After two months of this, the Stickman is still the Stickman.
It would seem to the casual observer that forces beyond my control are preventing me from working out. That is an excuse even more pathetic than my bench press. The gym across the street was closed for two weeks, but I managed to get in two workouts at home with Mohammed. My weight bench is missing a part, a support bar that makes it a bit scary to use, since I have replaced it with a piece of plastic pipe. My last trip to the hardware store was unsuccessful, but I am determined to fix it an move on.
Even with all these hurdles, in the last thirty days I got in nine workouts. This is only slightly better than days 1-30, but at least it's on the way up.
A degree of good news - I have divided my workouts into A, B, and C days. I do ten minutes of cardio before and after, just intense enough to get my heart rate up to 130-140. It isn't quite as simple as doing arms and chest one day and core the next - I have tried to work in some variety so there is no part of me that hurts too badly the next day. I faithfully write down the amount of weight used and the number of reps, with a short comment indicating the amount of effort it required. At present, there are four exercises each day, but I will be adding a few more as I learn them from my torturer, er...I mean my trainer.
My last A-day looks something like this:
Dumbbell Press - 25#, 3x10. Tough, but ok (proud of this since I started with 20#!).
Standing up tricep extension with one dumbbell behind my head (Sorry, I don't know what it's called) - 20#, 3x10, also tough, but doable.
Lat pull-down thing - 60#, 3x10, ok, but just barely
Upright Ab row thing - 60#, 3x10, also barely okay
Situps on some kind of spikey-exercise ball that makes me feel like less of a man - 40. Could probably do more if I wasn't thinking so much about getting away from this ball before someone I know sees me.
Just when I was starting to feel organized, Mohammed comes over to the house for a session. We did a few normal things, some chest extension thingy with some old rubber band thingies I had lying around the house, squats, dead lifts, and some dumbbell work with the less worked muscles,
I have no idea what we did, because I am trying to block it out of my memory. This was on a Saturday. On Sunday and Monday, I could barely walk - I must have looked like I was suffering from both kidney stones and hemorrhoids. My quads were killing me, and some obscure muscle that I am pretty sure holds the two halves of my butt together was angry and as sore as a cat's behind after someone scrubs it with a wire brush. Tuesday was marginally better, and my Wednesday I was starting to entertain the idea of a workout - the gym had reopened, and I was anxious to get back inside.
I'm still adjusting the final A-B-C list, and working on changing the way I eat. Apparently one meal a day won't fuel this beast.
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