bench press, deadlift, etc.

[Flint]

I'm in the worst shape of my life! Mid-thirties, with a wife who is a genius in the kitchen, and a two-hour commute to a sit-down computer job.

I have had to find ways to excercise. I do not have time for the luxury of driving to a gym.

Step number one: just to keep from being completely inflexible and getting stress headaches, I do strectches/crunches/push-ups etc. every morning before I get dressed. This happens in between putting on my socks and underwear and finishing getting dressed, so it is "scheduled" every day (therefore I do it every day (I can't skip getting dressed!)).

Step number two: bought a used Gold's Gym weight bench (basic incline/decline adjustable bench) at the thrift store for $39 (cha-ching!) and it came with two sets of dumbells and one straight bar. I had one set of dumbells already--so now I have a warm-up weight, a working weight, and a max weight with dumbells, and one heavy straight bar.

I am forgetting all the fancy bullsh!t I ever read in workout magazines (when I was in my early twenties and had a fast metabolism so what did it matter anyway?) and cranking out BASIC, COMPOUND movements:

Dumbell presses (both slight incline & seated for shoulders)
Deadlifts
Clean and Jerks (yes, those) which are actually a straight-bar version of my own favorite movement (#1 here)
Bent-over barbell rows
Hammer curls
I throw in a few bent-over flys for my rear delts. That's about it.

No fancy cardio warm-up, super-setting, pre-fatiguing etc. etc. just pyramided sets of basic freeweight movements.

STEP THREE: I need to go get some new shoes I can go jogging in. Burn a few calories and get some heart health in there.

Supplemental: We are trying to eat smaller portions and more healthy choices, but NOT to the detriment of enjoying eating food, which we love. I am drinking straight rum over ice instead of beer. I don't plan to cut that many calories, instead I intend to work out with free weights in my garage, like a prison inmate, and build more muscle mass to BURN more calories even at a resting metabolic rate.