website, while somewhat diverse, is generally straightforward in its theory of training.  That theory can be summarized as follows:

1.  Lift Heavy Things - When you train, train heavy.  Learn the lifts correctly, and use as much weight as you can for the given lifts, always striving to add weight ot the bar.

2.  Don't Lift "Fancy" - The basic barbell movements will do.  Learn to squat, deadlift, bench, press, and power clean.  Read Starting Strength, and evolve from there.  Do chins and pulls and rolls.  These basic exercises have added mass and strength to lifters for years, and they still should be the foundation of any program.

3.  Lift for Fun - There's nothing wrong with throwing in fun stuff.  Some people like to train biceps.  (For me, they're right behind shoulders in things I really enjoy training.)  There is nothing wrong with curls.  Just don't make them the focus of your training.

4.  Eat Healthy - This is not about following Intermittent Fasting (although I am at the moment), the South Beach Diet, Atkins, or any of the other good and bad diets out there.  It's not about eating clean.  It's about eating healthy, and deep down, we all know what this is.  If you want to lose weight, reduce the calories (and maybe up the protein).  If you want to gain weight, up the calories, even if that means eating more of less-than-ideal foods.  Big Macs can make your squat go up. 

5.  Do Other Things - Some people on TA have complicated cardio plans, but not many.  Some bike, some row, some run, some play a lot of sports.  Just do something other than lifting sometimes.

I've slowly learned these things over the past two years at TA.  I haven't always done them all right - I haven't always followed the eating rules, for instance, but that's my current kick - but slowly I've made these philosophies my own.

Today, I am still 225 pounds (and dropping), but I now have a 300-lb. bench, a 325-lb. squat, and a 480-lb. deadlift.  I can press 175 lbs. over my head.  I am leaner than I have been since I was married, and am closing in on that despite being heavier.  I look dramatically different.  I am more mobile and athletic.  I don't grunt and groan while putting on my socks, or playing with my kids, or doing much of anything else. 

Today, I am strong.  I am healthy.  I can't wait to get to the gym.

And for all of this, I am thankful to my friends at TA.