Friday, October 1, 2010

Man-Cave Refinements

This will be a familiar view in the months ahead.

Today is the end of Week 2 in my return to weightlifting.  I’m doing upper body exercises on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, alternating muscle groups to allow for adequate recovery.  Mondays and Thursdays are for the pectorals, biceps and triceps, while Tuesdays and Thursdays are all about the deltoids and trapezius.  (The latissimus dorsi will get some love this winter when I return to the fitness room at work.  I don’t have an effective way to exercise them at home.)  I do ab crunches every day and those muscles are pretty strong, but with my diet you’ll never mistake me for The Situation.  I digress … the important thing is that I’m already seeing progress toward the level I was maintaining this summer before I got sidetracked by a shoulder injury on Aug. 6.

I had some extra incentives in the home gym tonight …

My son worked out with me and it was the first night of his new program.  In the last year I had him on a program of very light weights.  His goal was not to gain muscle mass, but rather to learn proper technique and develop muscle memory.  He’s 12 now and his technique is solid.  I’m convinced he can add a little weight without risking injury, but the cornerstone of his program will be pushups.  Lots of pushups.

My other incentive was a new TV, a gift from my employer for 15 years of service.  It’s not a big TV but it fits neatly on the shelf in my home gym, easily visible from my weight bench, treadmill and bike trainer.  You know what I’m really going to like?  Being able to read the sports scores that scroll across the bottom of the ESPN channels!  My old TV had the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio, and in today’s world of 16:9 HD broadcasting the scroll was off the bottom of the screen.  It doesn’t take much to make me happy, and every little bit will help when I’m trying to stay motivated to train through another long winter.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice setup, you're all set now with the new TV. Pushups are great for Ryan, good way to get him started without too much risk for injury. Every kid should be able to work with their own body weight for starters on the way to getting stronger.

    BC

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