This New Year’s I made a resolution to get my old body back. You know, the one I had back in New York eight years ago, when I was training in Kung Fu four times a week and bench pressing well over 200 pounds.
My evil plan was severely marred by a repetitive strain injury on my right hand [It was agony for 3 weeks in January], then an extremely arduous and unhealthy road trip for 3 weeks, making the Stormhoek films.
No matter. My hand seems to have mostly recovered, and today I finally went and joined a gym, used the free weights [i.e. barbells, instead of machines] and had my most intense workout I’ve had in years.
Nothing fancy- just bench press, dead lifts and squats. This was after a long jog in the park. Besides the pain I will no doubt be in tomorrow morning, I feel terrific.
I’ve done a lot of sports in my life- rugby, Kung Fu, running and tennis being the main ones. But it was always weightlifting that gave me the most joy. I know it sounds boring, but there’s something very meditative and Zen-like about hefting heavy objects around.
The other thing I like is what I call “the burn”, when you feel your muscles constantly rebuilding themselves, all over your body. And let us not forget the highly addictive endorphin rush.
I’ve never been into body building per se, I’ve always just like the process of lifting free weights. I find it extremely therapeutic. Plus it comes in handy when friends need help moving furniture or whatever.
I see Jason Calacanis has started a new exercise regime. Good luck to him with it. From what he seems to be saying, I don’t want to lose weight so much, I’ve weighed pretty much the same for the last 15 years. How much of it was fat and how much of it was muscle is the real issue to me.
Protein shakes. Yum.
[UPDATE:] Jason Calacanis launches The Fatblogging Movement. I’m in.
