An Over 40 Athlete - Reborn!

Vital Stats

Name: Robert Crim

Email: octopotato@yahoo.com

Bodyspace: Robbie43

Why I Got Started

I used to play quite a bit of sports when I was younger. When I played, I liked to give it my all and play hard. Eventually all the wear and tear of playing hard and often, along with injuries, took a toll on my body as I grew older.

I was becoming less active because it hurt too much to play and I was getting too far out of shape. The amount of sports that I played declined more and more every year. I was getting less exercise, which lead to my weight climbing until I reached 271 pounds. I basically let myself get out of shape for over 10 years.

I still played a little during that 10 years but whenever I did, I would only last about 15-30 minutes before some sort of pain would overwhelm me. I felt pain in my joints or muscles just to walk up the stairs to get into my house! I found it depressing to watch younger people run around so easily and I remembered a time that I used to be able to do the same. I really missed that and I wanted it back!

Then, my girlfriend saw that Bodybuilding.com and Optimum Nutrition had a 12 week transformation contest. She kept mentioning it for the next couple of weeks so I knew she really wanted to give it a try. I started to wonder what I might be able to accomplish if I were to get serious and train hard for 12 weeks.

Eventually, I read up on it and decided that I should give it a try and see if I can get myself into better shape and up to the next level of fitness. I knew that if I signed up, it would give me the additional motivation I would need to continue towards better health and performance.

So I signed up, along with my girlfriend, and I was determined to give it my best effort for 12 weeks.

How I Did It

I wanted to make a change and I was willing to work hard for it but I didn't think my body would ever get through the training. I finally stopped thinking about it and decided to give it a serious effort. I knew my body was going to experience some aches and pains but I was dedicated and focused.

The first couple of weeks my body hurt like it always would when I did strenuous activity but as time went on, I found that the soreness and stiffness didn't get worse when I trained longer or harder. To my surprise, it actually was getting easier and after a few weeks I was starting to feel a positive difference.

The pain that I always felt wasn't quite as bad so I kept at it. As I continued to train and the weeks rolled on, I was experiencing much less pain while running or lifting weights. I tried setting small reachable goals each week and as I kept training, I continually reached each goal that I set.

Eventually I was accomplishing things that I thought were a thing of the past. I was doing things that I thought I would never get to experience again.

I think the most important key to a successful transformation is a proper diet. You should read as much as you can find on nutrition and use that knowledge to set up your diet plan. It's important to eat smaller meals and more often, usually about every two or 3 hours.

I ate 5-7 times per day while trying to keep each meal between 250-400 calories. I made sure to keep track of my protein, carbohydrate and fat calories for each meal to keep a good healthy balance.

For the workouts, my views are summed up pretty easily. The harder it is to do it, the better your results will be. I believe that you can improve your fitness by any additional exercise but you have to keep challenging yourself if you want to make great progress. I tried to work hard during every workout session.

When lifting weights, I would work on gaining strength and muscle by trying to raise the amount of weight or the amount of reps every workout session. For cardio, during the earlier weeks, I would work on going a little bit longer each session until I was up to 45 minutes.

During the second half of the 12 weeks, I would train using high intensity interval training to work out much harder in the same amount of time. Doing interval training continually challenged my mind and body.

At the present time, I run 20-40 miles per week. I can run 4 miles easily and some days I'll run as much as 10 miles! I can play tennis or have fun doing just about anything for hours! I'm weight training 5 days per week for 1-to-1 1/2 hours each session.

My joints rarely hurt at all anymore regardless of whether I'm pushing hard during my cardio sessions or strenuously lifting heavy weights. I recently completed my 12-week transformation challenge and I gained strength and power and lost about 35 additional pounds. As an added bonus, my blood pressure is the lowest it has ever been!

For the first time in 20 years I no longer need to take blood pressure medication! The benefits of working out and eating right seem almost endless. Once you start the journey you will feel great, have a new outlook on life and love the looks of the new you!

