A friend who wanted a free month of membership convinced me to join her for aerobics classes in 1987 while living in Los Angeles. I did those classes with her, then she moved out of town.

In the meantime, I explored the weights side of the gym and started to train myself. Since I didn't know what I was doing, I bought Franco Columbu's "Complete Book of Bodybuilding to learn more about training and technique. He had the book divided into three sections: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced routines and philosophies. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. As with all newcomers to the gym life, I grew fast in the first year of self-training. And as I advanced through the various levels, my strength and conditioning improved. I also became addicted to the gym life, as I enjoyed meeting people at various levels of training and learning from them. In essence, it became fun to go to the gym and develop a gym family.

Stepping into 2017, I started to review photos of myself and discovered that I had the "middle-age gut". Because I had a fairly well developed upper body, people would guess my weight as 180. But my clothes told the truth. I, then, chose to follow a series of new programs: Changed my work out routine and began a "ripped" diet plan. The great difference this time? I developed better will-power and found a diet that worked well with my professional, social and home life. I started an "ease-in" diet for the first month and immediately dropped 5 lbs. Then I began the actual diet and have dropped an additional 10 lbs. I am now into month two and hope to drop another 6-8 lbs with the goal of hitting that golden 10% body fat mark by the end of month three. By month four, I hope to hit the 5% mark. From there, I want to look into a bulking phase which will allow me to gain muscle, but keep the fat at bay.

I want to be a "Five percenter"!

I love bodybuilding/working out for several reasons:

I did it, initially, to counter-balance my food and alcohol consumption (I love wine! And beer ... and select hard liquors. I'm not a big drinker, but I know that a glass of wine contains 150 empty calories). However, as I have aged, my metabolism as slowed down considerably. I also love how I feel after a brutal work out and how I look after a good recovery!

I also like meeting people and learning from them. Since my beginnings in high school in the late '70s, to the new stuff from the '80s to today, the work outs and the approach have changed radically. From many discussions, I have modified my work outs to try new things ... I've developed a love for pull ups and dips, for example, thanks to a fellow gym member who is nearly 80 years old!

Also ... I believe in seeing time in the gym as the "fountain of youth". Lifting, HIIT Classes, and various cardio machines keep the heart strong and healthy, keeps the brain rejuvenated and really makes you feel good all over.

However, I see a very ugly trend (actually ... there are many, but this one in particular bothers me): The lack of gym etiquette. A vast majority of today's younger gym-goers isolate themselves with earbuds, don't share machinery or weights, don't rack plates from bars or machines at all, or will put plates out of order (imagine grabbing a 45 lbs. plate only to have a five pounder fall on your foot), fail to put away dumbbells in their proper order, and leave used paper towels and garbage on the gym floor. I spend a lot of time policing the gym floor or putting away weights, primarily, so that our older members can use the equipment. Some of them can't remove a 25 lbs plate from a machine. And, sadly, many of the cookie-cutter gyms either don't have enough personnel to keep things in check, or their management simply don't care about the appearance of their gyms. I have met quite a few people during the policing rounds, only to have them rack weights in my presence, but later not put things away when I leave.

Overall, I enjoy the gym lifestyle. The benefits continue to keep me in good condition. And I want to even get better!