LongTom

Yeah, I think triceps don't tend to get used as much as biceps, day-to-day. Something about the mechanics of lifting, I guess. Then the first time you introduce them to some real work... boy, they let you know about it the following day! (or two or three...) The good news is next time won't be so bad. The day got away from me -- again -- so I did a weight workout tonight. That's three days running. Gotta stop that. Rogue Mermaid is right that you're supposed to give your muscles a day or so to recover. On the other hand, I haven't been sore the following day for several workouts now, which tells me I haven't been pushing the limits all that hard. Tonight I upped the weight on each of the exercises. I love those little 1-1/4 pound weight plates. They let you creep up right to the edge of your ability. There is no sudden 5-lb jump from "too easy" to "impossible." Also you can add one practically every week, so it feels like constant progress. Like the proverbial woman who carried the bull on her shoulders up the steps of the Parthenon. Started out carrying a newborn calf, and just kept doing it every day, while the calf grew and grew... Tomorrow, it's a hike for sure. Gotta go get some sleep, so I'll be up for it early am.

^ anticipates being compared to a peach.

Just waitin' for that PayPal link...

"Sorry, dead men tell what?" <thud>

Here's hopin' they can get her floated and on her way again, good as new. Thank God everyone is safe.

^ is observant and pragmatic.

^ occasionally turns a kiln into a cannon. (Fire the kiln. ...Boom!)

Can't resist rewriting Arthur C Clarke's (blasphemy, I know, but since he refused to keep it to six words): God: "Attachment: GENESIS.EXE? Damn! Cancel! Cancel!"

^ Surprise gift. If I really, really, really, really want it, I get it myself. If I can't afford it, nobody else is likely to afford it as a gift for me. < Loves archaic gadgets. Currently tinkering with a trebuchet. V Do you ever have to deal with people who think piracy is just another form of geekiness?

^ is one of the few of us who probably gets enough piraticality, day-in, day-out.

"What color is your booty?" If they say "bright red" you'll know they must be an orangutan. (or is it a baboon? I forget...)

I didn't manage to get the end of that walk in yesterday (amazing how bedtime for the kids just shows up suddenly), so I did a weight workout instead. It's almost starting to feel good! That's probably my cue to clap on another pound or so to the dumbbells. Did my 20 on the stair machine this morning. I ratcheted it up from level 4 to 5 and it's still doable. Books on tape definitely help. Silkie, we know you are secretly a vampire. No need to apologize for it.

Having paced it off today at lunch, it is only 0.8 miles to the sandwich shop round trip, so I still owe some hiking time today. Did you know, a mile was originally 1000 double paces (a left and a right) of the size pace walked by the average Roman soldier? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile If you count the number of times your left foot comes down, you have a rough estimate of how far you have walked. It was 400 steps to the sandwich shop and 400 back, or 0.8 miles. (Modern statutory miles are longer, but it's close enough for this purpose. Besides, I bet my stride is longer than the average Roman. ) Goes to show how reasonable a mile really is. People tend to think "A mile? That's too far to walk!" when it's really only about five blocks there and 5 back. That ought to be incentive to do a few more errands on foot. Get your exercise in, and save some petrochemicals while you're at it.

The weekend was difficult. I had some catch-up work to do in a programming class I'm taking, so that took a lot of time. I spent a good deal of it worrying about whether I would get the workout in. I ended up spreading the three sets of weights exercises over two days. That did not work very well. From now on I will get the workout out of the way first thing (since I know it will only take a short, set amount of time), and then I will be free to concentrate during the other, less determinate activities. So I did the weights today, the right way. Success story for me is that I am now back up to my original weight numbers, between restructuring the workout and sticking to it for a couple of weeks now. Yeah, snow is great exercise!

I got Sir Francis Drake. (To be perfectly frank, Peter Duck would probably be a closer match.)

