Initial Physical Conditioning For SCA Combat - Aka TFOMP The

[Richard Blackmoore]

INITIAL PHYSICAL TRAINING FOR SCA COMBAT

Aka TFOMP! THE FAT OLD MAN PROJECT

3/17/2001 By Richard Blackmoore.

WARNING: I know there are some typo's and badly phrased sentences, I will try to clean this up as time allows. I wrote this Saturday night while unable to sleep.

This is a brief review of one fat old SCA knight's approach to initial physical conditioning after an extended layoff, with an eye towards attaining a level of fitness suitable for entry level SCA combat. In this case, the subject is myself. The training described is not necessarily the best possible solution for anyone else. This review is not terribly scientific, but I did promise a basic review of my initial attempt, so here goes. I hope some of you find it helpful.

The bottom line? I started working out around the first week of February 2001:

STARTED WORKING OUT EARLY FEBRUARY:

6' tall and 40 year's old.
244 pounds
30.5% Body fat (Avg. 30% to 31% pinch measurements, confirmed by electronic)
Weak as hell, out of breath easily, did not fit in armour or my good clothes, recovering from laziness, stress, pneumonia and an utter lack of exercise or proper nutrition.

PROGRESS BY MARCH 17:

6' tall and 40 year's + 1 ½ months older. (yeah! I did not shrink.)
235 pounds
24% Body fat (Avg. 23.5% to 24.5% pinch measurements, confirmed by electronic)
Much stronger with better endurance, I fit into my armour as well as some of my old clothes. My stomach and love handles are still too damned big and fat, but I have the beginnings of a chest and my calves and arms are looking acceptable again. Won all the tourneys at yesterday's small local fun tourney event. Admittedly, I was the only knight there and the competition was not tough, but hey, it's progress considering I had not fought in over two and a half years and I had one quick practice first with a fighter essentially fighting at newbie level).

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES:
One Gym membership to a club with free weights, machines, aerobic machines and a small pool.
Miscellaneous shorts, gym shirts and pants, etc. All 100% cotton and comfortable.
Swim trunks.
Harbinger Ultimate workout gloves with tech gel.
Wrist wraps for trapezius shrugs.
Everlast heavy bag gloves (Not the best, but already owned them).
Omron Body Fat Analyzer Model HBF-300 to supplement gym's pinch calipers.
Home scale calibrated to match the gym's scale.
Better food and drink.
Lots of reading of magazines and body building books.
Protein Supplements (powdered form to make shakes).
Flax Seed Oil Capsules.
Centrum Vitamins (the one a day type).


The specific diet, exercises chosen, number of sets, reps, and the like shown, are not static, they are altered and adapted on an ongoing basis in order to better suit my personal needs and preferences. They are also modified unintentionally by changing real life schedules, snowstorms, business trips, lack of willpower on some days and ongoing education as to the best possible diet and schedule, which interfere with my idealistic plans and often naive expectations. I am no longer twenty, naturally powerful, able to drink tall beers and eat large pizzas and remain fairly fit with little exercise.

Any training plan needs to address the individual's age, natural body type, physical height, weight, bone density and strength, current base conditioning level, cardio respiratory condition, physical limitations/handicaps/injuries and willpower.

Your ability to make time for the desired workout plan to be implemented is crucial. A plan that requires 6 days a week is great, but it won't work for you if your job and domestic obligations simply don't allow time for that schedule to be consistently met.

If you lack the willpower to follow a sensible eating plan or to go to the gym even when your schedule does allow, you are doomed from the start. Choose a starting workout schedule and diet plan that your real life commitments will allow you to meet. Be serious about it, enjoy it and you can expand your workout and commitment to healthy eating as your schedule allows and your desire grows.

Nothing breeds enthusiasm and dedication as much as success does, so choose a plan that is not unrealistic. As your progress continues, you may find yourself willing and able to take on a more ambitious plan. Most people fail because they set unrealistic immediate goals for themselves and give up before giving themselves a real chance. The first two to four weeks are crucial, for most people, they never get over that initial hump, where nothing seems to work right and everything is hard.

BACKGROUND:

I am 40 years old and had not fought since early 1998, a little over two and a half years. I had not worked out at all in at least five years and has not seriously gone to the gym for much longer than that. I had developed extremely poor eating habits and found my health and physical conditioning levels to be generally declining, not solely due to the aging process. I have been working a very stressful desk job, allowed mundane personal disasters to distract me, I am raising a young daughter and rebuilding my house. In the fall of 2000, I developed pneumonia and was ill right through early winter. So much for the excuses. That is exactly what they are, excuses. I can complain all I want about personal difficulties that can easily be used as excuses for letting my body fall apart and that is exactly what I did. Nothing is more important than your health, for without it, you cannot take care of your obligations to family, friends and employees. It's hard to make a difference if you're dead or constantly tired, weak or depressed. Physical conditioning does not only make you stronger, it makes you feel physically better and mentally sharp.

Not everyone can find time for the program I chose, not everyone can afford a home gym or a club membership. Everyone can find some time to exercise and it does not take any longer to prepare healthy food. It is a matter of willpower. I tend to be an all or nothing type of person. I either devote my full energy and resources to something or I neglect it utterly. This is great when you are trying to do something difficult and you are giving it your all. Unfortunately, I spent much of the last decade in the neglect it utterly mode where my physical condition is concerned.

After recovering from the pneumonia, I decided to take stock of myself. My notes from the gym's physical trainer and my own notes show that at the beginning of February 2001, I weighed 244 lbs on average (men's weight can easily fluctuate 2 to 5 lbs a day when you are big and fat, so averages are important). My body fat % was approximately 30.5% (Generally reading 30 to 31 using the pinch measurement, this was borne out by electronic measurements done a week later), which is very bad. The very high side of the "normal" range for a non-athletic, but "healthy" adult male is generally accepted to be about 24%. I am 6' tall, I have always tended to carry the bulk of my fat in the belly, love handles and lower back areas. I was fat enough that even though my build conceals some of it (I have broad shoulders and a naturally small butt) that my entire back was flabby and I had developed fat deposits in my upper legs, upper back and chest as well. My stomach was embarrassing. My upper arms and shoulders had become small, flabby and weak, my chest was all flab and my lower back was incredibly weak. The only "muscular" parts of my body were my calves and forearms, but their size did not reveal the true level of muscular weakness that existed or the level of fat deposits that had accumulated in the thighs and upper arms.

The only part of my body that had retained any of its inherent power was my calves, but even those had become pitiful my standards. In terms of aerobic/cardio, I would get winded just going up stairs or playing with my 4 year old daughter. Of more concern was the rapid heartbeat that would occur from minimal exercise. While my blood pressure was in the normal range, it was on the very high side of normal. I would be huffing, puffing and red in the face after minimal aerobic activity. The barely normal blood pressure was more lucky genetics than anything else, I certainly had not eaten right or gotten enough exercise to justify it. Under stress at the office, my blood pressure would sometimes spike and I was starting to get headaches.

My friends sometimes told me I was not fat, just that I had a beer gut and 40 year old paunch. Problem was, I was in worse shape then they or I realized fully. I was weak, tired constantly and was not even drinking beer. I was over the edge into the dangerous 40 year old heart attack category in terms of fat, cholesterol, etc. The fact that my family background probably gives me a genetic predisposition to be able to avoid heart attacks and eat badly without cholesterol being at a record horrible level, does not mean it is smart to push my luck.

I am lucky in that I have only minor physical problems and restrictions. I was born pigeon toed and with a pair of shortened Achilles tendons. These conditions and many years of being trained to walk with straight feet, caused some minor cartilage damage/loss in both knees. The shortened Achilles used to make me walk on my toes and risk injury during heavy lifting. In my twenties I blew one knee up while playing racquetball after doing some heavy lifting, that is how I found out about it. I had minor on and off pain before, but I ignored it. Years of wearing sports orthotics, proper stretching and awareness have allowed me to work around the conditions. Basically I have to avoid heavy repetitive impact exercises (running on hard surfaces, no problem, I hate running) and severe twisting of the knee when tired, I have to do a lot of stretching of the hamstring/legs before serious exercise and finally no free weight deep squats past a 90 degree bend at the knees.

I have some damage to my right hand's nerves and index finger/thumb joints due to old SCA fighting injuries (broken thumb, re-broken thumb, damaged joints and nerve damage at the base of the thumb). The only blessing to the two year layoff is that my hand problems are at an all time low and working out with decent gloves has (so far) not been a problem at all. The problem used to manifest itself as sharp, stinging pain or a weak grip, usually after vibration through a sword grip or blocking a single blow (or shot to a steel gauntlet). Annoying, painful, hardly the end of the world though, I know many people that work around much more pain in the hands, elbows and shoulders than I have to deal with.

I have chronic stiffness of the lower back. According to Dr.'s this just a minor annoyance primarily due to my physical build. It is overcome by stretching and exercise.

My bones have always been strong and relatively dense (old measurements designed to check bone density/weight had confirmed this, basically a combination of immersion testing for body fat % and body fat weight in the 1980's) and I have no reason to believe that had changed as my poor diet was nonetheless full of calcium, vitamins and protein. Yet the body fat ration indicated what I had feared, I had become a fat old man. I missed being in shape, I wanted to fight again, I wanted to play with my daughter, work in the yard, get involved in other athletic pursuits and enjoy marathon sex with my wife without tiring, etc. Thus this informal experiment began. I call it TFOMP! The Fat Old Man Project.

SETTING GOALS:

I decided that I would concentrate on short and mid range general and specific goals and only look so far into the future in terms of what I wanted to accomplish.

A) The immediate short term general goal was to choose and implement a balanced program of exercise and sensible eating that would result in generally improved overall physical health.

The specific goals this encompassed were, in no particular order:

1) Reduce my body fat % to at least the normal range for an adult male (12% to 24%). This would reduce the burden all that excess fat was placing on my cardio pulmonary system and joints, improve endurance and self esteem and from an SCA perspective allow me to eventually fit into my old brigandine without feeling like a sausage. Be able to be in armour comfortably no later than late March, early April in terms of fitting into something and being able to fight without falling over from lack of wind or dead arms.

