In case anyone might find it useful, in this post I will only describe what I do. I will not promote or sell a program or cite science or evidence. That is easy enough to find and everyone seems to have their own evidence these days, anyway. I will just describe what I did should that be useful.
The reason that foreveralphablog.co.uk happened to promote me was because we corresponded and I mentioned that while I don't follow his program, what I have done for the last two years is exactly his program. He thought the transformation was exceptional on an age-adjusted basis and asked to use my pic to which I agreed. So while I am not exactly promoting his program I am at least promoting myself. And if I can't promote myself then that seems to be some kind of road to self negation and self-extinction. And I've already been married so I've had enough of that already.
I'll set this post up with
- some baselines,
- an intervention, and then
- an "after"
Before Baseline 1: 1973-1985
- Competitive swimmer thru senior year in college
- Resistance training over full range of baseline 1
- Self challenges like 1000 pushups/day in summer of 1979
- Focus on education and career
- Average weight ~ 155 and super-fit
Before Baseline 2: 1986-2007
- Mostly sedentary
- Much computer screen-work and sitting
- Focus on career and family
- No physical endeavors to speak of except some hiking
- Strong-form commitment to 3 daughters and my hypergamous spouse
- Average weight ~ 165 and generally not fit
Before Baseline 3: 2008-2016
- Divorce
- Move to FL
- Global Financial Crisis
- Social isolation
- Series of toxic post-divorce relationships
- Financial and personal stress
- No exercise, sedentary
- Probable over-use of alcohol
- Uninspired
- Low testosterone due to all of the above
- Zero energy/libido
- Weight gain from baseline of 165 to as high as 195, twice
- Self confidence low
- Weak
Before Baseline 4: last 50+ years
- Father = fatal 3rd coronary at 47
- Brother1 = 100% blockage of main anterior descending artery at 50 (widow-maker). Survived
- Brother2 = 99% blockage of main anterior descending artery at 51. Survived
- Mother = Dementia at 82ish
THEN >>>>>[ intervention starting Q3 2017, described below]<<<<<<
After: Q32017 - Spring 2019 (now)
- 2x to 8x increase in strength, depending on how that is defined
- 20+ lb weight loss of visceral fat in belly
- 15 - 20 lb of muscle weight gain
- Shirt size bigger
- Pant size smaller
- Self confidence is sky-high
- Cardio health (via recent cardiac ct angiogram) is solid
- Self frame of reference irrevocably anchored and solid (see TheRationalMale.com)
- Equilibrium weight is around 177 but shooting for 169. That'll be hard with the muscle gain
- Intellectual achievements are solid if you buy into my blog...
- Dating and relationships have become ridiculously simple and easy now, it seems
- Relationships with children are super solid but always have been, ask them
Here, by the way, is the before-and-after that ForeverAlpha posted, where "before" is the end of 2016, when I was at the peak of my mental and physical ill health. "After" is April 2019 when I was ~60 1/2 ... and note that I probably still have about -10lb to go. I got absolutely killed for this kind of thing on Twitter once but frankly I don't give af anymore. This is my life and it sucked before and is spectacular now so I get to tout:
The Intervention - Q3 2017
The original impetus for me to change was a break-up in somewhere around Oct to Dec 2017. I had been browbeat by someone for something like 2x per week for 4 years. That's more than 400 times if you do the math but it was probably even more than that. Jesus. That is so messed up. Too bad it took me years to see it. I was also fat and a little bit of a downer. I drank too much. I was weak and sedentary. Then, suddenly, I found myself single and that was not really my goal after a chaste 20 year marriage and 10 years of messing around with FL freaks. I had to do something to up my game. I also had made a very very hard commitment to one of my daughters that I would care-take my health so that I would be around for as long as I could be for her. That last commitment I took very very seriously. That was the real reason for intervening. And intervene I did.
