Fitness Doesn't Happen By Accident
People often tell me how lucky I am to be in the shape I'm in. They often assume that I’m one of those people who just got lucky and that I don’t have to work at it.
I wish it were true but on the contrary, it has taken a consistent effort of both detailed nutrition and commitment to exercise to maintain this condition. Each passing year (I’m now 51 years old) brings new challenges as my body decides it wants to be more difficult about cooperating with me!
To put it another way, staying fit "doesn't happen by accident"!
The Long and Winding Road to Fitness People often tell me how lucky I am to be in the shape I'm in. They often assume that I’m one of those people who just got lucky and that I don’t have to work at it.
I wish it were true but on the contrary, it has taken a consistent effort of both detailed nutrition and commitment to exercise to maintain this condition. Each passing year (I’m now 51 years old) brings new challenges as my body decides it wants to be more difficult about cooperating with me!
To put it another way, staying fit "doesn't happen by accident"!
As a youth I must admit that I was naturally lean and actually had trouble putting on weight in the form of either fat or muscle.
In fact I was skinny to the point of being very insecure about how I looked compared to several of my closest friends who were blessed with considerably superior physiques both in terms of appearance and strength. I was considerably frail by comparison no matter how I ate or tried to build muscle. This was definitely a combination of my genetics being lacking as well as knowledge of how to try making any changes.
Looking back, I know that in the bigger picture of things I was blessed to be healthy, I didn’t suffer from any handicaps (which are truly serious problems many people have to deal with), I had a roof over my head, plenty of food to eat, and a family that loved me.
Still, being a teenager it was still pretty frustrating and at that age one's self esteem may be relative to their specific situation which may seem "shallow" and insignificant upon reflection. But I'm sure most people can remember those teenage years as being a time of trying to find oneself and see where they fit in.
Enough about all that....
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Well as far as being naturally lean, things definitely started to change once my growth spurt stopped when I was in College. All of a sudden for the first time I started to gain weight fairly rapidly, but not the good kind. I paid the price for never learning how to have disciplined eating habits since in the past I could get away with eating anything.
Even though I did have periods where I would work out and eat better, in the years following College graduation I really got off track and eventually ballooned up to about 215 lbs. Being that I am very “thin limbed”, this weight was extremely heavy for my frame.
I detailed this process and my journey to fitness in this blog post:Well as far as being naturally lean, things definitely started to change once my growth spurt stopped when I was in College. All of a sudden for the first time I started to gain weight fairly rapidly, but not the good kind. I paid the price for never learning how to have disciplined eating habits since in the past I could get away with eating anything.
Even though I did have periods where I would work out and eat better, in the years following College graduation I really got off track and eventually ballooned up to about 215 lbs. Being that I am very “thin limbed”, this weight was extremely heavy for my frame.
Learning The Lifestyle
Anyway, the main point I want to make is that in spite of how I look now it has only occurred because of acquiring a commitment to a lifestyle that over time I have learned to really enjoy. If you read the other article you will realize how drastically different things are now compared to the way they were when I was at my lowest point.
That low was as much an emotional low as it was physical, a feeling of hopelessness with no light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully as I mention in that same post, a friend of mine inspired me to set off on a path that I’ve never really deviated from, maybe slightly at times, but thankfully never too far off of the path.
One thing that I feel has really played a part in maintaining a certain degree of fitness is that I try to set goals for myself all of the time, whether it is getting stronger, more muscular, or more conditioned and leaner (or a combination of those things).
Anyway, the main point I want to make is that in spite of how I look now it has only occurred because of acquiring a commitment to a lifestyle that over time I have learned to really enjoy. If you read the other article you will realize how drastically different things are now compared to the way they were when I was at my lowest point.
That low was as much an emotional low as it was physical, a feeling of hopelessness with no light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully as I mention in that same post, a friend of mine inspired me to set off on a path that I’ve never really deviated from, maybe slightly at times, but thankfully never too far off of the path.
One thing that I feel has really played a part in maintaining a certain degree of fitness is that I try to set goals for myself all of the time, whether it is getting stronger, more muscular, or more conditioned and leaner (or a combination of those things).
A New Challenge
I have recently decided to take on the challenge of bringing my conditioning to the best level ever at 51 years old, to prove both to myself and hopefully inspire others that you can get better as you age. I wanted to post some recent progress pics that show where I am currently in this process. I will continue to add pics as I continue to reach for my latest goal. I took these pics on back to back days because I wanted to add some additional angles to have to compare to later.
I have not yet arrived at my goal but I thought it would be helpful to share where I am right now and then hopefully have some pics in the next couple weeks that will show at least some improvement. I'm not saying that I'm by any means unhappy with my current condition, but again I just like to challenge myself to see how far I can go.
