It’s update day here at pressing on!
Just a couple of small changes on the front to report. First, the titles of the entries now serve as the links to the individual entries. Also, I’ve given the archives their own section in the left-hand menu, where I’ve included a link to the main archive index as well as the categories. Finally, I made a small modification to the “comment…” link for each entry.
Among other things, this now makes the front page WAI-AAA compliant.
By popular demand (hi, mom), here’s some pictures of my apartment I took yesterday afternoon.
Today’s big effort was to get through the chest portion of the workout. I had difficulties with the last two sets last time, and I was looking forward to getting it this time. Day 4 showed areas of improvement (chest, back), areas that need to be worked on (my right bicep, particularly), and areas that I’m not pushing enough (triceps). I’ll adapt Friday’s workout and hopefully the progress will continue.
I’m really happy with the improvement so far. And I feel a lot better after a workout now than I did the first day.
I’m now officially a student here. I registered this morning.
In orientation, the graduate secretary said to get there early, because it would be the best way to ensure getting the classes that you wanted. I figured, “hey, it starts at 8. 7:15 should be plenty of time to be in front.”
Not even close. There were 25 people in front of me when I got there. As a result, one of the classes that I wanted was filled before I could get into it. So now, I’ll be taking two of the harder core courses in addition to two optional courses instead of the originally planned one and three, respectively. I hope that this fall term doesn’t follow Alabama’s precedent of always being much harder than the spring tems, but it’s already shaping up that way.
After that, I went to get books. If there’s one thing that I did not miss about college, it was shelling out hundreds of dollars for textbooks and knowing I’d never get that money back. Oh well. I guess I’ll look at it as “building my personal library” or something optimistic like that. I looked at Amazon to see if they happened to have them for less, but no such luck.
I had to get up really early to get to campus, so I’m not going on a lot of sleep. I’m going to take a nap, and when I wake up, I’ll do my workout.
After going to today’s departmental orientation session, I am walking back to the corner of University and 13th so that I can pick up the northbound 8 towards my apartment. I look down at my watch and realize that the southbound 8 should be heading this way pretty soon as well. I look up at the sky. It is becoming overcast, and it appears that one of Florida’s famous mini-storms is brewing.
You know, I haven’t ever exactly had a whole lot of luck in the love department, but at least I’ve never been on the receiving end of one of these phone numbers.
Today was another step in the right direction. I pushed myself pretty hard again today by stepping up the bench press weight again, and it showed. I wasn’t able to complete the final two sets, but that’s okay. It gives me something to work towards on Monday. On the positive front, I completed the biceps sets with my right arm as well as my left! This is a big accomplishment. Now I can finally move upward a little bit there on Monday!
Day 3’s results show a steady improvement overall. I’m very pleased with my progress thus far. I’m pushing myself well. I wasn’t this far along last time.
I am a man of simple tastes when it comes to food, for the most part. I’m willing to try most things at least once, but I know when I like something and I know when I don’t. At least most of the time. Chinese food is the most glaring exception (what was I thinking?)
That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I tried a Boca Burger for the first time. For those who don’t know, a Boca Burger is a vegetarian burger. Now, before you gag, I’ll come right out and say that it tastes more like real meat than I would have expected. Much more, in fact. I usually give my burgers the A.1. treatment anyway, which takes out any remaining non-meat taste. I especially like the fact that on the whole, they’ve got about 20 less grams of fat per burger and just about as much protein. Brandon likee. Now, this doesn’t mean that I won’t enjoy a real-meat burger every now and then too. 🙂 But it’s nice to have alternatives.
Also, I have actually cooked with a spice now (well, other than making cinnamon toast). Specifically, garlic & herb seasoning. I really like baked chicken, but I was tired of doing it plain, so I decided to try adding spices to it. I bought two kinds – the aforementioned garlic & herb, and rotisserie seasoning. Man, those things are expensive! Five bucks for two bottles! At least they’ll last me for forever, practically.
Just after I stopped feeling sore from the first time, here it is Friday. Actually, I was pretty pumped about giving it another go. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about workout programs, it’s that the first time’s always the toughest. After that, you get into the spirit of it, and it becomes a challenge, not something to dread.
Looking back on the first workout, I realized that I hadn’t really pushed myself very hard in the chest exercises, so I downgraded my effort in day 1 and added weight to the lifts today. I also went up a little in weight on most of the shoulder exercises and the “high point” set of dumbbell pullovers for the back.
Day 2’s results were pretty promising, I think. I managed the extra chest weight pretty handily, and the shoulder weight added to the intensity there. I almost got that last dumbbell pullover! I’ll get it next time for sure. Of special note is that I completed the workout in 46 minutes, right on time, for the first time ever! I was never able to do it the first time. I feel a lot better after this workout than the first one, and that’s to be expected, I would think. Now it’s time to go eat…
I believe that Daffy Duck said it best…”agony, aggg-oooo-nyyyyy!”
I’d forgotten just how rough the first workout can make you feel. Right now, my biceps and triceps are still screaming at me, “What did you do to us?” from my Monday workout. Making a right angle with either arm sends a jolt of pain from both, pleading with me never, ever to do that to them again.
But that’s okay. Experience tells me that it gets easier from here, as long as I keep up with it. And that’s what I intend to do. I’ve outlined my goals for this plan. I’m no fitness expert or dietician, so my numbers my not be reasonable. Then again, I’m measuring my weight and body-fat percentage with instruments that only provide reasonable figures, at best. My overall goal is to look and feel better about myself, and that’s something that I can easily track progress of without resorting to numbers.