At age 45 (~2004), my life took an unexpected turn...into a dojo! I took my son to his karate class and found that I wanted to be more than a spectator. By 50, I was wearing a black belt. I added a 2nd stripe before my 55th birthday, when due to hip problems, I sadly quit. Now in my 60s and with a new hip, I explore sports and wrestle with food, fitness, flexibility, and health.
My concept of fit at this point focuses on agility, flexibility, some cardio, and some strength. Most important, it's gotta be fun and keep me healthy. And no injuries.
So my mix of workouts includes some yoga, some gym, and some swimming. They are good but a little dull. Lots of ping pong which is great. I'll post on that soon too. A tiny bit of tennis (not too much since it is too likely to produce injuries given the arthritic feet and funky back that I carry around) and some cross fit.
But at this point, my main work out is the9 Rounds: boxing-themed circuit training. Fun and flexible. (If you're interested, give them a call. Tell JP I sent you)
9 Rounds is boxing themed circuit training which is mid point between working by yourself and with a trainer. For those of us who want it, there's lots of flexibility to repeat stations, do extra stretching, and repeat exercises.
I think the speed bags are tons of fun. Almost like juggling (another way that I exercise).
I particularly like hitting pads although a full round at full intensity is fully exhausting.
Sometimes we pair off and do drills together. Here is Wonder Woman and Super Boy doing some kicking (they do these drills at some length and can pick up the intensity pretty high!).
Give JP a call. (954) 626-0780
Location: It's on Federal Highway just where it joins with Sunrise Blvd (as I drive south) on the right hand side. Give JP a call. (954) 626-0780.
BuildingPull-ups - I worked regularly over an extended period of time (a really long time!) to get to be able to do five pull-ups. BTW, most people any where near my age can’t do any pull-ups. Once I get to 5, I got ambitious and aimed at seven. And I made it there!
The first of July 1, 2023, I did seven pull-ups. Not perfect (there's lots of jerking) but also, they are not cheap partial extension ones either. I was proud: Check it out.
But then I took a trip. Spent five weeks in Europe. Ate more than a few croissants, pain au chocolate, and foie gras. On the trip, I visited a gym two times (great fun to go to a boxing gym in Paris, check it out also) but didn't do anything like a lat pulldown or pull up. On July 8th, I thought I would test and see how much I'd lost.
Result: I could only do three. I've tested two more times over the last week. Three it is. :-< That's my new max. uhg!
So lets do the numbers, I went from 7 to 3 over 5 weeks. That's a decay rate of roughly one pull-up a week. That seems to me to be a pretty fast rate of deterioration. Historically, I've found that fitness hangs in there for months and years. I remember once, not having run in a year, running a 7 minute mile. Also, I won a dare for doing pushups at one point without any recent history. But, that was then. This is now. I'm now 65 and I'm learning how the body behaves at 65. And I’m not thrilled by what I’m learning.
Maybe I should be figuring it out in percentages. That's about 15% loss per week or 57% loss over four weeks. Jeeeez. I'd better keep working out. So here’s the rule:
I'll update this as I measure myself to see how long it takes to earn it back. My guess is, with 3 pullup workouts per week, it'll take 8 weeks to get back to 7. They'll come back one every two weeks. So in eight weeks, say mid September, I should be back to seven But we'll see.
Updates:
August 14th - Rested yesterday so I tried it this morning. I definitely did 4. I almost did the 5th. I'm now optimistic that I'll be back at 5 by next week or the week after. I'm now wondering if it'll be fast, a week each, to get #4 and #5 back! That's great, why expect six or seven to take longer? Why indeed?!?
August 21st - I did five this morning. Except for last one, they were good ones. I’m pleased. My goal for next week is 5nice ones with maybe a 6th sloppy. And a week later, 6 nice ones! We’ll see, I gotta keep putting the work in.
August 29th and 31st. Six! Pretty sloppy on the 29th but I found someone to watch me on the 31st and with the adrenaline from an audience, a pretty clean 6. I’m encouraged.
So drama: will I get to seven by mid September. That gives me two weeks to add one.
here I am on Thursday, September 7th. Looks like a messy seven. Note that the extension is full and I go all the way up. But, I do kick and jerk. I'm working on it.
My wife likes to travel and wants to do it as a couple. I like to work out. Can we get organized to make both of us happy? I had a little success with this on our time in Paris but frankly, if I'd been more organized, I could have figured this out my first day there and worked out all week instead of just the last two days.
I found the Boxium. It was a 90 second walk from the apartment we were renting. It was as intense and chic a personal training facility and I've ever seen. And, considering what it was, reasonably priced.
Check out this three tone leather heavy big. I'm used to a beat-up no frills set of bags, this was not like that at all. The bags were real leather and embossed. The bike and treadmill were gorgeous wood designs, custom made in German (I wish I had more pictures).
And while hitting pads is always great, it's even more fun in a ring where I need to work situational awareness to stay out of the corners. I particularly liked the additional intellectual challenge of doing the workout in French (where I can hold my own).
There are a lot of good trainers out there who are motivational but this guy, Arthur, is another level up. He's a competitive boxer and MMA fighter and a spectacular trainer.
The Boxium club belongs to Souleymane Cissokho, who according to Wikipedia, is is a Senegal-born French professional boxer. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is a light middle weight and professionally: 16-0!
OK. For you true exercise nerds (like me): the warmup and training routines were both different and similar to what I'm use to. Basically, just a variation but it was interesting. I made some notes, here's what I remember.
Warmup
On back, knees to one side, fetal position. Open arm up quickly to other side watching moving hand. Return it quickly. 10x
On back, feet flat on floor, raise hips 10x. Hold one leg straight in air, raise hips 10x. Switch legs. Finish holding up for 10 count
Push-up. Up dog to down dog. Fast, like push-up speed. 10x
Push up position: Touch opposite shoulder with alternating hands 10x. Body still.
Push up position: Touch opposite knee with alternating hands 10x.
Push up position: Touch opposite foot with alternating hands 10x.
10 push-ups. Hold in plank for10 seconds.
Massage gun gun gun gun to relax shoulders
Workout
Sit on low stool (or squat), come up with a cross into pads. Switching sides. 10x -. Repeat with uppercuts
Sparing by round
I’m on offense, only hit shoulders.
I defend, he's only attacking shoulders
I'm on offense, I only hit stomach & shoulders
I defend, he can only hit stomach & shoulders
Same drill on offense but he can counter, only directly from a strike. No combos
Same drill but I'm on defense and able to counter
One round, full speed but light for a round, shoulders and body
