Hi there, and welcome to the Faustian Bargain, my personal workout log. Not quite sure how long or how well I'll stick to this, but let's at least give it a shot.

My budgeted workout schedule is as follows:

Weights three times per week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Jogging five or six times per week, depending upon the weather.

To the extent budgeted becomes actual is anybody's guess. Sometimes I'm good, other times, well, not so good.

My weight routine as of right now is as follows:

(1) Bench Press Barbell 3x12
(2) Flye Curls Dumbellsq 3x12
(3) Bent Over Row Barbell 3x15
(4) Shoulder Shrugs Dumbells 3x25
(5) Military Press Dumbell 3x12
(6) Triceps Curls Dumbell- 3x20
(7) Biceps Curls Dumbell- 3x10
(8) Wrist Curls Barbell 3x25
(9) Crunches N/A 4x50

Presently I keep the barbell at 80 pounds, and use two 40 pound hex bells for all exercises marked as dumb bell. The above is also the order I perform the exercises. Some of the exercises have ceased to be much of a challenge. I am probably going to be upping the reps and sets soon, without touching the weight. I am a bit afraid of (say) benching much more weight with no one around. We shall see if I can overcome this fear. It is also a bit of a pain to have to stop and switch plates off and on.

Jogging is done with my favorite training partner, my little half Dalmatian, half Australian Cattle Dog. He runs me into the ground. Whenever possible it is also done on trails at the state park near my house. Otherwise its on the streets, which both of us don't find nearly as fun. I typically try to go for at least 40 minutes, and will stretch out some runs to as long as an hour and a half.

I am extremely gym-phobic, and don't think I will ever join one. The weights are done in my basement, to a soundtrack of hideous 1980s era hair metal or equally hideous 1970s disco, depending upon my mood. Not sure why I like this music to lift by, but there you have it.

I'm not going to be setting up a journal at lowcarber.org, as I already have one at www.discussanything.com. It can be reviewed here:

http://www.discussanything.com/foru...?s=&forumid=161

if anyone has an interest. It is not restricted to a discussion of diet, to put it mildly.

May as well throw in the past four days of workouts:

Saturday - 50 minute jog
Sunday - 50 minute jog
Monday - 40 minute jog
Tuesday - 40 minute jog, Lifting session, as described above
Wednesday - off day today

Will try to be scrupulous about keeping this updated. We shall see.

43:02 jog this morning. Drizzling, dark but surprisingly warm. Listened to some hideous disco on the walkman, as today would not be a trail running day.

Not enough time to do weights. Hopefully will get that in tonight. No, not hopefully. I WILL get it in tonight.

LOL, so who's "not challenged" again?

(1) Bench Press Barbell 3x15

Two sets, crashed on third only could do 12 reps.
Trying to be good about cheating.

(2) Flye Curls Dumbellsq 3x12

Didn't even attempt 15 reps. This was borderline ugly come the 3rd set.

(3) Bent Over Row Barbell 3x15

Blew through this, no problem. Good form, too.

(4) Shoulder Shrugs Dumbells 3x25

Too easy at this weight. Not sure what to do.

(5) Military Press Dumbell 3x12

Did it, but, yes, I was wiggling on the bench.
Particularly with my right arm.

(6) Triceps Curls Dumbell- 3x20

Probably will have to buy 50 lb. hex bells soon.
Not as easy as the shrugs, though.

(7) Biceps Curls Dumbell- 3x10

As usual this was a disaster. I couldn't raise my right arm for rep 10 of the 2nd set. Was able to do the third set only with some wiggling.

Left arm is so much stronger than right I'm surprised I don't tilt to one side when I walk. The joys of being a lefty.

(8) Wrist Curls Barbell 3x25

Oww. Got through it. 2nd set grabbed the barbell wrong, biasing to the left. left forearm feels like a snapped rubber band at the moment.

(9) Crunches N/A 4x50

Did 'em. As usual, my dog figures what I really want is kissies as I grunt.
Oh, well breaks up the monotony.
Probably should be doing way more of these. Might try 4x100 on Saturday.

Soundtrack provided by Rush, their Chronicles (Greatest Hits).
Funny that I only like the music of my youth any more while exercising.

43:31 Jogging, 4 loops on cul-de-sac, per usual.

Very windy + had to stop and pick up gigantic pile of # 2s my dog left on a neighbor's lawn. Dog only weighs 38 pounds. God knows where he puts it all.

Not nearly as sore from yesterday's lifting as I expected to be. Not sure if this is a good thing (do I recover quickly?) or a bad thing (am I dogging it in my workouts?).

That's it for today.

Best workout I've had in a while! Who was that pro Wrestler that used to run around saying "Whoo!" all the time? Ric Flair? Well, that about covers it.

Whoo!

(1) Bench Press Barbell 3x15

Did it, did it all, unlike last time when I had to do 12 in the last set.

(2) Flye Curls Dumbells 3x15

Did it, did it all, unlike last time when I did 3x12

(3) Bent Over Row Barbell 3x20

Struggled a bit with this one, but I did it.
The dumb thing I can't remember is whether or not I did 3x25 or 3x20.
So, we err on the side of caution...3x20

(4) Shoulder Shrugs Dumbells 3x40

Blew threw this like nothing. AGAIN.

