Fitness Update: “You Looked Like An Amorphous Blob”

You looked like an amorphous blob.

– a friend’s honest review of my physical shape

Amorphous Blobs

When I was working, I was very busy. Between a full-time job, a home remodel, this blog, and a family, I had little free time. And thinking back, I actually had negative free time. I’d sacrifice my sleep, often staying up until 11pm or midnight and then waking up 5 or 6 hours later to do it all over again. Not good.

I also sacrificed exercise. No time to go to the gym or even to do a couple push ups. To make matters worse, when you’re busy and stressed, your willpower suffers. I often ate crap.

Right before I left work way back in 2017, I went on a ski trip with old and new friends. One of the new friends was someone I’ll call Will. When I saw Will again a couple of years later, he said something like this:

Wow, you’re in way better shape. When I met you in 2017, you looked like an amorphous blob!

I don’t remember how I responded, but I wasn’t upset. Will’s assessment of my previous condition was right. Because I had left work and now had time to treat my body better, I was less blob-like. Still blobby though.

Resiliency

The original reason I pursued financial independence was for security. I didn’t (and still don’t) care about traveling the world or owning fancy stuff. Financial independence is a suit of armor to bolt onto your life. Money can solve a lot of problems including loss of a job and a furnace that takes a dump when it’s -13. But even the beautiful power of money has its limits.

Money may not be able to fix a heart attack, stroke, or aggressive cancer. However it can be used to stop them from happening in the first place. One real luxury in life is being able to buy good food, having the time to learn to cook healthier meals, and having the time for fitness.

Finding My Fitness Path

My fitness journey has been mostly a series of failures. While I’m in better shape than I was when I had a job, my Google Drive is littered with spreadsheets I created to document goals. In most of them, I quit less than halfway in.

Then I met up with Brad Barrett in Arizona and noticed how he had transformed his body. The man has muscles! I enthusiastically quizzed him about what he did and it basically comes down to working these body parts to near failure (when you can no longer maintain good from) with long rests in-between set:

1. Back: pull-ups (or some kind of lat pull-down)
2. Chest: push-ups (or bench press or something like it on a machine)
3. Shoulders
4. Triceps
5. Biceps

On other days, I do dead-lifts and squats. On all days, I do zone 2 work by walking with a weight vest or on an inclined treadmill.

I’m leaving a lot out here, but that would take a book.

It takes me a long time to get through it all. It’s tough. But that’s OK. There’s a lot of great stuff waiting outside your comfort zone. And I look forward to my workouts now. I’m in better shape than I’ve been in since early 2020 when COVID disrupted my routine.

You Gained 8 Pounds Of Muscle!

I’m a big fan of data. Numbers don’t lie.

Hydrostatic tests are an accurate way to measure body composition, so I went for a test way back in 2017. I went again on 9/25/2024. Here are my results:

I chose the same facility and the same lady was working there. When she saw my results, she exclaimed:

You gained 8 pounds of muscle! Most of the people in your age group who come in here don’t do this.

(That is a 7 year span of time which isn’t very scientific, but I’m certain most of these gains are from this year. I’ll go for another test in 3 months. Tune in for an update then.)

The numbers validated what I was doing. Change takes a long time and it’s hard to see the results in the flesh. The pictures on the left are of me in January when I first started to weight train aggressively. The ones on the right are of me on September 25th. I don’t see much difference. But seeing the numbers from the test, I know I’m on the right trajectory.

Other Notes

Successful strength training is hard: There is a fine line between a good workout and not doing much of anything. One time I was doing push-ups and decided to keep going after the point I normally would have stopped. To my surprise, I had at least 10 more in me. Whoops. The only reps that really count are the ones at the end where you’re straining. But you also don’t want to get too close to failure where you could injure yourself. At least at my age.

Protein first: This is the most important item on this list and a great life hack. Protein is satiating. I started tracking my calories recently and learned that on days I really get my protein right, I don’t eat enough. I usually burn at least 3,000 calories and on some days, I was barely getting 2,000. I have to force myself to eat. Mmmm, cottage cheese.

Cut out junk: I love carbs. Really bad ones. I can eat a box of Girl Scout Samoa cookies in about 5 minutes. All 15 of them. This is not a good life choice. Find healthy stuff that you enjoy and eat that.

No alcohol: Nothing good comes from alcohol consumption. It’s shitty calories. But I also noticed something even worse. After I’ve had a drink or two, my willpower goes out the window. I’d notice myself eating junk I would not have eaten if I wasn’t drinking. So now, I limit my alcohol consumption to a drink or two per month.

Count calories: Keep track of what you eat. You may be surprised. A little excursion to the refrigerator here and there adds up more than you might think.

Track, track, track: I use a Withings scale to check up on myself. Measuring body composition by impedance isn’t super accurate, so I’m consistent with when I weigh myself and just look for trends. However, before my hydrostatic test, I took my measurements on the Withings scale and also went to my normal gym for an InBody scan. The results were surprisingly close:

Change takes a long time: I’ve been working hard most of this year and while I’ve seen gains, it is slow going. Give yourself months.

Why Did I Write This Post? What’s Next?

I’ve been strength training on and off since my teens and now at the rip old age of 50 (oof, I’m old!), I’m actually seeing progress. I was never an athlete. Not even close. As a kid, I had asthma. I’ve always been skinny, but with a gut. But now, I’m feeling great about my progress. I wrote this post to:

• Give you hope: If I can do this, you can do it too.
• Keep myself honest: This isn’t the end.

All of my fancy fitness tests showed that I have around 20% body fat. I’d like to get down another 3% by the end of the year. I’ll have to lose another 5-10 pounds to accomplish this.

Broken Hips Sink Ships

My goal is to coast into old age in the best shape I can be in. As you age, the stakes get higher.

The mortality from a hip or femur fracture is staggering … up to one-third of people over sixty-five who fracture their hip are dead within a year.

– Dr. Peter Attia

The best way to survive a hip fracture is not to break it in the first place. And the best way to do that is to maintain strength and a reasonable weight so you avoid a fall

Nothing lasts forever, but life is pretty good. I’d like to stay above ground for a while longer!

And one more thing: Since I left work in 2017, I’ve been incredibly active. I HATE to sit still. On most days, I walk at least 25,000 steps without trying. I like to listen to podcasts while I walk, so it’s just what I do. I’m also still working on my house which makes me move. I go to Rocky Mountain National Park every week and hike at least 10 miles.

And I feel great.

With the exception of needing reading glasses, everything works awesome. No aches or pains. No injuries. Nothing. I think it’s mostly because of financial independence. I’d guess that I wouldn’t be nearly as healthy if I had sat in a desk for the past 7 years.

Life is good.

More 1500 Days!!!

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