I don't suppose walking to the sandwich shop at lunch counts, does it? It is pretty close to half a mile each way... nah, I didn't think so either. So I did a weight workout when I got home from the commute, too. I noticed that some of the exercises I had picked were inadvertently working the same muscle groups multiple times. That probably was why I was running out of steam on those muscles. (Barbell bench presses, intended to work the chest muscles, require you to extend the triceps too. Afterwards, the tricep extension exercises were just not happening. Imagine that....) So today I picked a new chest exercise and changed the order a little, so that everything gets worked once. The workout went much smoother this time. The moral to that rambling narrative is: keep a sharp lookout for factors that interfere with your success. When you spot one, kill it. Figure out how to fix it or work around it. Don't let it continue to stop you. Okay, end of sermon. Thanks for the support, everyone!

Bwa-ha-hah-hahahah! Not sure exactly why, but the one in the middle reminds me of various of the bad guys from the Disney "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

I got my weights dialed in properly yesterday, so now I have a workout that I can actually finish. (Proved it by doing three complete sets with the adjusted numbers, which I regard as making up for missing Saturday.) I'll use these for a week or two, then start inching up the weight values again. Tried the stairstepper for the first time in over a year this morning. Old Monkey-Mind badly wanted off after 10 minutes. I persevered for the whole 20, but it sure wasn't much fun. I think I will have to dig up some books on tape to keep my brain occupied, instead of staring despairingly at the seemingly immobile countdown timer. And I weighed myself. Gads. 197 lb. A record high. All right then: my goal is 185 by end of June and 175 by end of 2007. (Going by straight BodyMassIndex, they say my ideal weight should be 151, but that sounds like crap to me. I don't care if "emaciated" is the authentic pirate look; I'll take some muscles, thank you very much.)

sending a noisome blast

So far, so good. I wanted to check in at the Pub this lunchtime, but I hadn't done my workout yet today. So, I got outside and on the trail first. 3 miles today. This system works! I find I need to adjust my weights a little. I've tried picking them up from where I left off a couple years ago, and I've lost some of the strength I had built up. It is harder not to bail out when you push the muscles to the point of failure. I got through all three cycles, but on a couple of the exercises I couldn't do all twelve repetitions, risking dropping the weights on my head. Better to make it something that you are sure you can accomplish -- with a little struggle, to be sure, but not beyond your abilities. Then increase when the current level gets easy. That way you can maintain a string of successes. Congratulations, Silkie! I know you can do it. Keep us posted.

I ended up spending Sat setting up for a birthday party and Sun putting it on, so two days lost. If all I had was a schedule to keep, I'd be done for (no drink or devil required). Good thing we have another sort of incentive here to climb back up into the rigging, as it were, after a slip. Did the weight routine today, even the ab crunches, which for some reason just rub me the wrong way. Now there's some abdominal exercise I could really, er, get into. Hmmm. I knew there was a reason I liked peaches. Red Peach Jenny...

Got my hike in today. Mile and a half to the bank, so 3 miles. Since it's on a trail along a stream, it's really more of a pleasant stroll. May have to strap on a pack with some poundage, to make the walk a bit more of a workout. Yesterday, though ... those weights ... whoa, man! It was all I could do not to walk away after two cycles, even though I knew that would be cheating. Actually stood there staring at the weight bench for a good twenty seconds, at war with myself whether to bail out. But I made it. (barely). That was before I signed on here, and it's why I put three cycles in writing: to make it harder to cheat. Add some iron to the will by making it public. Tomorrow, here we come!

Blistering barnacles! What a great way to generate commitment! You want your treat? Gotta put out first. The treat is already a firmly entrenched habit, so that should make it easier to drag the healthy stuff along for the ride. Thanks for leading the way, blackjohn. Okay, here's my commitment. No Pyracy unless I have had either a hike or a weight workout that day. (I expect to be alternating these.) Hike must be minimum 1 mile (the local default is 1 mile one way, so this should be easy), or minimum 20 minutes on the stair stepper if it's raining cats and dogs. Weight workout must be minimum of three full cycles through upper body exercises (pecs, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps. abs). 12 reps each exercise per cycle.

Who is going to play Captain Jack ... er, Sparrow?

spoiled or inexpertly distilled