I decided to replace booze with weights. Anytime I felt like drinking, I would go to the gym instead and lift weights or run. It's two weeks in and the only way I know to make sure you stick with something is make sure everybody knows you're doing it so you do not become a hypocrite in front of everybody.
Results are thus far pretty good. Bench pressed 170 for the first time in 7 years, lost 5 pounds, lost an inch and my arms are more toned than before.
So what say you Merry Men o' the Manosphere. You going to join me for two months of "Replace Booze with Weights?"
I'm with you already, Brother. My last drink was on New Year's, while watching Aurini's podcast. I've run everyday since and will be getting a gym membership shortly.
ReplyDeleteLookin' good, Cappy. I'd join you in not drinking if you hadn't already joined me in not drinking. I changed things up a bit today and skipped the upper body work and I ice-skated for an hour or so.
ReplyDeleteI'm in up state New York visiting my dad and don't have access to booze (he's a pastor and doesn't approve) or my weights. I've been kicking my ass with calisthenics to make up for the fact I don't equipment for bench pressing or dead lifts or pull ups here. It is sorta fun. I'm working my way back up to doing over a thousand situps or crunches every other day. I'm doing about 400 pushups or squats every other day as well. I might not be lifting heavy, but damn do I feel insanely strong from it.
ReplyDeleteWhat if you don't drink?
ReplyDeleteDo both. After a workout, a dark beer is good for you. Replace the booze with weights and then rehydrate with a good glass of dark beer.
ReplyDeletehttp://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/10/scientists-suggest-beer-after-workout/
You're looking really good, cappy, but the idea of Captain Capitalism without Rumpelminze is not something I'm sure I can get behind. It's kind of your thing, like superman's cape or batman's batmobile.
ReplyDeleteSure, I'll do it. I already have a pretty packed workout schedule, but I've been wanting to supplement it with a bodyweight routine. Could easily do that at home.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly, I was planning to cut booze down anyway and limit myself to that which I brew myself. If I can cut the alcohol budget and a few other things, that would be enough to pay for going out more often and I could actually take advantage of an easy last semester. Doing it too.
I usually take a dry January and am thinking of extending it this year since i definitely put on some fat I attribute primarily from drinking too much. With our home gym (basically a fully equipped Crossfit gym with all the bells and whistles) in our garage, there are no excuses. Hope to see some great progress as well as money savings from lack of booze.
ReplyDeleteGoddamn you look nearly human!
ReplyDeleteWow... lean and mean. Lookin' good.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I don't drink and weights are too strenuous for my damaged heart.
I'll substitute walking and resuming my diet.
Haven't had a drink in over two months. It's been pretty rough. I like this suggestion tho. Replacing self destructive behavior with self improvement. Instead of AA where people spend a whole 2 hours talking about how helpless they are maybe they would feels better if they hit the weights. Keep killin it captain.
ReplyDeleteCappy, wander over to Starting Strength.com and get serious about training.
ReplyDeleteCappy,
ReplyDeleteDitch the weights, stick with the booze. I'm serious. Don't have room to explain why here. Maybe, I'll send you an email as to why. The short version is this. Did you ever notice that a farm boy who never worked out in his life, can kick the ass of a guy who regularly goes goes to a gym? Always remember and never forget: What's the difference between a muscle-bound pussy and a real man? Real men WORK, muscle-bound pussies WORK OUT. It's all about opportunity cost, and there is a gold mine of blog and podcast subjects, analogies and knowledge just waiting for you out there. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure the rest of this from here.
i would advise against that. as i'm over the 40 mark and i believe you're closing in; by now we have both realized we're mortal. i would suggest my plan.
ReplyDeletefor 6 days a week, i eat very healthy and excercise/lift weights; but one night a week; i reserve for enjoying the good things. tonight i'm smoking cigars and drinking duvel(a great beer from belgium).
i suggest this, as i know from many year of lifting; that unless you're willing to eat like a world class weight lifter and take some questionable supplements; you're not going to get the body you desire; it just isnt going to happen. look at nfl players, they lift all the time and they're not cut.
of course, i also have a 9 to 5 prison cell called a cubicle unlike you're usual office; so i need a weekly night off.
You should try to join the 300 club, i.e. benching 300 lbs. You'll need to slowly work up to it and have spotters when you're doing the lift, but you'll be in an exclusive club if you make it.
ReplyDeleteLooking Good!
I have been a bodybuilder/powerlifter all my life and competed quite a bit in my 20's (college.) I have been pretty consistent although at a much lower level since then and through having 3 children.