2) Recondition my bodies' joints, tendons and ligaments to the rigors of physical strength training. This is crucial to allowing one to progress without injury.

3) Increase my levels of lean, dense muscle mass. This would both allow me to redevelop strength and to a degree my old speed. Just as important, the increased muscle mass consumes calories whether you are awake or asleep, this contributes to the goal of reducing body fat.

4) Improve my pathetic level of cardio pulmonary conditioning. This would not only help me to live longer, it allows for greater endurance in all athletic endeavors and once again helps to achieve the goal of reducing body fat.

5) Be able to fit into street clothes other than my fat man suit or workout/gym clothes.

B) The mid range general goal was to start to build additional muscle strength, speed and flexibility in specific body areas and muscle groups and to start sculpting my body into a specific form and overall shape that would lend itself to SCA combat and general athletic pursuits. Some body parts should be ready for this after only a few months, others may require a good year or more before enough mass, strength and speed has been developed for this to matter.

Some of this is a matter of personal vanity, building towards a particular body self image that would also complement the appearance that I want for myself, not purely a matter of functionality. Some of the things that I contemplate are more for self image and happiness rather than being required for success in SCA combat.

The specific mid term goals are:

1) Build a symmetrical body type within the limitations of my existing bone structure and genetic pre dispositions. I am fortunate enough to have long muscle bellies in some key areas, this allows me to build towards a V - shaped upper body, with powerful upper back, chest, trapezius without much difficulty in terms of the upper torso.

This is complemented by having strong shoulders, mine tend to get strong, but I have trouble building mass in the side and rear deltoids. A lot of the SCA usable power comes from or is driven through the upper back and chest muscles. Some of the power and a lot of the control and ability to redirect power comes from the shoulders, the front deltoid in particular. Strong arms don't do much if they are connected to a weak shoulder/chest/back. For two handed weapons, a strong upper torso that remains flexible is a tremendous advantage, especially for muscular pole arm strength moves. I want to be sure that the short term mass building goals create bulk growth in the upper torso, back and shoulders, giving me a base to build a balanced physique from, without weak areas or gaps.


2) Develop power, not size, in the lower back, abdominal muscles, internal and external obliques in order to be able to throw SCA blows, duck, bob and weave effectively with power driving through my legs, hips and torso without losing that important connection in the torso. I want to be able to use boxing and martial arts avoidance techniques and moves. A torso that is flexible and strong, due to a solid lower torso and back is the missing link in most SCA fighters that have otherwise developed upper bodies. When fighting on your knees or with two handed weapons, two sword or in a style that requires a lot of fast controlled movement, lower torso strength and flexibility is a key element lacking in most fighters which they come to miss. This body area is the one that helps with self image, it is what allows you to have that classic wasp waisted, v-shaped Steve Reeves upper body that looks good in and out of armour. It does not help to have a big powerful chest and set of arms if your beer belly is sticking out in front of it.

I unfortunately am somewhat naturally barrel chested, my abdomen tends to protrude slightly even when fit and the last place I lose unwanted body fat from is the lower belly and over my external obliques. So losing that last vestige of flab requires commitment to proper eating, not just exercise. Spot reduction is a myth. I can have very solid muscles underneath my stomach flab.

3) Build powerful legs and lower back to support the overall build. My calves normally bulk up and get strong fast so I am not to worried about those, they will generally get large and defined as a by product of just the short term goal's basic workout regimen.

Due to my minor restrictions with Achilles and knees I can still build power in my quadriceps fairly fast, but I am somewhat slowed down by not being able to do the free weight squats, I tend to use the Smith Machine to do a partial free weight movement but only to 90 degree bend of the knees. This partial range restriction not only slows muscular development but also can result in the quadriceps not developing 100% normally. The Achilles can make the hamstring exercises annoying, so I have to be careful with those and bulk and power do not come naturally to them as they do to my quads and calves, but once I warm up I can do heavy weights as the muscles allow without incident. My goal here is power and endurance more than extreme mass.

For SCA combat there is not real advantage to large quads/calves/hamstrings, just powerful ones. Building bulk in the quads and hamstrings is not a high priority as long as they continue to get strong and remain large enough to give me overall body symmetry for vanity reasons.

4) Arm strength, speed and power. Assuming the rest of your body is fit as described above, the arms are the most misunderstood part of SCA fighter anatomy. Fighters with strong, flexible arms that can move fast have a tremendous advantage over those that do not. Many people equate size with power. They could not be more mistaken. There are guys in the gym with arms almost have my size who are able to move significantly more weight or to move light weights faster than I can currently. While size can be an indicator of power, it is in my case, I naturally bulk up when getting stronger, especially in my forearms and triceps, everybody is different. Speed is also misunderstood.

You need a certain amount of strength to move an object of X weight at X speed. That being said, the type of musculature you develop has a bearing on speed. Not all muscle fiber is the same. Much of this is genetic. Some people have an abundance of slow twitch muscle fiber and are predisposed to lifting heavy weights, when they work out, they tend to build these slow twitch fibers more easily and can lift heavier weights, but this does not mean they will necessarily be able to move a sword much faster. Often it leads to tremendous muscle endurance and power, just not blinding speed. This endurance allows you to fight consistently and for much longer periods of time, resulting in better training sessions and the ability to participate in endurance format competitions (long tourneys, resurrection battles, etc.).

This is very apparent in the arm and shoulder muscles. Others have more fast twitch muscles which allow the muscle to contract faster and therefore naturally move a weapon faster, assuming the muscle's overall strength allows that weight to be moved in the first place. Those with fast twitch muscles often tend to develop both types of muscles when they work out, enabling them to build power, speed and endurance.

Those with a preponderance of fast twitch, may find they can build more speed, but not the bulk, power and strength of those with more slow twitch. Others have an exquisite balance of both. Think of the boxing mid range weight classes, with refined bulk, speed and power, they tend to have an excellent genetic balance of both muscle fibers, that they enhance through lifting both heavy weights slowly for strength an alternating with light weights with lots of reps to enhance the fast twitch muscle fibers along with high speed light and heavy bag work and flexibility training. While training in particular ways can help to compensate for a lack of either type of fiber, if you understand your body's genetic predisposition's, advantages and limitations, you can set up a training program to maximize your potential. Most people tend towards a mixture of the muscle fibers, as a very bad generalization, the naturally bulky, muscled people have a lot of slow twitch and the naturally wiry have a lot of fast twitch. Poor conditioning easily can mask your natural type, so if you want to be a thin wiry guy or a big hulking presence, you may be able to, but if you have never really been in shape, it is hard to know what your natural tendencies are.

This is a generalization, but most SCA fighters are so out of shape, that is more important to build strength and some mass than to worry about speed initially. Once again, it depends on the fighter. Very few SCA fighters should worry about being muscle bound. While having huge muscles can slow you down, it rarely reduces flexibility, it usually increases it. Most SCA'ers are so lacking in basic muscle mass and muscle strength, they could put on many pounds of muscle and see both strength and speed gains before ever having to worry about losing speed due to bulking up "too much".

For myself, I have naturally big forearms, especially the rear half. I would guess my forearms are bigger than many in shape fighters and they have a developed appearance even when they are weak. My mid range goal with the forearms are to make them more powerful and build the twisting portion of the muscle that helps with off side blows (found on the inside of the forearm near the elbow), to build strength in the wrist and front half of my arms where they are very weak. My wrists while large, have never been as strong as others my size and condition without a lot of training on top of the normal arm workouts and my hands have strong palms, but thin fingers for their size, so I will need to do extra training for these weak points once general mass has been built in the arms.

My biceps by this point will hopefully have some mass and power, they develop much slower than my triceps and forearms, I would want to start seeing definition of the multiple heads and to be able to start weak point training of them for extra power and endurance, not worrying too much about mass except for vanity's sake. If I don't make an effort bulk the biceps a bit, the triceps, shoulders and rear forearms will rapidly obscure them resulting in an appearance issue.

Triceps are an extremely underrated muscle group. For SCA combat they not only allow for tremendous increases in control, they allow the arm to through descending shots with incredible speed and power. While good form will result in good power, the triceps allow descending and off side shots to accelerate and follow through. If your upper arms are tiring during combat, it is probably your triceps that are letting you down. They also account for much more of the arms overall mass than the biceps, from a vanity point of view, if you want big arms, the triceps are what give you that overall "manly man" bulk, the biceps are more the eye candy that give you the nicely accented top of the arm for shape. Biceps do a lot of work on rising blows, shield raising for defense and blow recoveries, but triceps do much more of the offensive sword and pole arm work as well as powerful downward parries.

My mid range goal with the triceps is to be sure that I am working the muscle in its full range, to enhance definition so that I can identify which parts are not being fully developed and therefore are not as strong as I would like. Once I have the mass, I want to train them for additional speed, along with the biceps using high rep, low weight techniques and supplemental speed and heavy bag work.

5) Develop additional speed through speed training of my arms and legs, the ability to sprint quickly for short distances without being winded (in and out of armour), improve overall flexibility and reduce body fat to a percentage more in line with a modern athlete rather than that of a normal forty year old healthy male. Improve my overall health and dietary habits to reduce the likelihood of illness or infirmity due to advancing age.

WHAT I DECIDED TO DO ABOUT IT:

Any gym will tell you that you should consult a physician before beginning an exercise regimen. I normally discount this, but now that I am older, had an extensive layoff from physical conditioning and had just recovered from pneumonia, I decided that seeing a physician was a very good idea. For anyone else who is extremely out of shape or who has not exercised heavily before, this is probably excellent advice that you should follow. One caution, Dr.'s often are out of touch with body/strength building. Their conception of health may not be what you and I want.

Since I had to get a follow up X-ray and checkup after the pneumonia anyway, I simply combined the visit with a full checkup. During the visit I confirmed that my blood pressure was barely in the normal range (but not exactly healthy, this is normal for a 40 something American Male), my lung capacity was low but there was not permanent damage, my cholesterol was high (no surprise there) and that I was generally in lousy condition. While he did not put any limits on physical exercise, I got the usual lecture about taking it easy, start gradually and radically alter my diet. OK, green light for the madness to begin.

