Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Back to the Gym
Yesterday marked exactly 4 weeks from the date of my lung surgery on Monday, December 5th. I had meant to get back to the gym about a week earlier which would have been a week earlier than the doctor originally recommended but who felt it would be fine given the progress of my recovery at the two week mark. A sore back, cold weather, and just plain laziness kept me from taking advantage of my doctor's faster allowed recovery schedule. There could be no excuse for missing the original back-to-the-gym permission date.
I had had a pretty good gym going routine up until shortly before going to China to get married. But then the cancer diagnosis (which turned out to be false), a quickie move in case the air of my below grade apartment was making me sick, and all the preparations for marriage. Put it all together and it had been over two months since a visit to the gym, probably closer to three.
I was worried that my new six inch plus scar, running along the ribs just below breast level, would diminish my bench-press. And that my 10-15 pound weight loss would include a good portion of muscle mass as my body fat percentage was probably only about 13 percent when I last went into the gym and which isn't a bad body fat ratio (recommended is 10-15). As you can see I do obsess about details like BMI, body fat ratio, and athletic performance. If I was able to capture the heart of a smart, beautiful women, 16 years my junior, it was probably due in part to keeping myself in above average shape and which I also credit with keeping me looking younger than my 47 years of age as well.
I set a wimpy 125 lbs. on the bench. This is called one-plate, as it is one 45-pound plate on each side of a 45-pound bar. I braced and lifted -- no problem and no pain. My personal-best doing the bench-press is 285lbs. and I had been close to that at 275 when I had last gone to the gym. I decided to try for 205, 200 being the goal, but 205 being much easier to arrange on the bar (2-45s, 2-35s, plus bar). The bench has a set of hooks that hold the bar above you at nearly full extension before bring the weight down to your chest. The point being I could extend my arms and if felt like it was too much I could just let the bar fall back into the hooks. I did one rep with 205 bringing it cleanly down to my chest and back up, but the top of the lift was a little shakey, worrying me a little and I stopped at one rep. Now just being able to do one rep always seems like a cheat to me, just something you do with speed rather than strength, so I wasn't happy. I thought about the lift and decided it was fear and not actually strain that had kept me for going for more reps. I took a short rest, repositioned and did two more clean reps at 205. I probably could have done more, but it was enough to prove to myself that I could have done more. 225 (two plates) would probably been doable, but I didn't have a spotter and I had already proved to myself I hadn't lost all my lifting ability. Plus I really had promised Nian not to "push" it.
Next up on my quest to test my recovery was chin-ups. I had been able to reliably do over 30 chin-ups before my surgery. Between the ages of 24 and 26 while in the Marine Corps my best chin ups was maybe 16 and I never done more than 12 during boot camp. 20 chin-ups are considered a max set of chin-ups in the Marine Corps. Oddly I worried more about my chin-ups than my bench press. I was worried that the rapid kipping motion I use to do an efficient chin-up would my strain my side, so I took slower reps than normal. I didn't feel a strain, but I held to a slow but steady motion with no rests. At 21 reps I stopped. I might have been able pump out 22 or 23 if I had strained, but I had proved to myself what I had wanted to, which is that if I where still in the Marine Corps I would easily be able to meet the physical requirements. Not bad for a 47-year old man recovering from lung surgery.
I did a half dozen Nautilus machines all upper-body then moved onto treadmill and stair-machine. Again I worried that I might have lost a lot of my hard won gains, but I put in 3 miles on the stair-machine and a mile on the treadmill at a pace that brought a heavy sweat. No shortness of breath, no pain in my recently surgically assaulted lung. My stair-machine pace was good, but I didn't really push the treadmill past a fast jog. In the 30 minutes on the stair-machine and 10 minutes on the treadmill I had managed 4 miles which had been my goal. I usually do anywhere from 4 to 10 miles. 4 not just being my usual lower limit for a good workout, but the distance either one of the two rovers currently on mars have been able to manage in their now two year stay. I'm not sure what kind of jock worries about being able to match the two year performance of the mars rovers "spirit" and "opportunity" in one visit to the gym, but this really was part of the equation of the goal I had set for myself.
All and all not a bad show. No gym today, I find I'm getting a little stiff now after 24 hours have gone by, but I just did 55 pushups (my PB is about 75) and plan on going to the gym again tomorrow.
This all gives me hope I'll be back to my personal-bests in not more than a few months. At 47 I'm now waiting for the "sign" the "signal" that I've peaked and age will rob me of my slowly won and hard fought gains, but I don't think that day has come yet -- take that age! It may be a loosing battle, but I intend to hold age at bay long enough that Nian never has to regret having married an older man. Who knows, maybe I'll live forever!
