EXERCISE Musings of a 65 Year Old Carpenter Page 2 of 3

Exercise
Musings of a 65 year old carpenter Larry Woods © 2015

EXERCISE musings of a 65 year old carpenter Page 2 of 3

I lost weight twice by exercising. First time I walked on a walking machine 30 minute per day, six days per week. Lost 32 pounds. Happy program. Second time I did ten push-ups per day, three days per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Added ONE push-up per week for 90 weeks. Lost 68 pounds over two years. Went from 278 to 210.

A new job requiring 14 hours per day eclipsed my first exercise program so it went away. Too bad. Took me two years to gain back the weight.

Both times exercising I noticed the first month I suffered much energy deficit but I exercised "faith" and continued. Second month I broke even, in terms of energy deficit. Third month I found new energy abounding. That is when the weight loss started: two pounds per week like clockwork.

Second exercise program I started at 46 old. Just 10 push-ups daily. Add one more push-up every week. This idea came to me while concocting an allegory comparing physical exercise to prayer. Steady growth…

When I got to about 30 push-ups per day, one of my sons, the weight lifter, told me I should do two sets every other day so my muscles get time to rest and grow in-between. That is when I adopted MWF workout schedule instead of six days per week. Time between sets: only a minute or two. Just till you stop breathing hard. Wait too long and you lose the magic of back to back sets.

I continued on to two sets of 100 MWF (took 90 weeks). Hit a brick wall at 220 pounds (down from 278). I was 48. Then I got a job working "straight eight" because we could not afford to linger while $110 per hour trucks waited for our lunchtime. At that time I devised the SlimFast plus 1-minute Oatmeal lunch. Place oatmeal in thermos then pour in SlimFast. Around lunchtime suck down this concoction along with a banana or orange during our quick toilet break. Did not know at that time that SlimFast contains special chemicals that hyper the digestive system. Bottom line working a physically hard job along with this lunch plus the MWF push-ups lost the last 10 pounds. We were building an "all-weather" football field at a High School Near Seattle. Unbelievable underground systems... lots of digging with shovel to supplement the big machines.

I looked good. I felt like King Kong. I started EVERY exercise session shouting, "Look good! Feel good! Be strong!" mantra. My trapezius muscles got huge making my neck seem connected directly to my shoulders — the classic muscle-builder look. It takes ONE second to do one push-up. So I did 200 seconds each MWF. That yields 600 seconds per week which is just 10 minutes per week actual exercise time! On just 10 minutes per week I lost 68 pounds! Slow and steady growth over 90 weeks!

My theory why just 10 minutes per week yielded such good result. INTENSITY. Push-ups are very intense. Because of this experience, I think intensity forms a major KEY ingredient toward ANY great result. Using the great esoteric psychology principle, As Below So Above, I think intensity and faith serves us well where ever we might apply it physically, emotionally, or mentally. Whether in the physical/etheric realm (telestial), the astral/emotional realm (terrestrial), or the mental/mind (celestial) real intensity serves us well.

But then I ran into a huge problem. My neck began to hurt. It hurt so bad I could not sleep! So I had to abandon my excellent program. A few months later I tried to start up again. But the pain came right back. I tried again a few more times with the same result. Over the next four years I gained all the weight back up to 275.

I found out years later from an acupuncture practitioner and later verified by a Nucca Chiropractor taking X-rays of my neck that C5 was broken. My theory is that too much stress, considering my extremely strong muscles toward the end of those two years, overwhelmed my bones creating a "stress fracture" equivalent to "repetitive motion injury". The push muscles overwhelmed the pull muscles.

Threefold fix for this problem:

1) Warm-up. Clinical studies show that warm-down or stretching contribute little measurable help to avoid exercise injury (though they are both good for other reasons). But warm-up consistently delivers LESS SPORTS INJURIES. My solution: do simple warm-up before ALL exercise. This need not get complicated. Simply 30 jumping jacks gets yer circulation percolating before serious exercise.

2) Symmetry. Why did my neck break? Because I did all push exercise not balanced with pull exercise. So the muscles on one side simply overwhelmed the muscles on the other side.

3) Amount. Two sets of 100 was a bit much. I believe I could see most of the same result using two sets of 50 without overwhelming any part of my body.

More about this solution pattern.

Brief but INTENSE. That all took place when I was about 46 to 48 years old. At 48 I once vaulted into a gondola 6'6" high by simply grabbing the top of the safety fence and jumping on over. I wore all my heavy carpenter gear including at least 10 pounds of nails plus my regular tools: hammer etc. which weighed at least another 10 pounds not to mention my heavy rugged boots. My 25 year old co-worker stood amazed and asked my age. But I could do such things as a result of my extremely simple and extremely time saving push-ups program — slow steady growth over two years. Three minutes and 20 seconds actual exercise time every other day...