I had already joined a gym a year earlier, for what my daughter's swim lessons had been costing me, I was able to get a couple's membership at a local club that was on my way home from work, and it had a small pool where my daughter could swim with us as much as she wanted instead of once a week. I had not however, used the gym except to occasionally swim with my daughter.

If you are looking for a gym, I generally recommend Gold's Gym/World Gym/Bally's and the like. Avoid small gyms that just started up, they tend to go out of business fast and take your money. If you do sign up with a gym like that, do it on a payment plan, don't give them a lot up front. If you buy a membership in the off peak season's, you can often get a good deal and get a monthly payment plan so you don't have to cough up a huge chunk of change in advance.

A gym with a pool is a good idea, many people will swim when they don't feel like doing other exercises and it is good, low impact exercise. It is also fun. Many serious bodybuilding gyms unfortunately do not offer pools. A gym with a whirlpool, Jacuzzi, sauna or steam room can be very attractive to those with physical impairments or to help ease the discomfort that can accompany sports injuries or general workout blahs, stiffness, etc.

I find that while multi purpose clubs like mine that also offer racquetball, tennis, handball and the like do not make much of a difference for me, for others they can make the difference in terms of motivation, auxiliary exercise and to get other members of the family engaged in regular exercise. It is always easier to get into shape if you have your significant other's support and active engagement in the process. Also, once you start getting into shape, you start being concerned about the condition of those you love, so you start wanting them to exercise as well. Be careful with this, don't preach. It is kind of like the former smoker who beats on everybody not to smoke. They can be really annoying without meaning to be.

Back to my story. The gym I joined cost $88.00 a month for two adults, and my daughter can use the pool and day care facilities at no extra charge. I has a small pool, secure locker room area, food counter with fresh food, physical trainers available for a fee, massage also and a full complement of free weights and Cybex/Nautilis/Body Master/Hammer Strength and other machines. It has an aerobic workout room and programs for those that want it and the usual treadmills, stairmasters, bikes, elliptical machines, gravitron etc.

The hours are not ideal, they close at 9:00 on Friday, 9 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. Due to the fact that I am not a morning person, like to see my daughter after work, the early Fri/Sat/Sun closings can be a problem. Most bodybuilding oriented gyms have better hours, but don't offer the full range of facilities and "optional" items such as the tennis that mine does. Find a gym that suits your purposes. If you are a morning person, most offer early hours workouts.

So now I had a gym. I knew I wanted to eventually be using free weights as my primary strength building foundation. Why? I like free weights, they generally allow you to build mass and strength faster than any other approach, while forcing you to develop control as your muscle groups have to work together for stability and control. Many machines are either not very adjustable or force you to use angles or motion patterns that are not ideally suited to your height, build, limb size, etc. They often force you to use both arms or both legs together, so that your weak arm or leg is not forced to work as hard as your good one, leading to asymmetrical development.

When using machines, I tend to prefer those that use free weight plates and simply let you work muscles at angles that a bar or dumbbell simply won't allow, while these are still machines, they are very useful and really considered to still be part of a free weight program. Many companies make good free weight oriented machines, including Hammer Strength, Body Master and others. Some companies make both types.

Many of us tend to use the word machines to describe the non-free weight devices from such companies as Cybex/Body Master/Nautilus that lift weight plates using cables, belts or chains. Those type of machines can also be useful, especially for abdominal obliques (internal and external) and leg curls/extensions and I use them in my routines in order to avoid certain injuries due to my knee/Achilles minor problems.

Machines have their uses, even in advanced routines, especially for isolating specific muscles or groups, working a weak side limb/muscle, they also allow you to work out with greatly reduced risk when working out alone as they provide auto-spotting (no one has to be there to help you when your muscles work to the point of failure and don't let you get the weight back on the rack or floor without hurting yourself).

For many people who have not been exercising at all, it is safer and psychologically more comfortable to begin a machine only regimen and switch gradually over to free weights. Also, the more poorly conditioned folks tend to be on the machines, rather than in the free weight room, so the machine area is usually less intimidating for some. Especially the women. Some gyms have separate weight rooms for women who don't feel comfortable working out with the guys.

Whatever you choose to do is fine, so long as you start exercising in the first place. Some people are intimidated being in the free weight room surrounded by big brawny guys (and girls!). I find myself inspired to play catch up, so I don't find this to be a problem.

If you can find a training partner or partner(s), you can work with heavier weights to muscle failure much more safely. Some people find having a partner to be motivating, they are also less likely to blow off a training session if they know someone is depending on them. With my schedule, this is hard. So as I meet "regulars" at the gym, I not only try to make friends, I try to develop a relationship where I can get them to spot me on a tough exercise in the absence of a workout partner.

I used a personal trainer to help review the current theory on free weights, aerobic training, machines, check my form (on some free weight moves I was way off) since you can't always watch yourself in a mirror, spot me until I got through the first week or so of training until I got to know some people at the gym and to review my proposals in terms of a basic, mass/strength building, fat reduction program.

Due to my desire to both build muscle mass and lose fat (not weight!), some of my ideas were counter productive. It is tough to balance caloric intake and the right nutrients for muscle growth, while trying to lose body fat quickly. I took a balanced approach. I did need to lose body fat or I would not fit in my armour. So I decided not to kill myself trying to do too much in terms of losing the fat. Many studies show that for people who are building body mass, it is hard to also do a lot of aerobic exercise, at least not in the same workout. I was shocked at how little aerobic was recommended by many reputable strength building/body building authorities. Some were saying as little as one or two aerobic sessions a week and never in the same workout as the muscle building.

Originally my schedule/plan was geared around a four day a week (MON/TUE/THU/FRI) plan as I did not think I could get to the gym more than that and I was concerned about over training. Too much training is worse than not enough, your body can feed off of muscle instead of fat and your muscles which are naturally broken down during exercise don't have time to rebuild. The plan was in deference to my very busy schedule. I did not want to plan on working 6 days a week and end up blowing off two out of every four sessions. I was trying to leave weekends free for my family and if I missed a day during the week due to work, I could make it up on the weekend as an exception.

The main reason to have so many days, other than to avoid over training in a single workout session, is to be able to split up the muscle groups over different days. The reality of my situation is that I set up four specific training sessions, then started working out and found I could fit more sessions in. Rather than alter the program, I simply started repeating the program, never working more than 4 to 6 days in a row (6 was a mistake) without a rest day. This way I always had a minimum of 1 rest day a either in the middle of the 4 different workouts or after a maximum of 5 workouts in a row.

Ideally, I will be working out five days of seven, doing aerobic on the two days off including speed work and heavy bag work on those off days. This is not reflected in the "what I really did for my workout". Also, vary the exercises, once you have a basic approach, you want to mix and match in certain exercises that hit the muscle or muscle group from a different angle so that your training does not get "stale".

Initially, unless you are already in some decent kind of condition, you want to concentrate on mass/strength building exercises, not toning, sculpting, refining, definition exercises. Save those for occasionally being mixed in or for the mid range plan. Sculpting or going for definition when the muscle is small, is a waste of time and energy.

One problem was doing the aerobic in the same workout. I am now down to only 2 aerobic a week. I am going to try to do the aerobic completely separately from the workout days, I also plan to switch the overall workout plan from a four session plan to a 5 or so that I can further break out the muscle groups (Chest and Back is a killer sometimes) a bit more and do more weight and/or higher intensity work for the plan de jour.

There is a lot of argument now over stretching. Conventional wisdom has it that pre workout stretching reduces injuries by warming up the muscles, preparing the muscles, tendons and ligaments for the oncoming assault. I have always subscribed to this theory. Recent studies indicate that stretching may not have these benefits and may actually reduce the intensity of the workout because for conditioned athletes, stretching is wasting energy that could be employed in the exercise. I am not a Dr., my preference is to stretch first. Make your own choice.

I do agree that some sort of warm-up is good, for some this means 5 or 10 minutes on a treadmill, speed or heavy bag, bike, stairmaster, etc. Once again, make your own informed choice. I hate working legs after an aerobic warm-up, I think it saps some of my energy, but I do it for fear of injury due to my personal limitations previously mentioned. Once again, at the high end, some experts bring up the fact that this uses up energy that could be used on the workout.

I also like the new, high intensity free weight approach. Note that high intensity does NOT mean moving the weight faster. It means less of a wait between sets and different exercises. It means that at least on the last rep of the last set, you are pushing the muscle to failure. This means you better have a spotter, be using a machine or be doing and exercise that allows you to fail without dropping the bar or weigh on your head, check or chest, etc. Do NOT try high intensity for the first week or two like I did. It can get you hurt. But I am stubborn, macho and sometimes quite stupid. On my first serious leg workout, I did so much weight and to failure, that I literally could not walk right for two days. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Here is the bad part. To make a muscle grow at its maximum possible rate for strength or mass, you have to exhaust the muscle, working it to the point of failure. When this happens, the muscle is actually experiencing a large number of tiny tears, it is the rest period after exercise during which the muscle rebuilds itself that actual growth in size and increases in strength occur. Most people don't want to exercise the to point of muscle exhaustion, so they stop short of the muscle getting worked to its maximum. The last two or three reps of the last set of a given exercise should be very difficult. If you stop before the point of failure and are not experiencing the "burn" afterwards, you are doing a lot of work but will not improve as rapidly as you could. While during the first week or two of training, you want to work until you are tired, not necessarily to failure or you can hurt yourself, eventually you want to be creating this.

The next hard part, is that if you are exercising say biceps, if you are doing Ez-Bar curls, sitting dumbbell curls, preacher curls and incline dumbbell curls, if you overdo it on the Ez-Bar, you may have trouble on the rest. You have to try to find a balance.