Just some thoughts on my current process
Though I have been keeping a food log for the past 4 or 5 years, I have gotten much more detailed by measuring and weighing all my food (unless it’s an already portion sized item such as a “salmon burger” or can of tuna fish) and logging this information into an online nutrition tracker (myfitnesspal.com).
I’ve reduced my calories from about 2800 to 2500 (which at my height of 6 foot 2 inches and a high activity level is just below maintenance).
My goal is to very gradually lose the last bit of "stubborn" lower belly fat while continuing to build, or in the least retain muscle mass. I am not very gifted genetically to build muscle so every improvement I make requires a strong and consistent effort.
Exercise Stuff My basic workout program is alternating workout and recovery days, though sometimes I will do conditioning work on my recovery days (no resistance training).
I alternate a “3 stage workout” which focuses on various types of strength/hypertrophy (i.e. muscle building), and then a Boot Camp style workout with those recovery or conditioning workouts in between. So this gives me 4 pretty intense workouts per week.
The recovery days are what I call “regeneration” and consist of Dynamic warm-ups, Self Myofascial Release (Foam Rolling), Flow Yoga, and Movement Preparation. On the conditioning days I still follow the regeneration protocol and then add a conditioning workout which may consist of kickboxing, High Intensity Interval Training, Aerobic Stepping, med-ball work, Agility work, or combinations of various modalities (like Med-ball w/ Agility work).
All of my recent workouts (since February 2011, which was right after I had surgery to remove a large mass from under my arm), have been done using bodyweight and Elastic resistance equipment as my primary modes for resistance training (Bodylastics, Lifeline, and Mini-bands). I also use Med-balls, Swiss Balls, Furniture Sliders, and various agility or stepping equipment.
I wanted to mention this because often people think you need a gym or expensive equipment to get results, I feel otherwise! It does take a lot of knowledge and skill to know how to use these tools that I employ, but the tools themselves are pretty humble and simple.
More Specific Nutritional StuffMy nutrition is basically 40-45% Carbs, 30-35% Protein, and 25-30% fat. I tend to go a bit higher carbs on my more intense training days, and I’ll sometimes bump the calories above 2,500. On my regeneration days I try to come in below 2,500 (but not too far below because I am still recovering from the previous day’s workout).
Other subtleties are that I limit most processed/refined grains in general, such as breads and processed cereals (I pretty much stick w/ old fashioned oats) and for dinner I try to limit my carbs to green (or other fibrous) vegetables. I do have a small amount of multigrain pasta (1 oz) with lunch on most days but that is a very small amount. I'm not a "carb-o-phobe" but I try to stick with carbs in their more natural state and just keep the other kinds to a minimum.
I do eat fruit but try to have it in the earlier part of the day. However if I feel I need to eat an apple or something like that in the mid to late afternoon I will do so. I’m pretty in tune with my energy needs so I will listen to them and try not to deprive myself of nutrients when I am really feeling the need for them.
The Pics
Okay, so here are the most recent pics, the first pics (in white shorts) were taken May 31st, 2011. The second pics (in red shorts) I took a day later (June 1st, 2011) to have some slightly different angles. These were taken w/ my cell phone "camera" so they aren't the best quality, but I think they are sufficient. I also added a comparison picture from 2008 just for fun. I will add more pics in the upcoming weeks.
Note, that 2008 pic (from the 2008-2011 comparison) was taken a few months before I underwent cervical spine surgery. I had no idea at the time that picture was taken that surgery was in my immediate future. It was due to injuries sustained many years earlier in a car wreck that finally "caught up with me".
The reason I'm mentioning this is because after surgery I had to start rebuilding my strength all over again (I was only allowed to pick up something that weighed a maximum of 5 lbs, such as a milk container). It also meant I had to permanently change the way I trained (no more overhead pressing movements for example). It was a slow process getting back to where I was prior to surgery and then trying to move beyond that.
Just for the record
I generally feel embarrased and uncomfortable posting "shirtless" pics online. However I think that the only way I can show that I "walk the walk" rather than just "talk the talk" is to be willing to "show" rather than just "tell".
Unfortunately, in this "internet guru age", there are many people in the fitness industry who not only talk about fat loss and fitness but sell products along these lines. The problem is that sometimes when you see a picture of these "experts" it is clear that they obviously don't follow the program that they preach about, or it isn't working too well (at least for them).
So I feel the pics will hopefully show I at least implement the things I speak about even though I'm not the most naturally gifted person in terms of physique development. But all we can do is work with what we were born with and do the best we can!:)
So I feel the pics will hopefully show I at least implement the things I speak about even though I'm not the most naturally gifted person in terms of physique development. But all we can do is work with what we were born with and do the best we can!:)
Note: If you click on the pics they will get larger.
These progress pics are from June 1st, 2011 (I wanted some different angles which is why they are only a day after the above pics).
Below are Progress pics from July 4th, 2011
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