Here, in a very very small nutshell, is what I did:
- Stopped drinking completely for 6 months
- Went to the gym, incrementally, almost every day for ~1.5 years. The "incremental" I'll explain*.
- Very carefully followed an intermittent fasting routine
- Ate nothing but protein, veg, a little fruit, and a little carb. Nothing dramatic, very sustainable.
That's it.
*A quick note on "incremental:" By this I mean that I tried, very very carefully, to connect my goals to what was implementable...but always with a challenge. On the very first day I "changed," I HATED the idea of going to the gym. So I made myself the goal, on the first day, to just go to the door of LA fitness, open the door, and then give myself the permission to go home...but to also try to make it to at least one machine. There was literally no way to fail and there was no way to make an excuse. I actually made it past the door that day but not by much. Each day after that, the goal and implementability were matched in a similar way but each day had a stretch challenge added, too. That kept the game going with an upward trajectory with the result in the photo above. Now it's 1.5-2 hours per day with heavy weights.
The Diet
- Intermittent fasting on an 18 hour fast, 6 hour eat routine. No variance. No acceptance of shaming.
- Focus on protein, veg, some fruit, a little carb. No absolutes. I have a weakness for chips. And Rye.
- I attempt to eliminate sugar and processed foods. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
- Flexibility and joyfulness are an absolute must
The Training
- I started with 7x/week sessions in order to eliminate excuses
- I ended up with 6x per week in alternating splits, but
- I then went with 3x per week due to age and injuries and an age-need for recovery
- I am now back to 6x per week with 3x/wk on major muscles and a fill-in for isolation 2-3x
- Focus is on major muscle groups on the 3x/wk
- Reps are maybe 12 per set with 3-5 sets, but.... and this is important...
- no rep or set is meaningful except the very very last rep/set that I can't do. That one is gold.
- Progressive weight is added weekly or monthly
- Given a hard choice between cardio and resistance, I choose resistance.
Supplements
- none
- if any, I'll sometimes use
o creatine, BCAA, citrulline -- for workouts
o vitamin D3, zinc, B12, Magnesium, B6, Omega3, grape seed, some other
- Note: I do not really support the use of supplements
Testosterone
Of the last 20 months, in only 2 have I used TRT. So that is not the thing that helped me at all. If there is a "trick" to what I've done it is baseline-1 above where I had swimming and lifting in my 20s. That base allowed me to shred now where if I was a total lump at 55 it would have been impossible for me to do what I did. Few 60-year-olds with fat bodies are going to be able to pull off a major transformation without a solid baseline. It's not really impossible, it's just harder.
Here is the thing on test, though. At 60 it goes down quite a bit. Trust me, it really does. And that change does affect one's attitude and body. So, here are some things that I know personally that will impinge on test at an age like mine:
- Age
- Alcohol
- Nurturing and caregiving (I was a stay-at-home dad forever, this really affects test)
- Stress and/or lack of sex or female companionship
- Lack of competition and aggressive male company
- Diet low in meat/protein
- Lack of resistance training
- Other nutritional deficiencies TBD
- Some other stuff I haven't bothered to search out yet
So, don't do those things.
Also, doctors will always say that your low-test reading is "normal." Me? I'd say challenge that pronouncement. Here, for example, is a "normal" reading at 60 years old according to your doctor. This (the 10 on the y-axis in the chart) is somewhere in the 280-300 Ng/Dl range for a 60 yo. This is well within "American" normal readings. All of this is vs a full distribution at various ages:
This reading, despite what they will tell you, is clearly not "normal." It is low. So, either man-up and fix that based on what you can do with the list I provided above...or get some TRT. Read the research. I do not supply that research here. The results and consequences are something you have to figure out on your own. The payback in fitness and confidence might be worth the risk. But it might not be. Your call.
Whom do I follow?
Well, no one. But if I had to recommend something for men, I'd say I'd go with the following. I trust these guys:
I am paid for none of this.
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