Brad's Strength and Fitness

You really don't hear the term "aerobics" much nowadays, but it was very popular in the '70s when I was a teenager. Well, it was popular with a lot of people, but not with me - I really never did much aerobic exercise, and I really still don't - that is, any type of exercise that has a long enough duration and exertion to make me breathe hard. Stop that giggling! I mean running, or swimming. Mostly I did anaerobic stuff, like gymnastics. Here's the video version of this post if you prefer: Nowadays I guess "cardio" has replaced "aerobics", but it really amounts to the same thing - getting your heart rate up goes along with breathing heavy. But I really don't like thinking about my heart beat (I'm too squeamish for that) and instead of listening for my heart to pound I can see if I'm getting an aerobic workout by breathing heavy. And today I'll be doing what I call "aerobic weight lifting". I'll tell you how it ...

I just woke up a little while ago, have fed the dogs, and as usual early in the morning I don't have much of an appetite, but I did have a breakfast biscuit and am drinking plenty of water, including 16 ounces of decaf coffee. My goal nowadays is weight loss, but my goal always is to not make myself feel miserable. A couple of years ago I started feeling some heartburn (I'm not as young as I used to be!) and a good friend of mine recommended some over-the-counter meds that have been helping me to sleep (which was when my heartburn was at its worst, lying down). During the day I haven't been troubled much, until this past month when I started dieting. To my suprise, simply "putting a little bit on my stomach" does the trick for me. I don't have the appetite first thing in the morning to wolf down stacks of pancakes, but luckily it's not necessary. I have some breakfast biscuits in my kitchen, and I also carry some on my trike. They're called "Belvi...

Training to build muscle is a very delicate balance. You have to train hard and heavy enough to encourage new growth, but not so hard and heavy that you injure yourself, even a little bit. The strain that happened on my right shoulder last April was very minor, but it was enough to hold back my training for at least two months. Injuries happen, that's just the way it is, so you can't always avoid injury, but you can do things that give you better odds of staying healthy. And it's like everything else, it's not enough to just know those things, you gotta do them. Here's the video version if you prefer: One of the most frustrating things to do when you've been looking forward to a workout is warming up with light weights, but it's just the way that your body works. I'm old enough to know better, but there have been times when I've been impatient, and went too heavy too soon in the workout. Bad mistake! I just set out some weights for tomorrow's wor...

I've always worn baseball caps, every once in a while, when I wasn't concerned at all about my appearance. It's just part of being a young man, we tend to not be fussy about that kind of stuff, at least I wasn't. When I dressed for work, wearing a shirt and tie, I dressed with care, but after work, it really didn't matter - sunglasses that I had found at the beach, and random baseball caps. And then a few years ago I realized that I wasn't a kid anymore, and I just stopped doing those kind of things. Here's the video version, if you prefer: But recently, since my retirement, I've been back to dressing like a grown man, and it now includes baseball caps with the fashion guidance of a good friend who is a bit of a connoisseur on these things. And that surprised me - I mean, they're just baseball caps, right? Wrong. Once you start to learn more about them they start to look different the same way that a cheap suit that doesn't fit looks different fr...

If your muscles are sore, like mine are today, from a great workout yesterday, or the day before, I'd like to show you some of the tricks that I use to ease the soreness. And by soreness I don't mean injury, if it's a sharp pain go seek medical attention, don't listen to a "gym bro" like me. This is just ordinary soreness and stiffness that means that your body needs a break, and that your muscles are "under construction". Here's the video version, if you prefer: First and foremost, keep moving around, gently. Extremes are very wrong here - this is no time for sitting on the couch all day, or for running a marathon. I went for a short and gentle ride on my trike this morning, and made absolutely sure that I drank a lot of water, including decaf coffee. I carry a yoga strap in the trike and when I stop at the park I like to sit and stretch a bit, very gently. I especially like a gentle stretch on my shoulders. And I mean gentle here. Gentle. If yo...

Yesterday I saw an inspiring video of a young man doing pistol squats while holding onto rings, and it got me to thinking that I'd like to be able to do lunges, and could adapt the idea. Here's how I'm doing it. Here's the video version of this blog post if you prefer: I have some adjustable cables (kind of a poor man's TRX) which I can hook to a chin-up bar. Actually they aren't really connected, they just loop over it, but they're very sturdy. I have the handles adjusted at about chest height, and I'm starting each lunge in the down position, with one knee gently resting on the floor (my nice soft carpet). The idea is to push myself up with the one leg, with an assist (especially balance) with my arms. This is the first time I've used this technique, and I'm really trying to keep the emphasis on my legs, not on my back and arms. Still, it's a nice back stretch going "ass to grass", so I'm including that with this workout. I...

As someone who grew up with superhero images of men with small waists and well-defined muscles, I was surprised to find out that real strong men didn't look that way. And it just has to do with the different layers on your body - your fat layer sits on top of your muscles. And what that means is that it's just about impossible to look at someone and know if they're hiding a lot of muscle under their fat, or if they're just fat. That is, until you see them lift something crazy heavy! And the point here is that if your goal is pure strength, don't worry at all about carrying some fat over it. Go lift some heavy weight and eat plenty of protein and you'll get stronger and stronger - that's how it works. If, on the other hand, your goal isn't just strength and power, but to be able to show it off when you take off your shirt, you're gonna have to calm down on the calories and spend some time dieting. And I gotta tell ya, dieting is a lot less fun than bu...

