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<h2 id="writings-header">Writings</h2>
<p>Sometimes I like to jot down ideas and drop them here.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="writings/my-fitness-journey.html" target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer">My fitness journey</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="writings/how-i-write-some-articles-im-lazy-about.html" target="_blank"
rel="noopener noreferrer">How I write some articles I have a hard time getting started with</a>

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<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
<title>Pablo here</title>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta viewport="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<main>
<h1>
Hi, Pablo here
</h1>
<p><a href="../index.html">back to home</a></p>
<hr>
<section>
<h2>My fitness journey</h2>
<p>Nowadays I find myself in the best physical shape I've ever been at. I'm stronger than I've ever been.
Pretty decent cardio-wise, not at my peak but close. I'm overall very active, and I can jump into any
physical activity without having second thoughts. I sleep like a baby, perform like a machine, eat like a
pig and it's all good. I'm at a very good weight. And there are so many other things in my life that work
nicely because my body is working nicely.</p>
<p>I'm very happy about this because, for a long time, I really didn't think I would find myself in this
situation. Historically I was not an active person at all. It took many years of back and forth, making
mistakes and trying things, to get my groove in and settle for the habits I have now. And those habits
are great because it's literally costing me no effort to maintain myself in this state.</p>
<p>So I thought I could look back a little, reflect on how I got here. Perhaps you can learn from some of
the mistakes I made and some of the things that worked for me.</p>
<h3>Growing up</h3>
<p>When I was a kid, I was a normal kid. I liked to play and have fun, but I was pretty terrible at sports.
Not a cripple, but surely a rather clumsy kid. I wasn't really talented for most sports, usually falling
in the bottom 25% of the distribution in terms of overall skill and performance.</p>
<p>I guess part of that was just genetics and natural talent, and part of it was simply that my parents were
not the most physically active people. They never engaged in any sports, never did any physical exercise
or went to the gym. So I had no input from them in terms of physical activity or motivation around that
area. I would just play because I was a kid, not because of my parents pushing me to go for it. As I
grew up and playing slowly became less of a thing due to age, sports also slowly faded from my life (and
I was quite happy about it: it's not fun to be the loser systematically).</p>
<p>The only exception in this path is that I did do a couple of years of martial arts when I was around 11
or 12. That was nice, it was a lot of fun and it helped me boost my confidence. And surprisingly, I got
kind of decent at it. Being used to the bottom 25%, just being average at something felt like a massive
success. But then I went into my teenage years and my head was quickly filled with other stuff. I
eventually dropped out of it.</p>
<h3>The dark ages</h3>
<p>During my teenage years, I didn't do shit. I played no sports nor trained my body in any way. I don't
think I ever tried to do anything until I was 18 or 19, already in university. I signed up for the gym a
couple of times, checked online for routines, downloaded them, tried to follow them. Would usually last
two or three months and then drop out. It was boring, not motivating, and I also had no clue what I was
doing. When I look back at how I was training at those times, I can see so many mistakes. I would try to
go too hard, have overly ambitious routines that were completely not sustainable. Nutrition wasn't in
place, technique wasn't in place, exercise choices were probably extremely poor.</p>
<p>I also tried jogging for a bit, but similar experience. Would do it for a while, then eventually lose
consistency. On and off for years.</p>
<p>When I was around 20 or 21, I was living in Germany and really short on money, so signing up for a gym
was not an option. But near where I was living there was a park with some bars, and some days there was
this German fella, I think his name was Leo. He was insane good: super ripped, in extremely good
condition, did all sorts of complicated exercises like it was nothing. The kind of guy you see training
and go "oh wow, that's amazing." He would give me some tips and I really enjoyed training around there
with him. Still, I wasn't extremely consistent. But it was a good intro to doing calisthenics in a bar
park, since the closest I had done was bodyweight training when I did martial arts in my younger years.
</p>
<p>And in that park I fucked up my ribcage doing dips on the parallel bars. One day I went too hard, and I
would guess the technique must have been absolutely terrible as well. That day, after finishing a set, I
just felt this little stab in my chest, which I didn't give much importance to on the spot. Then the next
morning I had super intense pain in my chest every time I tried to move or breathe. I'm pretty confident
I searched online whether I was having a heart attack. It slowly faded but not completely, and it stuck
around for at least a couple of years. That was my first big fuck-up with training and injuring myself.
