Fitness Rocks About - Eric Ellis
So, I'm the owner of this blog and I am definitely a workout guy who has been into nutrition, strength training, yoga, cycling, running, triathlons, competitive softball, played college baseball as a catcher. I believe in cross-fit and I'm just a normal guy who loves to max out life to its fullest while having a passion for staying in shape.
I have a lovely wife and 2 kids and work full-time in the IT industry.
I have literally spend 4 decades in sports, weight lifting and nutrition that I don't mind sharing about in the hopes it could help the next person.
Eric Ellis
My Background and Site History
I started weight training in 1986 when I built my first weight bench out of wood with my best friend Chad Link. The weights were the old school weights where they were plastic and had sand in them. I think it was a 110 pound weight set. 😊 My have the days change since 1987. Now we have fancy Rubber coated steel bumper plates in any color you want to have. Lol
So, I have been involved in sports, fitness and a competitive athlete for 37 years at the time of this writing on 2/2/2023.
That time and dedication allowed me to experience using almost every time of fitness equipment out that you could possibly want to use or train with to get in shape.
That also means I have spent a lot of money purchasing my own gym equipment to stay healthy and I have also spent a tremendous amount money on nutrition supplements and researching them to enhance my workouts and my ability to do endurance racing as I progressed in my later years. So, that leads into why I created this site.
My Sites Mission and Vision
I originally wanted a place to document my workout experience doing beachbody.com workouts. I wrote up several pages on that and shared my results as I did them so others would benefit from that and could make decisions if the programs were right for them.
As, that progressed I started to review other fitness equipment I used, or I thought others would like to use to save them time researching equipment to buy. So, some of the reviews are on products I owned, some are reviews on products I went to the store and tried out and some are on products I researched online because they are not available to buy locally or go see them.
Pigman Sprint Triathlon Race
I included a few of my race pictures from doing triathlons. I ended up doing my first sprint triathlon in 2003 and I continue to do them as I have time. Lately they are team triathlons where I just do the bike and let someone else do the swim and run.
It's much easier on my body at my age and takes less training time. 🙂 lol
I started doing triathlons in 2003 where it was a time in my life I needed to put focus into something outside of work to keep my mind off some personal struggles I was going through.
It really did help because I would spend an average of 10-15 hours a week lifting weights, swimming, biking and running. When you train for a triathlon it is a big time commitment and the longer the races the more training time is required.
For my first one I did a sprint distance and finished. I was pretty happy with my times and I was then hooked into the sport for the next 15 years. 🙂
I loved doing the beachbody.com workouts
You'll find that I'm also a Beachbody workout fan. I started out with the first version of p90x many years ago to keep my competitive edge up in age group sports after college. That was something I proceeded to do for 2-3 years and then went to Insanity. I would use these programs to train in the off season while I was doing triathlons
Then I went to p90x 2 and now I'm going after Focus t25. I have also done Bodybeast and P90x3 as well.
Now, as life has progressed I still like to bike 3000 plus miles a year, I haven't raced in a while but that is something I plan on doing again in 2021. It will probably be something like a team triathlon or a long road road.
That's just a tad bit about me. Feel free to comment on the blog or use the contact us page to send me an email.
That's just a tad bit about me. Feel free to comment on the blog or use the contact me page to send me an email.
Take Care,
1906 Rogers Creek Rd
Ely, Iowa 52227
319-727-1151
I have been searching for an appropriate workout plan but haven’t been able to find one and thinking maybe you can help. I’m 63 with arthritis in both knees, plus they tend to pop out of joint without warning at times. Otherwise I’m in fairly good shape, only slightly overweight, but looking for something not necessarily to lose weight but rather to keep me healthy, given that I can’t run or play the sports I used to play. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks.
Hey Ducan, I can related. I have had 3 knee surgeries and could use another one but I’m doing my best to avoid it. 🙂 When you have that issue, it is tough to find a good workout that is safe.
Have you tried any yoga yet? I’m still able to jump around and what not. I do wear knee braces during the workout so that help give me strength going laterally. If you can get away with wearing braces that still give you some movement, yoga would be a great start. I would also focus on the upper body with dumbbells. You can do a lot of exercises with your chest, arms, shoulders and back. I would stay in the with something like 15 reps for 1 set, 12 reps for set 2 and 10 reps for set 3. At your current stage in your life, it’s all about stability and healthy living to do what you can. I get it.
Take a look at the PiYo program here to see if you have any interest to it. I know yoga is not a sexy workout word but I’m telling it does wonders for the back, keeping you flexible, strengthening supporting muscles around your shoulders, knees and back. All the other ones have way to much jumping in them which I would not recommend at all. If I come up with something I will let ya know.