Brad's Strength and Fitness

Steady-state cardio is important for your fitness, I know that, but I just hate treadmills, and stationary bikes. I tried using them for years but I found that even doing twenty minutes at a slow pace was boring. After about two minutes I'd start wishing that it was over, and yes, I tried listening to music, listening to audiobooks, watching TV - it just wasn't right for me. And then I got a recumbent trike. If you've never been on one, it's understandable, I had never even seen one until I bought my first one almost seven years ago. And there's a reason that they're so popular with older people like me, they're easy, and fun. Yes of course there are recumbents that are blazingly fast (you can Google them, in fact a good recumbent bike can be faster than an ordinary upright bike), but that's not what I wanted - I wanted to get out of the house and noodle around. And instead of wishing that it was over after a few minutes, I usually ride for at least an h...

Like most men, I've never given any thought to my feet, and toes, when I've been thinking about training for strength. I've always worn good shoes, with plenty of support, and have rarely gone barefoot except when I'm swimming, and as my feet and toes got weaker and weaker I realized that that was a mistake. This year I'm working on "Feets of Strength", and am discovering how connected your toes are to the rest of your body. And if you're like me, just barely beginning on developing stronger feet and toes, you will be surprised at how much your muscles will protest, from your toes to your calves and even your back. So go slowly. If you compare your feet to your hands you can see how this type of weakness and lack of coordination happens. Imagine enclosing your hands in a "hand shoe" that didn't allow you to move your fingers independently, and that's what you're doing to your feet when you're always wearing shoes, especially s...

One of the best lessons that I've learned in a long life is the importance of recovery days in order to get bigger and stronger. And that's because your muscles don't grow in the gym, they grow afterwards, when they have time to recover. I'm not as young as I used to be, and if you aren't either (and by that I mean that you're old enough to read), you will need to schedule in time for your body to recover between workouts. And I don't mean sitting on the bench at the gym scrolling on your phone, I mean actually not going to the gym for a full day, or two. It's Monday, one of three days that I set aside for recovery (Tuesdays and Fridays also), and for someone like me, who likes to do workouts, it can be a challenge, as if my toys have been taken away from me. But I like to keep moving forward, and stuff like just writing in this blog is part of my project for greater strength and fitness. Speaking for myself, I include a lot of things in my strength and ...

For most guys, building muscle just seems to happen on its own. My favorite example is from a song that says, "I've worked on a farm, and all I've got to show is the muscle in my arm..." And really, that's what muscle is for - to allow us to move, to do things. If you move, and do things, you will build the appropriate muscle for that movement. However, if your goal is to build muscle mostly for show (which was my goal when I started in my late twenties) then you have to turn the whole equation around, and yes it does get complicated. This is hypertrophy. First of all, you will need to be as healthy as possible. Building muscle is a slow process, and anything that slows it down just, well, slows it down. So don't catch a cold, or get the flu. That may not be possible, but at least you can avoid having a hangover, stuff like that. The list goes on and on of things that detract from your body's ability to build muscle, I'm sure that you don't need me...

There are many things in life that require more than one person to be enjoyable, like tennis, or volleyball. But there are a lot of things that you can do alone, like walking, riding your bike, that sort of thing. And I'm going to recommend that you find things that you can do alone to build your health and fitness. Yes, I know that misery loves company, but if you're doing something that makes you miserable, you need to find something else. If you need constant hand-holding and encouragement then you haven't found that thing yet. It should be something that you enjoy so much that you'll do it alone. Of course, building health and fitness isn't for everybody. While I'm enthusiastic about it, I don't expect everyone else to be. The fact that you're here reading this means that you at least have a small amount of interest. So this is what I suggest for you: Do it alone. I like to ride my recumbent trike just about every morning. In fact, I have to kinda fo...

After my accident, which left me with vestibular problems, I tried various different things for cardiovascular fitness. By far my favorite was swimming, but since I don't have a swimming pool, and had no interest in using a public one, I began to despair - until I discovered a recumbent trike, about six years ago. Yes, I had a gym membership and my gym had the finest equipment imaginable, from stationary bikes to ellipticals to stairmasters, and much more, but they all had one problem - they bored me. I tried to set the timer for twenty minutes and after about five minutes all I could do is wish that it was over. And that all changed when I got my trike. This is steady-state cardio, the kind that they recommend for weight loss, and to keep weight off. This isn't Olympic speed-triking, nor is it so slow that snails pass me as I pedal along. For me, it's just right, about the same pace that I used to do jogging, about a fifteen minute mile, about 4-5 miles per hour, about as ...

I like cheeseburgers, and I've eaten a lot of them in my life. In fact I just finished one a few minutes ago and I thought that I'd like to talk to you about it, why I do it, and how it folds into my fitness and muscle-building program. First of all, and let's be clear here, this is a real cheeseburger made with real beef, those are real french fries and that's real cheese. The meat is lean, but I like that as I dislike really fatty meat. The french fries are cooked from frozen in my air fryer, and the cheese is a slice of pepper jack folded up and melted on top of the burger, which is 150 grams uncooked, or a little over a third of a pound (which is bigger than a quarter pounder). I like iceberg lettuce, and put some on the bun and also have it on the side (I just buy heads of lettuce). Oh yeah, and I like celery too, but it's not absolutely necessary. The blackberries just add a nice touch to it, which I like. To me, it's a good flavor combination (no I don...

