Simple logic, right?  We need to set up a good, efficient, logical plan and then do it!

My goal is to move you forward from your present condition into Stage#4  and if you are already there I want to keep you there.  The information I throw out may be too elementary for some and too advanced for others but I promise you one thing, you will progress with this information!   Those with advanced knowledge will pick up on a few things and stay enthusiastic because they have developed the desire and want to keep it strong.  Beginners will have a lot to digest but they will know they are not alone and all we ask is they develop their personal desire and enthusiasm.
I received much of my training throught the International Fitness Professionals Association (IFPA) and they stressed important safety guidelines.  As much as I would like to move quickly into the actual physical training program maybe we should take a look at a few of their Safety Guidelines.

1. Get a medical exam. (We talked about this, choose a good, healthy Doctor. You don’t have to ask for his or her physical records, just take a look at the guy or girl and you will know)

2. Move forward slowly if you are out of shape or older. (Their word, not mine. The term “older” is ambiguous)

3. The heavier you are the slower you should progress.

4. Warm up befor exercising and cool down after.

5. You have done too much or proceeded too quickly if:

(a)  Ten to fifteen minutes after exercising you are out of breath.
(b)  Two hours after exercising you feel unusually fatigued.
(c)  You have trouble sleeping for a night or two after exercise.
(d)  Your resting heart rate has incresed by ten percent or more.

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These are the biggest muscles in the body and very important in your program.  Many people neglect this major part of the body, preferring the “show muscles” like chest, back and arms. Big mistake!  There is a basic sychronization here that you should be aware of. One muscle group depends on the other and lower body work helps the upper body and vice-versa.  Lets look at the muscle groupings in the lower body:

Quadriceps Femoris (Quads for short) are the muscles on the front part of your thigh that extend your leg as in a squat or leg press.

Hamstrings are the muscles on the back of the thigh which flex the knee.

Gluteals (Glutes) are the butt muscles and the biggest, strongest muscle in the body

Calves are at the back of the lower leg and they extend your foot at the ankle. They seem to be the most difficult muscle to enlarge. You can make them stronger but they will not build as much as other  muscle groups.

One muscle we have not yet discussed is the most important one of all, the heart!  We will discuss this later on in our section on aerobic exercise.

There we have it, the main muscle groups of the body and we are going to work each and every one of them to the fullest extent of our individual capability!

Okay, where do we go from here?  So far we are moving forward through our Stages and our mind is still in control of our body.  The mind is still strong (maybe wavering a little bit) and we have learned a few things.  Learning the main muscle groups of the body may have been a little tedious for some but it is information we must have. Now we are going to put a couple of plans together that will fit most of you or give you something to shoot for. Lets get started.

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Muscle Groups

Basically, I think you understand the very elementary mechanics of building muscles. Now lets talk about the various muscle groups in the body. We must understand this to have very balanced body development. What we are talking about here is various muscles throughout the body and what it takes to strengthen each group.

Chest Muscles

I’m going to start with the chest muscles for one simple reason:  “Guys love to develop chest muscles.” For some strange reason men will work their pecs (pectoralis major and pectoralis minor, but lets simply call them pecs) twice as much as any other muscle group.  Women tend to be more balanced but men seem to think their pecs need major attention. This is a major mistake. You risk injury if the muscles on the front part of your body are stronger than those of your back. Balance is desired here for many reasons, the least of which is safety. With that in mind we will talk about the pecs first and then the back muscles.

Lets talk about the pectoralis major which is the chest muscle on each side of the breast bone. (The pectoralis minor is a smaller muscle group underneath the pectoralis major.) This muscle group (pecs) moves the upper arm across the body or forward as in a push-up. We will talk about various exercises for this and other body parts after we discuss all the muscle groups.

Upper Back

The upper back (Latissimus Dorsi) is the major muscle group that extends from your lower back to the upper arm. It pulls the upper arm toward the body from overhead (pull-ups) or from the front (rowing).

