Progress....

Many people who endeavor to lose weight seem to live and die by the scale. If they gain a pound it's the most terrible thing ever, if they stay the same the world may come to an end. Personally I despise the scale and think it's a terrible way to measure progress. Too many things make body weight fluctuate. Water retention, muscle mass, how long since your last bowel movement. My weight can fluctuate as much as 10 pounds in one day. True, I still weigh myself about once a week just to see where I'm at, but I don't obsess about it. There are other ways to measure progress. Much better ways infact. Today was one of those days.

The very basic premise of weightlifting is that you force the muscles to work and by working they get stronger. There's actually a lot more to it than that, but we'll keep it simple for today's purpose. So, you create your workout routine, complete with sets, reps and weight, and you do it over and over again. Eventually, after much repetition, things get easier and you have to change something. Add more weight or more repetitions, change up the exercise, something to keep the muscle fibers guessing. And then there comes a time when you need to know just how much you can lift with certain exercises. It's important to know this so that you can adjust the weight you lift on any given day. Depending on who/what you believe and what formula you go with you should be doing exercises anywhere between 70 and 85% of your "one rep max". So you really need to know what that number is. And that is what I did today.

When I first walked back into the gym I hadn't lifted much more than a donut in years. I struggled to bench 135 pounds. Today I pushed 295. Tried for 305 but that didn't happen, yet. Good thing I use a Smith machine or that would have hurt. By the way, if you don't know, a Smith machine is a bar on sliders with safety hooks. It's really a great way to push yourself in an empty gym when you workout alone.  Behind each vertical post (runner) is a series of slots on which the barbell can be hooked. This means that unlike an ordinary barbell, the Smith machine need not be re-racked after a set of repetitions: it can be secured at any point. This makes it safer for those who lift without a spotter, as one only needs to twist the wrist in order to lock the barbell in place in the event that the weight becomes too great. Most models also incorporate blocks, pegs, or other devices which can be adjusted to automatically stop the barbell at a predetermined minimum height.

Smith Machine.

There is some debate about using a Smith machine. Some people hate them, others like them. I use it simply for the safety factor. Unlike a free-weight barbell, the bar on a Smith machine does not move forward, backward, or sideways. It is thought that because lifting on a Smith machine requires less stabilization by the lifter, lifters can usually lift more weight on a Smith machine than on a free-weight barbell. I think that's true to a certain extent, but only by a few pounds. It still works the same primary muscles and you don't need to worry about taking your head off, dumping the bar when you can't get it back up or doing something else that results in permanent, if not fatal injury. I put my ego away when I step in the gym, it's safer that way.

One of my favorite exercises is the leg press. Again, people have differing opinions on the leg press. Some say "squat!" but my body has never liked that range of motion. I get below a certain angle and it becomes a one way trip to the floor. You really don't want to do that when you have a bar of weight on your shoulders. So I use the machine. You can find all kinds of articles telling you how horrible this machine is, but then you can find quite a few saying just the opposite. Anyway. When I first started I could push about 500 pounds, today I did 835, twice. My goal is 1000. Getting closer.

Leg press machine

And finally, the cable row. A great exercise for the back. I've been doing it at 150 pounds. Today I did 300. Doubled what I could pull. Doubled. I'm kind of proud of that. When I started at the gym I struggled to do 15 glute bridges. Now I do 100 of them. This is progress. And it's nice to see. The scale, mehhh. I suppose if you're just dieting (starving yourself) it may show a big difference in numbers, but when you're building muscle it takes a lot longer. I use other parameters to judge.

How does your clothing fit? That's a good one for me. Everything is too big now. Way too big. I can fit in seats I couldn't before. Seatbelts fit. I can walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like I'm going to die when I reach the top. These are much more important to me than a number. You can actually gain weight and lose inches. It's very possible. The difference in volume between fat and muscle is substantial.

If you're building muscle the scale can actually go up while your measurements go down. Or your weight can stay exactly the same. It's actually a good thing. If you're simply dieting your body will consume muscle tissue before attacking the fat, it's the way we're wired. Muscle is for now, fat is for later. It's how our ancestors survived. It also makes dieting a real pain in the ass. And it's why I don't worry too much about what the scale says. Some people are thrilled when they lose 10 pounds, I'm thrilled when I lose a shirt size. That's how I measure progress. How my clothes fit and how much I can lift. How long and fast I can go on a treadmill. How many stairs I can climb without having to stop. Progress for me is being able to walk through Costco without needing an electric cart or sitting down on one of the display sofas.

Here's a little drawing that helps explain what I'm talking about. Both  are the same height and the same weight. Dude on the left didn't drop a single pound. But the body composition is totally different. I wonder what the difference in measurements would be. This, I think, exemplifies exactly why the scale isn't a great indicator of progress and why we shouldn't hyper focus on it. When I got married not quite two years ago my waist measured something like 74 inches. Monday it was 62. I've only lost 60 pounds or so in that time, but 12 inches from my stomach. I've added inches to my arms and firmed up my legs and other parts of my body. The scale may not show a huge difference, but other parameters certainly seem to.

On a side note, my current weight is 425.