After that, I learned not to exceed myself with risky exercise like dips, to respect my natural ranges of
motion, and to just take it easy for the most part.</p>
<p>That chest pain got me away from exercise for a long time because any chest exercise would hurt quite a
bit. Push-ups were a no-no. And how's a man supposed to train if he can't do push-ups, right?</p>
<h3>Some progress, then rock bottom</h3>
<p>Around 23 or 24, I went a bit harder with running. Started jogging more regularly, signed up for a 10k,
did a decent job, ran a couple more races, and eventually finished a half marathon in under two hours. A
year or two where I was jogging regularly. That was nice. I eventually lost my habit, but it was a good
experience and there I learned how to do resistance training decently. Also proved myself I was capable
of training for a feat like a half marathon, which was nice since I would have never identified myself as
a runner before.</p>
<p>Then, by the time Covid hit, I was not active at all. Absolutely zero gym, calisthenics, no jogging. And
then we were thrown in our cages with the curfews. Being locked down all day was absolutely terrible. I
wouldn't move around. I was working quite hard at my desk, long days of sitting. My back was hurting like
I was a grandpa. I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Probably drinking more than I should. For a
few months it just spiralled down into some mornings where I would wake up and go "god, I feel like shit
every single day."</p>
<p>Actually, let me backtrace a little. A few months before Covid hit, I had a traffic accident and broke my
leg. Had to get surgery on my knee. I was bedridden for a couple of months, then had to slowly learn how
to walk again. It's hard to explain how bad it is to be bedridden for that long.</p>
<p>So Covid hit on top of that, and I just went worse and worse. Maybe one year, one year and a half into it,
I was in absolute shit shape. At that point, it started to click in my brain that this was not normal, not
good, and not something I wanted. I guess sometimes you really need to lack something to truly appreciate
it and feel the need for it. Greener grasses, yadayada.</p>
<h3>The turnaround</h3>
<p>First thing, I quit smoking. One morning I woke up with my usual chest congestion, you know, where you
have to go to the bathroom and spit the hell out of yourself for five or ten minutes. All morning I was
just feeling it and I was like "I'm so done with this." I quit cold turkey that day, never went back.
Took no effort. Since then, I always advise smokers who want to quit to consider as a possible strategy
to just smoke themselves out. Smoke every single minute, as much as you want. Heck, smoke even when you
don't want to. Maybe that way you'll just get sudden rejection for it like I did.</p>
<p>Then I started training a little at home with a few dumbbells. Basic stuff: rows, squats, floor presses.
And I took it really easy because I was in such terrible shape and I had learned from my leg surgery
rehab that when you're at the bottom, you really have to take it easy coming up. That was one of the most
enlightening things I figured out. When you're in a really bad shape, don't rush it. You will go up
eventually and things will work out, but don't force yourself to do stuff you're not ready to do. Do
something that feels comfy, even trivial I would say, and start doing it regularly. From that point on,
you can start pumping the numbers.</p>
<p>I was extremely busy with work, working from home, so what I would do is train during my lunch break. 15,
20 minutes. Four exercises, a few rows, a few presses, a few squats, maybe just nine sets, done. Cook my
lunch, continue with life. Very humble training for a busy guy.</p>
<p>Precisely because what I was doing was not ambitious, it was pretty convenient. We're talking about
working out for 15 to 20 minutes in a lightweight way at home. I didn't change clothes. I didn't get in
my car and drive to a gym. I would sometimes cook as I was training, leveraging the rest time between
sets. It was extremely convenient and humble, and because of that, I was actually able to make a habit
out of it. One month, two months, three months. Eventually it just grew into a habit. I stayed with this
attitude for at least a year. That was the first time in my life I was actually consistent with strength
training.</p>
<p>The habit stuck and slowly, I increased the intensity, but with an extremely relaxed attitude. I wasn't
tracking myself heavily. I wasn't pushing hard to pump the numbers. I was just happily trying to feel
well and then every now and then I'd throw another half a kilo here, another half a kilo there. Do 4
sets where I used to do 3. Do 8 pushups instead of 6.</p>
<p>I also started jogging casually, doing 5k's here and there. Same principle: very humble jogs with no
intense pace goals, trivial to include in daily life.</p>
<h3>Calisthenics and the bars</h3>
<p>Eventually I started working for a company with a nice office close to the beach, literally a few meters
from the sand. Right in front of the office there was an absolutely amazing calisthenics bar park, with
all the pull-up bars you could figure out, all the grips and heights, parallel bars, row bars, everything
you can imagine. Training in the sand was really nice.</p>
<p>I made a habit of training whenever I went to the office. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at the end
of the day. I would train at the bars regularly and some days go for a 5k near the beach. I just kept my
sneakers at the office and grabbed them whenever I felt I had the energy.</p>
<p>At this stage I had clearly recovered all of my shitty physical condition from the curfew, smoking and
drinking. By the way, by the beach stage I had already stopped drinking as well. I've been smoke-free