Trapezius

This is the muscle that runs from about mid-spine to your shoulder. (Traps) Very important, but underdeveloped by most work-out freaks. They run the risk of intense shoulder pain if they are neglected.

Shoulders

Without getting into too much detail, shoulder muscles move your upper arm at the shoulder joint. We are going to explain different shoulder exercises later but one word of caution on this group. When performing shoulder isolation exercises we want to use lighter weight and more reps. The reason is simple, except for the lower back no other muscle group will injure easier or take longer to heal.

Arms

The biceps (biceps brachii) are the front part of the upper arm.  The purpose of this muscle is to bend the arm at the upper elbow. Just think about it, this muscle is important to just about everything the upper body does.

Triceps (Triceps Brachii) are the muscles on the back of the arm that straighten the arm at the elbow. As the name implies, triceps are a muscle with three sections (or heads). Any triceps exercise usually hits

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Workout Routines

Before we start lets talk a little bit more about where to work out and why.  At home or in the small neighborhood gym you may not have the elaborate equipment but you also won’t have that unbearably bubbly employee scanning your membership card and asking if you are interested in the latest muscle drink for only $9.99.
One thing to remember is there is zero difference between a home or small neighborhood gym and the membership mega-center.
Regardless of where you work out your muscles respond to aerobic and weight training in exactly the same way. They grow and build no matter where you are. The process we are speaking about is called hypertrophy.  Your muscle cells (called fibers) begin to enlarge in order to lift the increasing load you are putting upon them. These muscles have no idea if you are in the garage working out or an elaborate gym. They do one thing and one thing only. They grow!
( For all you workout freaks who think this is too basic, relax, I want to build the process for everyone right now)

Lets start with resistance training and later we will move into aerobics. In my view they are both important but I feel that resistance training leads the way. Resistance Training is a term commonly used to describe the process of overloading a particular muscle. Overloading simply means you are making a group of muscles do more work than they are used to and forcing them to make adaptians. Simply put, you are lifting weights that are heavy enough to make a particular lift hard to do.

Resistance Training must cause your muscles to adapt to new challenges so they continually grow. You must slowly and steadily work with more weight over time to encourage growth and build resulting strength. This is a very gradual process, your muscles adapt best when you add a little weight at a time. Never lift weight that is so heavy you are uncomfortable with it.  On the other hand never stay with the same weights over a long period of time because you are too comfortable with it. People who stay in Stage #1 (You remember that group!) usually lift the same light weights for a long period of time and are disappointed with the results or they progress too rapidly and injure themselves. Either way they get discouraged and quit.

The reason your training must be gradual and slowly moving forward is because rest is as big a factor as the actual weight lifting. The biggest secret in this whole endeavor is that your muscles don’t get bigger when you are training, they get bigger when you are resting.  Muscle training is a constant process of tearing it down and building it up. The “tearing it down” is the workout and the “building it up” is the rest period.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating laying on the couch all day after a chest and back workout the day before.  What I’m saying is you give that particular muscle group a rest while you work on another. My particular workout is chest, back and arms one day and shoulders, legs and waist the next. (We’ll get in to that later, I don’t want to get ahead of myself.)

What we are talking about here is a term called specificity. It’s relatively simple.  I mean we all know your biceps won’t get bigger because you were doing calf raises. You must specifically target a muscle group to cause it to grow. While we are at it we should explain this is totally different when it comes to fat loss.  Your body sheds fat where it is genetically programmed to do so.  You can’t target a specific area for fat loss, no matter what anyone tells you. Muscle growth is different, you can generally choose the part of the body you wish to develop.

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SEE YOUR DOCTOR!