(5) Military Press Dumbell 3x12

Struggled a bit with my right arm. Still, better form than Thursday.

(6) Triceps Curls Dumbell- 3x25

25 reps per set is probably a bit much for me at this point.
Especially on my right arm. But, that's what I did, even if the third set wasn't the best form.

(7) Biceps Curls Dumbell- 3x10

Did it, did it right. Bit of a struggle with the third set, right arm.
But, I'll take it.

(8) Wrist Curls Barbell 3x25

Blew threw it like nothing. Even slowed down the motion for a better work out.

(9) Crunches N/A 4x100

This was a little tough, but I got through it.
What the heck, I doubled the number of crunches, and I don't feel that bad.
My form on this may not be the best. I am a bit paranoid about straining my back, so I don't raise my elbows all the way to my knees. Probably should check into this somewhere.

Run at park - 46:51

This was a surprise. A very pleasant one. I blew through this route, that used to take me over 50 minutes AFTER the weight session. Also, had to grab the dog in a few places so he wouldn't jump on hikers or chase mountain bikers.

Route: Went all the way to the back of the park, down the big hill. 38° when I left, 36° when I came back. I wore shorts & a light long sleeve pullover. My wife made faces at me as I walked out the door. What does she know? It worked wonderfully.

Pity I can't bottle today's workout for times when I struggle, or lack motivation.

Did 1:01:46 at the park. Went up the big hill, did the long loop around to the back end of the park, and finished up on the short trail running parallel to Route 85.

Nice. As usual, I'm taking it easy. Not even thinking of upping the intensity until I get to the other side of 170. Stopped and let the dog play for a minute with a nice dog we met on the trail. Probably not the preferable way to do this, but I'm still surprised I finished as quickly as I did.

Today is officially an "off day."

Also, as it is a Monday it is also my official weigh day. Down to 193. Three pounds since last Wednesday.

45:22, 4 loops in our cul-de-sac. Little slower than usual, but I'm not one of these obsessive compulsives that worries about that sort of thing.

All my runs are fun runs, really, at least until I get below 170. If I ever do.

Bee Gees Greatest Hits on the Walkman. Reminds me of back in the day, Junior High dances, etc. Ugh, actually I'd rather it didn't.

Weights tonight.

Got through it, but barely. Must have been late hour worked out. Am very tired, and very hungry. Outta here.

(1) Bench Press Barbell 3x15

Did it. Okay form.

(2) Flye Curls Dumbells 3x15

Did it. Okay fom.

(3) Bent Over Row Barbell 3x20

Had difficulty with third set. Okay form first two sets, poor third set.

(4) Shoulder Shrugs Dumbells 3x40

Did it. All was fine.

(5) Military Press Dumbell 3x12

Did it. Okay, bit of a struggle on third set.

(6) Triceps Curls Dumbell- 3x20

oops. Only did 3x20, not 25. Did okay, but would not have wanted to try 25.

(7) Biceps Curls Dumbell- 3x10

went okay, which for this exercise is quite good.

(8) Wrist Curls Barbell 3x25

Did fine.

(9) Crunches N/A 4x100

did the 4x100. Need to make a note to see what the correct form for this is.

41:29 at park up big hill, by lake/beach out to parking lot by main path.

This maybe the last weekday I go to the park. Getting too dark in the morning.

Notice: I'm discontinuing this thread. Not that I'm stopping exercising, simply that I'm going to start a separate thread in my discussanything.com journal. Having a whole little forum to myself is too much of a good thing to pass up.

I've saved everything to my HD, so if a mod or admin wishes to save some bandwidth by taking this thread down, please feel free to do so.

Best,

Patrick

Actually, I've changed my mind. I think I'll keep this up, at least for a bit longer. What a ditz.

Anyway....No AM run yesterday. It was raining in the morning and I felt like crap following my first honest to goodness cheat on the Atkins diet Wednesday night. Of which, the less said the better.

Followed the "usual" weightlifting routine in the evening. Things went quite well, if not perfectly. The only problem identified was the bent over row. For some reason that one seems to be getting more difficult at this weight, not easier. But, I even managed to get through that.

Have changed my crunch form to that of the Body for Life book. Honestly, didn't notice a huge difference with keeping my arms with elbows out as opposed to down the side of your body. But I figured I'd try it. Luckily, was able to get the book from the library.

Other than that, it may be time to start increasing the weight. Even the biceps curls went okay.

Today: 4 loops in the cul-de-sac, 42:43. Not too shabby. Quicker time due mostly to my dog planting his gifts in my yard, rather than someone else's. The ones in my yard I pick up on Saturdays. But, I'd also like to think I'm getting a bit better at this.

45:37 at park. All way to back, not up the steep hill. Nice.

Am deferring weightlifting until tomorrow. We're going out to eat tonight, and I don't want to (potentially) be completely exhausted.

1:01:12, at park. Up steep hill, all the way to back, added loop so end up in parking lot by trail, not by driveway. Tired. Lots of Mtn. Bikes, had to stop and hold dog several times. Still must consider that a decent time.

Saw balloons flying over park. Cool. Looked like one was going to land there, but they kept on going.

Lifting this afternoon.