Weightlifting has been a part of my life for 14 years. Growing up I wasn't particularly drawn to athletics. There was a few things I was ok at, but mostly I felt awkward and like everyone else had an easier time learning the skills and enjoying the activities. Occasionally I would have access to a weight room where someone would tell me exactly what to do, how many times, for how long, and I would enjoy moving the weights but wouldn't understand why they were having me do those exercises. Afterwards I would be sore, and wished I had more access: to the weightroom and to the esoteric knowledge of "how to lift weights" seemingly everyone had except me.
The first time I set foot in a weightroom without someone else's supervision I was 19. At first I didn't know what I was doing. I started reading online and slowly started to figure out what worked and what didn't, by copying those who had gone before. The first "program" I followed was outlined in an ebook by Jim Wendler, 5-3-1. It preached simplicity, consistency over time. Fewer exercises, prescribed workouts with weight increases detailed in the book, a focus on slowly building strength over time. It wasn't perfect but it was enough to get started. I followed that program to the letter for 7 months, at the same time I was reading everything I could about strength training theory. Gradually the concepts began to make sense, and I began experimenting with my own workouts and with people I met, writing simple workout plans focusing on the same principles I'd learned from 5-3-1.
I kept going to the gym and got very strong until, inevitably, life happened. Life happened several times, actually. Most of the people I know have had to take significant time off from the gym due to circumstances outside of their control, and I'm no exception. Every time upon returning I find a new appreciation for what my body can do, and I don't have to struggle with the uncertainty of what to do. My relationship to the gym has changed, it feels less like a mountain I must climb, this big perilous thing I do to prove to myself and others I am tough. These days its where I go to relax, to get excited about small things, and occasionally still to do something scary.
