8/27 Whole Body Workout

Wednesday was a down day (I think I mentioned that in my last post). So I had to visit the gym on Thursday (8/27). My arms were so tight I couldn't straighten them out. It made sleeping a little difficult, but we survive don't we. Anyway, as I was saying... I went to the gym last night. I jogged over, then did 5 min on the elliptical trainer. My arms were still pretty tight, but my shoulders and legs were feeling good. I know that I need to keep working my shoulders or the pain that I endured will be for nothing.

I started with shoulder exercises. I was happy to be back at the weight where I started the first night. However, since I wanted to work more parts of my body, I kept the routine to two sets. After working shoulders I did a little bicep and tricep work to try to loosen those muscles. It worked a bit. They did tighten up last night, but they feel better today. I attribute the recovery to the work last night.

After working my shoulders and arms I moved onto legs. I have altered the leg workout that the trainer has suggested. I've gone back to the method I used when training for skiing. That is, for leg extensions and curls I work one leg at a time for two sets of 15. However, the work is done slowly, as follows: Raise the weight quickly, then lower to a count of 5. Don't let the weight get to the bottom before raising it again. Repeat 10-15 times for each leg. That's one set. The third set is done regular speed with both legs at a higher weight. This gives a nice burn. :) I finished legs with some lunges and calf raises with 10 pound weights (no wall sits today as time was getting to be a factor).

The session ended with abdominal exercises. Incline situps (no weight) and machine crunches (two sets). It's a little strange, I can really feel my abs hurting while working them, but they feel fine otherwise. Normally I am able to feel them outside of the gym as well. I'm thinking this may be attributed to the amount of work that their getting.

Summary is, I'm starting to feel good about this working out thing. However, I am still far off from it being an integral part of my daily routine. That is, I still have to talk myself into going. As opposed to just automatically thinking, "Oh, it's time to go to the gym."

Next week, chest and back. Should be interesting. :P

8/25 - The Second Training Session

On Tuesday we had our second training session. I wasn't quite sure what to expect this time. I was wondering if we would continue to work shoulders or if he would just go onto something completely different. ... We went onto something completely different.

For the second training session we worked biceps and triceps (and abs, of course). First we concentrated on biceps, then moved onto triceps. Always doing three sets of each exercises. That's what kills me, I'm always ready to move on after two sets. After sufficiently numbing the upper arms we moved onto abs. Abs consist of sit ups with a medicine ball, then incline sit ups (still with the medicine ball), then crunches on a machine. This time, I guess since we were working bi's and tri's he through in some push ups in between the sit ups. I normally don't mind doing a few push ups, but try doing them after you've just worked your upper arms. They become extremely difficult. It was a good workout.

The next day I could really feel it. My arms won't straighten out now. I have to keep trying to stretch them. Since I work with computers all day this becomes increasingly difficult because my arms are naturally bent to a 90 degree angle to type. So I had to keep taking a break to try to straighten my arms. Then once I got them to feel good, I would return to typing and they would tighten up again. I skipped the gym on Wednesday. I didn't really intend to, it just worked out that way. I probably should have done some push ups to try to loosen my arms a bit, but I didn't do that either. Now I really need to visit today and get this worked out because it's kind of driving me crazy. :)

I keep reminding myself that this was voluntary and that it will be worth it in a few months when I'm on the ski slope. ... Keep moving forward!!!

Sunday 8/23

The child care dilema continued today. It was partially the difficulty of getting the kids up and dressed, then taking them over to the gym. However, I think it was more the $3 per child that it would cost once we got there. Whichever it was, we almost missed the opportunity to work out today because of it. This is where the proximity of the gym came in handy. We decided that we would each take a turn going to the gym while the other stayed home with the kids. That worked out great.

Zlatka drove the car over and got a good workout in. Then, when she came back, I was ready to go. I jogged over to the gym. Once there I got on the oliptical trainer for what was supposed to be 5 minutes. It ended up turning into 12-1/2 minutes because there was an interesting story on ESPN that I was watching. The tredmills/elipticals there all have personal TVs mounted on them. So, that's ok, a little extra cardio never hurt anyone. I combined a shoulders and legs workout and rounded it off with a little abs. On the walk home I mixed in a few sprints, just to make it eventful.

Then, the best part of the compromise was waiting for me when I got home. While I was gone, Zlatka had been preparing lunch. Whole wheat pasta and ice tea. That was a good start to the day. ... BTW, soreness is all gone now (at least until Tuesday when we meet with the trainer again).

Day Two and Three

OK, Day three in the title is a little bit of a misnomer as I took the day off. But we'll get back to that in a bit. I did make it back to the gym for day two, which I feel was very important considering I could barely move my arms. The intention for day two was to work legs and a little abs. I jogged over to the gym for my warmup. That worked well especially considering the the temperature. I had a sweat going by the end of the half-mile run.

