I had to take two and a half weeks off from exercise due to recovery from my SFAB Assessment and Selection (which was GRUELING) followed by oral surgery, and in that time, I feel like I’ve gained a little weight and lost a lot of conditioning. I hate having to start over again, but it is what it is. There’s more to re-starting a fitness plan than making the plan. There’s, for me, the most important component: motivation and hyping myself up.

I’m not wanting in the desire department. I have been chomping at the bit to get back to exercise. I’ve been really excited to start using my home gym and to start getting stronger. I was really hyped to get back to running, but the achilles heel and surgery together made it impossible for me to do anything for a while, so I’ve had time to hype myself and to mentally prepare for getting back into the swing of things.

I actually have to worry about over-training, truth be told. I tend to go all-in, and I tend to go too hard/too fast. I need to temper my enthusiasm and realize that I’ve been out of it for two and a half weeks; I need to ease back into this, at least when it comes to my running. For the weight lifting? I need to start easy and make sure I do my proper warm-ups, check my form, and don’t start with too much weight. As important as those, however, is making sure I get the proper rest between workouts.

I’m starting the StrongLifts 5×5 program on Wednesday. It’s a three-exercise weight lifting regimen with 5 sets of 5 reps. Sounds easy, right? Well, the 5×5 program is actually geared towards new weightlifters and gets them into lifting weights in a way that promotes building strength through unassisted lifting without the use of machines (which limit range of motion and stability).

I’m going to take my two-view photos on Wednesday as I get started and I will post them after three weeks to see if any changes had taken place. I’ll also post again after 6 weeks, and so-on. I’m not recommending anything just yet; I want to see how this works for myself, and I will be reporting on its efficacy to you here on my blog. If it’s a bust, I’ll say so. But if it works? Well, you can decide for yourself if lifting weights is something you want to do.

I want to say here that weightlifting was never something I wanted to do. A few things have led me to this decision. First, I need a lot more strength to be able to handle the Army schools I’ll be attending. Many of them require a lot more upper-body strength than I currently have, and I need to fix that. Second, while I’ve lost weight, running hasn’t done much for me in the way of firming up my body. I want to sculpt what I have and try to mitigate the soggy-skin look I have since losing over 150 lbs. I’ve seen many photos of people who have lost a lot of weight and took up weightlifting, and they seem to have a much better appearance than I do. I’m hoping to benefit from that as well.

So, in two days, it begins. I’ll be posting progress and any tips I learn along the way. Don’t worry; this blog isn’t about to turn into a weightlifter’s blog. It’ll just be another facet in the many sides that are the PaleoMarine experience!