Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Day 31: Time to Put on Some Weight

Now that I have cleared the all-important threshold of 30 days and continue to run in the morning it is now time to “turn it up” a little.  What do I mean by that? To answer that question I am going to ask you to step back into the time machine with me and we shall set the date for summer of 1999. 

Everyone was worried about the Y2K bug, the radio kept blasting “Party like its 1999,” and I had laced up one ugly pair of zebra striped high tops with red sweat pants and began my journey into the scary world of exercise.  As I have previously mentioned I started with jogging. It seemed like the logical thing to do.  Meanwhile tucked into a small corner of my brain was a weight bench and free weights that I had used off and on, yet never seriously, sitting around collecting dust. 

I acquired a copy of Weider’s Body Building Manuel on one of my many trips to the library and began reading it.  Since then I have literally read dozens of books on body building, weight loss, and running.  Shortly after I read Weider’s Manuel I added weight training to my arsenal to aid in waging war on my body fat. 

I stumbled around in the dark for almost a year using different techniques and every exercise regimen I could get my hands on.  I bought the weight lifting magazines to see what the pros were doing. I did low weights/high reps and heavy weights/low reps. I tried to do different lifts every time to trick my muscles into growing with very little results to show for it.

Then one day, one of the many books or magazines I was reading (I wish I could remember which one) there was an article how long it takes to have a body builders physique, it stated that typically it takes a person 7 to 10 years.  The article then went on to say, to use the over used analogy, it’s like building a house you have to start with building a solid foundation.  That is to say you have to be able to lift very heavy in order to grow very big.  There were basically a hand full of lifts it suggested doing until you could lift heavy which meant being able to lift two to two and half times what you already maxed out at as a beginner.  After reading that article I read several books on beginning body building and they all said the same thing just in not the same words. 

This concludes our ride in the time machine, now, if you would, please exit the time machine and watch your step I wouldn’t want you to trip on the way out. 

Why did we just take that journey in the time machine?  Isn't it obvious? It’s time for me to start lifting.  I was looking for routines over the last week and came across a “Beginning Body Building” article on the web.  It recommended starting with the basics (somethings never change). You only need to be able to perform a few exercise to build a solid foundation and from there if you want to keep it a ranch style house (if you get my meaning) you can, but if you want to build a mansion you can as well. 

The exercises are:

Legs: Deadlifts, Squats
Chest: Chest Press, Bench Press, PushUps
Shoulders: Shoulder Press, Military Press
Back: Bent over Rows, One Arm Rows
Biceps: Dumbbell Curls, Hammer Curls, Barbell Curls
Triceps: French Curls, Extensions

That is a total of 14 exercises. I am starting today. My rotation is as follows:

3 Days On 1 Day Off
Day 1 Legs and Back
Day 2 Chest and Shoulder
Day 3 Biceps and Triceps

As always I will keep you posted on my progress.

Daily Recap:
Matt:      30 Min AM Jog
              Day 1 Legs and Back

Kelly:     1 hour walk

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