What many people do is have the first set of a given exercise be a light, warm-up set. Then do pick a higher weight and do their normal two or three sets at that higher weight. Others just do three or four sets, incrementing the weight on each set. Some people want to increment the weight on each additional set and then find they can't get enough reps out or can't lift the higher weight at all. Others subscribe to the start with the heaviest weight you can where you can get out at least 4 to 6 reps, then work down on succeeding sets with lighter weights to get the reps up to around 10. Some people do a general warm-up of the overall muscle group to be worked, then go right into their heavy or incremental sets.

Me personally, I like to do a general warm-up, and except for legs, either go right into fairly heavy weights, doing 3 sets of 10 at either the same or at increasing weights per set. If on the last set I get less then the full 10 reps out, that is OK as long as I am working hard and getting at least 6 out. If I got the 10 out easily, I probably need to up the weight next time, increase the intensity or add a set depending on what I am trying to do. On the last rep of the last set, I want my muscles to be straining and failing. Some people only want to be straining at the end of each exercise for a given muscle or group, until they get to the last set of the last exercise for that muscle or group and then go to failure. Whatever works for you best is what you should do. But at whatever point you work to failure, you should have a spotter if it is on a free weight movement where you have no safe way to put the weight down. I like to move the weights slowly, a minimum of 2 to 3 seconds to complete a rep if not longer on most exercises. Don't jerk the weights up and do let let them come down slowly. Many people throw the weights up quickly and then let them come flying down, this is not a good idea and leads to injuries. Also, the resistance to the weight being returned to its starting position helps to build strength and should not be overlooked.

Concentrate on proper form. Don't get hurt. If a joint hurts, have someone check your form. You may be doing the exercise wrong or with too much weight. Some body parts respond better to more reps or sets, read a book or just figure it out for yourself, everybody is different. If you are training for speed, you generally want lighter weights, more reps and faster movement during the exercise. If you want mass, you generally want more weight, less reps and do them slowly and under control. On muscles like biceps and calves, be sure to contract them fully at the end of the exercise so that they are working to their maximum potential.

I kept a set of index cards, one for each workout, detailing the exercises to be performed, the # of sets, # of reps and the weight lifted on each set. I would make notes as to hard/just right/too easy with abbreviations so that the following week when that exercise rolled around again, I could more intelligently gauge my progress. The first week, I was not doing all of these exercises or all of the sets, but I worked into it gradually and after I felt comfortable, cranked the weight up as my body would reasonably tolerate, I only really overdid it on the quads/calves (ouch).

I did not worry about fat loss right away. You will often look worse the first month you work out also, because your muscles swell and grow and can actually make your abdomen look bigger. Also, many men lose the fat in their arms, chest and upper back first, making them look pear shaped. Don't let it bug you. Wear baggy clothes if necessary to ignore it. Do monitor body fat % improvements as an indicator of fat reduction after the first two weeks or so, it will give you an idea if you are losing fat and gaining muscle. Do not worry about weight! It is often a very bad indicator of what is going on. Muscle weighs more than fat anyway.

THE HEALTHY EATING PLAN:
For some perverse reason, God made everything fattening that you should limit consumption of taste really good. It probably made sense when we lived in caves and food was scarce and we needed to stock up on energy when we could, but now in the refrigerated/fast food age, it just screws us up.

Fortunately, with proper cooking and seasoning, there are a large number of healthy things to eat, if you can change your patterns long enough to get used to it.

Do not go crazy with supplements. Avoid the dangerous steroids, meal replacements and liver damaging items. Start off simple. Good food, water and vitamins are most important. A diet that is relatively low in fat, with a good balance of protein and carbohydrates is crucial. Do not starve yourself. Do not think of your modified eating patterns as a modern weight dropping, stomach hurting diet. Use the term "diet" to refer to a healthy approach to life that is allowing your muscle mass to increase while allow the fat to gradually be worked out of your body. When you build a lot of muscle mass, you get to eat a lot more, not less, you just have to eat better food.

Try to break out of the traditional 3 meal a day plan with dinner being huge. Try to spread your food consumption over 5 or six smaller meals. Get a lot of nutrition in for breakfast and through judicious spacing of meals and snacks, you should never be starving. If you do feel like you are starving, your body is probably burning muscle, not fat.

Rather than go crazy counting calories or following a regimented diet, I basically did the following. No candy, no cookies, no sugary desserts, very little bread and if I do have bread it's whole wheat 7 grain generally with little or no butter, use margarine if necessary. If I use olive oil its a light olive oil. Use seasonings to add flavor to otherwise bland foods that might bore you.

I am not drinking much alcohol at all. I am human, so there will be times I break the rules, after all I am not a professional bodybuilder. But its better to eat a bad meal out once in a while than to have to cheat all the time on all your meals to be happy. Remember, for every 15 minutes you spend on aerobic exercise, that butterfingers candy bar will more than wipe out your caloric burn.

Don't expect aerobic exercise to cause all the weight loss, the diet will help as will high intensity strength building workouts and additional calorie burning dense muscle mass.

Avoid all fast food, fatty appetizers, sugary junk. If I have to eat at a fast food place I get a grilled chicken sandwich without mayo and/or a salad. I am not eating small quantities, remember this is not a diet per se, it is eating healthy. Once I build up enough muscle mass, I can eat a little more junk and it won't matter much, but for now I want to continue to lose body fat gradually without risking the loss of muscle mass and the gain thereof. Avoid any fried, deep fried, baked with sugary/fatty gravies/sauces, candy, cakes, pies, ice cream, etc. Fried chicken, pizza and burgers will not do.

At some point, I will probably get a better handle on my exact calories, fat/sugar/carbohydrate intake. Right now, I have not had the patience and am getting good results anyway. For those with more patience and time, proper diet can make an even bigger difference, especially for those with slow or problem metabolisms. Mixing the right foods together in specific combinations can also result in better nutrition and available energy amounts.

Note that I did not mix in the protein supplements until after a full month of working out. Also, I should probably cut out the Wonton Soup. I am also human, so I have not stuck to this 100%. It is a guideline. I have also had fruit juices and things like cran-apple. Remember, some juices are high in calories and sugars and sucking them down in quantity can make you as fat as eating junk food. Some are diuretics in large quantities and you can get dehydrated. Water is your friend.

Avoid eating much before retiring for the evening. You don't want to stuff yourself full of calories and then fall asleep.

If you have to eat a lot of red meat to live, so be it, but choose lean cuts and avoid adding fattening sauces, gravies or sugary marinades. Substitute ground turkey for ground beef where possible. Stop eating hot dogs, pepperoni, salami and the rest of the garbage I love to eat.

Fish is a wonderful thing for gaining strength and reducing fat. I hate fish. A lot. That is part of the reason I am using the Flax Seed Oil. If you like fish and have access to safe, fresh supplies, it is generally great for you. Here is roughly what I have been eating:

Drink:

-At least 6 glasses of water a day. If you have to urinate frequently, you are probably drinking enough. Your muscles need water to grow and for your body to stay healthy. Don't worry about temporary water gain.

-Supplement with fruit juices and protein shakes. Avoid soda like the plague. Just because it is diet, does not mean it is good for you, and it tends to keep your body wanting other sugary things.

Vitamins and Supplements:

-A one a day type vitamin tablet in the morning. I use Centrum.
-Flax Seed Oil capsules three times a day

Breakfast: A banana (or other fruit), coffee, orange juice and low fat or fat free yogurt with fruit.
On weekends or for a treat, pancakes, go easy on the syrup.

Mid morning:

-Protein shake with either low fat milk or water. I have been using Human Development Technologies 55G Time Released Protein Pro Blend 55 Protein Diet Supplement. I buy it in bulk and mix it myself to save a ton of money.

Lunch:
-Chinese food. I get a steamed chicken and mixed vegetables with white rice. Sometimes with light sauce on the side and Wonton Soup. Or a steamed mixed vegetables platter without chicken at all.
-A salad. Sometimes with protein added like grilled chicken or turkey. Sometimes a chef's salad, but don't overdo those, lots of calories in some. Use low fat dressing if any dressing at all.
-Grilled chicken breast either by itself or on a platter with veggies, pasta, rice, etc. A sandwich sometimes with tomato, lettuce, onions, mustard and whole wheat bread.

Mid afternoon-One or more of these:
-Protein shake again.
-Fruit - Grapes, apples, etc.
-Vegetable (celery sticks, carrots).

Dinner:
-Grilled, baked or broiled chicken breast. Usually with pasta, rice and/or cooked veggies and/or a side salad with veggies. Try various seasonings and low fat/calorie sauces.
-Pasta dinner with low fat/low sugar sauces or gravies when possible, with veggies in or on the side. Watch the bread intake.
-Low fat, ground turkey breast based chili with beans.
-Salad with veggies. Sometimes add cheese or meats. Occasional chef's salad but watch the dressing and these are not necessarily low fat/calorie due to meats/cheeses/eggs/dresssing and size.
-Fruit.
-Turkey baked white meat.
-Very little red meat, if I do have it, a lean cut.
-Vegetables, preferably raw if I did not have any in my salad. Cooked are good also, especially corn, broccoli, peas and rarely baked potato. Others (not me) like cooked spinach, carrots, etc.
-Sometimes add a protein shake.

After Dinner snack or if its a late night and I have not hit the gym yet or am not going:
If no protein shake with dinner, may have one now. If I have already worked out, I use a different protein that will get into the system faster: Human Development Technologies Whey Protein Dietary Supplement with milk. This one does not blend easily or with water. Both taste good in the Dutch Chocolate flavor.

-Fruit, low fat popcorn, veggies, small salad or other low fat, low calorie snack.

After workout:
The Whey Protein dietary supplement shake.

THE ACTUAL WORKOUT:

Once again, the previous caveats apply. I plan to change this to a consistent 5 or 6 day a week set of exercise segments as I have simply been repeating the four days and really working out 5 to 6 anyway. It would be better to have less exercises in a given session, probably with Saturday as the mandatory non workout day to accommodate the SCA and my family better.

I would suggest having the aerobic be either on the off workout days or in the morning on a day when the workout is scheduled for that evening. I have been supplementing this with a certain amount of swimming. I have also been mixing in some other exercises (for example on chest, do decline Olympic barbell presses instead of one of the other presses) to work the muscles from different angles and still avoid going stale. I will stick to mass building exercises for the most part.

