People keep crediting the pandemic for progress I built in the gym

2026-10-07 15:59

Posted an old photo from a decade ago next to one from this month. I expected comments about lifting, sleep, or how much better my joints feel. Instead I got three versions of 'so you lost the pandemic weight.' I’ve been training four days a week since well before 2020.

Bench went from 185x5 to 225x5, waist from 38 to 33, resting heart rate down. The scale has only moved about 25 lb total because I’ve been trying to hold onto muscle. GLP-1 helped shut down late-night grazing, sure, but it didn’t put plates on the bar.

I’m not mad, just tired of every change getting filed under one convenient explanation. Anyone else have years of consistency flattened into a single narrative?

2026-10-10 13:31

People love a tidy narrative. I keep a note called “receipts with dates”: deadlift 135x5 in 2016, 225x5 in 2019, 275x3 last month; resting HR 72→58; waist 36→31.

When someone says “pandemic weight,” I just say, “The trend line started way before 2020.” Not combative, just factual. What’s the one stat you’d put on a T-shirt so nobody can hand your work to a virus?

That bench jump is a solid candidate.

2026-10-12 01:02

I run a cafe, so I’m surrounded by pastries and “just taste this” spoonfuls all day—I get why people reach for a lazy explanation. But 185x5 to 225x5 is the tell; that’s not a pandemic side effect. I keep one phone note

2026-10-19 12:57

People default to weight because it’s the only change they know how to name. I had a similar thing when I hit a 2-plate deadlift: a relative asked if I’d “been walking more.” What finally shifted comments for me was posting a lift video instead of a body photo—same gym, same app, 2019 vs now.

Suddenly they were talking about bar speed and form, not pandemic anything. Have you tried leading with a PR clip rather than the side-by-side?

It gives them a different script.

2026-10-20 03:55

honestly the pandemic credit is wild because i went the opposite way — gym closed, i lived on gas station soda, and my bench actually stalled for like a year. the real jump came later when i started logging top sets and forced myself to walk during queue times.

weird marker for me was resting heart rate: it dropped ~8 bpm before the scale moved at all, which made those “pandemic weight” comments even funnier. did your rhr improve first too, or was it the waist number?

i’m curious which one flipped before the other.