Today is my birthday. Number 44. Forty-four magnum, I’m calling it. Like Harry Callahan’s hand cannon. “Do you feel lucky?” I do.

For this double-quad birthday post, I’d like to revisit my fitness efforts one more time. The last time I mentioned my exercise regimen was back in November last year,  when I showed my “final” results after the P90X and Insanity programs. Well, I’ve kept up my exercises, but I’ve dropped to working out just three times a week instead of the hardcore six times a week. I’m just in a maintenance mode, now. I’m happy with my fitness level and my physical appearance, so I just want to stay like this. I don’t need to buff up like a bodybuilder.

Forgive an old man showing his bare physique one more [last] time.

[And forgive the terrible lighting in these pics. Sheesh. Opening the blinds of the big front window just caused harsh shadows. Using the flash just washed out on my pale skin -- too embarrassing to use for this post. I thought I could improve on the bathroom shots. I failed.]

Anyway. Something I’ve never mentioned before is that I have a pretty severe case of arthritis. My spine, let my show you it:

This image is my lumbar spine, seen from my left side. Note the solid black cartilage space between the bottom vertebrae. That’s well-developed arthritis. That’s what pain looks like.

This MRI image was taken back in August 2007, almost four years ago. I posted about the experience, but I never came out and said what it was all about. I’ve never talked about having arthritis, here, because I didn’t want you readers thinking of me as some decrepit invalid. I’m only comfortable mentioning it in this blog, now, because I can post the fit pictures with it.

Four years ago, I went from a general doctor to a specialist to find out why I was so regularly having back pain. I always got out of bed achy and groaning in the mornings. I often, (at least once a year), “threw out my back” when doing heavy work.

X-rays and MRI photos showed the answer: pretty well developed arthritis. I was rather stunned. I mean, I was just turned 40 years old. Arthritis is something senior citizens have. The doctor told me that the disease had been developing in me for a while.

“But doc,” I said, “I was doing martial arts several days a week, just a few years ago. I earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.”

“You were fit and strong from the martial arts,” the doctor explained, “and that keeps the pain away.”

Core strength and flexibility, like I had while doing TKD, is the best — really the only — way to overcome arthritis without drugs or surgery. In the years after last doing any good and regular exercise, the arthritis caught up with me. That’s why I was starting to feel the disease as pain.

The doctor explained that there is no way to fix, cure, or repair arthritis, but I could keep it from getting worse by getting back into good and regular exercise. But I had to be careful and mindful of how to do exercise properly; I had to protect my back because with arthritis, it’s easier to injure, and any injury is more painful.

I may have be having pains getting out of bed then, but worst case scenario if I didn’t get back into good and regular exercise would be that one day I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed at all. Knowing how bad my back hurt sometimes getting out of bed then, I understood what that meant.

So I got back into good and regular exercise. Well, sometimes and sort of. I was on again and off again with the exercise. At my worst, I was never really “fat.” I was overweight, yes, but I’m also 40+ years old with a sedentary occupation. I and everyone with whom I ever conversed about body weight considered me average and normal for a 40-something family man. My middle was getting thicker, but my belly never plumped over my belt.

As for my arthritis, very few people knew I had it. I ran and jumped and played with my kids like all the other dads around — more than some dads because I wasn’t fat and completely out of shape like some men my age. Only when getting out of bed in the mornings, or maybe getting up off a sofa or chair after an hour or more sitting around, did I make any groans of discomfort. My inconsistent efforts at exercise at least kept me out of severe pain from normal activity. I only took any kind of drug for the pain, (usually just ibuprofen, but rarely something stronger), when it was particularly bad.

Every once in a while — once or twice a year, about — I’d do something to “throw my back out.” I’d pick something up wrong, twist or jump bad, or just sit too long in an uncomfortable position. It was Arthur Ritus letting me know he was truly moved in for the rest of my life.

When I started thinking about picking up the P90X workout, I honestly didn’t even think about needing it for arthritis control. But I was reminded by a person who loves me that I need to remember my back problem and not do something careless to hurt myself. Starting a regular exercise regimen is a good idea, but going extreme and permanently injuring myself would be just plain dumb. Good advice.

I completed the three-month P90X regimen with not a single back problem. I continued the P90X for another couple of months, and then completed the two month Insanity program, and still had no problems with my back. My core strength and flexibility was better than ever. I’ve been in close to peak physical fitness for a 40-plus year old for a year, now. And I’m still going strong.

