My Charles Atlas story
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:16 am
Hello all,
I purchased and downloaded the CADT course a couple of weeks ago. Here is a bit of my experience being a CA student.
I am a senior citizen but still working. And I want to learn some practical stuff for a senior citizen interested in a rest-of-my-life physical fitness routine. Hence my handle Alan OldStudent.
Here's my story.
I had some health problems a couple of years ago but have been getting better. A couple of years ago, I had a condition which caused me to lose blood nearly every day, and I became quite anemic and almost ended up in the hospital. I had some surgery and fixed that, and slowly built up my iron stores to normal.
About a year ago, I was feeling better, but I and my doctor decided I needed to lose weight. On July 31, 2007, I weighed 265 pounds at 6 feet. I had weighed 165 when I was young, so that's 100 pounds over where I felt comfortable in my body back then.
On my last physical exam last year, my doctor sent me to a hospital nutritionist, who recommended gradual weight loss with moderate exercise and a diabetic diet, as my blood sugar level placed me near the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
I followed the diet and attempted to do some moderate walking, and to make a long story short, I have dropped down to 205 pounds over the last year. My wife is thrilled, my friends have noticed, and I am wearing clothes that I have not been able to get into for years. I've gone from a size 44 waist to a 38 in a year, and I'm feeling much better. Losing that 60 pounds puts me around half way to my goal of getting back to my 165 pounds, where I looked and felt pretty good.
The walking and moderate aerobics have been very good, and they have not taken up too much time. Now I have decided it is time to expand beyond walking and moderate aerobics and try to get some of my muscle tone back.
When I was young, I used to go to gyms and do weight training with light weights and high repetitions, mostly because I don't think it is in my nature to be a massive muscle man. I also had studied Kenpo and Tae Kwon Do, and so I had some notion of dynamic tension. I really did not like the weights all that much and enjoyed the martial arts exercises much more.
I remembered seeing the ads in comic books back in the 1950s and discovered his program was still around. So two weeks ago, I purchased and started Charles Atlas, along with a few other simmple exercises I remember from my martial arts days, along with my walking and simple aerobics. I just now have added lesson 3 to the exercises in lesson 1.
I have been surprised at how much I have come along in just a few weeks. I'm beginning to see muscle building in my arms, shoulders, and chest. The idea of pitting muscles against muscles and going for range of motion appeals to me, and I think the old physical culture guys look a lot better than the modern body builders anyway.
Although I'm at an age where biology imposes certain limits, I do want to go as far as the reality will allow.
My job is quite sedentary. I work at home, telecommuting, transcribing medical dictation (a trade I've plied for the last 25 years or so). Perhaps the majority of people who do my job for years are quite overweight and out of shape. About every 45 minutes to an hour or so, I can jump up and do a few exercises. This has helped me in my job performance as well.
Well, that's my story and who I am in the briefest of nutshells.
Regards,
Alan
I purchased and downloaded the CADT course a couple of weeks ago. Here is a bit of my experience being a CA student.
I am a senior citizen but still working. And I want to learn some practical stuff for a senior citizen interested in a rest-of-my-life physical fitness routine. Hence my handle Alan OldStudent.
Here's my story.
I had some health problems a couple of years ago but have been getting better. A couple of years ago, I had a condition which caused me to lose blood nearly every day, and I became quite anemic and almost ended up in the hospital. I had some surgery and fixed that, and slowly built up my iron stores to normal.
About a year ago, I was feeling better, but I and my doctor decided I needed to lose weight. On July 31, 2007, I weighed 265 pounds at 6 feet. I had weighed 165 when I was young, so that's 100 pounds over where I felt comfortable in my body back then.
On my last physical exam last year, my doctor sent me to a hospital nutritionist, who recommended gradual weight loss with moderate exercise and a diabetic diet, as my blood sugar level placed me near the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
I followed the diet and attempted to do some moderate walking, and to make a long story short, I have dropped down to 205 pounds over the last year. My wife is thrilled, my friends have noticed, and I am wearing clothes that I have not been able to get into for years. I've gone from a size 44 waist to a 38 in a year, and I'm feeling much better. Losing that 60 pounds puts me around half way to my goal of getting back to my 165 pounds, where I looked and felt pretty good.
The walking and moderate aerobics have been very good, and they have not taken up too much time. Now I have decided it is time to expand beyond walking and moderate aerobics and try to get some of my muscle tone back.
When I was young, I used to go to gyms and do weight training with light weights and high repetitions, mostly because I don't think it is in my nature to be a massive muscle man. I also had studied Kenpo and Tae Kwon Do, and so I had some notion of dynamic tension. I really did not like the weights all that much and enjoyed the martial arts exercises much more.
I remembered seeing the ads in comic books back in the 1950s and discovered his program was still around. So two weeks ago, I purchased and started Charles Atlas, along with a few other simmple exercises I remember from my martial arts days, along with my walking and simple aerobics. I just now have added lesson 3 to the exercises in lesson 1.
I have been surprised at how much I have come along in just a few weeks. I'm beginning to see muscle building in my arms, shoulders, and chest. The idea of pitting muscles against muscles and going for range of motion appeals to me, and I think the old physical culture guys look a lot better than the modern body builders anyway.
Although I'm at an age where biology imposes certain limits, I do want to go as far as the reality will allow.
My job is quite sedentary. I work at home, telecommuting, transcribing medical dictation (a trade I've plied for the last 25 years or so). Perhaps the majority of people who do my job for years are quite overweight and out of shape. About every 45 minutes to an hour or so, I can jump up and do a few exercises. This has helped me in my job performance as well.
Well, that's my story and who I am in the briefest of nutshells.
Regards,
Alan