My Fitness Journey

August 23, 2025

Well, a lot has happened since I made our last fitness post. The biggest change was when we moved from central Florida to central Kentucky a little over two months ago. We are loving our new church family and exploring the mountains to the south and east of us.

I’ve also gotten back into running. I’m currently on a plan (essentially a Couch to 5K) to get me prepared for a 5K in Berea, KY, the week before Thanksgiving.

I got into running in my early 40s to combat the overwhelming stress of my job. However, the irony is that overwhelming stress also effectively got me out of running about 6-8 years later. The fun fact is that stress is NOT currently what is getting me back into running. It’s the joy of it. Yep, life is a bit stressful and hectic (it is for everyone). However, I’m getting back into running because I remember how much I enjoyed it.

But I learned something about my body about a month ago. I had been running in my aerobic zone (50%-70% of my max heart rate) for quite a few months. That means that I ran until my HR hit 148, and then I started walking until it got down to 130 bpm, at which point I started running again (etc., etc., etc.).

It was fun and easy, but I noticed that my VO2 Max was declining. No matter how many miles I ran, my VO2 Max continued to go down. That number (VO2 Max), simplistically stated, measures the efficiency of someone’s heart, lungs, and muscles to keep us moving. I did some research and discovered that the number would typically go back up if I started doing some intense exercise. So, I started hiking when I arrived in Kentucky. I also abandoned my Aerobic Zone running and started focusing more on intensity. Just as an example, my HR hit 173 bpm on my run this morning.

I looked at my Garmin app after this morning’s run, and my VO2 Max is showing obvious signs of improvement over the past 6 months. I’m glad to see this! I’m 55 years old and want to go into old age with as much fitness as possible.

February 7, 2025

When I was in high school, I had a weight bench in our garage. I absolutely loved working out on it. I did all sorts of upper and lower-body workouts. But I could never bench 200 lbs. That was a ceiling I couldn’t get past, no matter how hard I tried.

When I was in college, I worked out a little bit with a former Mr. America. His name was Ron Lacy, and he was a member of my church (Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, Lexington, KY). I wanted to get fit, but I couldn’t push myself as much as he wanted me to. So even though he saw potential in me, I backed out. I had enough stress in my life at that time and didn’t want to add more.

Fast-forward to my 40s. I developed a running habit and loved it! The stress of ministry was pushing me into an emotionally dark place, and I discovered that running was a fantastic way of managing the stress and keeping my mind positive and even happy (just Google “running endorphins”). I ran three half-marathons and dozens of 5Ks. But injuries eventually won, and I settled into the category of being a “former” runner.

Two years ago, I was 52 years of age. I was flabby and gaining a lot of unwanted weight. Besides that, I was losing hair quickly on the top of my head. I was becoming what I abhorred: an overweight, bald preacher!

I decided that I wasn’t going to go out without a fight. My body was God’s Temple and I was going to do some Spring cleaning. So, I went to the local gym on January 23, 2023. I hopped down onto a bench press machine and did 130 lbs 8 times. That was an embarrassingly low amount of weight. But what is worse is that I had to lower the weight to 115 lbs in order to do two more sets of 8. I was mortified! I couldn’t believe how flabby I had become!

I was so discouraged that I didn’t return to the gym for four months. But in May 2023, I had renewed my resolve to get fit. I wanted to take care of the one body God had given me. So, I started a habit of going to the gym 3-5 times every week. I didn’t have an intentional fitness plan. I simply went down the line of weight machines and did the workouts. I did upper-body workouts every other day and lower-body workouts every other day.

My gains were marginal. By January 2024, I felt very comfortable at the gym, but I had only slightly increased my fitness. That month, I bought Michael Matthews’s book “Bigger, Leaner, Stronger.” I resolved to follow his weight-lifting plan. My workouts became much more intentional, and I started to see rapid gains.

Fast-forward to last week (January 27, 2025). I wanted to see how much I could lift on the bench press. I had improved so much on the bench press that I was now working out with 250 lbs. But I wanted to see how much weight I could lift one time. Long story short, I benched 310 lbs!