Body Building Exercise and Diet Program on a Single Page

A Short Description of a Simple System

Welcome to My Exercise Page

The only link to this page should have warned you that you would see a forty something year old man with his shirt off, so you should have known not to look if that’s offensive to you. What that link might not have told you, is this is my page to describe what I know about strength training and where you can find some interesting scientific information on this subject. My workout plan described below is the one I developed over 25 years taking strength training and physiology classes and reading what the experts on the subject have to say in magazines like Muscle and Fitness.

One of the most interesting sources of information I’ve come across on what goes into building muscle is found in the pages of Scientific American. The articles listed below were my favorites. Unfortunately, one of them shatters any hope I ever had of really building any muscle, since it says my age precludes serious increases in mass, oh well. Another of my favorites here talks about the influence of genetics on muscle mass, and, in particular, a possible method to curb the body’s tendency to catabolize muscle mass in favor of supporting other life processes, like thinking. It is based on knowledge gained from a breed of Belgian Bulls called Double Muscled. These animals have a genetic mutation that prevents them from catabolizing as well as they should, so they don’t lose muscle, even when they don’t use the muscle. That is a very fascinating article.

(“Gene Doping” by H. Lee Sweeney, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, July 2004)

(The Mystery of Muscle; Scientific American Presents; Men: The Scientific Truth; by Zorpette)

Anyway, here is the photo I promised:

For the rest of this page I’ll describe my exercise and diet plan and suggest variations to that plan that would be healthier.

First, my philosophy for exercise is to do mostly anaerobic strength training using “high” resistance (weights that feel quite heavy) and just throw in some fun aerobic activities a few times a week like bike riding, swimming or playing on the trampoline. I am consistent in my weight training, but not religiously so. If something more interesting presents itself, I’ll skip the workout.

Second, my workouts are broken into four (4) muscle groups.

The first group is the abdominal muscles. These muscles get hit 6 days a week with high repetition, low resistance. Things like crunches with 4 sets of 120 repetitions and using at least three different exercises each day. I keep changing the exercises used by having six different ones, and using a different combination of three of these every two weeks.

My second, third and fourth groups are: Legs, Back and Biceps, Chest and Triceps. For these groups I have at least eight exercises for each group and I choose a different combination of four of these every six weeks. Each combination must be balanced so that I’m not missing any area of the muscle group. Repetitions are kept to 8 to 12 reps by using weights heavy enough that I can’t do any more than that in one set. I usually do only 3 sets of each exercise and I do each of these three muscle groups only twice a week, which works out to a nice 6 days a week working out. (By the way, if you push yourself, you could do these workouts in a half an hour getting 3 sets of each of four exercises, but I usually take 45 minutes to an hour and enjoy too much rest time in between. That’s when I get to read my copy of Scientific American).

So, there you have my entire workout plan. It is lacking in serious aerobics, but my motivation probably doesn’t have anything to do with living that long anyway. You don’t need a personal trainer if you can keep track of all of that in your head so you know what you’re doing each day and if you can motivate yourself to keep at it. I wish I could give you the motivation, but I can’t even tell you where mine comes from. I’m probably not willing to admit my motivation to myself. Sorry.

My diet, like my workout plan, is not as healthy as it could be. I don’t get enough fiber, mostly because I avoid too many carbohydrates. Fruits are part of my diet, but not nearly enough of them. Yes, I do eat too much fat, usually combined with some sugar in things like cheesecake, but I consider such indulgences as essential to sanity. Protein is part of every meal, all six of them per day and I try to keep the protein low in fat like fish or poultry. Sometimes, though, I enjoy a good steak or roast beef or pork. For those extra three meals, I usually use mixed nuts and sometimes add some fruit, most often dried fruit since it easier to store in the desk. Of course, I do add a high quality protein drink and some multivitamins taken around the time I do the weight lifting, either an hour before or immediately after the workout.

Well, that is my diet and exercise plan in a nutshell.

When I have some time, I will consider adding interesting info about the physiology and molecular biology of muscle development. It is a very fascinating subject and of course touches on subjects like neurobiology and aging, which may be even more interesting.

Good-bye for now.

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Can you be Fit Over 40? Learn about how to diet, how to exercise and how to think in order to be fit over forty.