You know how it goes, right? You get married, get a crappy job that sucks up all your time, have a kid…the works. The gym sessions become a little more infrequent. Your “deload” week turns into a month. You buy some kettlebells but never really train consistently. You try some calisthenics but nearly die of boredom. A few years go by, and oof.
However, the kid is in school, the crappy job was replaced with a better one (albeit still immensely stressful), and the gym is calling. I joined in the beginning of the year and got a few weeks in before the COVID shutdown. As usual, I couldn’t find any consistency at home, so I’m putting on a mask and going back. Unfortunately, I have only about a half hour between the end of work and needing to leave to pick up the kid. Whatever I need to do, it has to be fast.
I decided, after playing around for a bit, to do 5/3/1 Beginner as outlined in 5/3/1 2nd edition. It seems I will need to superset exercises to get enough done in 30 minutes. Bringing up my work capacity will stall strength gains at first, but in the long run it should be relatively fine. Assistance will definitely include dumbbell rows, which help my touchy shoulders.
As for diet, with the stress of the job and a family, I’m struggling to be consistent. My wife bought a BeachBody subscription a while ago, and we both adopted Autumn Calabrese’s diet. (It’s pretty close to bodybuilder macros and calorie counts.) I lost 10 pounds (185 → 175), but haven’t been consistent enough to do more. Stress, lack of sleep, and too much beer and salty snacks are stalling me.
Conditioning will probably be incline treadmill walking, at least at first. Starting too light on conditioning seems okay, too.
Although I’m past my prime, I don’t need to give into physical and mental degeneration. My idol is Clarence Bass, who is almost exactly 40 years older than me, but still trains and eats a healthy diet. His bodyfat is under 6% and he does glute-ham raises…he’s 82.
Age: 42
Height: 5’ 5.5"
Weight: 175.4 pounds (naked, first thing in the morning, T Oct 6)
Bodyfat %: Not good! (Don’t have a measuring device)