Name: Dan Boylan
Age: 53
Height: 5'7"
Body Fat: 6.7 %
Waist: 32"
Arms: 15"
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Before
Age: 51
Weight: 225
Waist: 44"
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After
Age: 51
Weight: 148
Waist: 32
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Click My Picture To Enlarge!
Why I Got Started
I decided to change my way of life when my only clothes I owned that fit anymore were a pair of pajamas with an elastic waistband. While driving my car one day some guy called me a "fat slob". He was right - I can't thank him enough for opening my eyes.
My Advice To Others
For me the easy part of staying in shape is moving the iron - the hard part is the discipline we must use when it comes to nutrition and rest. For all things, good and bad, there is a price. Find someone that motivates you. My favorite bodybuilder is Steve Reeves. I will never forget the first time I saw a picture of him!
My Nutrition
The most important part of my nutritional program is the gallon of water I try to drink daily.
I have not had a piece of bread in 75 weeks and avoid sugar and white flour like the plague. If I had to label my way of eating it would be "low carb". I eat 3 types of fruit: peaches, strawberries and oranges. Occasionally I may eat a little honeydew but thats it as far as fruit goes. Vegetables - a lot, green and leafy. All types of lettuce, asparagus, green beans, brussel sprouts and of course brocoli.
I will eat salad dressing with usually just vinegar. The grains I eat usually consist of brown rice and oatmeal.
Now for the protein: More chicken breasts than you can imagine - Usually done in the microwave by my overworked and understanding wife. Steak, lamb chops, fish, 12 to 24 egg whites a day, protein powder and peanut butter.
I'm not as concerned about the fat content as I am about the amount of carbohydrate. I do limit the amount of egg yolk and peanut butter. I eat salmon once or twice a week for the oils I need and also a little olive oil.
Sugar free jello and green tea is great in front of the TV at night. I satisfy my sweet tooth with splenda (sucralose) and avoid sacharin and aspartane whenever possible. I sweeten the coffee and tea I drink with splenda.
The Supplements I Take Daily Are:
I also have approximately 80 grams of protein from powder throughout the day in shakes or mixed in with oatmeal.
I was taking creatine until I started to prepare for my first bodybuilding contest (I was concerned about water retention).
I sometimes use a thermogenic / fat burner and also low carb protein bars.
My Training
I've been training for less than 2 years. My training routine varies and I am constantly changing it to keep my body from adapting and stalling growth.
Typical Schedule
Day 1 - Bi's and tri's
Day 2 - Chest
Day 3 - Back
Day 4 - Off
Day 5 - Legs
Day 6 - Shoulders
Day 7 - Start over (arms again) taking every fourth day off.
I'm more conscious of overtraining and the resulting lack of progress/growth now than I was in the beginning. I've also begun doing more squats and dead lifts.
I love long walks, 3 or 4 miles, and often do intervals (sprinting or jogging) to rev up my metabolism. I exercise my abs in the morning before I go to the gym and also use the crunch machines and vertical leg raise stand at the gym usually at the end of my workout. I know I exercise my abs too much. Before my first competition I was able to hold a pencil in the inscriptions of my upper abdominis rectus! My favorite ab exercises are the decline crunch on a decline bench and leg raises ( only slightly bent) either flat on the ground or on a vertical leg raise stand... nice and slow, strict form with a pause at the top of each rep.
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When it comes to ab work I have a little saying I repeat to myself before I begin: "make it hurt... make it count". I stretch and do 20 minutes of ab work when I get up in the morning. I have an ab board in my apartment for decline crunches and lie on the floor for leg raises and crunches. I also lie on the ab board with my head higher than my feet to increase the degree of difficulty for my leg raises.
I do 2 of the following on any given day: 3 sets of crunches, 3 sets of leg raises or 3 sets of decline crunches (sometimes with weight for added resistance). I've gotten into the habit of doing this every morning but if I feel any soreness at all I do nothing.
I try to do my cardio (walking / interval jogging) on an empty stomach in the morning... but lately I've been doing it in the afternoon to get some sun, which I understand, helps with the production of testosterone. I'm constantly altering my fitness routine. I do cardio 5 times a week. I love walking in the sun with my shirt off.
