2017-05-29 10:29:17 +00:00
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__WARNING__ Believe it or not, this post is about health and fitness,
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not monad transformers.
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Anyone following me on Twitter over the past year has probably noticed
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that I've started weight lifting. At the request of some friends and
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family, I've been meaning for a while to write up an in-depth blog
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post on some topics around exercise and nutrition. But after some
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discussions with others at LambdaConf last week, I decided to start
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off with a much smaller blog post: why I started lifting, and why I
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think most developers—or anyone with a desk job—should do
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the same.
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My background on this is, unfortunately, pretty standard these days.
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* I have a family history of medical conditions such as stroke,
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cancer, and diabetes.
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* For the majority of my life, I've been significantly overweight, at
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times bordering on obese. I've tried losing weight on many
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occassions, but historically always gained it back.
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* Slightly more unusual: I have a specific injury (I fell down a
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staircase onto my shoulder when I was 18) which required surgery and
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can cause me issues when unattended.
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* And perhaps the one almost every reader will nod in agreement to: my
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back used to go out regularly.
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About five years ago, I decided to stop ignoring nagging health
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issues, fight off the laziness, do research, and make myself
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healthier. I've learned a lot in that time, much of which I hope to
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share in an upcoming blog post. In this blog post, I just want to
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motivate why I am so passionate about this topic now, and why I think
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you should be too.
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While the main focus here is on weight lifting, in the sense of going
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to the gym and picking up heavy pieces of metal, I'd like to point out
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that it's hardly been an isolated activity in this journey. Highly
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related changes have included:
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* Significant improvements to my nutrition (again, more on this in a
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later post)
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* About three years of doing bodyweight workout routines (pushups,
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bodyweight squats, pullups, etc)
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* Performing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which can
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basically be described as short bouts (~20 seconds) of intense
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sprinting with quick recover periods (~40 seconds)
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Most of the benefits I'll list below are more generally about
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_resistance training_, which will include bodyweight training,
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resistance bands, and weight machines. If for some reason you really
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don't want to lift weights, consider those as good alternatives.
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__NOTE__ Despite many stereotypes out there, my comments here are not
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targetted specifically at men. I believe that barring specific male
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advantages (like spiking testosterone production), weight lifting is
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2017-06-01 13:44:05 +00:00
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just as important for women as for men. The points I list below are
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2017-05-29 10:29:17 +00:00
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gender neutral. If you read any of them and think they don't apply to
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women, I encourage you to rethink your stance.
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## We have more control than we think
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I can't speak universally, but I definitely know this for myself and a
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number of people in my life. There's a pervasive idea in the modern
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world that our bodies just break down, and we need doctors and
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medicine to fix them. While this is certainly the case sometimes, I
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think we've often become overly reliant on pills, where lifestyle
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changes could be more effective with less side effects.
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Weight lifting and the other changes I mentioned are a way of taking
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that control back.
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## Strength protects us
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I think there's often a negative stereotype of a "meathead" or similar
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who trades in brain for brawn. Besides being contradicted by actual
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correlative studies, this stereotype implies that strength isn't an
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inherently good thing for our bodies.
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The main thing that got me to start going into the gym was my bad
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back. I would wake up some mornings and be almost unable to move. It
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would happen seemingly randomly. I also have a family history of this,
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so I just assumed this would be a regular part of my life, and I would
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pop ibuprofen as needed.
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But then I started deadlifting. As I raised the weight (meaning I had
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gotten stronger), an amazing thing happened: my back didn't trouble me
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as much. Focus on good posture, sitting correctly at my desk, and
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regular heating of my back muscles have all contributed. But I believe
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that the most important change I've made has been the deadlifts and,
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to a slightly lesser extent, barbell squats.
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I should also mention the negative side of lifting on this topic: if
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you aren't careful, you can injure yourself in the gym. I've
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unfortunately done this. My advice—which is ripped off from
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others—is to start off with very light weights and focus on
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perfecting your form. Don't "ego lift," meaning don't lift more weight
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than you can handle to feel good about some number. Lift what you can
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safely handle, and add weight as you get stronger and are ready for
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it.
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## Increased muscle mass is healthy
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If I had heard "increased muscle mass" 10 years ago, I probably would
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have thought of some bodybuilder, and thought it was a vain pursuit of
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2017-06-01 13:44:05 +00:00
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aesthetic beauty. And while increased muscle mass can in fact be an
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aesthetic feature, I believe the health benefits are even greater.
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2017-05-29 10:29:17 +00:00
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When we get sick, we'll often lose muscle mass. Having a little extra
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reserve prevents us from getting into danger levels. Increased body
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mass also leads to increased caloric requirements. Meaning if you eat
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a specific number of calories but have extra muscle on you, you won't
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put on as much fat.
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## Nutrient partitioning
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We've all heard back-and-forths over the past decade about whether
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carbs are good or bad for us. I don't want to get into that
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now. However, I will say that elevated blood glucose levels are
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clearly unhealthy, as is insulin insensitivity.
