Kapt America Staves off Death - A Master Athlete's Training Log
Ok, I figure it’s time to stop lurking and start posting and logging my workouts. This Starting Strength stuff is “starting” to get very serious and real for me. I don’t have any imminent death pending as my training log title might imply, but I see this as helping to prolong my love of getting outdoors and living life in addition to staving off death despite the fact that I’m really only half way through life having been around for 5 centuries now.
In High School I don’t recall ever being able to do 5 solid push ups. Yeah, I played football and “lifted” weights, but I never took it seriously and don’t recall anyone really coaching me to lift with good form or programming. As a matter of fact, I distinctly remember hurting my neck using some bizarre weight machine designed to “strengthen” your neck muscles. Apparently so you could be a better football player.
After High School and College I “exercised” and fell in and out of shape… mostly out of shape. My IT and Cyber Security career kept me at a desk and keyboard which encouraged my downward health spiral.
I woke up in 2014 and decided to take better care of myself and get stronger in the process. At the time I was traveling for work and started getting stronger using dumbbells in hotel gyms. Somewhere around 2016 I came across Starting Strength and Mark Rippetoe on Brett McKay's “Art of Manliness” on YouTube.
I’ve been largely learning Starting Strength on my own. Living in Overland Park (a suburb of Kansas City) I haven’t had much access to SSCs or great gyms. My solution was to build my own garage gym and watch/read as much as I can - YouTube videos, Starting Strength 3rd Edition, The Barbell Prescription, etc. I have family in Dallas and have visited John Janecek at Janacek Strength several times. He’s greatly improved my form in the limited amount of time I’ve been able to spend with him.
I’m signed up and looking forward to attending the Starting Strength Seminar in Wichita Falls in December (2019).
So about those 5 solid push ups in High School… Fast forward to a few days after my 50th Birthday and I could do 34 in under 2 mins. This is despite carrying at least 40 lbs of extra weight around my midsection.
My Single Rep PRs (all done recently at 50 years of age):
Squat 305
Deadlift 315 yes… artificially low right now!
Bench 215
Press 145
I'm stronger in my 50s than I was in High School or College and truly believe in the program's ability to make you a stronger, better version of yourself!
My goal right now is to finish my NLP while at the same time losing or at least maintaining my weight by eating more whole foods and nutritious meals.
And so it begins...