Dan's Triathlon Blog

Here’s a little secret I thought I’d share – I didn’t go to the gym or get much exercise at all from December until last week! I think it pretty much the longest period of inactivity I’d ever had!

Since my blog is about exercise and working out, and I even wrote an article about how to get started working out, I thought I’d better get back into the gym. Finally, last Monday, I went in for my first weightlifting session in 5 months. I stopped to weigh myself, and to my shock, found that I’d put on about 8 pounds since Christmas!! I was surprised, and scared, since in the past, I’ve never put on weight without a lot of effort (back in my football playing days I was actually trying to add some pounds, not lose them).

Anyway, I thought I’d get back into things with an overall, full-body workout. Here’s what I had in mind:

1. Squats: 3 sets – 12, 10, 8
2. Bench Press: 3 sets – 12, 10, 8
3. Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets – 12, 10, 8
4. Shoulder Press: 3 sets – 12, 10, 8
5. Crunches: 2 sets – 25 each

So how did it go? Well, around the second set of shoulder press, I got dizzy, and felt like I was about to throw up! At that point, I decided to call it a night and head home. But it didn’t get any better. The three sets of squats had me limping around all week! I was particularly sore on Wednesday and Thursday.

This dull, aching pain was not really new for me, though it was pretty bad. I think it’s probably a sign that I’m not 21 anymore! But even in the past, I’ve always found the first week of getting back in the gym hurts a little!

If you’re just getting started working out, don’t give up if you’re really, really sore after the first couple workouts. From my experience and from talking with others, the first week is bad, but it gets better if you stick with it.

I managed to make it through two more workouts last week (Wednesday – upper body, Thursday – lower body), and then went again this Monday. So far this week, I feel much, much better than last week! So when you get those sore, aching muscles after your first workout, try to stick with it – in a couple weeks you’ll be feeling great after your workouts, and looking forward to the next one!