Doing it right this time!

[TacoDave]

Hey everybody, I'm TacoDave.  I love reading these forums, for information, inspiration, and occasional amusement, so I figure it's time to maybe dip my toe in, and join the fun. 

 

I have a (sort-of) exercise background, from my job in the military, but it was never really something taught.  Instead it was the normal run/push-up/sit-up/pull-up until it hurts.  So, I bought into the trend and tried doing the whole gym rat, OH BRO! LET'S DO SOME SIDE-WAYS DUMB-BELL FLY AND UNDERHAND BARBELL INCLINE PRESS SUPERSETS, MIXED WITH DIAMOND PUSH-UPS AND SINGLE-ARM DUMBELL FLAT BENCH PRESS! sort of silly nonsense for a few years, with minimal effects.  It would sort of work, for a while. However I kept running into roadblocks, workouts would stall, go through some emotional stuff, have a bender, various things.  You know, life.  At the end of the day, it would always be a work-out, emphasis on the work part.  It was never enjoyable, just a thing that had to be done.  But now there's a new mission.

 

This time around it's not all about looking good at the beach.  This time around it's about being the best.  So I've been doing the stronglifts 5x5 program for about 2.5 months, training for a half-marathon, I've been eating pretty strict paleo, and shockingly!  Unlike every other program I've tried that is TOTALLY GUARANTEED TO WORK!  JUST TRY IT FOR 3 MONTHS!, this one...it feels different.  This time, the exercises are staying hard.  The numbers keep going up, and the runs keep getting longer.  The best part?  This time, I haven't wanted to slack off.  This time every time I step out the door and start running I feel good.  Every day I get under the bar, I smile.  Sure there have been those days where I get a little gassy in the middle of squats, or my ankle starts feeling a little too stiff on mile 3, but it's still something I want to do every morning.  It's stayed...fun!

 

I want to keep on enjoying the transformation, and to learn more about how to make myself the strongest, speediest, and eventually smartest man possible.  I want to expand my receipe book into a 3-ring binder of deliciousness and flavor.  I want to figure out how to help my soldiers be the best they can be too.  I want it all!  And dammit, I want to do it right.