Two Times Now

I wasn't going to say anything yet, but I just have to. I've started working out a little bit, and I want to thank Robby for helping me start. You see, he left behind two five-pound weights when he left home, and those are what I've been using. Sure, walking works a little bit, as general aerobic exercise tends to, but I think that I should build up a lean(er) muscle mass, too. When I start to walk the dog, hopefully I'll get double the benefit, because I'm spending this time with the weights.

It all started when he visited us about a month ago. He noticed that my back was hurting and gave me a massage, noting that like him I needed to do stretching exercises and improve my posture or be stuck with a hurting back all of my live-long life. I've really done a lot to improve my posture - a lot of it has to do (much like anything else in life) with just plain being aware of what you're doing. What I'm doing, more often than not, is slouching. It takes more effort than you'd think to correct that little problem. Apparently, I'm retraining my muscles. Word up: Retraining your muscles sucks. And it hurts, too - the hurt only went away after a few weeks.

Two days ago, I did a few exercises. I really can't explain them - maybe if you've dated a bodybuilder in the past and not really paid enough attention to really know the exercises but know enough to know what to do you can follow along. I did 20 reps of bicep curls, 20 reps of that one where the weight is behind your head and you lift it up to work your triceps, 20 reps of that one where you're on all fours and lift out and to the side to work your back, 20 reps of that one where you're on all fours and lift the weight straight back to work your triceps, 20 reps of that one where you are standing and lift the weights above your head from crosswise to parallel in the air straight above you which works... I forget what muscle, and 20 reps of the one to work your shoulder where you lift from parallel to your feet at your side to parallel to your feet at shoulder height.

Then today I did all of those things again and also included 20 reps of that one where you lunge to work all of your legs and your butt, and 20 reps of that one where you hold the weights still at your side and go up on your tippy-toes to work your calves.

Now, don't faint on me or anything. After all, it's only taking me 20 minutes or so per workout, and it's only using five pound weights. Although the five pounds is pretty impressive, considering how out of shape I didn't know I had gotten.