Keeping Healthy and Fit at 40

At the young age of 40 I have no parents, both of them were lost to horrible diseases, my Mother passed from Cancer over 10 years ago and my Father passed away from heart disease a year and a half ago.  I have always been blessed with a high metabolism and in my 20's and early 30's I was always active but I ate like crap and had no real plan to stay fit in a proper way.  In my 30's I made a decision to eat better, cut out soda (Coca Cola in particular) and work out consistently.

I want to be active and around for a long time to enjoy my Children and their Children. So to that respect I worked through a number of training regimes from Karate, to self directed, to Shaun T's Insanity.  I have now settled into a really great workout routine and when I started to document it I realized it is actually quite crazy.  I do this a minimum 3 times a week, optimally 4 times depending on work meetings (I have a gym at my office). I feel great, muscle tone is amazing, and I have the lean tone physique I have always wanted.  I just need to fully clean up my diet if I ever want to get rid of the lingering softness around my belly. :)

With this workout and overall better eating I have lost a belt size and shirts that were snug fit amazing now.  Another helpful thing I do is always use the stairs at work.  Each day that amounts to  20 - 30 flights of stairs.

Start - Cardio

• Warm up the upper body with Tewaza routine from Karate.
• Punch drills x 10  - Uppercut each hand, low punch each hand, high punch each hand, side punch each hand, cross punch each hand
• 400 skips on Jump rope (200 traditional, 200 butt kick style)
• 80 Traditional Jumping Jacks, 20 Power Jacks
• 13 Minutes of High Intensity Elliptical (treadmill is a strain on my knees for whatever reason)

Stretching

• 4 Deep Breath cycles (cycle is 10 seconds)
• 3 squat stretch cycles
• Knee stretch cycle - each side
• Ankle stretch cycle - each side
• 2 Low stretch cycles  
• 2 Running stretch cycles - each side
• Hamstring stretch cycle - each leg
• 3 Deep Breath cycles

Core  Work

• 4 Handstand drills (unassisted handstand holds)
• 10 deep pushups - tapping alternating shoulders on rise
• 10 Tricep pushups
• 20 wide pushups - with alternating raised legs (always supported by only one leg)
• 4 alternating raised leg Plank cycles
• 4 alternating raised arm Plank cycles
• 30 Alternating Leg lifts (back is curved, leg raised to ceiling) for Abdominals
• 20 Bicycle crunches
• 14 shoulder dips
• 14 narrow pullups
• 14 wide pullups
• 20 Medicine Ball lifts alternating sides - 10lb medicine ball
• 10 Medicine Ball overhand lifts  - 15lb medicine ball 

Weights

• 20 Bench Press - 170lbs
• 40 curls each arm - 25lbs
• 10 tricep curls each arm - 25lbs
• 10 shoulder lifts each arm - 25lbs
• 20 Butterfly - 130 lbs (Pectorals)

Stretching

• 4 Deep Breath cycles (cycle is 10 seconds)
• 3 squat stretch cycles
• Knee stretch cycle - each side
• Ankle stretch cycle - each side
• 2 Low stretch cycles  
• 2 Running stretch cycles - each side
• Hamstring stretch cycle - each leg
• 3 Deep Breath cycles