Gyms can reopen in Michigan starting today but the Planet Fitness in Milford isn’t open yet, hopefully soon. But for now I’ll keep doing what I can with what I have on hand.

I upped my push-ups to three sets of fifteen today, from a starting point of three sets of ten on April 6.

I thought I was being diligent, but I was fooling myself. I somehow forgot to step on the scale, yes, I was working out but I was not minding my calorie intake. I get called back to work after two months and my work pants didn’t fit.

I’m somewhat mollified that my fat pants are/were a 32 in waist but I get back to work and my larger paunch is remarked upon by another formerly fit fatty. You can’t really take offense when welcomed to the club.

You can do something about it though, and I did!

I run a furnace in a heat treatment plan, it can get pretty hot. I started drinking as close to a gallon of water an eight hour shift as I could, made for a lot of runs to the restroom, but drinking a lot of water starts a process that promotes weight loss. I despise that term “weight loss” as if it just falls by the way side with no effort. But that’s me.

It’s now three weeks later and my quarantine fifteen is gone!

I still have my Winter Spread to deal with, I was actually getting a good head-start in January, hitting the gym, Planet Fitness, four or five times a week. Then I caught a bad case of the Flu, I think, in February, I had just started going back when Covid-19 shut most everything down.

Today, three weeks after realizing how much weight I had put on, I am down to 182 pounds. I still have 22 pounds to go, maybe four more weeks?

Upper Body

Push-ups Three Sets of fifteen
Upright Rows Three Sets of ten at 40 lbs
Back Flies Three Sets of ten at 20 lbs
French Curls Three Sets of ten at 20 lbs
Reverse Curls Three Sets of ten at at 40 lbs

I rest 30 seconds between sets and about two minutes between exercises.

Stretching and Calisthenics Routine

Ab Wheel Ten sets of Three
Standing Bicycle Crunch Five sets of Eight.
Horse Stance Cross Punch Five sets of Eight.
Oblique Knee Raise Five sets of Eight.
Front Kick Five sets of Eight.
Leaning Knee Raise Five sets of Eight.
Round House Kick Five sets of Eight.
Front Kick Five sets of Eight.
Back Kick Five sets of Eight.

Michael Cole