New recruit beaming down from the Mothership

[BopGun]

Hey all. I discovered the site by accident about a week ago. 34 years old, 6'3", 225, basically zero strength.

Was heavy as a kid...not extreme, but enough to where other people (and I) noticed. Played quite a few sports at different times -- baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, skiing, sailing, swimming, water polo, candlepin bowling (a Massachusetts thing) -- and stunk at all of them except the latter, at which I was actually really good (probably because it's repetition of a learned skill rather than athletic movement -- more on that shortly). Even though I was slower than a sundial in the pool, I loved swimming and water polo and worked hard at them my last two years of HS. And wouldn't you know it -- they got me in OK shape for the only time in my life. Funny how that works, right?

I was born with SEVERE bilateral clubfeet. A birth defect like that would have gotten you killed in ancient Greece, ancient Rome or Nazi Germany. No joke. While I can walk normally, I can't run worth a d@mn and the six orthopedic surgeries that I needed left my feet, my ankles and and my calves about as flexible as a 2x4. My feet have caused me pain every day of my life. It can't be helped. (This is why I liked the pool and the ocean -- my feet didn't feel as if they'd been run over by a truck.) Oh, yeah, and my feet and calves are also deformed. When was the last time you heard of a 6'3" man with size 7.5 feet and pelican calves?

Couple that with mandatory competitive sports in middle and high school, and you'll see that I was soured on physical activity by the time I was 18 (soured on the foot discomfort and on the constant put-downs and derision heaped upon me by my peers). As soon as I graduated from HS (1996), I said to myself, "f--- it; I don't have to be active anymore, so I'm not going to be". I've been looking for excuses to not be active ever since, and I've had no trouble finding them. The weight didn't really start to come back until about five years ago, but it did and more. This is the heaviest I've ever been.

As I said, I stumbled upon this site about a week ago. Steve's blog posts and many of your stories are shaking me out of my apathy. Gym memberships in my area are ridiculously expensive at any time of the year save New Year's. Once 2013 comes around, I am hitting the pool again...and will also hit the weight room. My immediate goal is to develop enough flexibility in my lower body to be able to squat and deadlift with at least the bar. Bodyweight squats kick my @-- and I need to start there...can't even do one without wobbling all over the place and having my ankles leave the floor.

[Lammis]

Oh the joys of educational forced fitness. I can't imagine how disheartening it would be to go through that. But now there are SO many options for you in terms of non gym fitness. Have you tried some pilates or plyometrics? You can just YouTube so much stuff these days (and I've noticed there are quite a few videos on this site as well), and it's such an easy way to start and free! I thought about pilates because you can do some floor/mat work and then you don't have to worry about being wobbly on your feet.

Also, maybe check out craigslist for some used gym equipment?

Anyway, my point is that you can do an awful lot for the cost of free, and then you'll be going back to the gym ready and committed and with some great habits under your belt.

Best of luck!

[Lammis]

P.S. that video made me cry.

[BopGun]

The video just about got me there, too. Wow. Let me say that again. WOW. I never have an excuse again. I make no bones about my situation being worse or better than anyone's, only that I know it's a challenge for me. If you're born with clubfeet now, physicians can probably treat it without surgery and obtain totally normal function. However, if you're my age, you're screwed and you have to live with constant pain. If you're a fan if Chris Rock's acting and stand-up comedy work, you might remember a section of the HBO special he did years ago called Bigger And Blacker that went something like this (cleaned up for the forums)...

"Doctors don't cure anything. The last thing they cured was polio, and that was during the first season of I Love Lucy. What they'll do with AIDS is figure out a way that you can live with it...but some things you just GOT. They can't do anything for you.

'Hey, doc, I can't walk. How can you help me?'

'Here, why don't you take this chair and wheel your butt around town?'

'Where am I supposed to take this prescription, IKEA? I said I can't walk! I didn't say I can't sit!'

'Hey, doc, I just went blind. Whattaya got?'

'Why don't you take this dog and have his dog drag your butt around?'

Huh? Where the hell's the science in that?"

