bayaz

20 rep squats sounds insane. I just started doing 10-rep with BBB, and that's plenty brutal for me already.

I've done 5/3/1 since I started. Used Beginners for the first year or so, and over the last month or two I've switched to Boring But Big, and I'm planning to mix that with First Set Last. I mostly hate switching things up and prefer just to go and do my lifts without spending too much mental energy on planning, so I'll probably stick with 5/3/1 indefinitely.

Longevity and trying to feel actually healthy/mobile/etc. is really important to me, and one of the main reasons I picked 5/3/1 was the emphasis on slow growth and always maintaining clean form. So, TB sounds like it could be right up my alley as well. I made a note of it in case I ever do need to switch things up for some reason.

Also, just subscribed to the Weightroom community!

Really great info, thanks for posting! Mainly want to second all this for others and say most of it was true for me as well. I'm only a year in, though, so my results aren't as dramatic yet. Your story is pretty motivating, so thanks for that too!

Also want to add that I found the fitness wiki to be a great resource for no-nonsense advice like the above. It's a wiki based on Reddit, but it's a separate website at this point. It does a good job focusing on keeping lifting simple and eating right.

In the spirit of casual conversation, two questions mostly out of pure curiosity: what routine did you start with, and what routine has been your favorite so far?

Short answer: https://rtalbert.org/gtd/

(I'm not that guy. That's just my favorite resource on the topic.)

Long answer: Organizational system for tasks at work and in daily life. People think it sounds boring and makes your life too rigid, but I find it's exactly the opposite. Once I know what I need to get done and have it out of my head, it frees me up to (1) be deliberate about how I spend my time and (2) focus relatively distraction-free on whatever I'm doing at a given time, even if that's something simple like watching a movie without wondering whether there's something I forgot to do for work.

Everybody who is obsessed with an organizational system has their own version that worked for them -- for me, it was the one I linked above. The author's goal really resonated with me: be okay not doing what you're not doing. It's not always about doing more. It's about deciding what you need to do, doing that, and then not having to stress all the time. The article is tailored to academics, which was where I worked at the time, but I still use it now that I've moved on, and I see no reason it is not generally applicable.

It seems like a lot at first, but you don't do it all at once. Even the author of the article recommends that you start small. I spent years doing just the first few steps without even attempting bigger-picture planning and review stuff, and it was still life-changing for me.

If any of this resonates with you, I'd recommend you give the first step a shot today. Keep it simple, start small, but actually start.