Age is relative

I had another assessment done at the gym this week. This one was actually a re-do of the fitness testing I did when I joined the gym - a multi-point assessment of my fitness level. I was happy and sad with the results.

The most pointed part of which is something called "body age". I hate the idea of aging, mostly because I feel so damn youthful most of the time. So when faced with a number, I cringe.

There is a lot of good going on here, though, and I need to acknowledge it. First of all, my original assessment, in September of 2007, showed a weight of 270. This was after I lost the first 10 pounds on my quest for health. On Monday night, I weighed in at 213. (I was wearing shoes, and clothes ... so I'm not too concerned about the several-pound spike in my weight.) That's a significant loss of 57 pounds; I'm owning that.

My BMI, or body mass index, went from Obese Class III (meaning "danger, asshole, you're close to death) to the low end of Obese Class I. I am, quite literally, just a few pounds away from being just plain "overweight". I'll take it.

My cardiovascular health has gone from very low to fair. This is where I need to improve to progress as a runner.

Finally, my body fat percentage has gone from very high - 46.1 percent (yikes! almost half of me was fat!) to a just plain "high" rating at 33.3. Moderate is 25.1 to 3o percent fat, whereas Optimal is 20.1 - 25.0; so that's where I'm headed.

So like I said ... good stuff, in many ways, although I am not as far as I'd like to be. But my Body Age? Yeah. My body is 52. It's gone up a year since my last assessment. But let's be fair - my body age was 51 when I was 41; it's 52 and I'm 44. I think I can live with that. AND, if I become more flexible (hello, hot yoga!), increase my cardiovascular health, and lose the fat, I can decrease my body age to about 38.

Okay. What's the plan?

Well, I'm going to continue my basic focus here. Sticking to the current workout regimen, which is:

• Monday night - three to five mile run
• Tuesday night - lift weights, Salsa/Funk
• Wednesday night - hot yoga
• Thursday night - short run (two to three miles) and elliptical
• Saturday morning - lift weights, long run (four to seven miles)

And I'm adding to that four push-ups every day, until that gets easy. Then, we bump it up to five ... and six ... and so on. Also, I'll be doing a few yoga poses every day. Every day. Flexibility does not come easily. I'm going to have to work at it. Add to that taking supplements (fish oil, anyone?) and we're set. I'm commited to being below 200 pounds by the time I run the Shamrock Shuffle. That's 13 pounds in six weeks.

Booyah.