It was a Sunday evening and I was exhausted. I spent the weekend catching up on some much need R&R and luckily, the crappy weather allowed me to do so. It had been raining non stop since Friday afternoon. After some shopping and family time, I planned on sitting down on the couch, something I rarely do, kicking up my legs and resting.

But, my daughter wanted to go to the gym. Deep down I wanted to encourage her to rest, but my wife encouraged me to go with her. I knew the toughest part of this was simply going to be showing up. So, I threw on my flip flops and we got in the car and drove to The Underground.

My daughter chose her own music and we both got busy training. She was fired up with my new Sorinex Dark Horse racks and of course, so was I. I've been hyped up for these new racks and I've been getting Sorinex equipment since 2003. My first squat rack for my business inside my garage was a Sorinex rack.

I started warming up and as I recall from Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, he shared a story of training at World Gym during a beautiful day. He said he stepped out onto the outdoor training deck and the cloudy day became a beautiful sunny day. In that moment he came up with 20 excuses as to why he could skip training for the day, until he turned around and saw others training hard.

He spoke about how often times, those days you don't want to train but you show up anyway, become some of your best and most memorable workouts.

At age 45 and finally feeling semi normal after my full meniscus repair, yesterday was a great training session. My knee and ankle swelling had gone down considerably. My blood clot seems to be on the mend and my range of motion through my knee and ankle improved considerably.

Last weekend at Summer Strong I saw a few of the "older" Coaches getting after it. They were benching heavy, squatting heavy and deep and pulling 500 and 600 lbs. These guys are older than me. But guess what? We keep showing up. We refuse to let age be an excuse for being weak.

At age 45, this doesn't get any easier, so the course can not be strayed from. You must stay the course. Here's a Video of my training from last night:

I am not sure exactly how many sets I did and I didn't count reps much, I went by feel but below is a pretty accurate description of how the night went:

Jammer Arm Circuit: 5 Rounds

A) Press x 10

B) Row x 10

C) Standing Leg Curl x 10

Shoulder / Biceps / Triceps Circuit: 4 Rounds

A) EZ Bar Curl (6 ft Ivanko Curl Bar)  x 10-12

B) Triceps Push Ups off Jammer Arms x 12 - 15

C) Thick Grip Side Raise x 5

I also got in some hanging knee raises and band pull aparts, both promote shoulder health.

Here's a Video with the story behind the Ivanko EZ Curl Bar.....

I will get back to test driving the IVANKO EZ curl bar for some benching.

Unfortunately, I can't find the old videos of Bert Sorin and Pops benching 275 and 315 with that curl bar.

A few things I've added to my training this past week as my knee improves:

• I have begun using the old school stair master! I used to use that machine in the 90s and not only does it get your heart pumping but damn, your quads get pumped from that machine!
• Backwards walking on a treadmill to work on knee extension and knee health. This means that in a week I will be getting in some volume of backwards sled drags as well.
• Walking in cold ocean water to knee level to help with recovery and hip / leg strength. 

There's a possibility of me putting together a short training plan via my Train Heroic platform for a 8 week training cycle. Although there are MANY men in their mid 30s to early 50s following The Gladiator STRONG Training program.

You can try 7 Days FREE - Details Here.

My latest project that I will be putting a ton of focus and effort into is my new certification, The SSPC Certification. This means The Underground Strength Coach Cert has evolved and is coming to a close.

If you're a Strength Coach, Click HERE for more info on becoming a Certified SSP Coach.