Dear Jack,
In the photo on the left, I’m 28 years old; on the right, I’m 37.
For years, I struggled to find the right workout program, repeating a loop of research, note-taking, Going Hard with No Excuses, and then inevitably quitting. I could never find the perfect routine. Or if I missed a workout, my motivation tanked.
Then around 2020, something clicked. I finally came across the bit of wisdom I needed to hear, which was a Reddit comment to the effect of There’s no such thing as a bad workout. I took what I had previously tried (Stronglifts, Greyskull LP, Starting Strength, whatever some magazine said Hugh Jackman did) and pared it down to a full-body routine I could finish in 30 minutes. I put a weight bench and a pull-up bar in my basement so I didn’t have to spend time commuting to a gym. I kept things simple and flexible, adding and removing exercises until I had something that worked for me. I stopped reading about working out and watching videos about working out, and started actually working out. And then, most importantly, I didn’t stop.
Turns out there are only two real keys to getting strong:
- Lift heavy things regularly
- Don’t hurt yourself
Sometimes I'm still surprised by the results you can get from just doing something over and over. Even when you’re doing it in a way that isn’t “optimized” or whatever. Consistency is just way more important.
I spent vast amounts of time planning things out when I was younger, much more than I spent doing them. It seemed like every hobby and career direction and workout and unwritten piece of music was like Plath’s fig tree — an endless array of possible futures, from which I could choose only one. I agonized over these choices to the point of paralysis.
But the reality is there’s no such thing as a bad workout. I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time before learning that lesson, but I sure am glad to know it now.