Here’s a picture of me on the Torso Rotation machine at Basic-Fit Korenmarkt.

Okay, I lied.  (About the me part)

It’s one of the thirteen exercises I do on my strength training days.  I have an app called Hevy which charts my progress about the weight I lift for each one.

Ah yes … that seductive word progress.  In the spirit of “More, better and different”. 

What do I want?  Simply to be healthy.  And to continue living in my apartment till I’m 90 (14 more years).  I’m about 50 steps up from street level and my building doesn’t have an elevator.  So I need to be strong.  Bulky muscles don’t interest me.  Instead I love my red living room walls.

Back to Torso Rotation.  Over the last month, alarm bells have been ringing but I only heard them yesterday.  I have been seduced.  Since July, I’ve watched with pride as the weight lifted rose from 40 to 130 pounds.  “Strong man”, my mind whispered.  “Getting close to the territory of the big guys!”  (Actually, that wasn’t true)

The alarm sounded because my movements were sudden jerks, not the smooth flow that my Canadian trainer taught me.  I was going too fast left and right.  And I was banging the weights!  Loud.  That’s a major no-no, disrespectful of other gym patrons.

So yesterday the epiphany:  Do it right, Bruce.  Proper form.  A natural rhythm.  Cut the weight in half and see what happens.

I chose 60 pounds.  And I flowed.  I felt the stretch in the obliques (muscles on the sides of the abdomen).  I was … home.

Hevy told me that the total weight I lifted yesterday for all exercises was about 2000 pounds less than a few days ago.  I smiled.  “So what?”  The rhythm was back, plus the slow contraction and expansion of muscle.

A tiny whispered “Yes”