Hello and welcome to Chuck-Fit.com!

Photo by michaelJon Photography

My name is Charlie Will. I’m a 49-year-old guy. I’ve been married 26 years to Sandie (her blog is http://www.rockheadsciences.com) and have 2 sons in college.  My entire career was (and still is) in the IT industry and currently work for distributor as a systems engineer supporting enterprise-class Unix severs and enterprise storage. My personal interests lay in health, fitness, and athletics and have done so for most of my life. I started running in high school and it became a long-term passion. I also enjoy writing—I’ve kept a journal on-and-off throughout my life. The Internet presents a great opportunity to share and see if what comes out of my brain really is interesting. So, here goes…

The tagline to my site is, “A near-quinquagenarian’s journey to elite fitness.” A quinquagenarian is someone between the ages of 50 and 59. Yeah, I’m almost there. But, healthy and fit people in their 50s are not really uncommon. In addition to being an old man, I have severe osteoarthritis in my left knee stemming from an injury I sustained in high school. Now, it’s bone-on-bone meaning that I have no meniscus left. The treatment for this is a knee replacement; however, I’m too young for that! Or so the doctor says. I’ve had 4 cortisone shots in the last nine months. The last one didn’t last very long. I recently finished a series of injections of a drug called OrthoVisc. OrthoVisc promotes the production of your body’s own joint lubricants. So far, it’s working great; and, as a result, I’m starting to step up the intensity of my workouts and discovered that elite fitness is possible and not very difficult. I’ve had to make a few adjustments though. The primary change I had to make was to hang up my running shoes. Yes, I was devastated! Thank goodness I discovered the sport of rowing—both on the water and with a rowing machine (called an erg). The challenge with rowing is great; but the opportunity to excel in performance-based athletics is greater still! I’ve also transitioned from free-weight exercises to body weight exercises using a salmon ladder, gymnastic rings and other equipment.

So, what can you expect? A workout of the day will be posted every morning. Videos and articles on using the Concept2 brand erg will be posted. There will be videos and articles covering various exercises and rowing technique on the water. There will be DIY instructions on how to build some of your own fitness equipment. There will be articles on nutrition, balance, fitness tools, and metrics. And, there will be articles on one of the most important aspects of fitness, attitude!

So, why should you follow Chuck-Fit.com? I want you to take this journey with me. I want you to share your experiences, triumphs, failures, and discoveries! I want you to help and encourage your fellow Chuck-Fitters!

Now, there are a couple of important things you need before you start. First and foremost, you need to consult with your most important partner in fitness, your doctor. Don’t start anything with out clearance from him or her! Another thing is a clear head and positive attitude. Finally, the workouts of the day are my workouts. Feel free to make adjustments and share what those adjustments were and why you made them.

C’mon, gang! Let’s do this!

Charlie Will