Hello Martin (and Martin)!
Good answer above Martin D.! I was hoping you would answer since you have had the hip replacement! In fact, I was waiting to see if you were going to comment before I posted! Sounds like you have an excellent and very busy workout routine!
I have found that the best thing you can do for yourself once you are middle aged (I will soon turn 49 myself) is to keep as physically busy as possible! Those who start having problems are the ones who suddenly take the "I'm too old for this stuff" attitude! Then you find yourself backing off from doing things that you would normally do. Once that attitude takes over, pretty soon you can no longer do things that you were doing with relative ease! I look at it like this: "I can do anything (withing reason) that I want to do! We just have to remember that we may need a bit more of a warmup before getting started, and also that we need to pace ouselves a bit more than we did when we were younger! I feel that if you eat right, take your supplements and continue to workout with moderate intensity on a regular basis, you should be able to keep going for as long as you want/need to!
I am almost 49 years old and I am probably in the best shape of my life! My goal is to be in the VERY BEST SHAPE that I have ever been in on the day that I turn 50! I KNOW that with the proper attitude and training schedule, I should be able to do this with ease! Also, I have many photo shoots coming up for my next books and I have four magazine articles that are finished and ready to go to the publisher. I have to look my best for the photographs!
To see what I am doing currently for workouts, look at the post below where I was asked about proper working out for martial artists. Basically I am training with weights (at the gym) three days per week. These are my major weight workouts. My wife Nancy (who will turn 50 this year and is in fantastic shape also) trains with me, and we have a blast working out together! We train on Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays. We alternate back and forth between working Chest/Shoulders/Triceps and working Back/Biceps/Legs. I also do some moderate weight workouts at the kwoon using freeweights and a flat bench. I have a special routine that I have designed that I go through EVERY DAY! This is more for muscular definition and toning. I work forearms, abs and calves EVERY DAY also! As you know, the forearms, abs and calves are VERY IMPORTANT muscles for the Jeet Kune Do practitioner! I have a special room at the kwoon that is just for me. I keep my Great Lion mook jong, Century BOB dummy, my Trapmaster and my springarm in that room, along with my freeweights and my flat bench. I try to spend about an hour a day pretty much locked in that room, having a blast!
I do not do a whole lot or weight work for my legs. Normally when I do work legs, it consists of extensions, curls, abductors, adductors and calf raises. Sometimes I do leg presses with light to moderate weight. I like rope skipping, and try to make time for some skipping every day! Jeet Kune Do footwork training, kicking and lots of walking keeps my legs in pretty good shape, so weight work with legs is not real high on my priority list! I do not run, due to the fact that I herniated a disk in my lower back (L5/S1) when I was twenty-eight years old. I chose to train around the injury and avoid surgery. That has worked well for me, and I rarely ever have any back problems whatsoever!
Diet is also very important! I try to make sure that I get at least one gram of good quality protein per pound of bodyweight each day. That is necessary for building and maintaining muscle. I eat three good solid meals a day, and try to have healthy snacks in between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner (the key word there being HEALTHY snacks). I also make sure that I supplement my diet with all of the nutrients (vitamins, minerals and herbs) that my body needs each day, always making sure to get extra B Complex, C, E and Calcium. If I feel I need to drop a bit of weight, I use the caffeine/aspirin/ephedrine stack thirty minutes before each major meal. I also cycle testosterone boosting and HGH boosting supplements on and off (nothing illegal ... all things that can be purchased at any good health food or nutrition store).
The best thing I can tell you is to KEEP ON DOING IT! Remember, C-A-N-T is the worst of all the four letter words! As long as the will to do something exists, you CAN do it! I hope this is helpful to you in some way! If you need to know more, please feel free to ask! Take care and God Bless!
P.S. - I REALLY miss my visits to Northern Ireland, and I miss you and the guys and the great times we always had together! I hope to see you again sometime in the near future!
Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
Hardcore Jeet Kune Do
Sifu@HardcoreJKD.com
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
Kwoon (205) 274-9011
"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"
"What is Jeet Kune Do (JKD)? Chinese martial art, definitely! It is a kind of Chinese martial art that does away with the distinction of branches, an art that rejects formality, an art that is liberated from tradition." __Bruce Lee
