Day one, or one day?
The Realization
It is no surprise that as we age, our daily routines need to adjust (or our bodies will adjust accordingly). I discovered this over my tenure at Endgame, an endpoint security start up where I had some of the greatest moments of my life and one where I felt extremely accomplished. However, that success and accomplishment was paired with stress and travel. This combo drove my body from a fit, former Army paratrooper to an extremely overweight, sedentary product leader. My wake up call was when I had to get prescription muscle relaxers to sleep because my back pain was so severe. After x-rays, tests, and PT I was told (paraphrasing) I was fat and my body was hurting from it.
So, what was I to do? I needed to change my routine. This part is critical, as I knew a fad or quick burst change would not stick. Instead, I needed a complete overhaul of my daily routine in order to get healthy. After all, I had two young kids at home and a team that relied on me at work. I needed to get to work on myself.
The Change
There is no magic here, as getting healthy is about the calories you take in and the calories you burn during the day. My issue was I was taking a whole lot in and not doing much to burn. Seems simple enough to adjust:
Diet: This term is a tricky one. I needed to change how and what I ate long term, not just a quick fat burn type trend. I ended up focusing on two core areas: Prepped meals and intermittent fasting. For meal prep I tried a handful of the delivery services and liked them all. The key for me was to ensure I always had a healthy meal ready to eat when I needed so I stopped the constant treks to local lunch spots around my office. For fasting, I used an app called Zero to track my eating and landed on an 18:6 (18 hours fasting and 6 hours eating). I found the application allowed me to “gamify” my eating habits. I would sit food in front of me and wait for the clock to hit “0” before I ate. While I do not know the impact of fasting alone on my changes, I do know that I focused a lot more on what and when I ate, and that led to much better decisions (like no more midnight pizza).
Exercise: In the Army I found a passion for running, and I decided to try to stoke the flames again. I began training using a couch to 5K application (you can see I am very app motivated), and eventually began running 5K races across my area. I found a great community of runners that would run together via an app, even though no one was local. This app, Charge Running, is highly recommended if you want the feeling of running with a group to motivate and drive you forward without the hassle of traveling to group runs.
The combination of strict focus on what and when I was eating paired with consistent running lead to significant weight loss across 2019.
The Passion
And this is where I plateaued for the following few years. Many life experiences happened after this initial routine change, Endgame was acquired by Elastic, my family moved closer to our extended family in beautiful Pittsburgh, PA, and in the not so positive category, COVID.
I found myself in my new home, isolating, and finding some pain returning in my back and hips when I tried to sleep. I kept reading about how resistance training was key to maintaining bone density as you age, and in 2021 I turned 40 years old. It was time to expand my routine beyond running and get some muscle mass. But what of the many options available do you choose? Crossfit was extremely popular in my area with numerous gyms, I tried boxing classes (which were a blast but hard to work with my schedule), I investigated Olympic weightlifting, and of course any number of other personal trainers and programs were available. I landed on the growing sport of Powerlifting.
Why Powerlifting?
My decision was made by deciding on the sport that would best lead to my goal, which was to gain muscle mass to reduce potential for injury as I age.
First, unlike other lifting sports, powerlifting is focused on three core lifts: Squat, bench press, and deadlift. The sport is all about consistent, clean form over all else. You are not performing unusual movements that could cause injuries. Not that this is an injury free sport, nothing is, but it was focused on precise movements and maximizing your personal potential.
Second, I would be lying if I didn’t say a huge part of the fun is in planning and building a home gym. I’ve become a bit of a nerd on equipment, maximizing space, planning for new ways to expand my training program, and visiting and lifting in as many powerlifting gyms as I can as I travel for work. My youtube channel subscriptions have become dominated by review channels, like Gluck’s Gym and Garage Gym Reviews. And I am now following product managers at companies like Rogue, Rep Fitness, and Eleiko to learn what new product is coming next (eagerly waiting on that Rep deadlift platform, hint hint).
Finally, this sport is one where I can chase my own personal records. Yes, there are competitions, world records, and all kinds of ways to judge yourself against others. But let’s be real, I started this sport in my 40s so I hold no expectation to be dominant. However, what I love about powerlifting is that every day I am competing against myself. Can I beat my previous record? Can I motivate myself to exercise in my home gym (where no one would know if I skipped leg day)? This sport demands consistency and self-analysis.
I.Love.This.
The Change 2.0
So, my powerlifting journey has begun. Last holiday season I built enough of my home gym to complete all my primary and accessory exercises, and in January of 2023 I started my first true powerlifting program. I was aided in large part by (surprise) an app called Juggernaut AI. This application is the fourth program builder/tracker I tried, and it is the best of the bunch by far. I absolutely love the simplicity of using the application as well as the results it delivers. Each set, the app is evaluating my program and adjusting weight, reps, and sets across my plan to ensure I get the best workout I can for the day. Every day your body’s ability to execute changes, based on sleep, food, hydration, mental stress, travel, and many more variables. This app modifies the plan as you go through the workout to ensure you can get the best exercise based on how you are feeling that day, which is massively important. I have come to live by the quote on the main page of this site:
“Success isn’t always about greatness, it’s about consistency. Consistent hard work gains success. Greatness will come.” - Dwayne Johnson
Consistency is the key. The hardest part of every workout if getting started, and by forcing yourself to start no matter how tired or sore you may be is the key to growth (at least it was my key). I didn’t focus on the weight I put up each day, but instead on the consistency of completing each days training. There were definitely days where I didn’t put in 100%, and days when I put in more, but what mattered was showing up. To paraphrase Harvard Health “The best exercise is the one you’ll do consistently”.
The Result
I am writing this on January 1st of 2024, one year completed of consistent powerlifting training.
My home gym continues to grow and has become my safe space and never-ending money pit.
I’ve became a certified club coach for USAPL
I competed in my first powerlifting competition, the 2023 USAPL Pittsburgh Fall Classic where I placed second in my division (of 2 lifters).
I feel good, like really good. I sleep well, I feel stronger, I notice the changes, and I am passionate about lifting consistently.
And maybe most surprisingly, I lifted over 3.5 million pounds in 2023. I am not a massive lifter, I am not smashing records, but I am consistent. And there is no better proof of how consistency leads to greatness than a simply summary of all my lifts across 2023.
This theme of consistency will show itself again in my upcoming story of my other passion, product management. If you enjoyed this story, firstly thank you for taking the time to read it, and secondly this site will grow to be a home of my learnings across these two passions: powerlifting and product management. And you will see the keys to success is both are strikingly similar.
Welcome to Products and Plates!
I asked AI to generate an image of these two overlapping passions of mine and below is the result from DALL-E 3.