Now my knees, both of which I got the cartilage removed many years ago as the result of a fall, will not let me do simple running/jogging or tread-mill to lose weight. Also, now my broken neck does not allow upper body exercise. Thinking of getting a low-impact combined stair-climber/tread-mill... Maybe then I can finally get back to regular exercise to lose this excess 60 pounds. I know I would feel much better overall and the less weight would help all systems in my body. Though I'm kind of a big guy weighing 210 to 225 even when at optimal weight.

A word about jumping jacks. Your electrolyte system (lymphatic system) must circulate to keep fresh. But it has no heart. It relies on your movement to move the liquids. A series of one-way valves turns your movement into uni-directional flow. If you sit at a desk all day, such as any job involving a computer, then your electrolytes can stagnate, causing all kinds of difficulties over time. 30 jumping jacks every other day keeps you from a host of symptoms including many eye maladies. My friend, Al Carter, made a big splash about this in the 1970s and created the mini-trampoline exercise craze. His Lymphatic circulation system research remains valid and explains many health issues caused by today's sedate computer work environment.

My diet automatically got better during this period of intense exercise. Since I no longer felt lack of energy, I did not seek extra food, sugar and fat etc., to perk me up. Huge!

My exercise recommendation after living all this — now that my body will not let me exercise anymore. Wish I had known this back in the day…

1) Exercise. Two sets of 10 push-ups MWF escalating just one more each week on up to two sets of 50. Don't wait more than two minutes between sets.

2) Start each session with 30 jumping jacks. Low impact, simple.

3) Hang a "right way" chin up bar (90 degree angle mounted 12" from the ceiling) in yer garage and do two sets MWF to offset the pushing exercises with pulling exercises so yer muscles grow symmetrically. If you cannot do even one pull-up, then look at YouTube to find good ways to get STARTED toward two sets of 10 or even 20 pull-ups (US Marines required to do 20), even if you cannot do ONE to start. Always on one set place hands 6" from middle corner — on the other set place hands 12" from middle corner. See the picture below to understand this extremely cheap and simple "right way" chin up bar design.

4) Shout this mantra that worked so well for me. Shout it each time before you begin in order to activate your emotional body and your mental body into participating along with your physical body — your whole self, the place where MAGIC happens, "Look good! Feel good! Be strong!"

Right-Way Chin-up bar process:

The base. You can get a 2x6 and the lumber store will precut it for you to these specs. 1 - 30" 2x6 and 1 - 24" 2x6; Router the edges about 1/2" radius (as in the picture but not edges that touch the ceiling); If you don't have a router you probably know someone who does for this simple job; Mount 30" board to span two bottom cord boards (bottom of trusses or else bottom of upper floor joists, depending how your garage is built); Mount these board using at least six 4" grabber screws (the kind they use on drywall only longer and fatter) through each 2x6 board above; use your carpenter square to set placement for the perpendicular board so it looks professional and not skewed; These screws work, they easily hold my 275 pounds swinging below — don't put them all in the same line in the wood grain; I recessed the screw heads a little just by letting my 18 volt impact driver sink them in a little extra tight; fill these screw heads over with some caulk; primer the boards to match your garage ceiling color.

The right-way bar. Pre-threaded 1 1/2" galvanized pipe: 1@24"; 1@22"; 3@10"; 2 - 90 degree angles female; 1 - 90 degree angle male female; 1 - 1” nipple; 1 - "T"; 3 - mounting plates; 12 - 5/16"x1 1/2" galvanized lag screws; assemble like the picture — use pipe wrench to get it pretty tight; Mount to base plates; an 18 volt impact driver with the right size nut driver and Philips head driver makes short work of the grabber screws and the lag screws — or, perhaps, pre-drill — every household should have an 18 volt impact driver…

Use a stud finder (under $20 at the lumber store) — but you could tap the ceiling with your hand to listen for "hollow" sound compared to board-backed-up sound and then drive in 6d finish nails until you exactly locate the boards up in the ceiling that you can mount to. Make sure to get it square with itself and with the room so it does not look and feel shoddy. This looks real pro when done right.

INTENSITY

A few minutes per week nets you a very powerful body which, in turn, helps all your health grow better. Start now. Girls, you can do this too — maybe less on the chin-ups (8 or 10 eventually…) but you must do enough to offset the push-ups so you remain symmetrical and lean. Besides, symmetry is a huge part of beauty. Guys, this will give you an awesome body in just a year or so of simple dimple. I expect every one of my grandsons to get on this right away — maybe you girls too. What would it be like to be stronger than your boyfriend? Just a few minutes a week of INTENSITY! This offsets the physical fitness problems caused by our modern technology lifestyles and gives you the strength and energy to accomplish much good. I say again, I wish I had known this when I was young!

Shalom,

Is this worth a LIKE and a SHARE?

EXERCISE musings of a 65 year old carpenter Page 2 of 3