Thread: A puny shoulder, high blood pressure and 2 packs a day..

Hi .. I've been reading all the journals here and decided it's time I started one too. I turned 43 last month and I need to make a lot of changes in my life. My main prob was a bad shoulder that was beginning to atrophy. I injured it four years ago and I've been babying it ever since. It was starting to shrink and looked gross in the mirror (actually my whole arm was getting smaller). I also smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day for 23 years . My blood pressure was high and I'd get out of breath very easily. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I quit smoking on Sept 20th. I also bought some dumbells, then joined a gym and began working out. My goals are to rehab my shoulder and just get healthy. I don't have any aspirations to be a huge BB'er, but I'd like to look good on the beach.

I've been blessed with decent genetics, so I never had any weight problems. Considering the fact that I basically lived on fast food and cigarettes for 43 years, I should be thankful things aren't worse off.

Here are my stats from when I started almost a month ago -

Height - 5'10"
Weight - 148
biceps -11"
forearm - 10"
thigh -20"
calf -12.5"
chest 37"
shoulder - 44"
waist -34" (even though I wear a 31" waist pants? How does that work? )

I've been trying to eat correctly and I've been working out six days per week (including cardio) and here are my stats as of today (after 3 weeks of working out) -

Height - 5"10" ...hehe, I guess this one wont change..
Weight - 157
Biceps - 12.5"
Forearm - 11"
Thigh - 21.5"
Calf - 13"
Chest - 38.5"
Shoulder - 45"
Waist - 34"

I'm very encouraged by the gains I've made, but I have a long way to go . Even though I am thin, I have a tendancy to carry some fat around my mid-section. I want to have nice abs before next spring. When I began, the heaviest weight I could use was 8lb dumbells (my shoulder was extremely weak). Now I am using 25lbs dumbells for most excercises and the lightest is a 12lb dumbell (for flyes and raises). I can now do 75lbs on the pull down machine, and to me it is like a miracle.

The years of smoking really killed me when I tried cardio work. That first day at the gym, I got on a treadmill, set it to 5mph and almost croaked after 5 minutes. I also learned that the high impact of a treadmill really causes my shoulder to ache at night. Since then, I use a cross trainer (elliptical?). I'm now up to 30 minutes, averaging 140 strides per minute doing the interval program . My legs still feel like noodles when I finish..

My training schedule is probably not what most of you would recommend, but my first goals were to just get a decent foundation of fitness. The bad shoulder limits the amount of weight and type of exercises I can do. For this reason, I workout 6 days per week. I do cardio everyday. I've also made big changes to my diet. I'll post my workout schedule and my diet a little later on today.

If you hung in there long enough to read this, then a big THANKS! to you .

I just got back from working out. Today was bicep/chest day. It was a disappointing day because I felt kind of weak and run down. I'd planned to try and move up 5lbs to the next size dumbells for all my exercises, but I just couldn't pull it off. The last time I did biceps/chest, I felt much stronger and made a note to try heavier weights. I dunno what happened to me . . I've been hitting it really hard, maybe I'll take tomorrow off?


Seated Bicep Curl 20lb DBs 3x8
Hammer Curls 25lb DBs 3x8
Concentration Curls 25lb 3x8
Forearm Curls 30lb 3x12
Wrist Curls 30lb 3x12

Flat DB Press 25lb 3x8
Incline DB Press 25lb 3x6
DB Flys 12lb 3x10
Pullovers 35lb 3x8
Butterflies 15lb 3x10

30 minutes cardio on elliptical machine. Interval Program, doing 125 spm on easy part and 155 spm on tough parts.

Ab work - 30 sit ups, 120 revs bicycle, 12 side bridges and 25 leg lifts.

Gotta head out to the store and get some fish oil pills and bananas.