The Franco-Taiwanese Alliance

Alice and I went to the gym today.  I did:

• 3 x 12 x 35lbs dumbbell press
• 3 x 10 x 25lbs dumbbell curl
• (2 x 10) + (1 x 4) dumbbell lift (what are these actually called?)
• 1 x 10 x 40lbs shrugs
• 3 x 10 x 20lbs leg extensions
• 2 x 20 decline situps
• 1 x 10 x 25lbs weighted decline situps

and then I ran half a mile.  Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Wyotech has continued its trend of being boring, but informative.  We’re currently learning about practical electrical testing and diagnosis with breadboards and DMMs and the like.  I’ve always been afraid of electricity, since I never really understood it, so this is really good for me.

Riding April around for the past couple of days has felt completely awesome.

I’m horny.

Late Poast.

• 1 x 50 pushups
• 1 x 40 crunches
• 1 x 75 squats

I just had my first protein shake… I got a 2lbs. can of Optimum whey protein off of www.bodybuilding.com to test out… let’s see how I feel after a couple of weeks of this and the increased exercises. I also just tried this algae shake stuff my mom gave me, too… it’s supposed to raise your energy levels and also make you more resistant to allergies, so we’ll see how that goes too. I feel a little queasy after pounding both in rapid succession, though! Ah well. I’m switching to doing as many sets of 1x each exercise as I can per day, instead of just one or two max sets in a day. I’m happy with how quickly I’m regaining my old abilities, though I’m still less than 1/4 of the way back to my old daily calisthenics routine.

First set today:

• 1 x 50 pushups
• 1 x 30 crunches
• 1 x 75 squats
• 1 x 20 x 20lbs. dumbbell curls

• 2 x 25 crunches
• 2 x 30 pushups
• 2 x 50 squats
• 1 x 20 x 20lbs curls

• 1 x 30 pushups
• 1 x 20 x 20lbs dumbbell curls
• 2 x 50 squats
• 1 x 25 crunches
• 1 x 20 crunches

I’ve gone ahead and ordered a small package of whey protein shake powder, enough for 30 servings… we’ll see how well that works out.

Today:

• 3 x 20 pushups
• 3 x 15 Eug crunches
• 1 x 50 squats

Not what I used to be, am I? 

I did a set of 100 squats yesterday, and another one just now.  I’m going to try and keep up daily sets of squats for a while, in hopes of toning my leg muscles for motorcycling.  Currently, any ride longer than 45 minutes or so gets me sore… whee.  I’m so out of shape!  Let’s see if I can get in another set of 100 by the end of the day… don’t know how that’ll go.

I didn’t go to the gym again today… it’s hot, I’m lazy, and my legs are sore.  Bad Eug!  I did, however, do some light stuff here… I hopped up for a set of squats (only 100… damned soreness!), and tried to do some push ups.  Apparently my left wrist and shoulder are still borked, though… I only did 5 before stopping from pain.  It wasn’t terrible pain, but it was definitely there, and slowly building, so I didn’t push it.  What am I going to do?

So I was right, and my foot is still wonky today. No gym today, no running today… I’m actually pretty sad about it. I was hoping to build up some momentum this time. I guess I’ll just do some sit ups today, maybe some pushups to try out my wrist, and some squats if my foot and legs don’t complain.

Starting work right now, I’m watching the Speed Channel in the background. I just watched the end of the Spanish Grand Prix 125cc championship 2nd round… what an incredible finish. Gabor Talmacsi (I’m new to following the races, so I don’t really know who these people are yet) led Hector Faubel, both on Aprilias, for at least the last 4 laps of the race, pretty much no gap separating the two of them. Faubel refused to take the lead, even when Talmacsi let off fairly significantly, until the last few turns of the last lap. Faubel turned inside Talmacsi into one of the last turns and took the lead, but then Talmacsi drafted him and pulled alongside him in the home straight and took back the lead… by 14 THOUSANDTHS of a second! I love motorsports.

I went to the gym today for the first time since December (I think the last time before that was sometime in January of 2006).  I ran for 2 miles, with a 2 minute break between each mile, and it felt pretty good (meaning that I felt like I was going to die, but after I was home and cooled off, I was happy with myself).  I was thinking about going for a third mile (honestly, boss!), but my left knee started feeling like it wanted to lock up, so I quit while I was ahead.  I didn’t do any lifting or anything, because I still don’t trust my left wrist.  It’s been hurting upon use ever since the last moto crash, and I’m not really ready to try using it for any serious work.

Theoretically, this gyming thing is going to continue every weekday.  Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m supposed to go with Alice in the mornings before lunch, and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I’m supposed to go by myself when she goes off to band in the afternoon.  I don’t know about tomorrow, though… after the run today, my right foot’s been hurting something fierce when I walk on it, and I don’t know if it’ll be much better by tomorrow.  I’m really not built to run!  Give me a good bench press any day.