I have been adding forearm and wrist exercises with dumbbells and barbells just recently, but not in an organized way yet.

I have actually been lax on the aerobic side, except for the heavy bag part, I have typically not been doing more than 15 minutes of interval training for aerobic. I have been using the treadmill lately, despite the fact that it is bad for my knees, I should go back to the stairmaster or elliptical machines.

Weights are the recent weights used, pick your own weights, don't use mine, they are just there as a reference as to what I am doing now and how I got to my current conditioning level. Everybody is different, use very light weights the first week or two to get your body used to the stresses, then ramp up the weights carefully over time.

I strongly suggest reading books, magazines regarding strength training, getting personal instruction to start, especially if you have never done this before. Don't over due it and get hurt. Don't forget to drink during the workout. I am usually taking 30 to 60 seconds max. between sets of a given exercise, longer only if I am struggling and want to be sure I get the reps out.

There are a lot more details and options, the approaches to training vary widely. This worked for me. It may not have been ideal, but compared to the results other people have achieved, I think my methods have some merit.

DAY 1 - Chest, Back and Abdominal:

Chest:

Bench Press - 3 sets 10 135/145/145 Total weight w/Olympic Bar.

Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 sets 10 40/45/50 Total wgt each dumbbell.
Start with dumbbells at side of chest, press overhead and twist to meet at top, plates edge to edge.

Dumbbell Bench Press - 3 sets 10 45/45/45 Total wgt each dumbbell.
Start with dumbbells at side of chest, press overheat and meet at top, plate end to plate end.

Body Master Pec/Dec Machine - 3 sets 10 110/110/120 Total wgt machine plates. Use in chest/pectoral mode.

Flat Bench Chest Fly's With Dumbbells - 3 sets 10 30/30/30 Total wgt each dumbbell.

Back:

Hammer Strength Bent Over Bar Rows (w/chest pad and free weights). 3 sets 10 135/135/135 Total wgt of plates.

Hammer Strength Seated Row 3 sets 10 140/150/150 Total wgt of plates.

Cybex Seated Row Machine - 3 sets 10 140/140/150 Total wgt machine plates.

Cybex Lat Pulldown Machine - 3 sets 10 130/140/150 Total wgt machine plates.

Gravitron - Wide Grip Assisted Pull-ups - 3 sets 10 assist settings 5/6/7
This is an air pressure assisted machine that lets you do pull-ups, etc., with assist from a platform that allows you to do more than you could without an assist, really works the upper back well.

Abdominal:

Cybex Torso Twister - 3 sets 10 140/150/170 This really works internal and external obliques.

Crunches - with bent legs in motion. As many sets of 15 or 20 reps as you can do with good form. I suck at this currently, generally 5 sets of 15.


Leg raises on back/arm grip stationary platform - OR Nautilus or Cybex crunch machine. 3 sets 15 if leg raises, 3 sets 10 if one of the machines.

Aerobics:
½ Hour interval training on Stairmaster, Treadmill, Elliptical Machine or other. Quite frankly, I have only been doing 15 minutes of this.


DAY 2 - Arms:

Biceps:

Standing Ez-Curl Bar Curls - 3 sets 10 65/65/75 Total wgt of bar and plates

Hammer Strength Preacher Curls - 3 sets 10 65/65/65 Total wgt of plates

Seated Dumbbell Curls - 3 sets 10 25/25/30 Total wgt each dumbbell
Start dumbbell parallel to the bench, supinate as you raise it to be 90 degrees to bench.

Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls - 3 sets 10 20/25/25 Total wgt each dumbbell
Start dumbbell at 90 degrees to the bench, keep it there through full contraction of muscle.

Standing Straight Barbell Curls - 2 sets 10 60/60 Total wgt bar and plates.
Be careful with this one, a straight bar can strain your joints. Don't overdo it.

Triceps:

Cable Pressdown with Straight Bar - 3 sets 10 6 Machine plates (I think about 70 lbs?)

Close Grip Bench Press - 3 sets 10 135/135/145 Total wgt w/Olympic bar and plates.

Flat Bench Lying Triceps Extensions, Ez Curl or Straight Bar - 3 sets 10 65/65/75 Total wgt w/bar and plates.

Standing Overhead Triceps Press - Use Ez Curl or 90 degree bar - 3 sets 10 55/55/55 Total wgt w/bar and plates. Do this fully extended overhead to down behind your head.

Sitting One Arm Triceps Extensions - 2 sets 10 20/20 Total wgt dumbbell. Do this one at a time bringing the dumbbell from almost locked arm overhead to down behind your head.

Day 3 - Shoulders and Hamstrings:

Sitting Military Press - 3 sets 10 85/85/85 Total wgt including any Olympic bar or Smith machine bar wgt. Use a bench with back and safety rack for bar OR bench and a Smith machine.

Behind the Neck Press - 3 sets 10 65/65/65 Same criteria and setup as Sitting Military Press.

Body Master Pec/Dec Machine - 3 sets 10 100/120/120 Total wgt machine plates. Use in rear shoulder mode.

Sitting Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 3 sets 10 35/40/40 Total wgt each dumbbell. Press directly
Overhead so plates meet. You can do end to end or edge to edge to work different angles.

Standing Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises - 3 sets 10 25/25/25 Total wgt each dumbbell.

Hammer Strength Shrugs (Trapezius) - 3 sets 10 180/230/230 Total wgt plates.

Hammer Strength Leg Curls - 4 sets 10 90/100/110/110 Total wgt plates.

Cybex Leg Curl Machine - 4 sets 10 100/110/110/120 Total wgt machine plates.

Cybex Sitting Leg Curl Machine - 4 sets 10 100/110/110/120 Total wgt machine plates.

DAY 4 - Quadriceps and Calves:

Squats on Smith Machine - 4 sets 10 90/140/150/160 Total wgt plates.
Unless in perfect health, do not go over 90 degrees at the knees, consider knee wraps, get advice about foot position, thighs should be able to get parallel to the ground without knees bending past 90 degrees. If you don't have knee problems, consider free weight squats with Olympic bar instead.

Body Master Leg Press (Reclined seat, angled sled) - 3 sets 10 360/450/450 Total wgt plates.

Hammer Strength Leg Press (Reclined seat, forward press) - 3 sets 10 270/270/320 Total wgt plates.

Hammer Strength Leg Extensions (One leg at a time) - 3 sets 10 35/35/35 Total wgt plates.

Magnum or Body Master Standing Calf Extensions - 3 sets 15 145/180/180 Total wgt plates.

Body Master Leg Press (Use w/safeties up for calf extensions with toes) - 3 sets 12 270/180/180 Total wgt plates.

Hammer Strength Seated Calf Raises - 3 sets 12 90/100/100 Total wgt plates.

Abdominal:

Cybex Torso Twister - 3 sets 10 140/150/170 This really works internal and external obliques.

Crunches - with bent legs in motion. As many sets of 15 or 20 reps as you can do with good form. I suck at this currently, generally 5 sets of 15.

Leg raises on back/arm grip stationary platform - OR Nautilus or Cybex crunch machine. 3 sets 15 if leg raises, 3 sets 10 if one of the machines.

Aerobic - Heavy boxing bag, ½ hour, 3 minute rounds, 1 minute off. Focus heavily on jabs over power punches. Use padded bag gloves.

------------------
Hark, I hear horses.

[This message has been edited by Richard Blackmoore (edited 03-19-2001).]

[cheval]

Not bad for a Fat Old Man *tm*!! This is good enough to keep -- have you considered sending it to your kingdom newsletter or TI? How about posting it here as an on-line article? As your chronological elder *grin*, I can relate very well with your Project. There are quite a few of us out here, and we're growing in numbers every day. My challenges are somewhat different, but no less daunting, and you have provided me comfort and inspiration with your words. I applaud your effort and discipline, Old Man.... -c-

[ChrisHobbs]

Did you know that if you instead of watching TV read a book you metabolism increases and you burn fat just because your mind is imagining what's going on in the book. Basically a mind workout.

[Aidan Cambel]

Sir Richard,

I applaud your goals and tenacity to follwo through. I wish you the best of luck!

Now, can you develop a workout plan for a young-short-scrawny man?????

I have problems in several areas - enough to make me question whether or not I want to continue fighting. I love the fighting, but sometimes I feel like there is no way I could ever be good. I get winded easily, I am slow as molasses, I am 5'5" and 140 pounds, every type of armour i try is to big and heavy. I went over the wall at GW and the weight of my own armour took me too my knees.

I am going to try and follow your example, and start doing something about it. Did I mention I haven't exercised since I left the Marine Corps several years ago?

ugh

thank you for inspiration.

In Service,
Aidan

[Murdock]

Aidan if you have the room i have a weight bench in good shape and some extra equipment
you could use.

It would fit in a corner of a living room or you dining room easily enough.

[Russ Mitchell]

Excellent... my father had to go through the same thing after he let himself go to seed. Apparently there's an age when everything else just has a tendency to overwhelm you.

A couple of minor tips that may or may not be of interest to you (you know, everybody has free advice...):

a) one thing that makes boxers so potent is that after throwing thousands of punches with their arms, they learn to activley involve their intercostals. If you can get your ribs to move better, your endurance will be better, because you'll literally be drawing wind better.
b) since you're like me andlove hte pepperoni, there's a trick: you can have it, if you cut your carbs at that meal down to a small amount of fruit sugar or the like. It's a factor of how the body burns energy. There are more diets out there than Carter has pills, but for such a deal the body WILL burn away fat, but only after it's burned the carbos. And it has to burn at least a little bit of carbo in order to start burning the fat. Where most folks screw up is eating the greasy stuff with nachos and bread and the like... then the body's satisfied with the carbo input and stores the fat instead of burning it.

Your doctor and your coach and you will figure out the diet stuff, but if you're going to cheat now and then, this is a great way to do it. I only had to lose twenty when I let myself go (I was 6' and an unfit 185), and just being careful to be a little more wise about how I mixed the various diet ingredients made a tremendous difference.

