Greetings and welcome to the long-overdue workout journal for A Body in Progress and my participation in my documentary, The Better Body Starter Kit For Men. Those of you who have come here from the YouTube channel may be surprised to finally see contemporary and relevant content, and for that I do apologize: Life just gets busier and busier, even as my kids get more independent. My goal is to keep you updated all through 2026 as I seek to finally, hopefully, maybe get this body in prime shape before biology simply declares it to be too late. Though my general story is told on my YouTube channel, perhaps in some way this more detailed record of my own successes and failures will motivate, inspire, and educate.
GOALS:
OVERALL: The overall goal is to get healthy on the inside, aesthetic on the outside, as much as my body at this time in life will allow. I have lofty goals in my head, but I probably should have started in my teens for that. However, I will pursue the goals as far as I can and see what I get. If nothing else, I will be a healthier man for trying at all.
YEAR 2026: My overall goal stated above is vague and incalculable, as well as being so long-term that focusing so far into the future would actually foster defeat. Breaking it down into shorter goals with more objective standards is the best way to attain the greater goal. The following are goals I have written down annually since 2019, but have never attained. So I will keep repeating them until I succeed!
• Drop my weight below 200.0 for one weigh-in – I once got all the way down to 211.0 over a decade ago. I know with diligence I can do it again. Since I am interested in adding muscle weight in the long run, I want to hit this weight "just once!" to say that I did it, then I will ignore the scale and work my way back up in muscle mass.
• Drop my bodyfat below 10% for one assessment – Since the scale measures everything, both lean and fat mass, it is important to reach my weight goal in tandem with this: I want to be lean, not just light. So my goal here is to have a reliable bodyfat measurement of below 10% once in these twelve months. After that, I will be free to bulk back up a little to a more reasonable and sustainable level.
• Set new Personal Records for charted exercises – I have a list of exercises that I have tracked over the years as a way of measuring progress, both in cardio-vascular ability and resistance strength. I want to set new Personal Records for all of those exercises.
• Execute one rep of each powerlift at 315 pounds – In 2017 I received a few weeks of introductory training in powerlifting and learned that reaching 315 pounds (three 45-pound plates on each side of the bar) is considered a milestone called "The 315 Club". And so I want to hit 315 on the Bench Press, the Deadlift, and the Squat. I am aiming for reaching this goal much earlier than the end of the year, but I do have all year if I need it.
• Execute one Pull-Up – I haven't been able to do a Pull-Up since junior high school. Weight gain combined with a life of little physical exertion has led to the complete inability to do so. Now I want to get that back, even just once. A few acquaintances saw footage of my best attempt last year and assure me that I've done one, but I personally was not satisfied with the height I attained, so I consider this still a goal yet to be attained.
ADDED FUN: I am not one of these guys that thrives on simply working out. That in itself is not fun for me. So to add a dash of enjoyment into the "daily grind", I have these additional informal goals.
• 400 Miles – Last year I successfully completed 365 miles of pedestrian cardio. Any time I went for a walk, jog, or hike and had a way of calculating the distance, it counted. This year I have been challenged to go a little higher at 400 miles, which is just barely below 1.1 miles a day. No problem!
• 2026 Push-Ups – For several years, a friend in Wales named Harry challenged me to complete the same number of push-ups as was in the number of the year. In 2020, the goal was 2020 push-ups, and so on. And there was a small cash prize depending on how quickly I accomplished that. I learned last May that Harry passed away in December 2024, so this year I will do 2026 push-ups in his memory. The financial incentive to complete them quickly is gone so that doesn't matter this time.
• A Powerlifting Competition – On the condition that I can find a local competition, I will enter a powerlifting competition this year regardless of my strength capacity as recommended by the owners of a powerlifting gym in Bend who say, "For your first time, just do one no matter whether you're competitive or not."
• Finished Footage – I want to have all the footage for my feature documentary shot. I have a personal desire to have the film entirely finished but that will rely on having the funds to hire a composer, a color timer, and a few other specialists to help with post-production, a situation which may make the Finished Product not realistic in 2026; so if I am able to sit back and declare that I'm done shooting and it's all post-production by the end of the year I will call that a victory.
• A Dozen Guests – I want to get
twelve guests onto my YouTube channel this year. Whether those people
are trainers, nutritionists, other health experts, or just friends who
lift, I hope to include them each in their own episodes.
• 50 x 50 – Inspired by a college peer, I
want to perform fifty Push-Ups in each of the fifty United States. This is a long-term goal that
started on January 1, 2019, and I have already completed the task in 29
states. At one time the hope was to complete it by the time I turned 50, but the budget did not allow that much travel expense. I still want to finish what I've started, however, so this remains on the list until it happens, which ideally will be this year. Any push-ups done for this quest will naturally also count toward the 2026 total.
WEIGH-IN:
Weight: 220.2
This
starting weight is the lowest Day One weigh-in I have on record! In 2008 it was 281.0 pounds, and although in 2012 I got down to 211.0, that year started much higher than the 220's. So this is a very encouraging way to start a new year.
FOOD INTAKE:
Unrecorded
I call this section "Food Intake" because it is not my "diet": It is not necessarily what I should eat, but a journal of what I do eat, as often as I can remember to write it down. (It's amazing how fast the memory fades on a daily basis regarding mundane details.) Do not read this section as a guide to what you should eat! Proper nutrition is my biggest weakness and I am by no means the example for you to follow.
I wrote today's food down somewhere but the slip of paper has disappeared. If I find it, I'll come back and re-edit this post. It did include some of my son's birthday cake, that much I can attest.
EXERCISE:
Exercise
will include both cardio and resistance exercises, both formal gym
workouts and informal sessions at home on busy days. To be counted as
exercise, cardio must last a minimum of 30 minutes; and any resistance
training must have at least three sets.
5:00 p.m. :: Redmond OR – General
• Cardio: Pedestrian
– Time: 30 minutes
– Distance: 1.62 miles
400 Miles: +1.62 / Total: 1.62
2026 Push-Ups: +0 / Total: 0
I kicked off the year in simple style, as January 1st is always a busy day. A calm 30-minute walk in chilly January weather was a gentle beginning.
And
that is probably the longest journal entry you will read. I have an
unstoppable compulsion to be thorough on such things, setting it up for
any readers wanting to follow along. See you tomorrow!
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| January motivation |
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| This is the body I'm starting the year with. |
