The time has come. You’ve spent your entire life being just another average Joe. You’re in your late thirties, or maybe even your forties. Your kids are entering high school, and you’re starting to think about other things in life. No longer are you satisfied with the same goal of “working hard enough to put food on the table, then watching TV until bedtime”. No, you’re starting to think long-term now. You have started to take your financial planning seriously, and you are on your way to paying for your kids’ education soon. You’ve taken care of others your entire life, and now you’ve decided to start taking care of yourself. That’s right. You want to get into shape. You don’t want to be mediocre anymore – you want muscles!
Your first move should be to get a checkup from your doctor. Have a blood panel run to ensure you’re healthy, and have any old injuries looked at. Make sure your heart and lungs are in good working shape. Clear the air with any concerns you may have.
Next, you’ll want to begin walking. No, it’s not time to begin lifting just yet. Spend a month walking for 30 to 45 minutes, 4 to 5 days per month. This will bring back some strength, but more importantly will increase your blood circulation. This will mean you’ll be a lot less likely to keel over from a heart attack the first time you climb under the bench press in the gym.
While you’re entering this walking phase, it’s time to adjust your diet. Don’t worry about counting protein grams of losing all your fats just yet. Instead, cut out all your simple sugars and fast food. Once you get into the bodybuilding lifestyle, you’ll develop a diet which emphasizes more protein, cleaner carbs, and safer fats. In the meantime, just cut out the sugars and fast food, and you’ll see significant changes rather quickly.
Finally, it’s time to talk about weight training. You should spend your first month using a full-body workout, conducted three times per week. Use the Nautilus and Hammer Strength machines to develop a baseline of muscle. Month #2 in the gym will consist of a “push/pull” routine, in which you will train your chest, triceps, calves, shoulders and quadriceps on Monday and Thursday, and your back, biceps, forearms, and hamstrings on Tuesday and Friday. Finally, you will be ready for a routine in which you train 5 days per week, devoting one day to chest, back, shoulders, legs, and arms. All the while, you should continue using cardio such as walking or a machine in your gym 3 to 4 days per week for heart health, a serious concern as you age.
Down the road, as you develop your physical abilities and begin to push your physique to new levels, you may want to investigate the use of HRT, or hormone replacement therapy. This will allow you to boost your testosterone levels back to where they were a decade or two ago. This will aid your bodybuilding efforts, but will also allow you to feel, look, and think better.
Congratulations on your decision to improve your life. Good luck in your journey into health, bodybuilding, and a better life!