Health and Fitness

Comment

Comment by Earl Sewell on February 27, 2009 at 1:55pm

I’ve been an athlete for most of my life. I’ve bicycled half way across the country, run several marathons, biathlons and triathlons. Three years ago I fell off of the fitness wagon in part due to an injury and the demands of my writing career. Recently I learned that my cholesterol and blood pressure were dangerously high. My doctor placed me on cholesterol medicine and wanted to also put me on blood pressure medication. The last thing I wanted to do was go on blood pressure medication. I asked my doctor to give me a few months to lose some weight, change my diet and begin excising on a consistent basis again. He agreed but warned me that if my blood pressure was high during my next visit, on the medication I go.

As soon as I left his office and got into my car is said to myself. “Damn Playa. You can’t go out like that.” Since December of 2008 I’ve working towards getting myself back into shape. When I ran my first marathon 2002 I was 205 pounds. In December of 2008 I weighed in at 235 pounds—Ouch!! I’d put on 30 pounds over a three year time period.

I immediately got serious about my health. However I soon learned that running at 235 pounds wasn’t easy and I found myself walking more than I was running. I decided to switch things around and use my ability to swim as a way to get in a great cardio workout without putting the stress on my knees and back. Over the past twelve weeks I’ve lost twelve pounds which feels great but I still have a long way to go get down to 205.

Today’s workout was as follows.

Swim 35 minutes/Free style, back stroke, and leg drills.
Hit the weight room/Upper body—Shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs for one hour.
Cool down