I'm Just a Lightweight

OK, so I lift weights twice a week. You'd think by now, in my third year doing this Younger Next Year program, that I'd be able to lift a Volkswagen bug off a button-nose child in distress.

Not so. Unless, that is, I had a tremendous sudden release of adrenaline sparked by some crisis.

The main thing I learned at my 9-10-11 wedding to the woman I call Wonder is a lot of the menfolk in my family, and those in my wife's family, are way, way stronger than me. That's true even though I am a recovering junior college shot putter. Yes, I once tossed around a 16-pound iron ball, just for fun and giggles.

The men helping out at the wedding could lift really heavy objects like arbors that made my knees buckle and my eyes bulge. They made lifting heavy objects look effortless.

Maybe I need to lift heavier weights in my twice-a-week, hour-a-day weightlifting sessions. I need my muscles to burn more. I need to get the most return for my investment in time.

Still, I'm happy with the results I'm getting with light weights. It does wonders in the battle against minor arthritis that sneaks up on a guy in the AARP years. And it makes me not be embarrassed if I get caught without a shirt on. I am not Charles Atlas. Or Mike Tyson. And I don't really want to be. What I want to be is an endurance athlete. I want to have good muscle tone and quality of life. And if I don't win the family Volkswagen bug-hurling contest, so it goes.