It's been almost a year now since I upgraded my old TerraTrike, which I had originally bought at a bike store about six years ago, and got a nice new one which I ordered directly from the factory, so I thought you'd like to see the unboxing. By the way, here's the video version of this post, if you want to hear my voice: I get a lot of questions about the trike, which sometimes includes if I built it myself, which I didn't. I just opened a box. Yes, it comes fully assembled - no need to follow a lot of complicated instructions. I'm not very mechanical, and if you can open a box, like I did, you can have a nice new trike. Here's the box right after it was delivered, on my driveway: I have to admit that I was surprised that it said "WizWheelz" on the box, but that's the name of the company. It wasn't very heavy, but it's a long box, so I helped the driver carry it from the truck onto my driveway. By the way, not only is the trike fully assemb...

A superpower that I've always admired that some people have is "nerves of steel". That is, nothing rattles them, they remain calm no matter what's happening around them. And so today I'm pondering that type of power, how it can be developed, and how it can actually be overdeveloped, which is a bad thing. Speaking for myself, I've always been a nervous, twitchy person. I made a concerted effort to at least give the appearance of calmness when I discovered that it was a behavior of all of my heros - they didn't become "panicky idiots" during a confrontation, they dealt with it calmly. But don't get me wrong, these people weren't just relaxed and lazy, they were a coiled spring - ready to spring to action at a moment's notice. They just didn't waste their energy until it was absolutely needed, and then they moved quickly. I like that. I've seen extreme cases of "nerves of steel", which means that the person has so desen...

I like my recumbent trike, and I get out early in the morning on most days. In fact, I like it so much that this morning I decided that I would take a break from it, but I went on a ride anyway. That's how you can tell if you're doing something for enjoyment - the fitness is a side-effect. As someone who has done a lot of physical stuff all of his life I'm aware of the importance of safety. When I did gymnastics in high school I made sure that there were crash pads underneath the rings for when I fell (which happens!). I also protected my hands - you aren't gonna be able to do anything with blisters on your palms! Nowadays when I get ready to ride and think "safety first", it goes beyond just wearing a helmet. I also have enough sunscreen on me (SPF 50 and 100) to protect my skin if the sun were to crash into the earth, I wear bright clothing (including brightly-colored shoes) to give people in cars the chance to avoid getting a "Brad-and-trike" hood...

A healthy body requires water to function, and a body that is trying to build muscle needs even more. I'll tell you what I'm doing nowadays. No, I don't walk around with a gallon jug of water everywhere I go, but I keep water very handy. Right now as I sit here talking to you, I have two 3-liter bottles of water next to me (just like in the pic) which I pour into a 12-ounce glass (I dislike drinking from gigantic bottles) and keep continuously filled. I also have the same setup where I take my meals, on my kitchen counter. Right after I wake up in the morning I drink most of a 12-ounce glass of water here in my bedroom, and the same in the kitchen as I wait for my coffee (actually it's decaf), which adds another 8 ounces of water. If it sounds like a chemistry project, it is, that's how muscle-building works. I do not drink things that dehydrate me, like alcohol, except on special occasions, and then I make double-dog sure to drink plenty of water afterwards, especi...

It's only September 6th, but I know that losing fat is a slow process, so I'm going to start easing into it today. My schedule really doesn't call for me to start until October 1st, but I've decided that it will be less of a shock to my system to start it slowly. My overall goal this year is weight gain, but I want it to be mostly in muscle, not fat, so I've been enthusiastically training, eating protein, all of that stuff. And since I lost at least a month with my shoulder strain in April, I wanted to give myself an extra month of muscle-building (in September - this month), but today I started worrying about how miserable it will be to suddenly switch over to salads in October, so, like I say, I'm easing into it. Luckily for me I kinda have to "force-feed" myself to put on weight, and it's something of a relief when I know that all I need to have tonight for dinner is enough to not worry about being hungry in the middle of the night, and I can do...

Back in my corporate days I always had a short "elevator speech" to tell people who I was. It was mostly about my job, what jobs I'd had, and maybe where I'd lived while I was doing those jobs. In other words, my whole personality was about my job. And to be fair, that's what I was all about, a professional graphic designer. If the conversation were to drag on a bit, I might mention how much I liked to play golf, but that was about it. I wouldn't talk about how much I liked to workout, and ride my bike, those were things that the average person couldn't relate to. They may, or may not have seen that I was wearing an athletic-fit suit, but mostly if they even noticed they would have just figured that it was just the way that I was built, not something that I worked on just about all of the time. After I retired, last year, I pondered on how I would describe myself. Of course I would tell people that I was a retired graphic designer, but that started to anno...

