Exercise

Today I restarted my exercise regimen. I had taken a short break from when I was doing this on a regular basis, 4 times a week. Now after 8 months of only exercising my chewing muscles, I've got a lot of making up to do.

I'm determined to stick with it at least long enough to discover whether or not it will help neutralize the estrogen in my system (see the "poison" post).

My typical workout consists of starting with the rowing machine. This device is affectionately referred to as "ERG" because it supposedly requires you to use a considerable amount of energy while rowing. I think I read somewhere that the ERG is really an acronym for "Evil Rowing Gadget".

At the club where I workout, the ERG's are located such that as you row you are looking at the backside of the people who are using the treadmills. I've found that the amount of time I spend on the ERG is directly proportional to the shapeliness of the ladies on the treadmill. This is probably coincidental, but I intend to monitor the situation closely.

After the ERG, I do the weight machines. These devices are very effectively designed to make you hurt. They are also demoralizing, I'll explain what I mean. I'm 6' 4", 225 lbs (not all of which are ideally positioned), and one would probably think I was stronger than a 5' 2" 115 lb 25 year old young lady. That would be an erroneous assumption. For example, there is a machine that is used to build biceps, where you set the weights to your desired level before using and when you've finished, the setting you've used remains that way until the next user sits down and adjusts the weights to their desired workout level. Now, I used this machine immediately following the mentioned young lady and see that she is using 50 lb weights whereas I struggle with 35 lbs. My first inclination was to go home, eat a piece of pie and watch television, but I've decided not to wimp out just yet.

It's true that before I took my little hiatus from working out, I was doing 55 lbs on that machine. So my intent is to stick with it until I get back to that level. At least that's my intent.

After agonizing my way through the 10 different weight machines, I then get on the exercise bike and pedal my way along for a couple miles. Incidentally, the bikes are located adjacent to the rowing machines, so how far I pedal the bike is again dependent on who is exercising at the same time.

I did row enough today to bring my lifetime total rowing distance to over 100,000 meters.

I'll try to remember to post my progress on this exercise program in the future, unless I decide to just start competing in pie eating contests.