Incidentally, back when I paid attention to wrestling (until about 2000), I disliked Diamond Dallas Page's work... it included a wrestling promoter that he worked for, who also happened to be his next-door neighbor, giving him the company's championship just so he could have it... and I knew before that video that he's a yoga instructor now...but the video made me think of him in a new light. Good on him for showing faith in that fellow when no one else did!

There are indeed quite a few options for the price of free (nicely said ), and I am exploring them. With BW squats such an essential part of the BW circuit that Steve posted a while back, I thought I'd start there, knowing they're problematic for me w/my cement-rigid feet, ankles and calves. Lotta work to do, and I'm going to get to it once I'm done w/this post. Just a matter right now of me getting as low as I can while holding the technique and going back to it again and again. With my miniscule apartment and paper-thin walls, just about any equipment up in here would be a no-no. Besides which, I really want to hit the water, too, and Lake Superior (a quarter-mile from my door) is too cold to swim in for nine months a year at least.

My best friend was talking w/me about Pilates on the phone last night, actually. His company just put in a mini-studio recently and he swears by it. I suspect I may swear AT it before I swear by it, but I'll keep it in mind through all of this as well.

And Athena, thank you for the kind words, too. I've cleaned up my diet some over the last six months -- eliminated most junk food, most soft drinks and most alcohol -- but I still have work to do there, too. I love me some carbs!

[Pallas Athena]

Could you swim in Lake Superior with a full body wetsuit? I learned to scuba dive in the ocean in Alaska with a wetsuit and full face mask. Water is only a degree or two above freezing there year-round. Or does Lake Superior freeze over?

Have to admit, getting out of the water into the cold air was a bugger but I developed speed!

[baloo]

Hey Bop! Welcome to NF

Gym memberships in my area are ridiculously expensive at any time of the year save New Year's. Once 2013 comes around, I am hitting the pool again...and will also hit the weight room. My immediate goal is to develop enough flexibility in my lower body to be able to squat and deadlift with at least the bar. Bodyweight squats kick my @-- and I need to start there...can't even do one without wobbling all over the place and having my ankles leave the floor.

You don't need a gym membership at all if you don't want to, Steve has some great bodyweight only exercises you can do to build up your base strength then in the new year if you want you can get one when they're cheap round to to hit that weight room.

If bodyweight squats are too tough try supported squats and build up until you can do them unassisted.

[BopGun]

You don't need a gym membership at all if you don't want to, Steve has some great bodyweight only exercises you can do to build up your base strength then in the new year if you want you can get one when they're cheap round to to hit that weight room.

Right, that's exactly what I'm doing, but I reasoned that the best strength training exercise there is and the first exercise in the beginner circuit that he suggests would be the place to start.

If bodyweight squats are too tough try supported squats and build up until you can do them unassisted.

Indeed, I'm doing a different type of assisted movement where I hold onto a door frame and MAN, were my quads sore the first time I did it!

And Pallas Athena, the big lake freezes over for 3-4 months a year, so unfortunately it's right out, full-body wetsuit or not. Good idea, though...but this is a trip. My thought process is really something right now. It's the first time in my entire life that I've actually WANTED to be active. And it only took me 34 years to get there! Itching to get back in the pool...then a glance at regular membership rates cure the itch for now. heh.

[Pallas Athena]

Maybe getting into a pool somewhere would be a good fitness goal for the upcoming challenge? Are there public pool options in your area?

I feel your quad pain... Had to give myself a minute to get mentally prepared for the pain getting out of the car this evening. Heh! Second time through the bodyweight exercises today was already significantly better, though! How about you?

[BopGun]

Nope, no public pools here...the one my area used to have closed four years ago when the endowment that kept it going dried up and my city couldn't obtain any other funding for it.

It's getting a little easier and a little easier every time I squat, which is all I can ask for. I also learned yesterday that it'll help me to widen my stance, as my femurs (23") are longer than my torso (20") and tibias (18") . Without a stance wider than my shoulders, there's nowhere for all that leg to go and I have no choice but to lean forward waaaaaaaaaay too much. The beginner bodyweight circuit is the next step, but this current step is probably going to take quite some time.