Supplements

Morning:

• Vitamin C: 1000mg
• Now Vitamin D: 1000iu
• Vitamin B-12: 250mcg

Morning & Before Bed:

• Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men Multi-Vitamin: 1 serving
• Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc: 1 serving
• Optimum Nutrition Fish Oil: 1000mg

Morning & Pre Workout:

• MRM CLA: 1000mg

Pre Workout:

• Optimum Nutrition Creatine: 5g
• Prolab Caffeine: 200mg

Pre & Post Workout:

• Optimum Nutrition Glutamine: 2g / 3g
• SciFit L-Arginine: 1.5g
• SciFit L-Carnitine: 1g
• Prolab Beta Alanine Extreme: 800mg

Post Workout:

• Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey: 1.5 servings

Before Bed:

• Optimum Nutrition 100% Natural Casein: 1 serving

Diet

Meal 1:

Protein Pancakes

• ¼ cup fat free cottage cheese
• 3 egg whites
• ½ scoop Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey
• ¼ cup of oats

Blend ingredients together, cook and serve with ¼ cup sugar free syrup

Meal 2:

• 4 oz chicken breast or baked tilapia
• ½ sweet potato or brown rice

Meal 3:

• 3 oz low sodium turkey breast
• 1 slice low carb/high fiber whole grain bread

Meal 4:

Chicken Ratatouille

• 3 oz chicken breast
• ½ cup eggplant, zucchini, stewed tomatoes & onion

Meal 5:

Crust-less Quiche (Baked)

• 2 egg whites
• 1.5oz chicken breast
• ¼ cup spinach & Red Pepper, seasoned to taste, baked

Meal 6: Before Bed

• 1 ½ scoops Optimum Nutrition 100% Natural Casein blended with ice

Training

My weightlifting sessions were completed anywhere within 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. Most of the time, the routine took about an hour. I tried to hit the muscles hard and fast. I concentrated mainly on four lifts: squats, deadlifts, military press and bench press.

During the first 4 weeks, I trained with a powerlifting routine using heavy weights and low reps. During the next 4 weeks, I did a custom blend of powerlifting and bodybuilding. I would do a couple of sets using heavy weights and low reps before doing reps of 10 using a moderately heavy weight.

The last 4 weeks, I switched to a higher rep routine to feel the burn and get really good muscle pumps.

I did cardio almost every day. Some weeks my weight seemed to be staying the same. I felt I wasn't losing the weight at the pace I wanted to, so I had to keep doing the cardio sessions almost every day.

I did stationary bike, treadmill, elliptical machine and ran outside a few times when there was decent weather. My cardio sessions varied from 30-45 minutes depending on the intensity I was training at.

Day 1: Chest

Day 2: Cardio

Day 3: Back/Abs

Day 4: Cardio

Day 5: Shoulders

Day 6: Legs

Day 7: Cardio

Suggestions for Others

It doesn't matter who you are or what age you are. If you are looking for a change and you decide that you want to do it, then all you have to do is start. If you are out of shape, then you can start by going out for a short walk or lifting light weights at a beginners pace.

Make a promise that you will go out each day no matter what, even if it's for 5-or-10 minutes. I found that if you at least get out each day to start the exercise, then most of the time you will feel better once you start and you will do much more than you thought you were going to do.

In no time, it will get easier and you can either workout longer or harder each day without experiencing any more fatigue than you did when you started. Challenge yourself and really push toward your goals, especially on the days that you feel good. The progress that you continually make will keep you motivated week after week.

It's not always easy and it will be challenging but it's not as bad as you would think. I think the hardest part is starting out, when everything feels new and it's uncomfortable. After the initial break in period you begin to get used to the training and your efforts will be automatic and the work will become much easier. After a while you don't even think about it much anymore, you are just able to do it.

If you stick with it, you will think and feel different in just about everything you do. Your whole outlook on life and how you feel about yourself will change. You will be happier and much healthier.

It will strengthen your mind as well as your body. I underestimated the effects that the training would have on how I felt mentally. Sticking with it and meeting goals and accomplishing new personal bests is an amazing feeling and really changes how you feel throughout each day.

Make sure that you understand that being happy, healthy, fit and looking better is not out of your reach. You can do it, just like anybody else can. Just take it one step at a time.

Take it serious and realize that you owe it to yourself to be happy and healthy and to accomplish new things in your life.

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