41-y-o dad hopping back into this

heisable

New member
Hello all,
I'm a 41-year-old new dad, vegan 8 years this month. Our son is three months old now and doing well, but feels heavier and heavier the longer I have laid off the weights!

I had been doing alright over the past couple of years with getting to the gym and seeing some improvements in my physique (but not so much improvement as decay in the belly area) until he was born. Since then, it's been very challenging to get anything in at all, mostly because of lack of sleep.

I'm posting here as a place to check in and hopefully have some accountability. I'm starting out at 6'3" and 218. I actually lost a couple pounds over the holidays, so I think I've done something right in my goal of wanting to reduce body fat and improve muscular fitness. That number doesn't bother me at all, but I'd say I'm at least the same bodyfat the last time I had that measured which was 17. I'd like to take that down to 12ish or so. I don't have any master plan yet regarding diet or the exercise approach, I have just been trying to eat more meals of mostly vegetables / salads throughout the week and reduce junk intake. We are trying to cool more meals at home now too, though we certainly use things like Gardein and Beyond Meat. But, many meals we also just stick with beans and other whole foods.

I enjoy lifting, but I'm still not sure how realistic it's going to be to get into the gym regularly for a while, so I've set up a small bench in the limited space we have with a bunch of free weights and plates, plus a basic dip station. But, I'm thinking about getting a pullup/dip tower and to focus on grabbing a few sets here and there in the morning and evenings when we are not otherwise taking care of the baby.

While I have long enjoyed basic fitness, I feel more motivated now to stay healthy for our son. I don't want to be a tired old feeling, flabby 50-year-old before he even cracks double digits.

Tomorrow I am getting up and either going to the gym 15 minutes away or using those weights and bench and dip station to do a chest/delts/tris day, even if I have to do half of it in the morning and half at night -- enough with the delays already!

-- PlantFitDad (or trending that direction...)
 
@heisable Good for you man! Stay consistent and don’t get discouraged from other’s progress. You can only move at your own pace. Good luck!
 
@heisable You got this! I switched from going to the gym to a small home gym setup. The convenience is a big plus for me. What kind of work do you do?
 
@heisable Thanks for the encouragement honestlyluke and Sevenigma, I appreciate it! I already forgot my password, lol, so I made a new account and stored it this time.

I didn't quite make it that next morning, but I just got back today. I went at lunch from work instead, which doesn't cut into the time in the morning with the baby or at night. I'm not sure how sustainable that will be, since it was over 90 minutes to walk there, exercise, clean up and get back to my desk. To answer your question, Sevenigma, I am a software developer / manager, so a lot of sitting down though we do have adjustable height desks.

Going to keep my progress notes here for now at least.

For all sets I paused about 1 minute between sets, except I'm sure it was a little more moving between exercises. I'm trying for 8 - 12 reps where I plan to move up when I can get 12 in all 3 sets. If that's not a good technique, I'm all ears for alternatives. I'm going for consistency over perfection as I roll back into this.

1/10/2019 Upper Push

Flat db bench

60: 12, 9, 5 -> 50: 5 -> 40: 5 (last set drop set)

Fly machine

175: 12, 9, 8 -> 145: 6 -> 115: 7

Bodyweight Dips

5, 4, 4 (was very challenging to get even these after completely the other two exercises)

Seated Arnold shoulder presses

30: 12, 9, 7 -> 20: 4 -> 15: 4

Lateral raises (not sure I really did these right)

20: 12, 12, 14 -> 15: 7 (If I was doing them right, I think I started with too low weight)

Plate front raise

35: 10 (too heavy), 25: 12, 12 (barely)

Seated behind neck tricep extension

50: 12, 12, 9 -> 40: 6 (Several months ago before the drop off I was somehow able to do 80 on this, but today it felt like lead at 50!)

Tricep cable pushdowns

55: 12, 12, 10 -> 45: 8 -> 35: 4

That's it for today
 
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