[sebbie]

Thinking Back…

In high school, I was a very skinny nerdy kid with a very “long drink of water” look. I had suddenly grown to 5 ft 10 inches, but my body weight stayed stubbornly the same at only 105 lbs. I went through four years of college and my body weight went up to maybe 110 pounds. I might have made it to 120 pounds but that was it. I admired the guys who as they grew they acquired more muscle mass, making their shirts and jeans look right. Me, no matter what clothes I bought, they fit way oversized on my skinny arms, legs and even my chest.

Very early on I also admired the fit guys who looked good wearing only a Speedo, but that required the basics such as an actual chest and thighs, not to mention glutes, and I had none of those. I bought a house after I took a job and decided what it really needed was a hot tub, as that would give me an excuse to own Speedos and wear them every day. So I added a small room on the back of my house and installed a hot tub and bought appropriate “swimwear” for that.

But this did nothing for my gaunt physique. I had a friend who was an excellent swimmer, a native of Greece, who said “no problem! You see I have this friend who is a swimming instructor and she will teach you how to swim.” She tried but physically it just did not work for ma. I could save myself from drowning maybe but that was it.

I decided the problem I was having was way weak upper body strength. Going swimming was a pain as I had to spend time driving to and from the pool. There must be a better way for me to build my body with the idea that this will make swimming easier. Why not a stationary rowing machine, of course! I had a spare bedroom, and I had a small color TV in it. I was also looking at weightlifting equipment that would not cause injury if I was working out alone and I chose a too big weight and dropped it, and the inexpensive home gyms with weight stacks were just that. So the 3rd bedroom became my gym and rowing area.

From the moment I sat on my first rowing machine I knew I had found my sport. And I loved the new no- fuss weightlifting setup too. I watched TV as I rowed. Here were activities that were finally going to make me move along the lines I wanted to go. If it was possible for the rowing machine to build an upper body then my body would have no choice but to obey. I liked these activities so much I never went back to swimming.

The whole idea was to spend an hour rowing followed by various activities on the weightlifting home gym. Speedos are not ideally suited to these activities, though other kinds of Lycra gear are. There was one set of clothing for rowing and weightlifting, and the hot tub was always waiting. So after my daily workout .I would get out of my workout gear, get in a Speedo and hop into the hot tub. There are some interesting things a guy can do with his male body parts up against the jet of a hot tub. Can you say “quick orgasm?” The sensation is like having the cum being “sucked” out of your body, and it happens even if you are not hard at all. This sort of play must sell a lot of hot tubs.

So, for the last 35 years or so I have been rowing and weightlifting pretty much every day. After I broke my hip in an unfortunate accident in 2014, I added a stationary bike to my routine and I have now gone 9000 miles on that a half hour a day.

AND skinny jeans that fit my still lean body are now readily available, but then my thighs are bigger now from all the rowing and bike riding. Today I am wearing a pair of 31 x 30 skinny jeans, the same waist and inseam I wore in high school. At my age of 73, I know of few guys who can say that as the normal aging process adds an inch or so to the waist a year. I have a very big pile of jeans I have accumulated over the past two decades all ranging from 30 x 30 to 32 x 30. Some guys might worry that this would be a huge waste of money (My jeans collection is at least as large as my Speedo collection) but they all have been the right size for 20 years, and I presume if I keep rowing and bike riding on a daily basis my jeans will continue to fit.

Do I have any regrets? Not really! I am still as enthusiastic about stationary rowing as a sport as I was when I first started over 30 years ago. Of course, I also have a big collection of workout gear that works well for rowing, and, being retired now, I live in that every day. Compression shorts and tees, compression running tights, not to mention football pants and wrestling singlets. My go-to setup uses a pair of tighty whiteys under the compression shorts, but an underwear thong is way interesting as well. And sometimes just a strap, with or without a cup. Great sport! Great fun! And the time on the machine goes quickly especially wearing the right gear!