Click to embiggen. From front: “gazelle”-type cross-country skiing machine; HealthRider; HealthRider clone with resistance piston; weight bench.
Right now I stand about 5 feet, 8 inches tall — and weigh a little more than 190 pounds. I’m fat.
Happily, I finally got the workout equipment set up where I want it — under the shade on the south deck — and I started my exercise routine today.
My goal? A 29-inch waist. If Hawk, Robert Parker’s fictional six-foot tall body-sculpted hit man, can have one, I damn well can too.
Seriously, though, I have a 38- to 39-inch waist at the moment, and it’s pissing me off. My gut extends even further.
The last time I had a 29-inch waist, I was eighteen years old and running 70 miles a week. If I started running at my current weight I’d blow out my knees.
Sooo…. I’m starting with ten minutes on the “gazelle” (simulating running) and another ten minutes on the “HealthRider” (it has no resistance, so the pace is just as fast as running, but it works my knees and legs in ways the “gazelle” does not), followed by one hundred reps on the “HealthRider” clone that has a resistance piston. That one hurts — it’s basically a rowing machine with situps thrown into the mix.
That’s my daily cardio. After a couple of weeks of that I’ll try a ten-minute run up the hill to see how I feel.
In addition, I’m starting an old familiar free-weights (dumbbells) and calisthenics routine, below, alternating with bench and barbell work.
I’m going slow to start with, so don’t laugh at my low poundages. They’ll be going up soon enough.
3 sets of pushups, 10 reps each
3 sets of bar dips done in the corner of the kitchen counter: 5-4-3 reps
With 10-lb. dumbbells:
3 sets of anterior shoulder lifts, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of midline shoulder lifts, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of posterior shoulder lifts, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of curls with rotation at the top of the movement to stress the forearm, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of forearm curls, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of triceps extensions, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of wrist curls, 10-8-6 reps
3 sets of reverse wrist curls, 10-8-6 reps
In my prime (and sixty pounds lighter) I used to crank out 30 to 50 bar dips without incident. Doing those first five today was excruciating. But boy, did it feel good at the same time.
Oh yeah, I’ve been lugging most of this equipment around for the last five years. Every bit of it was free, of course. But if I didn’t start using it this summer, my wife would have made me toss it. So there ya go.
Why spend time fussing about lightening your fifty-pound bugout bag? I’d rather keep the extra stuff in the bag and lose fifty pounds from my body.
Comments and advice appreciated.