Something that I've learned about injury recovery is that there are two steps, and the second one is the one that most people neglect, which is recovery of function, if possible. This is often referred to as physical therapy, and since I've had a lot of that in my day, I know why it's important to people like me, and may or may not be important to you. After you injure yourself, you will need some type of medical attention, depending the severity. It could be a doctor if you've broken your leg, or it could just be something in your medicine cabinet. And that's because injuries hurt, often quite a bit, and there are medications to reduce pain, and certain types of devices (like crutches) that will allow you to have somewhat of a normal life. And this is where it gets very important not to self-diagnose, because if your damage is structural, all of the physical therapy and muscular exertion won't bring that back. That's why it was important for me when I had l...

I started buying dumbbells, good ones, little by little, many years ago and nowadays I'm not even tempted to pay for a gym membership. This may, or may not be right for you, but it works for me, and I'll tell you the reasons why. And no, it's not because I'm too cheap to pay for a gym membership, there are a lot of gyms right nearby me here in suburban Phoenix, and I'd gladly pay for a membership if I wanted one - but I'd rather train at home. I don't know about you, but when I train I want to focus. I don't want to be concerned that I might not be able to get the machine I want when I want it, or a bench because the gym might be crowded, or someone may have been sitting there scrolling on their phone for twenty minutes. I suppose if I were younger I wouldn't mind, but I'm older now, and I'm spoiled by having dumbbells here at home. I like training, and I don't need anyone to motivate me. Training doesn't require a partner, or a group...

If your goal is to get bigger and stronger muscles, you have to do two things 1) challenge the muscle, whether with weights, swimming, calisthenics, whatever) and 2) Build the muscle with protein, and all of the other things that your body needs in order to utilize that protein. If you follow me here, just sitting around drinking protein shakes isn't enough, and that's what I'd like to talk about today. When I first set out to gain some muscle on my skinny body, I was surprised, and a little bit pleased, that it was a thinking man's game. Up to that point I had imagined that it was just for the guys with the small foreheads, who just walked into a gym and moved weights around randomly, grunting like apes. I've seen those guys, and as far as I can tell, nature didn't bless them with the genetics to understand the bigger picture. Nature has been kind to me, and since you're reading this, to you, too. I've been doing this for decades (longer than I care to ...

Something that I've been doing lately is buying cheap and flimsy shoes. It's part of my "Feets of Strength" project. I'll see if I can explain. My goal is to rebuild the strength that I've lost in my ankles, feet, and toes, over the years. Without going into too much gory detail, I had developed "foot drop" (you can Google that, it's terrible) and the nice doctors gave me a brace that fit under the soles of my shoes and went up the back of the bottom of my legs, and if I wore long pants it was invisible - and it really helped. I'm sure that I still have it around here somewhere, but I don't remember where I put it. Real cool high tech titanium (or it may have been "unobtainium", I'm not sure, but it's the same stuff that you see people with no feet running on, strong, light, and flexible). Of course, the longer I relied on the brace the weaker my legs and ankles got, so little by little (without my doctor's permissio...

I like projects, and have done so since I was a kid, putting together models. I especially liked motorcycle models, which were wildly complex. And as soon as I was finished with one, I would want to start another one. Doing these things took me a long time, and kept me quiet, which I'm sure my parents appreciated. I enjoyed everything about these types of projects, except having to wait for the glue to dry, which usually said "overnight", so I'd often get anxious and not wait long enough and make a mess of things. You can tell that any project that requires waiting is difficult for me. I want to stand there and watch the glue dry, but that doesn't help - you have to turn your attention elsewhere. It's really the same with building muscle - I just hate (if you follow me here) "waiting for the glue to dry", which for muscle-building is taking a recovery day, or two, and staying away from your workouts. But it's a necessary part of the project, and ...

Although you can walk just fine flat-footed, which I've done for years, it isn't exactly an athletic stride. And that's because in order to move quickly you need to get up on the balls of your feet, and that really means your toes, especially your big toe. If your feet don't flex well there, you have some work to do. All of this just comes naturally to you as a kid, and if you've always been athletic, such as a tennis player, it's never left you, and you just take it for granted. I discovered how weak my toes were, especially my big toes, just this year, so I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. First of all, I'm barefoot around the house. And when I wear shoes they will have to be very flexible in the toe area. The idea is to be able to stand like Barbie. Here, I'll show you an example: As of this writing, I can't stand like that, with the bend between my metacarpals and my phalanges (both terms I just learned this year). And it starts with just d...

Building muscle takes time, a lot more time than gaining fat. And that means that if you're like me, not as young as you used to be, and have been training for years, you need to be realistic about what you can gain in a month, or a year. My goal this year was to gain twelve pounds of muscle, and allow for three pounds of fat gain, taking me from 160 pounds in January to 175 pounds by December, and this past month (August) I was getting excited because I found myself at 170 pounds, thinking that I was going to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, I found that I gained back my "pooch" around the waist, so I'm trying to calm down a bit, and I may have to reduce my final goal for the year from 175 to 170, which would still be a gain of seven pounds of muscle, not bad for someone like me! I weighed in at 167 this morning, and I can see that I still have "the pooch" (no, I'm not going to show it to you, it's where a lot of guys who are otherwise lean carry a...