Only once did I hurt myself during any of these workouts. Fortunately, (and maybe ironically), it happened during this maintenance period I’m keeping up, now, (not during the first/main rounds of the programs). I got a little cocky and rambunctious during a power jump routine, and lost the proper form and control. I woke up the next morning in back pain. I had to take four weeks off from working out to recover. Frustrating, that was. But after the healing time, I got right back into my exercise routine, and I make sure I keep the proper form and control when doing my extreme maneuvers.

* * *

So, I’m 44 years old today. Forty-four magnum.

Booyah! :-)

And my birthday party, next weekend, will be a wonderful nerd-fest.

Bullgrit

The last time I posted about my workout regimen, I was afraid I might not be able to complete the Insanity workout. Well, I pushed through, and I’m now “certified insane.”

Oh my God! Insanity is hard. It’s not even fun, it’s so hard. The P90X workout was extreme, but Insanity is just brutal. After each P90X workout, I felt good, on an endorphin high. But the Insanity workouts are sheer punishment to be endured; afterward, I was just completely worn out. But there is no denying that it can make you fit, super fit. Both regimens work well for getting real fit, real fast. (If you’re interested in learning about them, go look them up. I’m not selling or representing for the company. I’m just a very satisfied customer.)

See these pics for my results:

The thing that really surprised me the most about this whole process was how much fat I had on my body. I knew I was a bit overweight; I figured I could loose at least 10 pounds, maybe even 15 pounds. But at the end of my first 13-weeks round of P90X (the 1.0 pic above), I had lost 18 pounds of padding. I could tell I had more to loose, but I thought maybe just 4 or 5 more pounds.

After finishing about 8 weeks of a second round of P90X (the 1.5 pic above), I had lost a total of 24 pounds — 6 more beyond the 1.0 round. I was astonished at how much fat I had apparently been carrying around on my frame. I never thought I was 20+ pounds overweight. But still, I could tell I had a little more fat to shed to find my six-pack abs. But I seemed to have hit a plateau in my fitness climb; I went some weeks without loosing any fat weight.

I really, really wanted my six-pack abs. A simple desire to “get into shape” became a hard drive to get ripped; it had become the object of my mid-life crisis. Some men buy a sports car, some men pick up a girlfriend, some men run off to “find myself.” My MLC took the form of wanting a hardbody — a body as good or better than the one I had at half my current age. I wanted to be able to keep up physically with my young sons. I wanted to be able to run, jump, and climb faster, easier, and for longer, (without it costing 6 million dollars).

So in hopes of breaking my plateau with P90X, I started Insanity. Taking on a regimen of straight cardio did, indeed, overcome my plateau. In the 9 weeks of Insanity, I lost another 15 pounds for a total loss of 39 pounds. Look at those pics above, again: the “P90X 1.5″ pic is 15 pounds heavier than the “Insanity 1.0″ pic. That floors me. When I was at the “P90X 1.5″ stage of my effort, I would have thought 15 less pounds would make me just skin and bones.

In the couple of weeks since finishing Insanity, I’ve lost another 2 pounds just because my metabolism is much higher revved than it used to be. Human physiology just amazes me.

I’ve lost 41 pounds of fat. Forty-one pounds! That’s three to four times more than I expected. And I’m not skinny — I’m lean. P90X and Insanity are not “just” weight-loss programs, they’re full body fitness. Hell, half of the P90X regimen is weight training to build muscle mass.

I feel freakin’ fantastic! I don’t want to sit on the sofa and watch TV, anymore. I want to move. I want to run, jump, and climb.

But I feel kind of weird about all this. At my core, I’m a nerd, a gamer geek. Have I turned into a jock? Well, I’m still not particularly interested in sports — watching or playing. I still like to read comic books, play RISK, and watch Star Wars.

I don’t have any urge to throw a ball, but I do enjoy push-ups. I haven’t a clue what the infield fly rule is, but I do know how many carbs I need in a day.

I want to play Dungeons & Dragons, but I don’t want to consume the Mountain Dew and Doritos that stereotypically go with a game. I’ll buy a comic book, but I’ll also flip through a fitness magazine for a couple minutes.

Well, whatever strange culture mutation I’ve become, I kind of like it. I’m having a great mid-life crisis.

Bullgrit

I’m not really on a “diet,” in the old sense – I don’t go hungry – but I am attentive to what I eat nowadays. I always have “good” meals and snacks near at hand, and I eat something every couple of hours. My metabolism is in high gear with all this exercising I’m doing. I’m constantly fueling my system.

My desk drawer and one corner of a shelf in the break room fridge is full of fruits, pretzels, protein bars, and non-fat yogurt. Whenever I have even a tinge of hunger, I can grab any of this stuff and I’m never tempted to visit the candy machine or run over to a fast food restaurant.

