Time for another titillating fitness update. I last posted at the end of September. Since then, I’ve been hitting it hard at the gym. Maybe too hard…
Obsessed
When I get obsessed with something, I get obsessed. My obsession now is fitness. Fitness is the one thing I should have been obsessed with all along, but I never figured out how to exercise properly:
- I have strength trained off and on most of my adult life with little change. It turns out that if you don’t go really hard and don’t eat protein, you don’t get results . When you don’t see results, you give up.
- I once trained for and ran a half-marathon. I managed to put on bad weight during the course of this. It turns out that if you eat like crap, it’s easy to eat more calories than you burn, even if you run for hours every day.
It’s my own, stubborn-ass fault. I should have hired a trainer or read better books. Better late than never. And the good news is that while I’m late to the game, I’m not too late because I’ve had success.
Better Late Than Never
I already talked about my routine here, so won’t go into that again. Since my last post, I have tweaked one part of my routine. In a session, I keep track of my total number of pull ups and total weight bench pressed. I try to do more every session.
First, the photos:
I don’t see much change from September to now (middle and last photos respectively). Part of this could be my screwed up shoulder.
I usually sleep on my left side. Even though there was no pressure on it, my right shoulder started giving me fits in the night. The pain was enough to wake me up multiple times. (Funny enough, the shoulder never hurts when I’m working out. I can do pull ups and bench presses all day long with no pain.)
I went to the doctor in November. He told me that I am overworking it and that I also have minor osteoarthritis. He advised me to load up on Advil and take two weeks off. I did this and then gradually started my workouts again. Because I’ve been really careful and getting back into it slowly, I’m still not back to where I was before my injury.
The hardest part of the whole deal is learning how to sleep on my back. After being a side-sleeper for decades, this is no easy task. I’m slowly getting used to it, but it hasn’t been fun.
The other battle is desserts. I have a sweet tooth and the holiday season is filled with pies and cookies. I struggle around desserts, but knowing I had to go for a body composition test at the end of December made me behave a little bit better.
And the numbers from the test tell a better a story than the photos:
So, in the past 3 months, I’ve put on 5.3 pounds of muscle and lost a little fat. Yay!
If the photos don’t show much, what’s going on? Here is what I think it is: After I injured my shoulder, I quit doing pull ups and chest exercises, but ramped up my leg workouts. I’m guessing that most of my gains came from there.
Next
I don’t like that I’m still close to 20% body fat. When I’ve been leaner, my resting heart rate and blood pressure are lower. In January, I’m going to back off on the calories and ramp up my zone 2 workouts to trim down. I’m still going to keep up the weight training, but building mass won’t be my goal.
One question you may ask is this:
Why the hell are you doing this?
Three reasons:
- Having strength is important going into old age: If I can put on a little muscle now, I’ll be less likely to break my hip or have other injuries. I want to be resilient.
- It’s now or never: I’m 51. It doesn’t get any easier. Joints get old. Hormones diminish.
- Experiment: I just wanted to see if I could still change up my body at this age. I never believed that I could when I was younger, so I’m shocked that I’m seeing results now.
Writing about this publicly (the photos) feels strange. But perhaps it will help or inspire some of you. If you have any questions, hit me up!
In the meantime, Happy New Year everyone.
I hope 2025 is your best year yet!
Go get it!
More 1500 Days!!!
You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:
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- Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
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As a 51 y/o lifelong swimmer, I’ve learned the importance of rotator cuff exercises. Once you’re fully rehabbed, you can just do 1 set at the end of your workout to maintain stability, but you need to do them for the rest of your life.
Hi Carl,
The situation with your shoulder sounds like a textbox case of TMS to me. If you’re not familiar, it’s described well by Dr. John Sarno in his book Healing Back Pain. Good luck 🙂
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
By Gary Taubes. Interesting book on fat. Working out is great for cardiovascular health and muscle gain, but for fat loss it’s all about intake. Can’t out-exercise thousands of years of biology.
Seems like that guy is slightly controversial, but I agree that diet is by far the most important. It’s pretty amazing how efficient the body is. For example, one big cookie can set you back 300 calories. Then you see the amount of work you have to do to burn that off. Oof.
I do think that there is a lot of benefit to zone 2 workouts as well.
