So, I lifted weights for the first time in three months again on Friday. I hit it harder than I probably have in two years. I subscribe to the Mike Mentzer method (synopsis here). I hit my chest and triceps really hard. It only took 10 minutes. And two days later I can barely move. Ouch. It's a good kind of ouch though.
Art
I've been illustrating an painting a lot more lately. This week I did figure drawing 4 days for a total of 8 hours practice. I think I'm getting a little better. I'll post some pictures so you can be the judge. The last one I'm posting is using NuPastel. I picked up the medium yesterday morning on a recommendation from Brian at work. It's a lot easier to work with than charcoal, but it still takes some getting used too. I like the colors better than straight pastel.
I also picked up Corel Painter 11 on Friday. I need to start using my Cintque more. My goal is once a day. We'll see how far I get. I should start posting that art here as well.
Biggest Loser
There's only a week and a couple days left in the biggest loser contest. I'm still ahead of everyone even though I gained a pound and a half the previous last week. I'm down by a pound so far this week. I finally broke 180 and I'm sitting at 179.4 lbs. I need to kick it up a notch this week, with at least an hour of aerobic exercise every day. Don't want anyone to sneak up from behind and beat me. :)
Lastly
Today is Fathers Day. Amy and the kids are working real hard to make it a great day, and I suppose it is, but I'm not feeling like a very good father. I need to do more with my children.
I started with a more earnest effort this last week. I took Alexus to here summer college classes Monday through Thursday. I was surprised on Wednesday morning to find out that she hadn't been able to do any of the Photoshop tutorials because the computer she had been working on was messed up. I spent about a half an hour with her and went through three lab computers before finding one that worked. She also hadn't had any headphones for listening to the video tutorials. I really need to teach her to ask questions more often. She literally wasted two days. I found out on Thursday that two of her homeschooling girl-friends were having similar problems and so I helped them get set up. What kind of culture are we living in where children are afraid to ask questions at school? This needs to change.
I also started trying to do a nightly physics experiment with the kids. This week we only did two nights. The first experiment was the magic utensils (see below).
The second was testing the power of atmospheric pressure by crushing a can filled with steam.
2 comments:
Nice! That's a lot of living in a week.
So does that Mentzer method really only take 10 minutes? What else is required (eg. equipment)?
Yes especially when you're just getting started. When you only do 1 Set per muscle focus group, it doesn't take long. I did one set of bench press, one set of machine flies, one set inclined shoulder press and a final set of dips. The key is doing the exercise to failure with as heavy a weight as you can. 4-5 reps, drop weight and continue. I guess they're really super sets. But I try to only rest a minute between each and it goes pretty quick. When you're totally failing, you can finish with "partials" that consist of moving the weight only a small amount at the peak of the muscle contraction. For example, with bench press, for partials your arms are almost out straight and you focus on just moving the weight a few inches only with your chest. Of course that's at the end of your set.
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