Every Physical Fitness book, article, TV program or God knows what, that I have ever encountered will either start up or end with the same statement: “Check with your physician prior to beginning any physical training program”. Good Advice?  Of course it is!  There is only one little problem.  I’ve had physicians that had rolls of fat over their gut so big you could hide a pumpkin under it. I’ve seen them stop in the middle of their rounds to duck out for a smoke.  I’ve been in for check-ups in the past and after leaving the Doctor’s office I worried more about him than about me.
What I’m trying to say is you should visit a physician who is physically fit and stays that way.  He or she will be the one to give you good advice, not the fat guy!
While I’m at it, a few words about my personal Doctor. He’s about forty-five years old and a marathon runner. He gave me a surprised look when I told him I had never run a marathon, although I’ve run long distances over many years, and never once did he ever tell me to slow down in my other physical activities.  Quite the opposite, he still wonders why I don’t run a marathon.  I’m talking about two extremes here but I think you get the idea.  Get a Doctor who believes in physical fitness. Let him or her know exactly what you are doing, get some advice and then make your own decision on what is best for you.

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The Four Stages of Fitness

First, I believe there are four basic stages in a Physical Fitness Program and we all fit in there somewhere.  Physical fitness begins with the singular thought that we must improve our physical condition or we are in for a long unhealthy journey. Lets look at the four stages of fitness we all go through.  Each stage has its difficulties and rewards but as we shall see, Stage #4 is where we want to be.  I believe to get there and stay there is the ultimate reward and requires some physical work and a tremendous amount of mental determination.  What I’m looking for are dedicated people interested in reaching their full physical potential no matter what their age happens to be.

Stage #1 This is the beginning stage of a program and it usually has a lot of enthusiasm. You are getting a little flabby and run out of breath when you climb the stairs or you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see. You look down and only see the tips of your shoes because your gut is in the way. People are surprised when you tell them how old you are, they thought you were ten years younger.  You decide to do something about it!  This is a critical stage and certainly the easiest.  Enthusiasm runs rampant! People join expensive Health Clubs, buy the latest gym wear, expensive athletic shoes, new water bottles and anything else they could possibly think of to enhance their program.  While all this is good I think you can begin with the basics.  Good athletic shoes, workout shorts and shirt, water bottle and a decent place to work out. Some people love the huge megacenter gyms with all the bells and whistles and some, like myself, prefer the convenience of a good neighborhood gym. Of course it all depends on what is available and what is more comfortable for you. Some people are extremely uncomfortable in a large gym, particularly when they are just starting out. Get to a place that has adequate equipment and you feel relaxed in.

Stage #2 We begin to work out at the gym and can’t believe how difficult it is!  What the hell were we thinking about? It’s an absolute horror!  We watch the clock and can’t wait for the time to end.  We hate it and at times feel foolish doing it. We know deep down in our souls this can’t possibly be a lifetime endeavor!  Very reluctantly we move forward.  God, how time slows down in the gym! This is the dreaded Stage #2.  This is where most people begin and end! Some end it very quickly and some very slowly and painfully. What happens to the multitude of failures here is actually very simple. We don’t tire out physically, (although we think we do) we actually tire out mentally.  We literally drag ourselves to the gym like we are walking our final mile.  Remember, our minds control everything we do, not the physical body. The body is screaming at the mind to stop this nonsense.  Go home and lay on the couch and have a beer or a couple of donuts! The mind is the boss of course but sometimes it is not very strong.  It can’t listen to the screaming body any longer!  It must stop this nonsense and get the body back to the refrigerator and on to the couch as soon as possible!  Or, something else may happen!  The mind may begin to be much stronger than the body! The mind may understand this is very good for us and it will take some time to succeed. The mind knows it must take control and not listen to the complaining body. The mind slowly begins to understand this is the path to success and happiness. The mind makes an extremely important decision.  “This is the only way to go and we will continue!”