Anyhoo, I hope you continue to have good success. Thanks for posting in such detail.

[olaf haraldson]

Aiden;
140 lbs? Thats not scrwnyy!! I'm about 3 inches taller and push 120 on a good day. I feel your pain... don't have much problem getting around in armor though.
I've always been physically active, and lifted a lot of wieghts. I've never been able to put on much wieght though. I've tried everything, including weight gainers and creatine (the creatine worked a bit)
The end result was, I got stronger, but never got above 125. Adding insult to that, my regimen cut my already low body fat %, taking me from 6% to around 2%. That was very not cool...

[This message has been edited by Olaf MacBrome (edited 03-20-2001).]

[ChrisHobbs]

i had some Kids in my school who use creatine and it worked but its bad for your body to take it so they stoped and warned others to stop too.

[This message has been edited by ChrisHobbs (edited 03-20-2001).]

[Guy Dawkins]

40 is not old!

And 50 doesn't sound as old as it use to either!

[pdepamiers]

Richard,

For your routine on day two. You forgot to mention the work out your fingers must have gone through to write this post.

I found it very helpful, I strongly believe that physical conditioning outside of SCA combat is the key to success in the list.

My own routine is pretty simple, I strectch every morning for 10 minutes, run three days a week, and lift weights the other two. I do my best to fit in some pell work in between, but have been very lax on that one, the garage seems a lot further away in the dead of winter in Michigan.

I plan to add in jumping rope this spring, not sure if I should do it in conjunction with the running or the weights. Any thoughts?

------------------
Phillipe de Pamiers
Midrealm

[Tailoress]

Wow... gives me a lot to think about. I'm currently combining 30 minutes of intense aerobic work with another 30 minutes of intense muscle work, 3x a week. Maybe it's time to grit my teeth and go to 5x a week -- aerobic-only 3x, and muscle-building 2x.

As a woman, it's been amusing to hear my male fighter friends poo-poo the need for physical strength when fighting in the SCA -- probably because even the average out-of-shape male still has enough power to muddle through. As for me, I can't fake it when out-of-shape and I don't see how it can be any fun when your heart is roaring in your ears, your sight has narrowed to a tunnel, and the thought of lifting your arm over your head again makes visions of Inquisitional torture seem welcoming.

The last time I tried on armor and attempted to fight I had tons more energy and ability to repeatedly maneuver the sword around over my head. When mild muscle soreness set in two days later, I used it as a diagnostic tool -- where it hurts is where I need work. Upper and lower back (trapeziums and rhomboids, I think), the forearms, and the obliques. Of course, these are EXACTLY the muscles I haven't been concentrating on. All the muscles I've been conscientiously improving were fine -- painless.

Armor is almost finished... onward and upward.

Marcele

[Otto von Teich]

Thanks for the tips Richard, I'm an old fat guy too! Not to fat but fat enough and pretty old.LOL. You should put these tips in an SCA publication.....Otto

[toweyb]

As an old duffer getting back into the game myself, my short term goal is to finish all my armor and walk around the field in it. This isn't going to be a 10-lb plastic rig. When I can jog and do a few calesthenics in harness, then maybe I'll let somebody hit me.

Just trying on each piece as I finish it helps me to discover new muscles and old injuries.

I carry a briefcase and/or laptop to my sedentary job. Lately I have been holding them high as I hike in from the satellite parking, instead of letting them hang down. Looks a little geeky, but my wrists and arms have started to perk up already.

At work, they tell us to take stretch breaks. So, I press isometrically down with the sword arm and up with the shield arm, then raise the opposed arms from the shoulder. I even use my arm chair as a pommel horse, pressing up off the seat.

Baby steps, but they are helping.

[Richard Blackmoore]

Hi everybody. I am glad some of you found this useful and also offered suggestions for me. This quick post is to provide an update on my project and thoughts. I will follow with one to also give some brief answers to the questions posed to date.

1) Progress as of 3/24/2001:

I am no longer a fat old man. I am now an overweight old man. Yea!

My total body weight is now consistently 235 or 2 to 4 lbs lower, let us assume 235 as the average correct weight.

My bodyfat percentage is now consistently averaging 23%, with a total bodyfat weight of 54 lbs.

What this means, is that while my total weight has not significantly declined, my muscle mass is increasing and bodyfat is dropping. As I mentioned previously, the bulk of the remaining fat in terms of noticeable deposits, are in my abdomen (lower belly and love handles) and lower back.

A fairly ideal bodyfat % for an adult athletic male is 12% (lower for bodybuilders and some athletes). Hypothetically, if I were to achieve this percentage, that means that I could lose about 52% of the remaining body fat weight, which translates to losing about 28 pounds of body fat weight. This would drop my total body weight down to around 207 lbs.

Realistically, with the type of workout regimen I am pursuing, this weight goal would take quite some time (and a more calculated diet) to achieve. And weight is not really my goal anyway. But this level of bodyfat (12%) would be terrific if I could get there.

In addition, the total body weight due to my emphasis on building additional dense muscle mass, would not be likely to drop to anywhere near the 207 lbs, as I would be adding muscle weight that would offset some of the total weight loss due to reduction in body fat. This is already demonstrated in my prior progress report, where it is pretty obvious that total body weight did not drop in direct proportion to the body fat lost, due to increased muscular weight. This demonstrates fairly dramatically why weight loss by itself is a very inaccurate way to measure health improvements when diet alone is not being used to achieve improved health.

In terms of improved physical condition, I can now lift much heavier weights and with greater ease. The recovery time from exercise is reduced every time I work out. My ability to handle aerobic exercise has improved although I am still very weak in this area.

I am no longer feeling as sore or taking as long to recover from the exhaustion or burn after working out. I attribute some of this to better form during free weight moves, the body adjusting to the increased work load, better diet, consistent vitamin/flax seed capsules/protein supplement use, consistent pre-workout stretching and finally an improved attitude.

In terms of specific problems, my knees are starting to strain under some of the the squats even though I am using the Smith Machine, I intend to add knee wraps to this portion of the program to avoid injury as the weights increase.

I am not always able to stay with my high intensity workout and still get my reps out with the increasing weights. Since I am generally doing three sets and the problems are mostly on shoulder/chest/arm exercises, I simply rest and do an extra set or modify the time between sets slightly. If I feel I did not get enough cardio/aerobic effect as a result, I try to do a bit more aerobic work separately to make up for it. I have not been consistent on this however.

The one area I am still falling short on is aerobic. If I do the heavy bag workout I am fine, but I have been lagging on the treadmill/stairmaster/elliptical etc. as I am simply unmotivated to do this. I think I would be better if I did not usually have to combine the aerobic with the weight workout session.

Changes and good things:

My legs are doing very well, hamstrings still lagging, but not as badly. I am contemplating cautiously trying free weight squats, but in general I am happy with the leg progress.

My abdominals still lag behind everything else. I am doing crunches and leg raises. I intend to mix in some other exercises to offset some of this.

My chest is finally improving, rotating in decline presses is starting to help with the shape.

My back is doing ok, but the lower back is lagging, so I added 3 sets of hyper extensions and rotated in bent over T bar rows. I am toying with adding deadlifts and bent over Olympic bar rows as additional mass building exercises for overall back health. I have tried substituting wide grip bar cable lat pulldowns for the Cybex lat pulldown, it allows for a better workout but is harder to do with clean form, the bar does not want to hit my chest but I am getting more muscles involved. When I use the Gravitron after this, I did 3 sets; one with parallel grip chin, one military chin and one wide grip pullup. This seemed to involve more of the overall lats than the Cybex lat pulldown plus wide grip Gravitron did.

Triceps are doing great, I have stopped using the Ez-Curl bar for the standing tricep press as my elbows kept flaring out. I replaced that bar with the oval style that has parallel grips. It let me do more weight with the elbows staying where they belong to keep the triceps doing all the work through the full range of motion without any cheating.

Future plans:

I am still deciding between changing from a four day workout with one day of rest before repeating to a 5 or 6 day training split. The 6 would be perfect, allowing less exercises each day but a more intense workout for the exercises done, but I don't know if I could fit this into my schedule, only so much time in the week.

I definitely would like to do the aerobic only twice a week and separately from the weight lifting completely. I think I would have the energy and motivation to be able to get the half hour of interval aerobic I had hoped to be at now, if I did not have to do it right after an intense weight session.

I would also like to pull the abdominals out and do them with the aerobic.

I purchased a Polar brand heart monitor watch with chest strap transmitter. This should allow me to get the maximum out of my aerobic workouts without overdoing it. It has an audible alarm when your heart goes out of the target range you set. Note: your target range is determined using a chart by age, height, weight and other factors that most gyms post. Not all charts are the same and these are only a guideline, but they can help you to set a good target that will give you a good workout while reducing the likelihood of heart attack or overtraining. I have not used the watch yet so I can't report on its usefulness. Note: many gym's have treadmills or other devices with built in heart monitors.

I have had limited success eating 5 or 6 small meals instead of the American big 3. But overall, I would have to say the eating plan is a vast improvement over what I was doing and has allowed me to drop fat, gain muscle and not be hungry or unhappy. I don't really miss the snacks and dessert, I do sometimes have trouble not devouring a big dinner. Also, since I often hit the gym late, straight from work, I have often not been able to avoid eating shortly before sleeping, which is not good.

I experimented this week with splitting the back workout off as separate from chest and it made a huge difference in fatigue levels and quality of the workouts. Also, I did much better on the arm workout since I had not beaten up my arms with both chest and back the night before.

I have met a number of similarly minded folk at the gym, it is now easier to get a spot and friendly advice when needed. One amateur boxer has spent a little time with me on the heavy bag, it has helped a lot. He also recommends splitting this out from the regular workout or at least don't mix it in the arm or shoulder workout to avoid overtraining. I also tried his 14oz boxing gloves instead of bag gloves. I did not like it as much as as the heavy bag gloves I use in terms of feeling the blows and their quality, but I will admit it let me hit a lot harder without trashing my knuckles (I am not using separate wrist wraps or knuckle tape for this). He also pointed out I was not moving enough, amazing but to a degree I have simply forgotten how to move when hitting. I was mostly doing 3 jabs and a power punch type patterns previously.