ReplyDeleteYou'll get a fair share of good and bad advice but after 35 years of lifting three things I can tell you: Focus on the 5 major lifts (bench, squat, deadlift, military and bent row), consistency is more important than anything else and practice perfect form. Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" is like the bible of getting big and strong. You can find him online including many excellent instructional youtube videos.
My husband built me a small gym in our basement from garbage-picked cardio equipment and weight sets we picked up at garage sales and on Craigslist. I get a great workout there and spend nothing on gym fees unless I decide to visit once in a while and just pay a daily fee.
In summary it is easy to perform the 5 lifts consistently with good form in your basement at almost no cost. The world would be a better place if everyone participated.
I'm with ya man. Is that 170 once or a 170 set? Love your new book btw.
ReplyDeleteHey cap! I more or less followed your advice to run. Not quite in way you meant (bad knee), but I bought pair of dumbbells and started working out. Im pretty wimpy at start I could train only a tiny bit. However in under a month of everyday workout I can do MUCH more and even included other types of work out into my regime.
ReplyDeleteSo to everyone interested: you dont need to start big (its even dangerous to do so), just get pair of dumbbells and when you dont have anything to do, start lifting them. Personally I just train until my arms/leg/belly muscles start to hurt and I stop that exercise. Each day it takes longer for them to start hurting.
It really pays off though, I became much more energetic, a bit fitter and I just feel better.
Bud? Bud Bundy, is that you?
ReplyDeleteHey there, it's me.
Want to supplement the weight workout with some cardio?
2 high energy dogs should do it.
285 to 230 in 2 years, much of it attributed to the dogs, and only one beer a month.
I started in October, to beat the New Year's gym crowds. It's worked well - all things in moderation, including moderation!
ReplyDeleteI am in Cappy. It was -23 degree F this morning when I woke up (-48 degree F wind chill), and it would have been easy to sleep. Screw that. My car started, and I found myself at the gym. Getting at it and melting that crap I put around my torso. I used to bench over 300 pounds, but it has fallen off in the past 16 years.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing is: I am rebuilding myself. Your post on weight loss being a part time job was dead on. It is all about discipline, and it is time that I got some and got damn serious with my health, wealth and Alpha aura.
2014 - Year of Positivity. Let's go, bitches!
For me it is a bit different, 5 days dry now. I could never replace booze with weights because working out only increased my cravings, I feel like a viking after each drinking session so I just want to chug wine or ale like a viking.
ReplyDeleteFinally I figured out that booze and carb/sugar cravings largely overlap, so eating a muffin or a smaller piece of cake or similar things after work greatly helped in avoiding boozing.
My plan is now to kill carbs in every situation except when there is a booze craving, namely after weight lifting and after work.
(BTW I don't know do we call it lifting... for me it is usually "pulling", cable rows, lat pulldowns, as they are helpful in fixing "computer guy posture".)
Mina & others
ReplyDeleteI seriously don't understand this SS / "basic lifts" trend today.
Everybody I know does rather the "usual body building routine" consisting of stuff like 5 x 10 bench, flies, 45 degrees bench, behind the neck sitting press, lateral rises, lat pull downs, cable rows, various curls, triceps cable press-downs, leg presses, occasional calf rises kind of routine, so basically using only the bench and the neck press from the power / weight lifting routine, yet they look good and feel great.
Even the big people I know like music club security guards or wannabee gangsters do it like this. No squat, no deadlift, no bent row, no dips, no pull-ups, no chin-ups, none of the old weight lifting or gymnastics routines. They do this modern routine, so to speak.
This modern routine was popular when I first saw a gym 20 years ago and still is.
I accepted this SS / Stronglifts powerlifting oriented recent trend and all it did is it turned me off from training. I stopped training and became fat because I did not enjoy these exercises. It was hard to keep my balance in squats or bent rows. I did not feel a "pump" like in a curl. Without the "pump" there was nothing to motivate me.
I returned a few days ago the "modern routine". So much better! The modern exercises are comfortable and give a pump.
Maybe they are not so efficient in getting big, but what does it matter? Something that I am willing to do because it feels good is always better than something I am not doing because it does not feel good so I have no motivation.
I think this SS type "old routine" is for people with infinite willpower who want to compete, who are motivated by goals not good feelings from exercise. I think the "modern routine" for bookish people like me who are not so motivated is much easier to keep up.
Would reiterate what others have said about SS and add that I got SS after hitting 40 and being sick of constant (though relatively minor) weightlifting injuries. SS corrected the problems in my form, and showed me how to lift correctly. Bear in mind, I've been lifting for most of my life and thought I knew what I was doing, but what I learned about lifting I learned playing high-school football, and then picked up the rest from magazines, gym buddies, etc. Yeah, I was doing a lot of things wrong. Now I'm making excellent progress without any annoying and painful delays.
ReplyDelete