Hello, Again!

It's been a while since my last post - far too long by anyone's measure. I'm happy to let you know that I am back in the cyberworld.

As the title of the blog indicates, your blogger is an avowed Busy Man. However, life has a way of slowing things down after a hectic stretch of activity. Work over the past couple of years has been my main focus of attention, with company reorganizations, layoffs, and general regular uncertainty being the the way of life for many of us, md included.

Unfortunately, regular workouts and conditioning, and yes, sensible eating and dieting have fallen to the side at times. It has not always been a time of laziness, and things have taken a turn for the better for me.

Future posts will not be as infrequent as they have been, as this Busy Man is learning to not let everything overtake and overwhelm the business of living.

Right now, I'm getting ready to start on a new exercise and fitness program. In the spirit of the upcoming Super Bowl, I will begin to report on this after the weekend of the big game. This way, I can eat all the appetizers and buffet items without having to feel too guilty about disrupting the discipline of working out and sensible eating...

The Life of a Training Busy Man

I hope that everyone had a good holiday in the US last week. Things have been hectic for me - this time there has been a reorganization at work, and it has been difficult to stay focused.

The workouts have not suffered much, if at all. I am able to finish the routine sets in a time period of aaround fifteen or twenty minutes. It is to the point that I am going to start using two kettlebells, one in each hand. I will probably start this at the beginning of next week, for convenience on my part.

So far, there have been no big changes in my weight or appearance, although my biceps feel tighter throughout the day.

Until later!

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Adding Kettlebells to Muscle Conditioning

It is the beginning of June, and in the time between my last post and this one, I have started training again. There have been various ups and down in life which have been going on and keeping away from making blog entries, mainly the uncertainties that are present each day on the job. Although this is a big source of constant stress and anxiety, this is also an opportunity to channel these feelings and energies into something productive.

Working out is the way that I have been dealing with these, although it has not been a matter of me hitting the iron each time that my blood pressure levels go up. Rather, it has been more that of making it a priority to set aside to time to train in the mornings. This is not to take away from my regular training, but this is something that I have found helpful lately, both in terms of dealing with frustrations and in getting more of an opportunity for muscle conditioning and working on my upper body.

These morning sessions are at most thirty minutes in length, and instead of using just dumbbells, I have started using kettlebells. This is not a new thing for me, as I have trained with kettlebells in the training room of my dojo for the past few years. It is not because I wanted to make drastic changes, but that I wanted to go back to something that was familiar and motivating in the past. Another reason for choosing kettlebell training was because I made gains that I was pleased with in my previous program, and it seemed like this was the right time to go back to it.

As I have said before, this is in addition to the other working out that I am able to do. The big advantage is that a wider range of exercises and drills can be done with them, but at the same time it has to be remembered that moderation is key. It would not do me much good to injure myself through carelessness, or rushing through the routines, just to stay ahead of the clock. In this case, less is more.

The general training routine that I have been following, using a 20 lb kettlebell, is three sets per exercise, each with eight repetitions of the following:

Swings (One arm)

Swings (Two arm - alternating)

Squats

Presses (Upright)

Turkish Get-ups

This is to start with, and as the weeks go by, I will add different exercises to work different muscle groups. So far, I have not made any real changes to my diet, as I am not trying to lose weight or fat, although I would like to gain muscle mass and shape. There are a couple of books and articles that I have been reading related to kettlebell training, and I'll report on these in the near future.

From Bookguy61

Hello! It's been a few weeks since my last post. During this time I've been under the weather, and have not done much in the way of training. I am happy to report that my health is much better, and my regular blog entries will resume in the next few days, after I start my training routine. See you then!

Training and the Elements

February is here, and I'm well into the new routine. It is not yet the stunning transformation that one might be asking about, although the soreness that I have been feeling lately might be described as being just that.

I live in Southern California, and if you've been following the news the past week or so, the weather here has been quite severe. For my part, there has been a lot of street flooding where I live, but people nearby in the hills and foothills, where my job is, have had to deal with mudslides as well. We'll see what the next few days are like. I don't expect that this should affect my training, but you never know at times.

The Start of Something New

It's February2. I'm being reminded that being fit and limber comes over time, even if you are not starting from the very beginning. I'll write more about my first week on this new routine in a few days.