Beginning Weightlifting for Fat People

I am very fat, so I started weightlifting.

In this blog post, I describe my experiences. I basically learned how to do it on my own through trial and error, so I am taking this opportunity to summarize what I learned about it.

Warning: I am not a medical expert. I am simply reporting what worked for me. If you have a specific health condition, you should consult your doctor before starting a weightlifting program.

1. Why? 

Everybody has their own journey and their own answers to the why question. For me, the answer was simple. When you take Wegovy, you start eating at a calorie deficit. If you are not careful, your body will consume its own muscle mass for energy. One way to prevent the loss of muscle mass is to do regular weightlifting. How do I know all this? Because it happened to me. When I stopped lifting, my muscles atrophied very rapidly, and I became physically weak. 

Additionally, increasing muscle mass helps decrease blood glucose levels, because the muscles consume glucose directly from your bloodstream. Since I was diagnosed as prediabetic, I have been looking for ways to decrease my blood glucose levels.

An unexpected side effect of lifting for me: on the mornings that I do weightlifting, I feel a tremendous sense of energy and well-being, even euphoria, all morning long. 

But other people might have other reasons to lift weights. Some people might be concerned about physical appearance, believing that a toned body is more attractive. Other people might be interested in bone strength.

Everybody is unique. Every reason is legitimate.

2. Golden Rule

The golden rule for weightlifting is to take everything very gradually. 

Start slowly and see what works for you. If you have any sort of pain in your muscles or your joints, just slow down! For example, start with weights that are easy to lift; don’t stress yourself. When you are comfortable with that, after a few weeks, increase the weights. 

As an anecdote, when I came back from Togo (after my massive muscle mass loss), I decided to start lifting again, because I had stopped lifting when I went to Togo. But I foolishly decided that I would go from two sessions a week to three sessions a week, even though I had not done any lifting at all for two months in Togo. Right away, I strained a tendon in my right arm in the wrist area. It was so painful that it throbbed at night. But I did not see any deformation or bruising, so I just let it heal by itself. 

As a result, I did not touch weights for three weeks. Eventually, the pain in my arm went away. That episode could have been avoided by obeying the golden rule and taking things gradually.

In retrospect, I probably should have gone in to see the doctor to have them check it out. If you have severe joint or tendon pain that persists, you should see a doctor as soon as possible.

3. Warming Up

Another important rule is to warm up. The idea is to get your tendons and muscles loosened up before you start to lift, so that you do not strain them. 

I loosen up by riding my stationary bike before I lift weights. In other words, instead of heading to the gym in the cold morning air, just after getting out of bed, I ride my stationary bike for 35-40 minutes to get the blood going in my body. By the time I arrive at the gym, my body has already warmed up from exercise.

Some people may not have time for cardio before lifting. Some may find that cardio tires them out before lifting, and decide to do them on different days. You should experiment and do what works well for you.

Another way to warm up is to do some very light body movements for 5-10 minutes before lifting. For example, swinging your arms back and forth, or rotating your torso from side to side, or gently tilting your neck from side to side. Just to get the blood flowing.

The take-away point is to find some way to warm up before lifting that fits with your schedule, your body and your style. Just try to find some way to get the blood flowing and to get your muscles and tendons loosened up before you start lifting in the morning.

4. Machines versus Free Weights

My gym (at NYU) has both machines and free weights. They also have the little benches that people use to work out with free weights. I decided on machines because I have no idea what kinds of exercises I would do with free weights, other than simple curls. On the machines, I can be assured of getting to all the major muscle groups. The machines also take most of the guess work out of how the lifting should be done.

But I am keeping my eye on the people using free weights, and so gradually I will add that component to my program.

5. Getting to Know the Machines

Take your time to get to know each of the machines. Most of them have various levers and knobs that you can adjust to make your body fit better into the machine. Take a moment to make adjustments and to experiment with different settings to find out what is most comfortable for you. Since I am tall (6 feet 4 inches), I usually find I need to adjust the machines to fit my height.

6. Pyramid Training

Pyramid training is also a form of warming up. By this I mean increasing the weights while using a machine. For example, if I am using the lat pull-down machine, I will first do a set of 10 repetitions on the lowest possible weight (10 pounds), just to loosen up. Then I will go to 50 pounds and do a set of ten reps with that. Then, 70 pounds for another set, and 85 pounds for two sets. Of course, you need to adjust this to fit your needs (in terms of number of reps and sets, total weights, etc.).

In this way, you avoid any shock to your tendons or muscles. It also allows you to closely monitor how you feel after each set.

7. Number of Repetitions

I am advocating 8-10 repetitions per set for a particular machine, even at the very beginning. Why not 5 repetitions or 30 repetitions? I feel that 30 repetitions would be fatiguing and make the muscles tired very quickly. As for 5 repetitions per set, that might be effective at a higher weight, but then I would risk hurting myself by straining my tendons or muscles. 8-10 repetitions seems to be the golden mean, at least for me.

8. Starting the Program

I started with a small number of machines, and a small number of reps on each machine. Then I built up from there incrementally, gradually increasing (a) the number of sessions per week, (b) the number of machines, (c) the number of sets on each machine, (d) the number of reps in each set (e) the weight lifted and (f) the increase in weight between sets. After each increase, I monitored how my body feels.

In the very beginning, you might choose just three machines to work with. You could try three sets of eight reps on each machine. Start the session on a very low weight that does not cause you any strain. Then for each subsequent set, go up in weight a bit (pyramid training). Experiment to see how much you should go up, either five or ten pounds. Do this for a couple of weeks to find your comfort zone. You can adjust things upward as you start to feel more comfortable.

9. Recovery Days

Make sure to give yourself rest and recovery days. Your muscles need an opportunity to heal after a weightlifting session. So, give yourself at least 24 hours or more before the next session. As you continue to lift, you will get a better feel for how much recovery time your body needs before another session.

I personally lift two to three times a week, reserving my power day for Friday (lifting the highest weights that I can), and decreasing the weights on the other days. That seems to work well for my body for now.