Tag Archives: strength training

Leg day

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One of my health goals this year is to increase the size of my legs, specifically my quadriceps. I think that for their size, they are pretty strong, but that’s relative because they are pretty skinny.

Proportionally I look like a guy who chooses to skip leg day. That’s not fully true, I work my legs almost daily, but that’s usually a weighted walk on the treadmill, or once-a-week sprints, and of course, mentioned many times here, the Coquitlam Crunch walks weekly.

Basically, I exercise my legs more than any other part of my body… but almost always walking, and for cardio rather than explicitly to strengthen and grow them. If I look back at last year, I’d guess I did about 40 or so leg days, barely over once a week for only 75% of the weeks in 2025. Then to start this year, I did legs on the 1st, then today, on the 11th.

My goal, which I will be tracking, is to get at least 78 dedicated leg days in this year. That’s an average of 1.5 times per week. This is harder that it would seem because I need at least 2 days rest after a leg day before my training to Everest the Crunch, because climbing the Crunch progressively more times to train is by no means fun after a leg day.

One thing I hate about leg day is that I find of all my body parts legs hurt the most for the next two day. That means over 150 days this year that I’m going to feel sore legs. Yuk. But if I’m going to gain another 10 pounds, another goal I have for the year, most of it will need to be on my legs. I’m not going to get much bulkier in my upper body, so legs are the place I have the most potential to grow.

So there it is, I’ve put my goals out into the universe, now I’ve got to make them real. Leg day #2 done for the year… I’ll link back here at the end of December.

The power of protein

I’ve listened to a few people like Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Rhonda Patrick, who are both looking at the recommended daily allowance of protein (for healthy people) and questioning it. In this video they discuss, “The longevity benefits of proper protein intake and strength training.

I already start my mornings with a protein shake, but now I’m looking at ways to increase my protein even more. There are risks around eating things like too much red meat, and after watching ‘The Game Changers‘ on Netflix, I could see myself moving to a vegetarian diet at some point (not too soon, I just love animal meat too much).

But for now I’ll blend my intake of protein between meat and vegetables… and I’ll increase how much of it is part of my diet. I remember when I did 6 weeks of the Keto diet. My body loved it, but my social life didn’t. It’s too restrictive, but I do recall just how good I felt when I was consuming a lot more protein than I do now.

I also loved the book, ‘Younger Next year‘, and I’ve shared it and suggested it to more people than any other book in the last few years. The reality is that I may be 56, but I’m not done building muscle. I’m on a path where at least 5 days a week I will work a minimum of one muscle group to fatigue and remind my body that it’s not going down hill and degenerating. Instead, I’m giving my body the message that it is still young and growing. And what I also need to do is give it enough protein to keep my body healthy… and that’s more protein than I currently eat.

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*I am not a doctor and I don’t play one on the internet.
This is my plan and please do your own research and
consult your own doctor about diet changes…
especially if you are not already healthy!