Stage #3 Something is happening here!   We don’t exactly love the place, but we continue faithfully going to the gym.  We are actually seeing some results! Pounds are dropping off and we are getting stronger. We are not only tolerating it, but actually beginning to like it! Well, sort of liking it. It is a little inconvenient and there are other priorities but we are feeling pretty good about ourselves. We now go into the gym and actually recognize people. They greet us like fellow jocks! Can you believe it? This is becoming very interesting.

Stage #4 Your wife or husband tells you to skip the Gym today and you act as if they want you to stop breathing for an hour or two!  “Skip the Gym? Are you kidding me? Today is back and chest day and I need the miles on the Treadmill!   I must go to the gym”!   Now we’re talking!   It may sound a little extreme but if you are thinking this way, even if you don’t actually say it, you have arrived!  Man have you arrived, there is no going back!

I have a theory that eighty percent of the people mentioned above never get out of Stage# 1 or 2.  Ten percent drift in and out of Stage #3 and the other ten percent reach the great stage of nirvana that fulfill them and enrich their lives like nothing else. We are talking about the great Stage #4 baby!  If you are already in that great stage I’m going to make it better, if you are not there yet I’m going to get you there.

This site is for the Stage #4 people and those who want to go there, no matter where you are at this time. My main interest is in the over sixty group but come along if you want, no matter what age you happen to be, male or female, young or old.
I want to turn you into You, the hard working gym rat who refuses to quit.

The information I’m going to give you in the coming months will either change your life dramatically if you are just starting out, or help you to continue on the strong fitness path you have always been on, no matter what your age.

We have a lot to cover as far as workout routines, nutrition and lifestyle changes are concerned but first I would like to begin with my philosophical approach to all of this.  I would like you to close your eyes and repeat this to yourself: “I am not too damn old to do this”!   Or, if you have been working out for years: “I will never stop working out”!   You will never willingly stop working out until it is physically impossible. This is your mantra!

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THE GREAT AMERICAN WORKOUT

Overview  -  Page 1

mikewright00 “@” gmail.com

This is a site for You.   You know who I mean.   You, the over sixty workout fanatic who everyone feels is totally washed up.   You, the person who other gym rats see out of the corner of their eye working out hard and are secretly wondering what the hell you are doing in the gym.   You, the one who still can push a lot of iron while everyone else thinks you are going to hurt yourself.   You, the one who was sweating bullets in the gym when they were a twinkle in their Daddy’s eye.
You, the one with forty plus years of lifting weights, running countless miles and setting the pace for everyone else.   Are You ready to hang it up because some young pups think You are over the hill?  I don’t think so my friend.  Come with me on a journey that has a long way to go.   We are just getting started!   A journey that You will enjoy as much as I do, because we are not alone.  There are millions of us out there with that nasty, nagging thought that maybe we are close to the end of the line because other people are constantly suggesting we should “slow down” or “act our age”.   I don’t think so and neither do You.   I’m not talking about those steroid crazed muscleheads you see in those weird muscle magazines, I’m talking about You, the average workout person who works out hard and loves every minute of it.

Now you may be wondering, “who is this guy that is saying the same things I’ve been thinking about”? Well, let me tell you. I’m someone just like You, a guy who has been working out steadily for over forty years.  No big muscle guy, no big records, just a guy who loves to work out and is getting a little older.  Ok, maybe a lot older!  Sixty-six to be exact and still pumping iron and pushing aerobics while enjoying every minute of it.

A little information about myself.  I’m a former New York State Police Lieutenant and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Asst.  Director of Uniform Forces (Florida) with a career covering over thirty years in Police work.  I’ve also been a licensed Physical Trainer (which was more of a hobby than a vocation). Over the years in Police work and beyond I’ve gathered a lot of information on physical fitness from some of the best in the business and I’d love to share it with you.

Now let’s get into my basic philosophy on working out, where you fit in and where I would like you to be.  Although I’ve talked about the so called “elderly” (I’ll never use that term again - promise!) working out hard, I’m also interested in helping the novice and the experienced move forward to be in the best shape of their lives, no matter what their age.

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