I had never even heard of a recumbent trike before I got my first one, over six years ago, and I just love it. It may, or may not be right for you, and all I can tell is why it's right for me in so many ways. The pace of my trike is the same as my old jogging pace, about four miles an hour, or a fifteen-minute mile. I just love seeing the world go past me at that pace. Any slower (like walking) just annoys me, and if I need to go faster I'll take an Uber. By the way, a typical bicycle goes about twice as fast (as my trike, not an Uber), so if you need something to commute with, I'd suggest avoiding a trike. I bought my first trike just as a toy, to noodle around with, just because I dislike walking, and I didn't need to take a Uber all of the time just to get out of the house (nor do I like buses, either!). The idea was fun, and it is fun. I like to ride right after sunrise and I don't go very far, or very fast. Plus I like to stop a lot. If you're a "couch...

Everybody needs a little time away, even if they enjoy being where they are. I like it here with my dogs, and am content to be here at home most of the time, but lately I've been thinking that I'd like a little vacation, and some travel. So I created a vacation day, and wrote it down in my calendar, and today's the day. And I decided to base my first vacation day for years on food. I really have no interest in sitting in a theater, or in a stadium, or walking around a museum, because my first thought is always, "What is there to eat?" I dislike trying to eating what I call "people food", which tends to be whatever can be scrounged in crowded areas. And then I remembered how much I like chicken. So my vacation day will be chicken-based. My destination is about five miles away, and I've already put the information into Lyft. They open at 10, and will be open until late at night, so there's no hurry for me to get there (I just woke up, and it's ...

If you want your muscles, including the muscles of your feet, to get stronger, you need to train them. And that means putting the muscles through some motions that challenges them a little bit more than they're used to. And as difficult, and painful, as that can be, it's really only half of what happens, which most people don't talk about, but I will - tight and sore muscles. In bodybuilding, that type of soreness the day after a good training session, and especially the next-next day, is called DOMS, which means "Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness". This is not to be confused with injury, which is sharp pain, this is just a dull soreness, and tightness of the muscles - and yes, you can get it anywhere your body moves, right down to your toes. When I was working to regain the arch of my feet, many years ago, I got a foot roller massager thing (I'm really not sure what you call it), which is just a piece of plastic with random lumps, bumps, and bulges that you roll ...

Last month I decided that it was time for me to kick caffeine. It just had to do with my sensitive stomach, and caffeine wasn't doing it any good, and I figured that I really didn't need the extra energy that caffeine gives. This may, or may not be right for you. I'll see if I can explain why it was right for me, and how I did it. No, I haven't stopped drinking coffee, which is a wonderful part of my mornings, I've just switched over to decaf. Well, "switched" makes it sound like I did it quickly, I guess "eased away from it" is more accurate. Now calm down there if caffeine doesn't bother you, and if it actually makes your life better. I don't need you to start marching in front of my house with "death before decaf" signs - go and enjoy! And that's what I'm trying to do. I enjoy coffee, but the caffeine wasn't settling well with my stomach. I'll say no more about that, but it was a side effect for me that was sp...

I've known people who can eat some terrible stuff, but I've never been one of them. Often when I talk to some people about health and fitness they'll mention being able to consume some of the most awful stuff for at least a week, maybe a month or two. That's longer than I'd be able to, and I have to give these people credit for their willpower, and maybe iron stomach. I really have neither. Health and fitness is a forever plan for me, not some type of temporary fix that I could do for a short period of time. If you can do that, maybe lose thirty pounds to star in an upcoming superhero movie, that's great, but I really don't want to. I want to enjoy my life, and that includes eating foods that I like. My goal nowadays is to try to gain some muscle, and of course I'm prioritizing protein. But holding my nose and trying to muscle down food that tastes awful to me just doesn't work for me. I like bacon, and hash browns. Of course tastes differ, and if yo...

About thirteen years ago I got an AFO (Ankle-Foot Orthotic) brace to help get me up on my feet again. And since I had been neglecting doing anything up to that point for over eight years after my accident, it was just amazing. The muscles of my ankles and feet had absolutely, positively, gone on vacation and just standing was extremely difficult. I remember being a bit self-conscious about wearing the brace, but it really wasn't anything that people really noticed. By the way, I still have it, and it's the really cool kind made out of the same material that you see athletes use if they've lost a foot - strong and springy. Here's what it looks like from the back: So if you're like I was, sitting on the couch waiting for some kind of miracle to happen and allowing your muscles, tendons and ligaments to get so weak that they really can't even hold you up, go get one - your doctor has probably been recommending it to you for years. Do it. It not only got me up on my...

Something that surprised me when I started doing some serious chest training is how sore my upper back muscles (between my shoulder blades) would feel the day after, and especially the next-next day, and it's only recently I figured out why, and what to do about it. The reason for it is that I finally learned proper pressing technique, which is to squeeze your shoulder blades together while you press. And while you're concentrating on your pecs, because they're moving, the muscles of your upper back are getting quite a workout just holding the flex. And luckily, there's an easy solution to that tightness, which is to find something like the railing that I'm holding onto (I do this at about 6am during my rides) and feel the distance between your hand and your backbone expand. I like to think of "opening it up", although all that's really happening is a mild stretch. Feels good. Hold the stretch for about 15 seconds, then repeat on the other side. There...

If your goal is to impress people at the gym, dumbbells and resistance bands aren't for you. If your goal is to build muscle, they are. I'll see if I can explain. I train at home with the goal of building more muscle, keeping my body fat down, and just generally being fit and trim. If you haven't decided what your goal is, that's fine, take your time and then proceed. And let's be clear here, whatever you want to do is the right thing for you - this is your body, your time, your goal. Don't listen to anyone else - well, you can listen to them, but don't feel in any way obligated to do it their way. Do it your way. Speaking for myself, I just love training at home. I have a nice set of dumbbells and a good assortment of resistance bands including, as you can see, some nice handles. There's no reason for me to try to impress anyone with how much I bench, and really no reason to injure myself (although it has happened, very rarely). Building muscle isn'...