and alcohol-free for a few years now.</p>
<p>Things kept improving. I was feeling so great that I could actually be a bit more ambitious with my
training. And it just worked. It didn't feel like I was pushing myself too hard and I didn't have weird
pains. Also, because I was in decent condition and not smoking or drinking, I was getting incredibly good
sleep, so recovery was much better. I also lost quite a bit of weight due to it all (though most of the
merit I think goes to quitting alcohol completely).</p>
<p>Eventually, I kind of got addicted to the bars. The habit had completely stuck with me. Since then, I
train at different bar parks depending on where I'm working or where life takes me, but I'm always
finding some bar park and going there 2-3 times a week. I even got a weighted vest, so some training
sessions I'll go quite hard with heavy pull-ups and dips.</p>
<p>And that's where I sit today. I'm stronger than I've ever been. I can crank out 10 pull-ups any day of
the week when I'm fresh, or squat cleanly with the missus on my back. And what I today call an easy day
would have been outright impossible for me to perform in 2020. That's pretty cool.</p>
<p>I'm not doing great with jogging right now because I stopped for a few months, tried to pump the numbers
too quickly when I came back (lesson learned), and hurt my Achilles tendon. Working on recovering that,
and then I'll just be very humble again with my 5k's. But right before that, I could run you a sub-hour
10K on any normal day, even if I had not been prepping intensely for it the weeks before.</p>
<p>The only thing I might be missing is some stretch work for flexibility and mobility. I've been thinking I
should probably try some yoga classes. Not to become a master at it, but to have my joints pushed to the
extreme positions every now and then. I'll probably do that at some point.</p>
<h3>Lessons</h3>
<p>If I look back, here's what I would tell my past self, or anyone who's starting out or struggling to make
exercise stick.</p>
<p>The most important thing is to start ridiculously small. So little volume, so little frequency, that it
almost feels pointless. A couple of days a week, five minutes of something that doesn't even feel like a
challenge. You might think that's not getting you anywhere. You're so wrong. Listen: first, you need to
prove yourself that you're capable of doing something trivial consistently, because doing something
consistently is all that matters. Once you prove you can do that, slowly increase, but very slowly.
Don't be in a rush. Don't try to make every session a challenge. You have a lifetime of exercising ahead
of you. Get to a certain level, stay there for a few weeks until you're bored, and then bump it up a
little bit. So little you have a hard time noticing any difference. And then repeat. Same for cardio.
Never jogged? Just go out and do two kilometres. You should be able to pull that in under 15 minutes. Do
that for a month, a couple of times a week, then do 2.5 kilometres. Take years to get to something
significant. But eventually you will get there, which is the important thing. And you'll make it because
you took it easy, you didn't injure yourself, and you didn't give up because your training plan was too
hard and completely incompatible with living a normal life. It feels counterintuitive, but by being kind
of lazy and doing very little, you eventually grow into doing a lot.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, make it trivial to start exercising in your daily life. Remove every bit of
friction you can. If you can afford to have equipment at home, have it ready and accessible, not buried
in some inconvenient closet. If you just have to reach for it and start, there's no excuse. The moment
it takes a couple of minutes to prep for exercise, you can talk yourself out of it. Same for jogging:
have your sneakers and clothes ready to grab, have one route you always do, don't plan it, don't think
about it, just go. Calisthenics bar parks have worked nicely for me precisely because they need zero
prep. You show up and the bars are there, ready for you to jump to them. And don't shy away from short
workouts either. In 15 minutes at a bar park you can do a lot. You're not going to break any records,
but it's way better than doing nothing. I never do long strength training sessions. I'm pretty confident
80-90% of my workouts sit somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes. You can get quite decent results with
that. And if someday you have the time and energy to punish yourself for an hour, be my guest. But don't
feel you have to.</p>
<p>Finally, get your weight sorted. Being at a good weight is insanely convenient for exercise. Running,
lifting, all of it. Being overweight is a fucking pain in the ass, messes with your health in many ways
and just doesn't let your body work properly. If you're clearly overweight, getting your weight down
before you start training hard will make your life a lot easier. Things like running are terribly tolling
when you're heavy, whereas at a healthy weight it feels so much more pleasant, which helps you stick
with it.</p>
<p>That's it. It took me many years to get here, but I'm rolling with it. I'm having fun with the bars,
I'll be having fun jogging with no pressure very soon, might throw the yoga in. I keep it easy. Whenever
I feel like I have some extra energy and bandwidth, I push myself a bit harder for fun. Not on a
schedule, not with any pressure, just because I feel like doing it. Whenever I seem to have no energy or
time, I just do what I can afford to. But the key is: I always do a bit, no matter what.</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="../index.html">back to home</a></p>
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