I am a fitness noob, but was a bigger one around the same time last year. I used to run once in a while in a small park near my place, but my form wasn’t correct. I would land on the front half of my feet, that would cause so much pain in between my knees and calves that I’d always have to rest for 2-3 days before going out. I didn’t know that my form was off - instead I thought my legs weren’t strong enough to run - until later. It was once I watched a bunch of Youtube videos did I start running correctly and enjoying it along the way. I have since run decent distances on Alki and Elliot Bay trails, and a half marathon in just 2h35m, a number I am personally proud of.
While I always wanted to run, so that I could, for instance, explore a new city through a morning run, I wanted more. But as I said above, I was a fitness noob. I joined a gym for 3 months in India and visited it for 2. The trainer gave me a six day plan, which focused on 2-3 muscles a day, and showed me the basics. I trained but didn’t focus enough on doing the exercises correctly, gradually adding weights or my diet. As expected, I hardly gained any muscle, except for the occasional feel-good.
After I moved to Seattle in April, I started group classes at a local gym. While I could just show up and start sweating by following the instructor, something that attracted me to the classes in the first place, I quickly realized I wasn’t making gains that I privately intended. I wanted more, but had no idea where to start because there were so many programs online to choose from!
I quit the gym after 2-4 months, still occasionally running. Eventually I started researching harder and stumbled upon the Icecream Fitness program on the Fitness subreddit. And that was exactly what I wanted! 3 days a week with about an hour each day, covers full body using basic equipments that were present in my apartment’s gym, raving reviews on Reddit etc.
I have been doing ICF for about 4 weeks now, and love it so far. I also started taking a protein supplement (whey protein, to be specific) for the first time hoping it’ll help build muscle. One of the challenges I am about to run into with program is that my apartment’s gym doesn’t have enough equipments for strength-training, especially a Power Rack for heavy barbells. I guess I am going to join my earlier gym again, this time just for its equipments and not for its classes.
At the end, I am excited about this part of my life, and hope to build a muscular body similar to those that movies have led us to believe are so common in men!