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One of the great things about lifting weights is that it burns muscle
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glycogen, your major body storage of carbohydrates. When you do this,
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your muscles will quickly soak up the glucose in your bloodstream,
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instead of it getting turned into fat or, worse, harming your body
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organs.
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## Psychologically beneficial
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We all have stress in our lives. Family, work, finances, and hundreds
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of others. It can be difficult to cope with it.
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Lifting weights is also a stress, but it's a completely different kind
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of stress. It's physical (though sometimes a bit mentally terrifying
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as well). And it's short-term, instead of the really unhealthy,
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cortisol-producing chronic stress many of us have.
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But here's the best part for me: lifting is an escape, in a way that
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most other "leisure" activities (reading, watching TV, etc) are
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not. When I'm doing a bench press, it is a simple battle between me
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and gravity. There are no complex deadlocks to debug, no decisions
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around corporate strategy to make, no challenges with children's
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education.
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There's a heavy thing. I pick it up. I put it down. I do it again. Its
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simplicity is its virtue.
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## More productive
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Far too many of us developers spend our entire lives on electronic
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devices. We wake up and check Reddit/Hacker News/whatever. We watch
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some TV or YouTube videos. We spend all day in an office (or, in my
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case, home office) writing code or discussing issues on
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Slack/IRC/whatever. We're constantly answering emails on our
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phones. And then when work is over, how many of us either play video
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games, read Reddit some more, or work on hobby programming projects.
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Far be it from me to tell people not to have open source development
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they do outside of work (that would be pretty hypocritical). But
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having _something_ which is explicitly different from the rest of our
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electronic activities is a much needed break, and at least for me
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leads to better producitivity in the rest of my day.
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## A new challenge
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I mentioned ego lifting above, and this section is certainly bordering
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on it. But it's also one of the things I enjoy the most about lifting:
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it's a constant new challenge. I can set new goals all the time:
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increase the weight on my lifts, do more reps at the same weight, or
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even modifying my tempo.
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I need to regularly remind myself not to be stupid and push too
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hard. And I also need to admit that I _have_ done stupid things in the
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gym in the past while trying to challenge myself. But if done safely,
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the constant challenges can be invigorating, exciting, and fun.
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## Life is more fun
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Speaking of fun: when you get stronger, life is just more fun. I have
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four kids. They like to play (well, the three month old is slightly
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less active than the others). They like to play physically. And the
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fact that I can pick them up, toss them in the air, run around with
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them, and even climb through play structures in the park makes that
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play so much better.
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Since lifting, I can play with them for longer, despite the fact that
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they've all grown bigger and heavier. (Though I'll admit that tossing
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my 4 year old is significantly easier than tossing my 9 year old.) I
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can't imagine what life would be like if I was unable to do more than
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a half-hearted game of catch for five minutes.
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I've never really been into sports, so I'm not using that as a
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personal example. But I'd imagine those of you who do enjoy sports
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will find much more enjoyment in it once you've increased your
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strength and endurance.
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## Learning how to use our bodies
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I remember reading a tutorial on deadlifting, and seeing the comment
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that it teaches you the right way to lift objects. I now regularly
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find myself, while moving objects around the house, naturally using
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deadlift techniques and cues. This helps prevent injury, and makes me
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a more useful person.
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I have a genetic history that leads to an achilles tendon which is
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overly short. This leads to such issues as toe-walking, foot pain
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while standing, and lack of mobility/flexibility. In line with the
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comment above of taking control of our bodies, working on my squat has
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drastically improved the situation with my tendon, leading to
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improvements in all mentioned areas. (Though to be fair, I do still
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have issues here.)
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In order to lift correctly, you'll need to learn how to tighten your
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core, tighten your lats, engage your glutes. You'll discover muscle
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groups you can control that you didn't know you could. You'll need to
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perfect your posture to nail down form.
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Don't think of weight lifting as learning an isolated skill. It's a
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transferable activity with payoff in almost every aspect of your day
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to day life.
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## How to get started
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I'm hoping to dive into details in a later blog post, but if you want
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to get started, my advice is: don't overcomplicate! I have a theory
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that a significant part of why so many people are unhealthy is the
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confusion around the topic (think of the paradox of choice). Choose a
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resistance activity and do it.
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I personally think that [StrongLifts 5x5](http://stronglifts.com) is a
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great place to start with weight lifting. If you want to start with
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bodyweights instead, I had a lot of success with the
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[Start Bodyweight](http://www.startbodyweight.com) program.
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## More posts like this?
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2017-06-01 13:44:05 +00:00
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This blog post is obviously an anomaly versus most of my other
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2017-05-29 10:29:17 +00:00
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development-related posts. If this is something you like and would
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enjoy more of, please let me know. Depending on interest in it and the
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volume of posts on the topic, I may put the health and fitness posts
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in a separate part of my site. Feedback welcome!
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