I’ve also checked various local restaurant menus online for their nutritional information, so when I do occasionally go out to eat lunch, I know how what the least bad stuff is on the menues. If I’m ever caught hungry while away from home or work, I have a good idea of where and what I can eat out.

I even keep a journal of what I eat and the calories, fat, carbs, and protein I take in with each meal and snack. I don’t have to do this, but it does help me keep tabs on my intake. It’s just a little confirmation each day that I’ve done well.

Yesterday I got hungry after leaving work, (late), and before getting home. I didn’t have a snack with me, so I started looking and thinking around for some place I could get something “not bad.” There’s a Bruegger’s bagel/deli shop nearby, and I knew from their online nutritional info that I could get something “not bad” there.

A Bruegger’s turkey bagel sandwich, (with honey mustard and lettuce), has:

• 440 calories
• 8g fat
• 64g carbs
• 26g protein

Not bad. I try to keep my daily numbers at around 2000 calories and 40 grams of fat. I’ve actually managed to keep my daily fat grams below 30 for a few weeks. That ain’t easy, so I’m fairly proud of this.

Anyway, yesterday: I was standing in the Bruegger’s order line, waiting my turn, and looking at the menu board. I saw the turkey chipotle club sandwich — turkey, bacon, lettuce, chipotle mayonaise. Bacon? My mind put that in the “protein” category. Unfortunately, because I was originally thinking of honey mustard on my sandwich, the “mayonaise” in the list of ingredients didn’t register with me. I read it as “chipotle mustard,” I guess.

I ordered the turkey chipotle club sandwich. It’s a bit bigger than the bagel sandwich, but I was hungry and just shrugged my shoulders. I ate the sandwich in my car and my hunger and taste was satisfied.

Later, when I went to write it in my diet journal, I had to look up this new sandwich on Brueggers.com.

• 800 calories
• 51g fat
• 57g carbs
• 31g protein

Holy shit! 51 grams of fat!? The 800 calories for a turkey sandwich is itself enough of a shock, but the 51 grams of fat is freakin’ astonishing. Fifty-one grams of fat!

It breaks my heart. It really does. I’ve been so good for so long, and been proud of myself for managing my diet so well, and then I do this. I stared at the nutritional info for a minute, just thinking, It was a turkey sandwich. It was just a turkey sandwich.

This is what happens when I go off my known menu. This is what happens when I let myself get hungry: I get mentally sloppy with what I choose to eat.

51 grams of fat in one freakin’ sandwich. A turkey sandwich. Hell, I could have just eaten a big burger or a slice of meat-lover’s pizza. What the hell kind of concentrated fat crap is in that chipotle mayonaise? It was good, but it wasn’t super good. It wasn’t almost-two-days-worth-of-fat-intake good.

Bullgrit

I’m two weeks into my Insanity regimen, and last night’s workout had me really wondering if I can actually make it through all 9 weeks of this thing. The second month, (weeks 6 through 9), takes the whole thing up another level into the “Max” workouts. I’m still in the beginning Insanity workouts.

The freakin’ warm up exercises are hard. I’m panting and sweating after the first 20 minutes, and then, (after the stretch time), the real workout begins. So far I’ve been able to do every exercise without skipping, but I haven’t been able to completely keep up with hot shots in the video class. Sure, many of them take short breaks like me during the work outs, and they’re wiped out like me at the end of the program. But they’re all in their 20s.

I don’t have the high after the workouts like I got after the P90X workouts. I don’t feel “good” after all that work, I feel like I just had my ass kicked.

And I’m not seeing any change in my body yet. Granted, I’m just two weeks done, and I was already leaned down from the P90X work, but something has to start showing soon. It’s hard to keep up this pounding without something visual to show for it.

Insanity is hard. Really hard. I mean, “Oh my God!”, hard. P90X was hard, especially in the beginning weeks. But I never doubted my ability to keep it up. Now, though, I’ve had my first doubts about my ability to keep at it.

With P90X, you can see the level of the regimen in the first couple weeks. If you can get through the first couple weeks, you know you can perform everything through out all 13 weeks. You just have to keep pressing play, every day.

But Insanity cranks it up a level in the sixth week. If you’re struggling in the first four weeks, what’s going to happen in the last four? I haven’t looked at the videos for the second month, yet. I’m kind of scared to. At this point, when I’m struggling through the beginning workouts, should I take a peek at the next level? I don’t know. I don’t want to break my will by seeing something that might overwhelm me. I don’t want to kill my spirit so soon.

I’m going to continue, for now. I’m not going to quit during the beginning stage. Although they totally kick my ass and leave me a worn out puddle of sweat and fatigue, I at least know I can get through these first month routines. But dear God, what will the next phase be like?

Bullgrit