So, I’ve been a bit bad about reporting on my exercise/diet regimen, and since I’m about to descend into the valley of the shadow of a new job at a startup, I figured I should probably post this now, before it’s too late.

First off, I’ve pretty much given up on finding a gym nearby. There are a couple of options, but they’re either far enough away that I’d never go, or so absurdly expensive that I refuse to join on principle (seriously, for that kind of money I expect them to exercise for me). Luckily, we have some basement space that’s perfect for my needs.

le man-cave

home theater

Things were going really well – I was starting to increase my speed on the treadmill from “embarrassingly slow” to “moderately slow” – until my hips started complaining in increasingly urgent tones. I switched to speed walking and discovered that, while it isn’t as good a cardio workout, it works the shin muscles in a way I’d never felt before. I’m back to running (embarrassingly slowly, sadly), but I’m also planning on mixing in some speed walking to keep those muscles toned.

At the same time, I started doing some upper body exercises – nothing too exciting, just rotating through incline, decline, and bench pressing barbells. And, of course, I’ve been keeping up with the sit ups and therabands.

On the negative side of the ledger, I’ve been a little less strict about some of the dietary restrictions, and have discovered a new nemesis:

Why eat cookies when you can suck down fistfuls of chocolate chips? Sadly, these are going to have to go. The hardest part will be trying to explain to the rest of the family (“no, see, Daddy needed to get these out of the house, because will power, and, um…”). Hmm.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Good luck on your personal goals!