$400,000 Body

Written by E.J. Reeves

They say confession is good for the soul. I have told only a handful of people what I am about now to share publicly.

Many people ask how I became so dedicated to fitness? What motivates you at 50 years of age to workouts? What started you on path of inventing, producing and selling your own line of home exercise equipment?

In my late forties life was good. Then it became even better! Still married to the wife of my youth with two adult boys. Only a few years to retirement and everything I own paid for! Wow! Sounds like a dream. It gets better. I started to manage my own investments. Ninety thousand dollars in RRSPs blossomed into $220,000.00 in under a year. Playing the stock market in a bull market with lots of research was making me great amounts of money. An additional $60,000.00 was earmarked in a cash account for my oldest son to go to Chiropractic College.

Then it happened! My dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He would last just over a year. My mother followed 14 months later with a heart attack. During this time I became more aggressive in my investments. Going to the bank, I borrowed $120,000.00 for further investments. Yes, even my son’s college fund of $60,000.00 was invested in boom or bust stocks.
You can guess what happened! Gone, all of it in months, four hundred thousand dollars! I was broke. Even the house belonged to the bank. Through tear filled eyes I broke the news to my wife, “it is gone, all of it, everything, but I will not rest till I make it all back and more”. That commitment to my wife meant I had to think and work my way out of this mess.

First on the agenda was my health! I needed to live long enough and have enough vitality to make good on my promise. High blood pressure, excess body weight, sleepless nights were all the result of my financial carelessness.

Resistance exercise along with aerobics began to clear my mind. I needed more than a skipping rope and some plastic weights.

I incorporated chin-ups and parallel bar dips on some unconventional home equipment. As my body developed so did my chin up and dip bar design. The Innovation Center at the University of Waterloo issued me a certificate of approval for my design after a 27 aspect critical analysis. EasyChin and EasyDip doorway bars were born and entered the market place. My confidence started to return.

Then when things looked like they were going to stall I read Bill Phillips book, Body for Life. “Change your mind, change your body, change your life” is exactly what I wanted. A better body became the corner stone of my new life. Physically, I was improving month after month. For two consecutive years I began the 12-week Body for Life Challenge and quit after some substantial improvement. Good enough or better than I was seemed to prevail. It was not till my 3rd try that I completed the 12-week challenge and sent in my photos. Be the best you can be was my new mindset. Believe and achieve! At 50 years of age with 5.5% body, fat I model my own exercise equipment. What I promised through tear filled eyes years ago has not come about. No, I have not made $400,000.00 but what I do have today is a $400,000.00 body. That’s the amount that started me on my journey to a better life for my wife, my family and me. Many times now when I need some inspiration to workout or to eat right, that amount of money comes to mind. My body is a $400,000.00 body!

Feedback

Hi E.J.,

I came across your website by accessing different links regarding bodybuilding. I must say that seeing your pictures has truly inspired me to want to get into shape. I am 28 years old and your body puts mine to shame. I have about 7 years of weight training experience. In that time I built a pretty decent physique using some of the same
exercises you suggest such as dips, pushups and deadlifts.

However due to bad dietary habits and lack of physical activity I have become grossly out of shape. The three day workout that you have listed in FF magazine is the kind of routine that I pretty much have a preference for. I work the night shift and go to school part time so I do not have a lot of extra time to train.

I was wondering if you could give me a two day a week weight program that I could do to build some quality muscle. I really only have two days during the week that I can devote to a workout.

Also I workout alone so I cant do bench presses. Will pushups be just as effective?

Any help will be greatly appreciated

-Ashton

Hi Ashton,
Sorry for the delay and thanks for the compliment. I am presently working on a chin dip program that challenges you to do 100 chin ups and 100 dips in 30 minutes. The challenge is from a 51 year old, me. This will be in FF-mag shortly. In your case you would take the 100 test every 3 weeks, on an extra day over your 2 day a week program.

Your two day work out would be as many chin ups as you can do in 45 minutes on day one and as many dips as you can do in 45 minutes on day 2. Break up the session into 10 or 15 sets and reps between 4&8. This will give you plenty of rest between sets, 2 minutes plus. Work on your weak areas till you can join the 100 club. Let me know your progress!

-E.J.

Hi E.J.,

Just wanted to say you look real good in the pic with the black t-shirt. Is all you do really what you preach on you site? By the way I like the site a lot but really......Chins and dips and p-ups? I am a man 49 years of age looking for an "economical" way to train and make good gains at my age and it looks as if age is our common denominator. Just looking for some truth in a world not so full of it. Thanks

-Ed

Hi Ed,

You got to read my $400,000 article in FF Mag. No money, poor health, and a desperate situation. What I preach is that compound multi joint exercises where you move your body through space should be the foundation (80% of your workout). These exercises include chin ups, dips, push ups, deadlifts, squats, lunges. The upper body king for muscle building is the chin up. Number 1 tricep and chest builder is the dips. I occasionally add weight by a weight vest or just hanging plates with a rope on my body. I also do some dumbbell exercises. Read my articles and good luck. You need not so much to believe in me but to believe in yourself.

-E.J.

You can e-mail E.J. your questions or comments at info@easyeffort.com

Copyright © 2002 by E.J. Reeves All rights reserved.

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