Another convert to the Survival Workout.

Monday, September 5, 2011

I’d convinced my nephew, Nathan, whose birthday we’d been celebrating the night before, that he should come and join me for a Survival Workout before heading back to his next stint on a boat on the Great Lakes. He’s an engineer of some kind and works in the engine room keeping these massive ore boats doing what they are supposed to do…mechanically at least. He’s in pretty good shape normally…but was going out with a group of friends to some spots in downtown Willoughby to drink a little…or more.

I cut him some slack on the starting time and he arrived close to noon looking like he may have had one or two more than he should have before taking a taxi ride back home. He knew me and knew it wouldn’t do any good to complain or ask me to go easy…that would only make what was about to happen even worse. He sucked it up, sprayed on some ‘Off’ and grabbed hold of our pull-up branch.

There is something to be said for working in an engine room and regularly lifting things that weigh in access of 80 pounds. Nathan is lean, races a sailing craft, rides his bike whenever he can and hikes at all the ports of call along the Great Lakes. He’s extremely active and it showed. He did 8 pull-ups and 30 push-ups…both respectable numbers for a guy who never does either. Low body fat and a good strength to weight ratio is the trick here. He lifted the rocks and logs I lifted while doing bounding and other sprint-type activities in between. As we approached our last sets though, he was feeling the cumulative effects and could only manage 14 push-ups for his last set while I was going for my 3-set record and completing 53 to hit a new pr of 161.

“How come you’re 56 and can do so much more than me?” Good question and easy answer. You can maintain so much of your fitness for so many years if you just work at it. “I’ve been doing this workout continuously since the Spring. I’ve dropped over 20 pounds since then, but when I started, I assure you I could not do a pull-up and 25 push-ups was my limit,” I said. “And the good news is…if I keep it up, I should be doing all of this stuff into my 80’s.” He gets it. He wanted to do the workout with me because he’s an outdoor guy and really doesn’t like working out with weights in a gym. I wanted him to see how to work the different muscle groups…and energy systems…so he could create his own workouts either on the ship or in the parks along the way in the different ports of call. “It’s really not that hard Uncle John…I can think of lots of things I can use on the ship…or in the parks…to do this stuff.” That’s right…it’s really not that hard and it’s a hell of a lot more interesting.

I ate poorly again. We had a cookout…because it was freezing…and I ate two hamburgers with buns, baked beans and a sweet roll. Later that night, I had leftover spaghetti with the rest of the beans. I’m sure to have added back a couple of pounds, but the coming weeks should get me back where I want to be going into the winter months. And I have a plan to stay there, too.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.