Hi Carl,
I live in Denver and was looking for a hydrostatic weighing facility. I was wondering if you’d recommend the facility you’ve been using? I saw there’s one in Broomfield (FIT Wellness Center), not sure if this is the one you’re using. Anyway, any rec would be appreciated, thanks!
Hi Matt! That is the one I used and I highly recommend it. Roseanne is great!
I went in this morning, and agree, Roseanne’s great – totally worth doing! The measurement itself was oddly uncomfortable, but I’ll be back in 3 months to see where my training and nutrition are headed. Thanks for the reco!
Super cool!
It made me uncomfortable too; the expelling air part. I don’t like the feeling of drowning!
I’ll be there right before you at the end of March.
Nice work Carl! I am closing in on 50 and dealing with OA in both knees. I did the ibuprofen and rest route but it didn’t help in the long run.Last year I started working with a physical therapist who doubles as a trainer. Game changer for both knees, and my lower back! What I learned is that our bodies are connected systems and strengthening and/or improving mobility in an area can massively improve problematic injuries and OA aches and pains. I have been a gym rat for over 20 years and aiming for another 20 plus. Glad to see us gen xers putting in the work. Great stuff! .
Wow, a PT that doubles as a trainer. That is a good person to have on your side. How did you find her or him?
Just luck, kid from New Zealand that works at the PT that referenced me. My guy was my ‘Thankf for….’ At Thanksgiving😂🤣🙂
Great job keeping up the pace even with an injury and the holidays!
I’d recommend you keep your weightlifting regimen the continue the muscle mass gain as well as doing more zone 2 cardio. (More muscle = better resting metabolism = more calories burned.)
I’ve had the chance to see a physiotherapist for my shoulder injury after having seen a doctor who gave ”doctors advice” (not bad, but medication related). My recovery was lacking from the doctors recommendations. With the PT’s recommendations I was back on track and recovered really well doing a minimum amount of sessions and mostly doing the recommended exercises at home. I highly recommend.
Have you ever thought of taking courses on exercise and different types of training? I feel like you would be the type of person to find them interesting and practical. What do you think?
Hey Jonathan!
Yep, doctors always say the same thing: “Take some anti-inflammatories, ice it down, and rest.”
I’ve never considered a PT, but it may be worth it should this come up again. I’m feeling pretty good now though.
Courses: No and I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’d consider it. I suspect that my injury may have come from improper form doing dips, so if nothing else, I could probably use some help with form.
Hi Carl,
Great job focusing on keeping active and on your health! Might want to take a look at a functional movement coach to help with your shoulder and other potential areas of concern. There are quite a few out there and having had to use some for my back and neck I would suggest that Conor Harris would be someone to check out. He has a bunch of content on YouTube.
Thanks for this site and for helping so many people along your journey. Fingers crossed for you and Tesla in 2025!
Thanks so much for the recommendation and for your kind words. I’m not sure how many people I’ve helped, but I’ll take the nice compliment! 🙂
Happy New Year!
Been following you off/on for many years. A suggestion a pt told me when doing therapy on my shoulder, (and found out I’m a side sleeper) is to not sleep on the shoulder, as it pulls the shoulder forward, which we were trying to strengthen. Just rolling a bit forward, so sleeping on the front side with my arm down made all the difference. Since doing this, I’ve had no shoulder issues! Not sure if this helps yours, but thought I’d throw in my $0.02.
Hi K!
I’m a side sleeper trying desperately not to be, so I appreciate any suggestions. When you say “sleeping on the front side with my arm down,” are you sleeping on your stomach? Or maybe like this (this is what comes up when I googled “sleeping on the front side with my arm down”): https://www.dimensions.com/element/log-sleeping-position
My shoulder issues are strange. They don’t stop me from any kind of activity, but if I dare sleep on my side, I wake up with pretty bad pain. Drives me nuts!
Fitness vs. cookies! 🍪💪 Love this update, especially the part where rotator cuffs remind us they’re not invincible. Sounds like progress is happening, even if cookies try to sabotage the gains. Just remember, lifting a cookie to your mouth technically counts as a rep! 😂 Keep going!
I appreciate the transparency in this update. So many fitness blogs are all about perfect macros and flawless routines, but this one keeps it real. Injuries, cravings, slow progress—it’s all there. I chuckled at the “cookie madness” section (we’ve all been there), and I liked the emphasis on sustainable progress rather than quick fixes. My only wish? A few more details on the rehab strategy for the rotator cuff. Still, super solid content and very encouraging!