My marathon adventures ended a few months ago, and soon after the daylight waned and the temperatures outside plunged. Consequently, I had much less desire to hit the road and log running miles, so I embraced some fitness changes.
What have I been doing? Let me update you by first taking you 20 years into the past.
In the summer of 1999, encouraged by my dad and influenced by the culture of high school football, I set foot in a weight room for the first time. I was gearing up for freshman year and, having undergone a rapid growth spurt during the previous 12 months, was lean and lanky and ready to add some muscle to my frame.
Freshman football, autumn 1999. I’m in the foreground, wearing #24. I clearly didn’t do enough weight training during the summer . . . look at those scrawny legs!
On a Monday afternoon in July I went to the open gym at the high school. My father was there along with some of the coaching staff, and they showed me some of the standard upper-body workouts on the modest assortment of equipment. I did a few sets on the bench press, of course, and pushed and pulled my way through lat pull downs, triceps extensions, and upright rows, among other moves. The coaches informed me that weightlifting was not about glamor, but utility and strength. How else was a bean pole going to develop the ability to push others around on the field?
The next day I awoke to some of the worst pain I’d ever felt. I couldn’t lift myself out of bed because my muscles felt like they’d been run through by a thousand hot knives, and rolling off the mattress and onto the floor was equally excruciating. At the breakfast table, raising a glass of orange juice was a labor that nearly drew tears.
Wednesday was when I was to return to the gym, an idea that seemed as enticing as lying on a bed of coals. I couldn’t imagine subjecting my body to such torment again.
“But you’re supposed to feel that way,” my dad assured me. “That’s how you know you’re building muscle.” I thought he’d lost his mind.
But I did go back to the gym that Wednesday. I survived and kept coming back for more. Lifting weights became addictive. Before long I noticed improvement in my general strength, and I found myself pausing before mirrors to check out my development.
These memories have come flooding back to me lately because in late November I began weight training with the Body Beast program. The context has changed – I’m concerned with shedding fat and keeping blood pressure in check, not scoring touchdowns – but the general goals remain the same: increase strength and bring back some of that muscle definition. And I’m awfully sore just like I was 20 years ago!
Sagi Kalev, aka “The Beast.”
This time around I’m taking cues from Sagi Kalev – also known as “The Beast” – an affable bodybuilder and two-time winner of the “Mr. Israel” competition. Sagi leads a series of video workouts six days a week for 12 weeks. The program features two paths: the HUGE BEAST schedule emphasizes building muscle mass, while the LEAN BEAST itinerary throws in a weekly “Beast Cardio” workout that aims to shed fat in addition to adding muscle. Each path begins with a “build” phase, moves on to a “bulk” phase, and ultimately ends with a “beast” phase. I began following the lean option but eventually switched over to the bulk option since my cardiovascular fitness was quite good after a lot of distance running (and continued, though radically reduced, winter mileage).
I co-opted the workout space my wife created in our basement, squeezing my daily workouts in early in the morning, after work and before dinner with the family, or after I’ve put my kids to bed for the night. It’s a convenience that allows me to avoid the hassles of carving out time and money for a gym membership and spares me the embarrassment of others seeing my gasping, grunting, and straining at the end of heavy sets.
Tools of the trade.
On the other hand, I did have to make a moderate investment in dumbbells. I began with weights my wife and I had accumulated for other fitness programs, primarily pairs of 10s, 15s, 20s, and 25s, but it became apparent as soon as I’d completed the first week that I was going to need more weight for certain moves, otherwise my strength gains were going to plateau quickly. I started accumulating heavier sets in piecemeal fashion, one weekend coming home from Dick’s Sporting Goods with a pair of 30s, a few weekends after that a couple of 35s weighing on the rear suspension of my minivan. I eventually added on some 40s, 45s, and 50s.
The Body Beast regimen also necessitates a weightlifting bench and a pull-up bar. I reclaimed a Weider bench my dad had picked up from Sears after I’d shown commitment to strength training. After I went off to college it sat for years, acquiring a thick coat of dust, and my mom was happy to let me haul it away. I was fortunate because benches aren’t inexpensive, with the adjustable kind needed for Beast Body usually costing more than $100 brand new. Alternatively, Sagi’s workouts demonstrate how to use a stability ball instead of a bench. You can make it work with this substitution, but having done a few of the routines on both a bench and a ball, I can say I much prefer the former. On the other hand, you can buy one of those balls for a fraction of the cost that you’d potentially spend on a bench, so it’s really a decision you need to make based on your circumstances.
I’ve become such a fan of The Beast, and have found it so invigorating after months of long-distance running, that I realized I should carve out some time and space to document it. In the coming weeks you can join me for some recaps of the Body Beast workouts. I’d like to show you that anyone can throw the weights around and have fun and success, whether you’re that skinny 14-year-old who feels like he’s in over his head or someone returning to it after years away.
Left Column: Late November 2018 – Right Column: Early January 2019. Please ignore my terrible hair.
Ryan Considers 