I started watching WWF shows in 1998, and I was heavy into it until 2005. It’s understandable that it would inspire my weight training from a young age. Not content with watching it every week and reading every single page of the WWE.com website at every chance I could, I also used to get the two WWE magazines every single month. One of the best things about it is that it used to detail some of the top wrestlers’ workout plans.
I recall very specific things about a few of the superstars’ routines. An example is how I remember that Chris Benoit introduced me to the pyramid method of bicep training. One of the bad habits I picked up happened to be from John Cena. When I read that he didn’t do any cardio, I figured that I shouldn’t either (completely ignoring the fact he wrestles nearly every day for between 5 and 20 minutes).
John Cena says no cardio, so that’ll be me too then.
We’re talking about something I would have read about 15 years ago which I’ve carried with me despite plenty of advice to the contrary. 2016 rolls around and I’m going heavier on weight training than ever before. I put on a LOT of weight in a short amount of time, despite not really eating much more. Late in the year I had my appendix removed, sidelining me. Directly after that, a baby arrived, and I barely recovered my training plan in 2017.
2018 and I’m in a new environment and have all the time in the world to train, I’ve gone harder than ever and I’m properly seeing results. I made all kinds of strength and weight gains by eating lots and training heavy. But then I wasn’t happy with the changes.
This was a dirty, non-strategised bulk that involved lots of carbs and rapid weight gain. It meant that while my body was swelling in some of the right places, the wrong places wanted a piece of the action too. When I say the wrong places, I just mean that I got a belly. Honestly, the first time since I was 11 that I didn’t have visible abs. It was hard to handle.
That wasn’t the only problem. When you put on a lot of weight quickly, you need to make sure that other aspects of your body are ready to move at the same pace. The things I failed to adjust accordingly was my strength and mobility. I can now see how it’s making me a lot more susceptible to injuries, and I should have prepared far sooner.
The thing about bulking as it’s helpful for progressive overload, as that extra mass comes in handy with some movements. Where it isn’t helpful is for things where you’ve already had lower body joint pain in the past. Even with a couple of extra stone on my body, I can feel the strain on my knees, if I’m not squatting with perfect form. Similarly, when I had a week off due to illness, I nearly lost all of my pullup strength from the extra weight I’d put on. I couldn’t carry on like this.
I’ve been agile since day dot; I can’t just let that go.
So how am I dealing with it? I’m going against John Cena (or not, because we know full well he does cardio). I’ve decided that I really need more movement, more compound exercise and more athletic movements in what I’m doing. I took things for granted in my smaller frame and now I’m having to undo the damage. I don’t necessarily want to lose weight; I want to keep building at a pace more proportional to my strength. My favourite new addition is a weighted skipping rope and it’ll probably be the key in helping me get to where I want to be.