I Can Do More

I have said it several times thus far: working out and eating right is more about being able to do more than losing weight. Of course I am proud of being 45 pounds lighter today than I was just six months ago, but I am more proud of the fact that I ran 4 miles on the elliptical in 29 minutes 30 seconds yesterday, eclipsing the 1 mile in 20 minutes I accomplished my first day at the gym.

In the spirit of "what I can do," here is a table of my strength training progress over the last two months.

	March 12	May 15	Net Change	% Change
Ab Crunch	80 lbs.	105 lbs.	25 lbs.	31.25%
Back Extension	110 lbs.	230 lbs.	120 lbs.	109.09%
Arm Curl	50 lbs.	50 lbs.	0 lbs.	0.00%
Arm Extension	45 lbs.	80 lbs.	35 lbs.	77.78%
Chest Press	50 lbs.	70 lbs.	20 lbs.	40.00%
Chest Fly	50 lbs.	60 lbs.	10 lbs.	20.00%
Pulldown	90 lbs.	140 lbs.	50 lbs.	55.56%
Overhead Press	50 lbs.	55 lbs.	5 lbs.	10.00%
Seated Row	70 lbs.	105 lbs.	35 lbs.	50.00%
Hip Adduction	70 lbs.	135 lbs.	65 lbs.	92.86%
Hip Abduction	90 lbs.	140 lbs.	50 lbs.	55.56%
Leg Extension	50 lbs.	80 lbs.	30 lbs.	60.00%
Seated Leg Curl	70 lbs.	100 lbs.	30 lbs.	42.86%
Leg Press	110 lbs.	210 lbs.	100 lbs.	90.91%

The first major improvement is that I have moved from 2 sets of 15 reps in early March to 3 sets of 15 reps today. There is a very significant difference between doing 30 reps and 45 reps. Also note that these numbers are what I have done during actual workouts; I have no idea what my max weights are on any of these machines. I suppose one day I will play around at the gym and figure out my max squat and bench press, but I do not see doing that for at least a couple more months. Endurance and lean muscle is much more important to me for the time being.

I do admit that I have been fairly frustrated at my arm progress. I suspect that I might have started too heavy on some of the machines. The bicep curl is the prime suspect; at one point I actually dropped down to 30 pounds and worked my way back up. On a positive note, I have noticed a significant difference in how the sets feel. I can see the arm numbers moving up at a steady pace from here on out.

I have been extremely pleased with how the leg and core numbers have turned out. I have doubled (or nearly doubled) my capacity in doing the back extension, leg press, and hip adduction. With my strengthened core I have felt almost no back pain during my day to day activities, and I am hoping that the trend will be the same with my knees as my legs get stronger.

The next step: correcting my softball swing so that I can use my legs and core instead of relying solely on my arms.