Change of perspective

Aineko

I posted this on my blog yesterday, just to serve as a future reference for myself, but I thought I might share it with others:

"Slowly but surely 'how much I can lift' is becoming more important than 'how much body fat I have at the moment'. Or to put it this way: 'what would the scale say?' is becoming less important than 'what would Mark Rippetoe say' lol.
Yesterday I ate way above the calorie limit I set for my self (I just felt like some good old huge piece of homemade bread with jam). My weight lifting session today was AWESOME. I did higher weights then before and at the end still had energy to do more. But the most amazing thing is this: when I started lifting, two and a half weeks ago, I also stated swimming in the 25m pool at the same complex. I was doing 25m in 1min15sec and I was accurate like a stop watch - 100m : 5min. Today, I was pumping it at less than 45sec per 25m. For an hour. This is amazing. No, this is incredible! I'm a horrible swimmer (only learned to swim later in life) and because of my lack of strength and really weak upper vody I wasn't able to swim anywhere with a slight current. And this is like a 40% increase in strength over less than 3 weeks (meaning I'd have at least slightly more chance of surviving if I find myself caught in a current lol. "Stronger people are harder to kill" right? ). This is so motivational I can't describe it. Nothing beats this feeling of getting stronger. I'm thinking of ditching calorie limits and just doing ESE once or twice a week (since I can do that easily) and focusing on fuelling this new found strength (hello, full cream yoghurts and ice creams ). And with all this, I am still losing centimetres and jeans that got me to start this journey are again starting to fit as they should. "

I don't think I can describe that 'moment of epiphany' that happened to me yesterday when I realized how fast I was swimming. Maybe you'll understand it better if I tell you that I have never, ever in my life before experienced an increase of physical strength (after finishing growth, that is.). I've always been weak and I thought I'll always be weak. I hated gym or any other physical activity done just for the sake of doing physical activity. Looking good (my standards) is the only thing I ever cared about. That all changed when I discovered strength training. Right now, if someone was to offer me 18% body fat, with abs and everything, or 26% body fat with a 120 kg squat, I'd take the latter, no questions asked .

Kassieisproud

I love this and can really relate its about more than just looking good its amazing to think what the body can do and now you have motivated me to go lift which i have been slacking on

leslisa

Well, dang, that's a pretty big deal figuring out what you really want out of your journey!! Not only is your body getting healthier, so is your mind.

Congrats on a job well done.

:drinker:

nikkilou_hawley

Your post is truely motivational. I really hope I can reach the point you did, both mentally and physically. Sadly I am not there yet, but reading this has got me motivated to go back to the gym tonight! Thank you for sharing!!

Kristy_Elizabeth

Thanks for sharing this with us. I love your story!!!

Aineko

Thanks guys! I guess we never know what we are going to encounter when we start this journey.