No, I'm not a fitness guru. But I do know that when I am
in shape, I write better, teach better, preach better,
research better. I wasted all of my 20's. I never
worked out. I fell apart.  By 1993 I weighed over
200 lbs. and was in horrible shape. That's when I
chose to get in shape, and began cycling. I quickly lost
30+ lbs. (within 6 months) and hit my lowest weight the day
after my first century ride (the Magic Circle Bike Challenge
in 1993). By 1995 I was in great cycling shape: strong
legs, but, otherwise, the classic cyclist look: Mr.
Skeletal. Here's
a picture of my wife and I at the top of the switchbacks on US
89A just north of Sedona, Arizona. I had just climbed
the mountain in 2nd gear. Note that my arms are about
the same circumference as my wife's!
Years of heavy aerobic exercise will eventually get to you,
and I was told that I had muscles in my back that, to use the
words of one doctor, were "atrophying." I
didn't like the sound of that. Then, in September of
1998, one Mr. Mark McGwire shattered the home run record in
the major leagues, and I couldn't help but notice that Mr.
McGwire is, well, not Mr. Skeletal. He's a horse.
He's huge. And my wife had noted, a few times, that she
liked men who had a few more muscles than the skeleton hanging
in the closet at the lab back at Grand Canyon when I was a
biology major. I got the hint.
Well, when you are in your late 30s, how much can regular
weight-lifting and lots and lots of protein do for you?
It has now been three years since I began lifting, and with the help of friends
like Brick Darrow (proprietor
of Thorbecke's Gym), George Soto, Simon Escobedo, Warren Smith,
and Eddie Dalcour, I've seen some progress. Last year my
son Joshua, friend Warren Smith, and daughter Summer were
goofing around after a workout in my "gym" which is
actually what's left of a back porch after you fill it with
weight equipment. We lift on Monday nights, come rain or
shine. Or, in this case, 111 degree weather. Well,
OK, by 6:30 in the evening it was only 110. But we
lifted almost 2 hours, and by the time we finished, it was
105. Possibly the heat was getting to us, but we were
playing around with the digital camera, and I couldn't help
but notice the difference in this shot, and the one up
above.
 So,
if you have started trying to pack on a little muscle, here's
some encouragement. It will happen.
Eventually. And you might just get to have a lot of
great fellowship along the way. We sure do! Yes,
that's my 14 year old son (compare what he looked like only 2
years ago as seen here!), who
was the only smart one amongst us (he just got out of the
pool). And that's Warren Smith making me look like the old man
in the group. See, you can workout outside in
Phoenix. Please don't bother with the e-mails about
mad-dogs and Englishmen!
Since then I've kept at it, and am now up to about 230 lbs.
in weight. I've also shaved my head (why battle male pattern
baldness?), re-grown my goatee, and adopted Oakleys. Some
folks think I look like Jesse "the body" Ventura. I
can't imagine why. Here is a more current picture:
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