Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Let's get in shape

** Click here to go to my new fitness website, Pastorfit.com


 Back in April I did a post on fitness/nutrition that created a lot of discussions with people. I would advise you to read it first so that this post will make sense.

Now to today's topic. Once again I want to talk about fitness/nutrition. I know I might sound like a broken record but if it helps someone, then it's worth it.

A couple of weeks ago while on vacation in Florida I posted a few pictures to my Twitter account. One of those pictures was me on the beach holding my cast net without my shirt. What I didn't know at the time was that posting that picture would generate so many questions about what I was doing to get in shape. I have lost count of the people that have asked me about this.

15 months ago, I THOUGHT I was in pretty good shape. I ate relatively well, and exercised moderately a few days a week. As I look back at pictures from 15 months ago I realize that although I wasn't "fat", I had gotten really "soft". I guess compared to other 51 year old guys I was in OK shape, but in reality I had a long way to go.

I refuse to settle for OK anymore when it comes to my health. I am committed to do everything I can do from a human standpoint to not have health problems. That's why I work so hard everyday to get in the best shape possible.

Over the last 15 months I have lost around 12-14 pounds and added lean muscle. My body fat is now around 6%. I work out intensely 6 days a week, and eat clean. It is ridiculously hard! But at the age of 52 I am in the best shape of my life. I am passionate about this. I don't dread waking up at 5:45am to work out. I look forward to it! My motivation is not the mirror, it's my health.

So why am I sharing this with all of you? Because I care. Because I want to encourage you. Because I'm sick of hearing people making excuses for their poor health. I want you to say, "if he can do it at the age of 52, than I can do it too!"

By the way, my wife is just as passionate about working out as I am. She looks awesome!

I am going to list and link all of the tools that I am using for my health in this post. Some will be redundant if you read the post from April I referred to earlier.


My workout= P90X (I love it!)
Note: I am going to be starting a new program called Body Beast in the next couple of months.

My supplements: Multi -vitamin once a day, fish oil pills twice a day, Vitamin B-100 pill once a day, Suma Root pill twice a day.
Pre-workout: 1 scoop Body Octane, 1 scoop Hemavol, Con-Cret Creatine powder, 1 serving Crystal light Energy (all of the above mixed with 20 oz water 20 minutes prior to work out) and 1 handful of raisins.
Intra-workout: 1 Scoop Xtend powder with 12 oz water.
Post workout: 1 scoop of Dymatize Iso-100 Whey protein mixed with 8 oz skin milk (sometimes add a second protein supplement in the P.M.)

I order all of my supplements from All-Star Health. Best prices I have found



Workout schedule: (This varies quite a bit, but for right now it might look like this)

Monday, Wednesday (sometimes Friday) CARDIO--6:00am-7:00am basketball
Abs (either ab-ripper X or Body Beast abs) Monday, Wednesday and Friday (usually p.m.)

Tuesday: P90X Back/Bicep routine (6:00-7:00am)
Thursday P90X Chest/Shoulders/triceps routine (6:00am-7:00am)
Friday (If not playing basketball) P90X Legs/Back routine
Saturday P90X Shoulders/Arms routine
*As you can see if you're familiar with P90X, I have customized it for myself


Nutrition: (By the way, It is true, Abs are made in the kitchen. In order to get 6-pack abs, you need to lower body fat below 10%)

* I hate the word, "diet". A diet is something temporary. This is about lifestyle changes.

I track all my eating with MyFitness Pal.
In order for me to maintain my weight (based on my size) I need 2,170 calories per day. I track all my macro's, especially my fat intake. Per my cardiologists orders, I am allowed no more than 30 fat grams per day. I eat roughly 300 grams of carbs and 150 grams of proteins a day.

I won't list all of what I do and don't eat. You can read it here.

Just to be clear. There are NO Short-cuts. Sorry, that's just the way it is. It is hard work and a lot of discipline. But I also want to say this. I know I tend to be a little extreme with all this. You may have read some of this and thought, that's way too much work. Please don't let that stop you. Something is better than nothing. For you, a big step might be to walk around the block. Fine. Do it. It beats sitting on the couch. Or maybe instead of always frying the chicken you might start grilling it. Just start somewhere.... Please!

At the risk of embarassing myself, I will post kind of a before and after picture. The first picture is from April 2011 (1 month before having my 2 stents installed)(Not really fat, but soft)
The second is from August 2012 (this month)

Lastly. If I can help in any way, let me know! I don't have it all figured out. I'm learning every day.

*** Update: Here is a link of an update on my health/ fitness as of August 2013***
Before (April 2011)
After (August 2012)