In The Gym
Arms:
1 warm up set of 15 reps of standing barbell curls. Four additional sets using both the straight and easy curl barbell while increasing the weight. 35, 45, 45, 55.
Rep to fail in last set. 8 to 12 reps for the other sets. Usually I start my arm session with these standing barbell movements to get me going. Then I move onto twelve to sixteen sets of the following:
Seated incline alternate dumbell curls - 4 sets
Cable curls (preacher type bench) - 4 sets
Hammer curls (seated or standing) - 4 sets
Concentration curls - 4 sets
Standing alternate dumbell curls - 4 sets
Standing barbell curls using the 7/21 procedure - 3 sets
Bottom part of the curling motion for 7 reps, then the top part for 7 reps, then 7 full range of motion curls.
Click Here For A Printable Log Of My Arm Workout
Tris:
Sixteen sets - incresing the weight and lowering the reps with each subsequent set of each exercise movement. At the end of my tri routine I may drop down and burn them up with push ups to full fatigue...talk about trashing my arms!
Sometimes I do bis first, sometimes tris first, sometime I alternate. Always, never and can't are words I try not to use.
Kickbacks
Skull crunchers
Dips
Pushdowns
Behind the neck extensions.
Back:
I always do 3 sets of pull ups (pronated hand posistion) to start. This is the only exception to my "nothing is written in stone philosophy" set 1 - 10 reps. sets 2 and 3 to failure.
Sometimes I do some lat pulldowns using a cabled bar to extend this movement beyond the 3 sets.
Kneeling one arm dumbbell rows - 4 sets
Seated row - 4 sets
Standing rowing type movement using the Smyth machine, hyperextensions and deadlifts - 1 set
12 sets total for my back. 15 if I feel exceptionally strong that day.
Click Here For A Printable Log Of My Back Workout
Legs:
Squats - 5 sets. Nothing glamorous about this exercise... except the results.
I use as much weight as I can to first get 10 reps. Then I add some weight, get under the bar, step back and see what I'm made of.
Leg press - 3 sets
Leg Extensions - 3 sets
Leg curls - 3 sets
Click Here For A Printable Log Of My Leg Workout
Shoulders:
I usally do front and lateral raises stimulating 2 of the 3 heads of the deltoid. Reverse flys hitting the rear head. Front military press, shoulder shrugs and side laterals on an incline board.
16 total sets done with the right amount of intensity and increasing the weight with each subsequent set usually leaves me wishing I had taken up golf!
Front and lateral raises
Reverse flys
Front military press
Shoulder shrugs
Side laterals
Chest:
Flat bench press: Six sets pyramiding the weight. Starting with 10 reps. For my 3rd set I usually do 5 reps with 185. My short term goal is to weigh less than 150 Lbs. and bench 225. I now weigh 148 and I can bench 215...almost there.
Incline Bench press - barbell or dumbells ( I like the dumbbells) - 4 sets
Decline Bench - 3 sets
Flyes - Sometimes with dumbbells on a flat bench, sometimes with the pec-deck machine - 3 sets
Cable cross overs - 3 sets
16 sets for this body part.
Click Here For A Printable Log Of My Chest Workout
I have a core exercise for every body part I train. I usually do this exercise everytime I train that particular body part...but not always. The only exception is the pull up on back day.
Bi's - Standing barbell curl
Tri's - Push down
Back - The pullup
Shoulders - Side lateral raise
Legs - Squat
Chest - Flat bench press
I'm using dumbbells more and more and doing forced reps, negatives and drop down sets less and less.
This past August I entered my first contest and placed fourth in the "Grandmaster (over 45) NABF Supernatural show held on August 10, 2002, in Scarborough Maine...my dream came true.
I also competed in an NPC show on Sept. 29, in Manchester, NH. I came in third in the men's open lightweigt division when I lined up against the "kids". I'm looking forward to competing in a Master/Grandmaster Division for men over 50 so I can pick on guys my own age!
E-Mail Me At dankar@stis.net!