One of the female body builder types pointed out that I am probably bulking my external obliques more than necessary on the torso twister (Cybex) since I am doing 3 sets which approach the maximum weight on the machine's rack. She suggested I cut down on that during abs and concentrate more on the dreaded crunches and similar exercises in order to work on my much weaker front abdominals. She said that since one of my vanity issues was width at that part of the abdoment, it only made the remaining fat there appear worse than it is due to the muscles growing underneath. I logically already knew this, but I hated to give up on an exercise where my muscles had really increased in strength.

I have decided to only use pre workout drinks such as Super Stack Pre-workout if I am very tired. The caffiene in them can only make my insomnia worse and I am concerned about the long terms effects of the ephedrene (sp?) as well.

I am toying with the following new rough format, with day one typically being Sunday. Part of my theory for this is that in the warm weather, I do not want my arms and back beat up the day before possible SCA events and I want Saturday free for those events or family activities:

DAY EXERCISES FOR
1 AM Chest

1 PM Aerobic 1/2 hour (running or running type machine)
Abdominals

2 AM Back (Excluding Trapezius)

3 AM Arms Biceps/Triceps/Forearms/Trapezius

4 AM Shoulders and Hamstrings

4 PM Aerobic 1/2 hour (heavy bag, 1/2 hour, 3 minutes on, 1 minute off)
Abdominals

5 AM Quadriceps and Calves


------------------
Hark, I hear horses.

[This message has been edited by Richard Blackmoore (edited 03-24-2001).]

[Richard Blackmoore]

Miscellaneous replies:

To Cheval and Otto:

Thank you for your support! I had not considered posting this anywhere else. I wrote this casually late at night as I thought it might be of use or amusement to members of the archive. I do not think it is nearly polished enough to post in a non-chat/bbs forum. I also think that since it focuses on my specific needs and goals to a degree, if there is a need for such a work, it might be better to write something that focuses more on the general fighter's needs rather than my own. Still, it is something I will think about. Especially if others agree with you that it would be helpful outside of the archive's format. I find members of the SCA outside of the archive, do not often welcome suggestions regarding health, fitness and conditioning.

ChrisHobbs:

I did not know that, but I love reading. Nice to know it has some benefits other than intellectual.

Aidan Cambel:

Thank you. As far as workouts for young, short and scrawny, most of the main concepts behind the workout remain the same as for old, tall and fat.

We both want to gain strength, increase muscle mass and usable speed/flexibility and power. The main difference is in the following areas:

Diet: If you are naturally scrawny, thin, wiry etc. and are young on top of it, you do not need to worry as much as the old fat guys do about a diet that allows for body fat loss. This does not mean to eat a lot of high fat, sugary or junk food. It does mean that you can eat foods geared more exclusively towards building muscle mass without having to worry as much about getting fat or trying to lose existing fat. You should still be careful about supplements that promote rapid weight gain, many of these can make you fat. But you can more easily handle a diet with all the building blocks for greater strength and size without having the fat problems I do.

Getting winded is largely a function of aerobic exercise and conditioning. As a former marine, I am sure you recognize this. Intense interval aerobic training is the solution. You can probably accomplish this in just two to three 20 to 30 minute sessions a week assuming you keep the intensity up and your heart working in the right range for your size/age/weight etc.

Being slow can be genetic. For most people it is just that they are so out of shape that they don't have enough conditioned muscle to use properly. Also, you may have a preponderance of slow twitch muscle fibers. My former squire brother Otto (Mike Mergenthaler) is a former marine. He was short and thin. But he worked out at least 3 times a week even out of the marines, developed a wiry physique. With proper technique he hit more than hard enough for the SCA. I suspect you can also.

Anybody can be good. The question is how good and are you willing to put in the physical effort to maximise your potential within your genetic and dimensional limitations? It is true that being 5'5" has definite disadvantages in terms of reach, it gives your taller opponents a better angle and greater ease of targetting your upper body and head, it also can be a leverage disadvantage for two handed weapons, polearms in particular.

That being said, I have fought extremely competent knights and knight level fighters who were short. Granted, they are the exception, but it is possible to overcome height disadvantages through conditioning and skill. If you fight sword and shield or florentine and you develop a good in close fighting style, you can minimize many of the disadvantages. You may not be a god of war, but then again, most of us won't approach that top 1 or 2 percent level. At that level, the differences are usually in skill, treachery and experience, not in physical height or power, assuming you work out, that should not be the limiting factor.

Some people's genetics are so bad, that they have a bitch of a time gaining power, but quite frankly, that is a small percentage of the population. Most people that exercise seriously, will have a strength, power and speed advantage over the rest of the SCA, as that body is populated by weekend warriors, couch potatos and old fat guys like me.

I would suggest that you work with free weights and free weight machines, focusing solely on exercises designed to build muscle strength and mass. Don't worry about definition, sculpting, refining exercises. If you are naturally scrawny, the mass will probably come out somewhat defined on its own and you can worry about that later.

Work with a speed bad and a heavy boxing bag to improve upper body coordination, flexibility and enhanced speed.

Have an experienced fighter check your weapons and armour. You may be fighting with weapons that could be lighter or better balanced. Armour does not have to be too heavy to be a good representation of real armour. There are a number of relatively lightweight armours out there including coats of plates and brigandines, that fit well on the body reducing that heavy pull on the shoulders you get with modern heavy recreation mail. Sometimes binding or restrictive harness also gives the impression of weight, when it is really tiring you out by being inflexible and cumbersome. The armour should move with you as a second skin, not be a weight holding you down.

Many thin, scrawny types overdo the aerobic, this can burn up the muscle mass you are trying to build. Runners, especially long distance runners fall prey to this. Many muscular athletes do run a lot, your genetics will determine how much running you can do without burning up muscle. A proper diet and being sure you time the consumption right so the chemicals for building muscle and providing fuel for aerobic are present in the right amounts at the right times can help too.

Condider doing wind sprints, short dashes and limited aerobic instead of endurance running if you want to build muscle mass and not just burn it up.

For naturally thin guys, slow movements with the free weights are critical for building mass. Don't work with light weights and throw them up, letting them come down fast. Do a max of 3 or 4 sets of an exercise and a maximum of 10 reps (except for abdominals, possibly calves and hamstrings) to build mass. If on the last set of an exercise you only get out 6 reps, that is fine. Be sure you get a "burn" and that you are working the muscle to failure on the last rep of the last set for a given exercise. Also, have a partner help you to do forced reps.

Rest is critical. Take a protein shake within 1/2 an hour of working out (after cool down of course). Be sure to get enough sleep. Don't mix the aerobic with your workout. For guys with your build, breaking the workout up into as much as 5 or 6 days to reduce the amount of exercise done on a given day, but allowing for better intensity, will help tremendously with mass gains.

Once again, I am not an expert or a Dr. and everybody reacts a little differently, so these are ideas for you to try, not necessarily the right answers. Work with a trainer in your area and possibly a nutritionist if you want to get expert advice that I can only allude to.

Murdock and Olaf:

Thanks for helping Aidan. I agree you can easily go too far on body fat loss. Lower than 12% unless you are a trained athelete or body builder can start to cause serious physical ailments. Some bodybuilders and Atheletes get down to 9% safely, but you have to be careful. Fat is not bad for you, it is a critical normal part of the body, its just that most Americans have too much fat. As far as Creatine and Creatine based supplements, these do help a lot. But there are very serious legitimate health concerns about Creatine's effects on the body, I believe the main one is that it beats up on the liver. Some forms of Creatine are packaged to reduce the negative immediate impact of Creatine, but the long term effects are still being hotly debated.

Warning, many muscle magazines are sponsored by or owned by companies with a vested interest in supplements. They will have body building articles that push various supplements, these are thinly veiled advertisements. Too many supplements are pushed without proper medical double blind studies and their value, effectiveness and safety are debatable.

Vitamins, protein supplements/bars/shakes are often good for you, but even there you want to be careful. Sources for these include GNC, the Vitamin Shop and many health food stores. But don't assume the clerk behind the counter has a clue as to what is really safe or effective.

Russ Mitchell:

Thanks. The intercostals are hard to involve, but you are correct. I never thought about trying to get around the pepperoni problem that way, interesting idea. It is easier for me to simply give up for a while on all of the "bad" stuff like pepperoni, than to try to find ways to work around it.

Guy Dawkins:

40 felt old in December. Right now, it does not feel as bad...

Pdepamiers:

LOL. My fingers don't get that tired, I type for a living.

Jumping rope is excellent not only for aerobic effect, but for timing and general flexibility. This is part of the reason boxers use it so much in their training. It also lets you work out when you don't have room to run. I would however, either include it in your aerobic workout or use it in an abbreviated form as a warm up exercise for your weight training sessions.

Virtually everything I have read recently, is stressing a sea change in the thought on aerobic exercise where muscle strength/mass improvement is the primary goal. Aerobic is generally recommended as an exercise to be done between one to four times a week and separately from the weight training. Most seem to recommend two 1/2 hour aerobic sessions a week, preferably on a day where not weight training is being done or in the morning if the weight training is on the evening of the same day (or vice versa).

Many now recommend very little aerobic even as the warm up for weight training. As little as 5 to 10 minutes. Most still recommend stretching or a warmup "light" set of each exercise with minimal weight to prepare for the actual weight training. I am not sure I agree with all of this, but in practice, it does seem to work for many people. I still do a lot of stretching, especially for my legs to avoid injury, but I have reduce the aerobic warmup and I feel much more energized for the actual weight training session.

Marcele:

Without knowing your current conditioning and exact training rationale, it is hard to comment fully.

That being said, for SCA combat I suspect that in a 5 day workout where you want to include a lot of aerobic, you would still be better off with only two days of aerobic and three days of weight training. All of my prior comments about aerobic activity being good and necessary, but not the main part of conditioning that builds strength and power go double for most women. They simply need to work harder to increase muscular strength than men do and anything that takes away from that goal is counterproductive in terms of competetion in the lists. Unless you are one of those rare women whose musculature already allows you to throw with adequate power and without your muscles fatiguing too quickly to allow you to get through a full tournament or practice.

