Fitness for geeks: an annual review of the Stronglifts 5x5 program
Fitness for geeks
(originally published on 27 Jan 2011)
If you are the prototypical geek, you've probably only seen the inside of a gym once in the 2nd week after Christmas. That was when the shame of the extra pounds gained over the holidays momentarily overpowered your will to spend time doing more useful things, such as producing Ruby code.
I have been there myself. Once you hit 30, however, your monitor-focused lifestyle can start exacting its toll on your health and well being, which is what happened to me in the summer of 2009.
Having developed a severe back pain, I was unable to complete my daily commute using the Prague public transport without gnashing my teeth in pain as I stood in the metro wagon. During our family vacation in Italy, we had to stop every 200 meters on our walk through Bologna as I had to sit down and shake off the pain. The pain had become intense and had not subsided even when I laid down to sleep.
One day I could no longer stand the sense of humiliation such ailment brings and started shopping for solutions. Physical therapy was one. And the therapist suggested I develop some back muscle to fight the root causes of my pain, which was obviously a by-product of my sedentary lifestyle.
I had been an on-and-off visitor to the gym since my teens but if I were to count the "on" days, they were outnumbered by the "off" days by a huge margin. You see, I don't really enjoy exercising, though I do like the hormonal rush you receive after a good workout.
Looking for ways to make the exercise fun and effective so that I wouldn't give it up after bringing the pain to bearable levels, I looked around the web for inspiration. It was then when I discovered the Stronglifts 5x5 program.
Long story short, it has cured my back pain completely after one month, I haven't been ill once, and when I do occasionally catch a common cold, it's gone in two three days tops.
I think that the appeal of Stronglifts for me was its simplicity and focus. It's a weight-lifting program that's designed to make you stronger. You alternate two workouts, which means no more wasting time deciding what exercise to do next. You plan your progress weeks ahead as you are only adding 2.5kg of iron each time. And, since you only do free weights, you no longer compete with other amateurs for the use of machines. Oh yes, free weights are one of key ingredients to success in this program.
Now, let me say that I have re-visited the SL website after a long time and I do not particularly enjoy its direct-marketing copy. Nor do I enjoy the fact that you can no longer download the ebook freely. You now have to sign up and wait until Mehdi releases a new batch of PDFs sometime this year (as if distributing a PDF carried any distribution costs!) This is bullshit; I'd much rather pay, say, $15 without having to get on the mailing list.
Perhaps I am missing something, but this is a serious flaw of the program, one that does nevertheless nothing to stop you from jumping on board and progressing from a weak geek to a strong and fit one.
It has done wonders for me in the 12+ months that I've been doing it. I've gained about 10kg of muscle, which is actually a lot less than you can do; I am a smoker, and I've had trouble keeping my diet straight (I've only added breakfast to my menu this month).
It just works and you don't have to necessarily become a body-builder in the process; just the increased fitness and strengthened immunity is a fantastic outcome. So yes, you can keep spending most of your day in your IDE and only invest 3 hours of your time every week to insure the well-being of your inner code monkey.
I am not associated with the proprietors of Stronglifts 5x5 website in any way and have not received any compensation of any kind (just that so we are clear). I am just that happy with what it has done for me and thought I should share.
UPDATE as of 2021: I have revived this old blog post of mine in an effort to integrate some of my earlier writing into this digital garden.
I no longer exercise using the Stronglifts 5x5 program but my routine, when unimpeded by a global pandemic, looks surprisingly similar to what I started doing in 2011. Other than back squats that I no longer do, I do 3-4 distinct free weights exercise per session and consider that to be the right fit for my (unambitious, practical) needs.
P.S.
If you feel like we'd get along, you can follow me on Twitter, where I document my journey.
Published on