Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

I am not a man of wealth of fame. Instead, I have started a journey to become truly fit. The purpose of this blog is to document that journey. I hope to make frequent entries describing the workouts I have done, and the things I've eaten to help achieve my goals. Of course, I may end up quiting after a couple weeks and eventually deleting this thing. Who knows. But since I've been keeping track of my workouts, I thought this would be a good place to keep the record and to share it with anyone who might stumble on it. Even if NO ONE else ever reads it, I least I have a record. But before I start documenting the workouts, I think a little background is in order.

Back in August of 2007, I was reading a post in the Usenet newsgroup rec.sport.swimming. One of the posters, Steve Friedes, had a link to his website which introduced me to kettlebells. From there I found the kettlebell forum on DragonDoor.com, and after purchasing a kettlebell, started working out with one. While reading the forum, I followed a link to Mark Sisson's blog named Mark's Daily Apple. That was an eventful day for me because it was the real start to my program to get fit. Mark endorses an eating style he refers to as Primal Nutrition. You can read all about it by going to his site (www.marksdailyapple.com). I began following his advice and within three months I had dropped from 242 to 212. I believe the weight loss was a combination of the change in eating habits, along with some pretty intense exercise. I was doing four kettlebell workouts a week as well as playing a couple racquetball matches. But right about the three month mark, I sustained an injury to a hip flexor that brought my exercise routines to a halt.

I need to take another step back for a moment.

I have an athletic background of sorts. I played high school baseball and basketball, and as an adult have raced 5k's through marathons, as well as road and mountain bikes. I also played tournament racquetball. But one thing I always found abhorrent was working out at the gym. And when I did manage to do so, I usually worked my lower body to help with running and cycling. I have a terribly underdeveloped and weak upper body. I can't do a single pull up and maybe I can do one dip. I've made some attempts to make regular resistance training part of my schedule but I've never been very successful. But shortly after finding Mark Sisson's blog, I followed a link to Art Devany's site. Art had same interesting posts on his theories on weight training, and I started heading to the gym to try them out. From there I found the Crossfit site and the Gym Jones site which introduced me to a whole new paradigm for fitness training. The Gym Jones site in particular provided the motivation for me to get serious about getting fit. And that brings me to the present.

I am a 56 year old with no desire to run marathons or ride centuries--I just want to achieve fitness level that will enable me to do everyday tasks ( and play a lot of golf) well into my "golden years." So I'm doing a program that draws from the advice of Mark Sisson, Art Devany, the Crossfit gang, and the folks at Gym Jones. I'm making it up on the fly--trying to make sure I push myself two or three times a week, and do lesser efforts on other days. Hopefully I'll do enough to make real progress and I'll document it all here.