When I got to the gym, my trainer was sitting up front so I got a chance to chat with him for a minute. He had drawn up a leg workout plan for me, as promised. I took the sheet and proceeded to the machines to start leg curls. Turns out the suggested weight was a little low, so I ended up doing a few more reps, then uped the weight 10 pounds to compensate. After leg extensions and curls it was onto some no-weight exercises. He had me do a superset of lunges, calf raises, and wall squats. The wall squats are a great excercise!!! They produced a burn that I still feel two days later. :) After legs I did a little ab work, as I promised myself. Then walked back home. The walk home was a good cooldown.

As I said earlier, the third day was a day off. My arms were still killing me, my stomach was hurting and I didn't want to work my legs two days in a row. I did do a few pushups to work my shoulders out a little bit. That did help a little, I think.

Today I'm feeling better. My arms and legs (and abs) still feel the workout, but it's more of a normal pain as opposed to just hurting. The plan is to go back tonight and work out with Zlatka, but the gym is only open until 7:00 tonight and it's already 5:00 (and raining). Not sure if we're going to make it. Also, I'm not sure if the child care is open. If we go we would need to take the kids. If we don't make it we're going to have to do some work at home. Hmmm, that'll be interesting. .. Ok, that's all for now. .. More later. ...

... Well, we didn't make it to the gym. Child care on the weekends is only from 9-12, UGH!! Anyway, I grabbed some household items (a couple of ketchup bottles) and did some reps of the shoulder work that we did the other day. That worked out pretty well. Added in some pushups and situps to round it out. The important thing right now is to keep working my muscles so that they know they're going to be getting used. :) The more I can tear them down now, the more they will be repairing and building. The shoulder group is one that I haven't had to use in quite a while. There's not a whole lot of shoulder work in typing on a computer.

Day one

We met with the trainer yesterday. He took measurements, then we worked shoulders and abs. OUCH!! my shoulder hasn't hurt that bad since I dislocated it. But it's all good. He's a good trainer and looks like he will push us to excel. I say us because the plan is to work out with my wife.

It took me all day to work my shoulders so that I could move my arms freely, but I'm finally at that point. Now it's time to go back to the gym and work legs. :) This time it will be on my own, but the trainer is supposed to leave a workout plan for me. We'll see.

Thanks for the kind words Richard and good luck with the triathalon. I'm seeing a lot of my friends are running now. Very inspiring. ... more later.

Hello, welcome to my new blog.
For those who don't know me, I'll explain a little about myself and hopefully while doing so explain a bit about the purpose of this blog. I'm 42 (hence the name "over 40"), not tremendously out of shape, but not in the shape that I would like to be in. I'm sure that I fit into a common category for men my age.
I was athletic as a kid as I experimented with lots of different sports. My primary sport that I settled on was wrestling which I did for 6 years. I wasn't at the top of the food chain, nor was I at the bottom. I was decent and with a little more effort and commitment I could have been very good. I have never been big, I was 5'9" 135 lb. when I graduated.
After high school I joined the Air Force where I had a physical job working on aircraft. While in the Air Force I start skiing and would work out starting in August/September to get in shape for the upcoming season. I spent one year in Iceland where I worked out pretty hard and continued to improve my skiing. When I arrived in Iceland I was still around 135 lb, but when I left I was 170. I attribute the gain in size to a solid year of gym time. After Iceland I got stationed in Holland. While in Holland I joined the base soccer team and met a fellow who got me interested in ski racing. I was never a highly competitive racer, but I enjoyed the challenge and was able to race in a downhill in the French Alps which was pretty cool. The bottom line here is that I used to be pretty fit.
I left the Air Force 12 years ago, at the age of 30, to finish graduate school. I now work as a computer software tester. This is about the farthest you can get from a physical job that there is. Combined with the lack of anything physical all day is the fact that I am now 42 and my metabolism has slowed down accordingly, just as everyone said it would. As I said at the beginning of my post, I haven't let myself go to the point where I grossly out of shape. However, I am acutely aware of how easy that can be.
Right now I am (still 5'9") wavering between 185 and 190 lb. depending on my discipline that week. However, my endurance and fitness are gone. I have recently started (sporatically) playing soccer again. It's just a friendly game, but not as much fun when my legs are shot half way through and I have been unable to motivate myself to run independently to help gain fitness/endurance. This is where this blog comes in.
I have just joined a gym with my wife. The name of the gym doesn't matter. I can (and have) work out pretty much anywhere. What does matter is if I can stay motivated and achieve results. Here's the deal. The gym is 1/2 mile from my house. My plan is to jog over as a warmup, then workout and jog/walk back as a cooldown. Along with the membership we have purchased a program to meet with a personal trainer once per week. The membership and training sessions are for one year.
OK, I know what you're thininig. "OH, a personal trainer. Well la-te-da" LOL, that's what I would be saying anyway. But hear me out. This was a good deal when broken down to a per session rate (via a promotion) and I'm hoping that meeting with a trainer once per week will keep me on track to attain my goals by the end of the year. If I can't meet my goals in one year, then all is lost (so to speak).
I don't think my situation is unique. In fact, I think this is very common amongst men of my age. So feel free to follow my exploits as I trudge through this year long experiment in fitness for men over 40 years old. Hopefully I can inspire someone along the way, or at least give you a laugh.
My first session with the trainer is Wed (August 19th). Keep posted!!