Hello peoples! Thanks for all the comments and likes and the followership. Y’all make it worth it to keep sharing my journey towards weighing what I want to weigh. I’m glad people can draw some inspiration from my experience. Feel like a champion already! *Big smile*. Today, I will share what my friend, Mark a.k.a Dopekid has to say about strength training. Part of what I intend doing over time is invite others to share their thoughts and experiences on some specific topics, so watch this space. Please feel free to hit me up privately if you also would like to share part of your experience at some point. Enjoy reading from DK. (Note of caution, please do not try what you see in the pictures at home. DK did not start today! )

For a while, I struggled with back problems and general weakness. I, like majority of today’s population, would sit in a cubicle for 8 to 9 hours a day, grinding out work to get a paycheck. At many points during the day, I’d sit, or stand, with my shoulders rolled, neck and upper back bent forward in unnatural positions, while browsing relevant social media or responding to pings on my BBM. It wasn’t until after I visited a local clinic to address the discomfort in my back that I realized what was going on- bad posture, as well as lack of exercise, was taking its toll on me. In many ways, life has become so much easier and more exciting, but on the flip side, it has also made us lazy. I imagine if Hercules lived in today’s world, and he had to contend with one of his arch nemeses, he’d probably resort to making an app to defeat such rival, rather than sweat it out in battle. I kid of course!

Other than the physician writing me a prescription for Ibuprofen and muscle relaxants, I didn’t receive any magic pill to eliminate my back pain once and for all. He simply told me to consider losing weight, become more active altogether, and focus on increasing my body strength. Nothing complicated, nothing fancy, just get stronger. I had been in and out of the gym for quite a bit, so it is fair to say I knew one or two things about working out. However, for things to work this time, I knew I had to become more consistent, and also channel a long-term and realistic approach to achieving my goals. So, my first step was to map out a blueprint.

When it comes to planning, here’s a piece of advice: please be realistic with your goals. Nothing will derail you quicker than starting off on an illusionary foot. If you’re reading this and hoping you’ll start strength training right away to reach your summer body goals this year, pardon my French, but you’re sh*t outta luck, dude[tte]. I hate to burst that bubble, but you’re not going to become Chris Evans or Gal Gadot overnight, not even in the next couple of weeks. Understand that if you are really serious about getting in shape, the single MOST important thing you can do for yourself is switching up your diet for the better. Alone, diet accounts for 80-90% of your fitness successes (or failures even). Spending countless hours at the gym is nothing but an exercise in futility if you’ve got your nutrition all jacked up. Also, understand that true results are borne out of consistency, hard work and sweat, and these usually take time to manifest themselves. Keep these nuggets in mind when drawing up a fitness strategy, and you’re on your way off to a good start. Having said that, I think we can delve into the nitty-gritty of this write-up.

Also, understand that true results are borne out of consistency, hard work and sweat, and these usually take time to manifest themselves.

Strength training is a major component of our general health and fitness. As we advance in age, our lean muscle mass gradually diminishes. If nothing is done to slow that process down, you’ll see an increase in the percentage of fat in your body. Worrying thought, huh? Despair not, for with strength training, you can preserve and improve your muscle mass significantly at any age. And don’t be misled into thinking that strength training is reserved for the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime, or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, nothing could be further from the truth. Strength training is for everyone regardless of age, gender, or size.

Fortunately, you can perform strength training exercises in the comfort of your home or in the gym. The first thing you need to consider is what kind of training routines you want to be doing. This largely depends on what equipment you have available and what goals you aim to achieve. You’ll also want to consider how your schedule may affect your ability to fully commit to exercising. For people who travel around quite a bit, I would recommend bodyweight strength training methods. You can perform these exercises with little or no equipment, and you can train from just about anywhere as long as you have enough space to play with. From pushups, pullups, planks, abdominal crunches, leg squats etc., you can knock out these resistance exercises that build strength, utilizing nothing but your own body weight.

If you’re like me, a gym rat, then the sight of dumbbells, barbells, and weight machines makes you feel like a kid in an ice-cream shop. I don’t particularly favor one over the other, because they all provide distinct advantages towards strength training goals. For instance, I find dumbbell exercises more joint-friendly than their barbell equivalent, as they afford me a more natural range of movement since my hands aren’t fixed in place while executing exercises. Dumbbells also allow for unilateral training, which ensures that both limbs do the same amount of work, thereby correcting any strength imbalances over time. On the other hand, there is no better gage to measure the body’s sheer ability to lift weight up and down than the classic barbell. With the weights being fixed and incredibly stable, it is easier to progress faster and more naturally, as you can stack on little increments of weight to further test your might as needed. Deadlifts, squats, bench presses, overhead presses, bent-over rows, to name a few, are some exercises you can perform with a barbell. For beginners and people recovering from an injury, weight machines may be a good starting point to safely execute certain strength exercises. They are particularly beneficial for those who want to concentrate their training efforts, by isolating and focusing on one muscle group at a time.

Someone once asked me, “Mark, what’s the best form of strength training I should adopt?” I answered, “Honestly, it’s the one you’ll consistently commit to performing.” No matter what route you choose to go, just make sure you’re pushing yourself to becoming a stronger, better version of you. For the most part, access to equipment mentioned in the paragraph above would typically require a gym membership. If this is a far-fetched option for you, you can always make do with what you have. Heck, I don’t remember stepping foot in a gym while growing up as a teenager in Nigeria. I saw young men achieve body-transforming feats in their backyards using nothing but metal pipes, cement, wood, and/or metal plates from scrap cars. Talk about creativity.