I don't have a lot of time to spend on this, so I'll make a quick post now and follow up later.

I'm going to ignore important and benefits - because those are well known and in the end, it's about you, not how I feel about it's importance.

If I don't keep myself in near the level of fitness I feel was neccessary for me to compete in track back in the day, or re-enlist, I just don't feel "right".

Other people I ran/served with, are in shape but don't keep themselves at my level and that's a personal choice.

E.g. How "Fit" you want to be, is up to you. Well damn, I guess I did address importance.

Diet - This one is relatively simple as well, your body is like a car engine that NEEDS premium fuel to function correctly, if you workout correctly and don't eat the right diet, you're almost wasting your time.

What the right diet consists of, is almost another post and in the end, is a personal thing, because what works for you, may not work for me. Perfect Example - I don't function well on Vegetarian/Vegan diets, others thrive on them.

Still - some basic guidelines.

High Protein is always good, particularly if you get it from a variety of sources. I still eat a lot of foods that Vegetarians would eat to get Protein, I just mix in meats for Variety.

0.7g to 1.0g per pound of body weight will do you just fine and if you go over, big deal, your body will burn for energy any proteins it doesn't use for building muscle.

I thrive on 1.0g per pound of body weight, I seemt to recover ridiculously fast and when I do get sore, it doesn't last long.

A friend seems to get the same benefits from 0.8 - again, you experiment and find what's best.


Carbs - If you're exercising, you need Carbs for energy, it's a Physiological Fact, BUT, your body can only handle so many per day. I hate throwing out numbers for Carbs, but I will say that 500 grams is pretty much the limit for everyone and depending your energy needs 300-400g should be fine.

What to eat is almost common sense, a good mixture of foods, fruits and vegetables, avoid foods that are high in fat, etc.

It's good to get some simple carbs before you workout, Yogurt is a great pre-workout food. After your workout, you want to get down some carbs and protein (I like a 4/1 ratio) as soon as possible, Rice & Fish or Rice and Chicken is a fave post workout meal of mine.

Regardless, plenty of information on that around and in the end, everything say works for me, may not work for you. The best thing to do is to research basic guidelines and then experiment.

I will say that if you're trying to pack on Muscle, you should eat an extra 300-400 calories/day.

Routines/Exercises:

My Typical Routine if I go to the Gym, is to do Cardio for 20-60 minutes, followed by lifting weights.

When I lift I either one of two things:

A routine in which I hit every muscle group (grueling), making sure to work opposing muscle groups together:

If I work my Quads I than work my Hamstrings.

If I work my chest, I than work my Back.

Shoulders than Arms, Biceps, followed by Triceps.

It's tough, because I'll sit on the Incline Bench and knock out 3 sets of Bicep Curls, and after the third set, I'll knock out 3 sets of the Military Press, trying to rest no longer than 45 seconds, or just long enough to get a new set of weights and get into position.

IF I don't lift like that, I just lift chest and back one day, shoulders and arms the next, only lift legs twice a week.

If I lift everything together, I only lift 3x a week, if I break things up I lift 5x.

I usually do reps of 10,6,4 - I like heavy weights and high reps.

However, I don't lift that much anymore......haven't done it much for the past year, as I've been focusing on body weight exercises.

Typical Routine consists of Jumping Rope, Running or Cycling (or using cardio machines in the Gym) miles and times vary - if it's the Rope or the Gym, it can be from 20-60 minutes, the running and cycling is based on my goals at the time. I try to run at least 2 miles whenever I run though, sometimes I do as many as 8.

Other than that, I do a lot of Polymetric Exercises, Calisthenics and Martial Arts workouts, I feel more flexible and in better shape than I was when I mostly lifted - and I'm straight up stronger now than when I lifted on the regular.

It's getting late, so I'll post more actual workouts later - but here is favorite push-up workout.

I usually do this workout while watching TV, I keep a bottle of water closeby, and a note pad to keep track of how many I've done.

It's a small pad, on which I can write about 20-23 two digit numbers going accross one line.

I start my watch and knock out between 40-60 push-ups, write it down and then rest for about 30-90 seconds, than do another set, I keep doing this until I've filled an entire line. Once I do that, I stop the watch.

My goal is to do 1,000+ Push-ups in 30 minutes or less; when I first started doing this, I barely finished 500 and I think it took me 35 minutes and this when I lifted all the time.

I call that a round - if I do more than one round, I rest for 10-15 minutes, drink plenty of fluids and start again.

I'll do anywhere from 1-4 rounds, every other day.

Additionally, I throw in Dips, Pull-ups and Tricep pushups to work on my upper body and all sorts of other exercises to work on my lower body, general fitness, etc.

I basically stoped lifting after watching Documentaries on the Army Rangers, Navy Seals and Green Berets one weekend and realizing that these guys are some of the fittest people on earth, whether you want to run 12 miles, do a triathlon or just compete in Martial Arts and they rarely use machines or lift, particularly not when they're in the hardest parts of their training.

I'll throw in more stuff tommorrow, culled from my workout journals.


Peace,







M2