SCA tournament combat, considered separately from endurance tourneys like bearpits, melee and resurrection battles, is somewhat static. Bouts only last so long, are often fought in restricted areas as little as 10' X 10' and do not involve a lot of running.

Most women in this format run out of muscle strength in their arms, shoulders and upper torso, long before they run out of breath.

Aerobic conditioning is wonderful for health and many aspects of endurance, primarily your wind, but it won't help you move that heavy sword much faster or hit harder and it certainly will not prevent muscle fatigue from being a problem as you advance through the tournament rounds. That isn't completely true, aerobic fitness does help your body get energy into the system which contributes to muscular performance and endurance, but by itself, it does not make up for muscular fitness. Aerobic fitness will allow you to avoid being winded at the end of the tourney, but you won't get that far if you can't swing your sword effectively and with adequate force in each bout. Women also often have a problem with their shield arm/shoulder tiring rapidly (usually the bicep goes first) resulting in defensive problems.

If you are focusing on so much aerobic activity to reduce body fat, this can be effective. But diet with aerobic activity will go a long way towards reducing unwanted body fat if that is part of your goal. Many women are genetically built to put on body fat. Period. End of story. The only way to counter a lot of that for women who have trouble increasing muscle mass and density (most women can't do this as much as men) is diet and aerobic activity. Unfortunatly, many women find that the aerobic activity and diet that helps them to achieve lowered body fat also makes putting on muscle mass much more difficult that it is for men.

If you look at body fat charts for women, the typical range is much higher than for men. When female athletes cut their body fat to levels identical to comparable male athletes, health problems can occur.

Many women runners and gymnists stop having their periods or suffer from other conditions. While many Dr.'s believe that if it is done with caution, when a woman wants to have a baby, she can simply increase body fat to the "normal" range and the body goes back to "normal". Not all Dr.'s agree as to whether long term ultra low bodyfat levels have a permanent negative effect on women, other than the aforementioned reproductive problem. Further study will be done I am sure.

On the other hand, many American (SCA women)in particular could reduce bodyfat without ever having too worry about losing too much bodyfat. But I though I should mention it as a possible concern. Women often try to match male athlete's muscle mass and low body fat levels even though it is often unrealistic and unnecessary to do so to be in excellent physical condition.

Anyone that tells you that big muscles don't make the difference in fighting is not totally wrong. Anyone that tells you physical strength, muscle power and speed don't make a difference, is absolutely wrong. While fat,old knights and dukes may be able to fight effectively or even very well, they usually do so through superior skill and tactics and most still at least have the minimum amount of muscle strength and speed to hit well. You will notice however, than most of these are very economical with their blows, not wasting a lot of shots and tiring themselves out, they often also fight only in double elim tourney formats, not bear pits for 4 hours straight.

Muscle soreness is not always a good indicator of where you need work. Muscle soreness can simply mean that that particular moves you are doing are working those particular muscles more than others. Many male and female fighters use their arms to throw blows and do not involve the rest of their bodies effectively, resulting in faster arm failure or sloppiness due to fatigue.

Women typically have trouble building adequate upper body strengthn and supporting musculature. They usually can build upper leg strength reasonably well. It depends on the woman. Many women are just plain thin, light and are genetically prevented from easily gaining muscle mass anywhere's near as easily as the average man is able to do with comparable levels of exercise. Many women can tone up and firm up as fast as men, especially younger women, and they often lose the belly fat faster then men. Women tend to have a bone structure where the ribs and hips allow a wasp waist more readily than their male counterparts. While this makes you wonderfully attractive to the guys in terms of a beautiful feminine toned physique and can help you fit into fluted German gothic plate better than the average SCA fat male, it does not do a lot for fighting strength.

Although many women may not be able to bulk up, many can both improve the density and power of their existing muscle mass as well as add enough to gain adequate power to play the game. It is more critical for the "average" woman to use perfect technique as the simply do not have the height, reach, leverage and muscle power to overcome faulty technique and still hit with power.

Reality check: As in most sports involving speed, power, endurance and the necessity to bear weight (30 to 60 lbs of armor, a 5 to 10 lb shield and a two to 5 lb sword), lets face it, at the high end, athletic or powerful skilled men are usually dominant. The best female baseball, football, basketball and soccer players in the world, typcially cannot even get an entry level job on a comparable male professional sports team. We are equal intellectually, but we are so very different physically.

That does not mean that with training, some women can't fight at a fairly high level, some at "entry level" SCA chivalry or even better than that. I have met very few women who compete with the average East Kingdom knihgt's, but I have met some. And that is a pretty rarefied level to aspire to.

What you need to do, much like the shorter, thinner, lighter, weaker or older men, is to use superior mental discipline, conditioning, training, skill and a better tactical approach to each fight in order to overcome your physical limitations. If a one legged fighter can achieve a high level of proficiency and be a well respected knighted SCA fighter, there is no reason more women can't.

I think that the lack of successful female fighters is more that not enough of the women that have the physical attributes to compete at a high level, ever get involved in the first place. The fighting field is still to a large degree, dominated by male participants. If more women got involved as a percentage of the overall fighter population, I suspect we would find more women fighting at the OTC or Chivalry levels, if not better.

Most women never think to build thier triceps, trapezius and shoulders. If they do try to build arm strength, they typically do curls for the biceps. I think you should strive to build up your upper torso, shoulder and arm strength as much as possible. As in my advice to Aiden, focus on mass building exercises only. While as a woman you may not build much mass/size, they should still allow you to dramatically increase your strength and to a degree your speed.

Use a speed bad and possibly heavy bag work on non weight training days for enhanced speed and toning of the upper torso. Women tend to have lighter bones, smaller and much more fragile joints than men. This gets worse for women as they age, bone density loss in women is a tremendous problem already in the news on a regular basis for reasons having nothing to do with the SCA. As a result, women have to be more carefull about proper fitting boxing and bag gloves and should consider wrist wraps, taping or wrapping of hands (especially the knuckles) to avoid injury or repetitive stress problems.

With the growth in interest in women's sports and bodybuilding, a lot more research is being done by Dr.'s and sports professionals than ever before.

I would suggest you look into literature for women's boxing, bodybuilding, powerlifting and other strength/speed oriented athletic pursuits. They can probably give you much better informed, practical advice than I can.

For women, diet is even more critical than for the average man. Especially since most women are more concerned about body fat levels for health and appearance reasons than men, who often care more about strength than a balanced approach. Many SCA guys are perfectly happy to be overweight as long as they are still strong, fast and competitive.

I hope this gives you some food for thought.

Toweyb:

Any exercise is better than no exercise. Years ago, I stopped doing much of anything because I'm typically an all or nothing kind of guy. Now I am paying the price.

Any exercise is good. I am not a big believer in Isometrics as a total body workout, but once again, its better than sitting still like I did!

Good luck.

[Keidale]

And I can't gain weight........ It's taken me a long time just to hit 150

[Cunian]

Thanks, this is being very helpful, and hopeful, especially your comments to Marcele. I am working on the "fat old woman" comeback thing after years off for progeny. I have always had trouble balancing between working out and practicing sufficiently to improve and get stronger and not overtraining and harming things, but perhaps the greater maturity will actually help in that regard. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[James McDade]

Hey
Oh we are all so damned old! I returned o SCA fighting after a 13 yrs absents. Well I recall how 20's eveyone looked that first day back on the field. I had just turned 40!
To make a long story short things have gone well and them young felles keep there distance. But my point. Now dont get all in an uproar but! I also started SCA fencing. As a cross training activity. It has been well worth the extra effort. Not only is it a great way to burn fat it has done alot for my mental approach and control. Limbers the mind up. Most of our heavey figthers fence now. If you group has a fencing program give it a shot. Its alot more fun than a step machine of treed mill and works alot better

[Vermin]

Richard,
(Wow, it's been a looooong time since we last met!)
I have two more things you might want to try, and both of them are alot more fun than reps, in MY opinion at least.
1- Rock Climbing.
We used to have a practice at my cousins climbing gym in Allentown PA. It got to the point where to warm up before practice, ( I usually arrived WAY before everyone else)I would put my stuff on and climb in my FULL rig. Stainless pikemans plate and all.
You will use muscle groups you never thought you had, pulling yourself up, around, and across, a wall.
And it's FUN.
You don't have to go UP, going across the wall, bouldering, is a blast too.

#2-Mountain Biking.
Skip the spandex/lycra.
I don't wanna see YOU in it, you don't wanna see ME in it....heh heh....
Jeans, t-shirt, some good riding gloves and a helmet are all you need for apparel, trust me.
Your legs will LOVE you for doing this activity, as will your lungs.
Really good for increasing stamina and WAY more fun than running.
You also live in the northeast, nice country for MBing.
Trust me, Florida is quite flat, I miss the mountains of home.
V
PS-Never climb in your rig in front of "experienced" climbers, gawd does it PISS them OFF!
"HOW does he DO that?!?!?!?!"

[Richard Blackmoore]

Hi Vermin! Good to hear from you.

Both suggestions are good ones.

I sometimes force myself to do the pseudo rock climbing at Sports Plus or Amusement parks. It is a little perverse, I do it because I am scared of heights and it pisses me off that I get scared. So I do it to prove to myself that I can work through the fear. It is irrational to be afraid with a safety rope and yet I am. Of course I am not very good at it.

You may remember Guy from Ostgardr. He sold me his Gary Fisher mountain bike at an extremely low price. As a result I force myself to ride at times, even though I really hate bike riding for great lengths of time. It is good exercise. Of course on Long Island, there are no mountains, so I mainly ride it around the block.

[Vermin]

That's why I suggested bouldering.
Heights scare the crap outta ME too.

Long Island isn't that far from good biking.
Check the trail reviews at
www.mtbreview.com
for some good trail in your area.
Remember , you don't HAVE to have mountains.
Florida doesn't!

Good to hear from you too!
VvS