Progress

For the past week or so, I've been exercising at the track - running/walking and running up the stairs. The stairs is big fun - 1:30 intervals of running, with walking and sometimes push-ups in between. At first, I could run up the stairs 6 times, maybe 7. Now I'm running a consistent 8, and my heart rate doesn't get up as high, which means it's actually gotten easier. And running is the same way - I have to run faster to get my heart rate up as high, and it doesn't take as long for it to come back down. Nice to see progress.

I did a '300' workout the other day - 50 reps each of 6 different exercises - deadlifts, push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, box jumps, dumbbell cleans. I thought it would take me a long time, but it only took me 32:00, which was surprising. I actually did 20 90-lb deadlifts, followed by 20 70-lb and 10 50-lb. I remember when doing 12 deadlifts with a 50-lb dumbbell was extremely taxing. Yay me! And when I got on the bike I realized that I had to push up my level toget my heart rate up as high, which was also cool. So basically I'm saying that my cardiovascular health and strength is growing, which is a nice feeling. For me, progress is what it's all about.

I saw my brother today (yay brud!). The first words out of his mouth were 'what's up skinny?'. Say it again Stinky, say it again! Now, skinny I am not, nor ever will be, nor desire to be, truthfully. But I will not deny that it felt good to have my brother, who is a man of few words, call me skinny. It's funny, cuz I was a bit worried - what if he can't tell I've lost weight since the last time I saw him? I'm gonna create a new goal - develop muscles that impress my brother on at least 1 place in my body. Nothing like a compliment from my older brother to motivate me!