Monday, January 02, 2006

2005 Goals, Reviewed

Although I wouldn't call them "resolutions," I did have two goals for 2005: to do a 200 lbs flat bench dumbbell press and to not take a leak in my (then) new Hotline full wetsuit. How did I do? So-so.

I'd made fair progress towards my bench press goal when I broke my arm. I'd managed a 190 lbs flat dumbbell press and a 200 lbs press on a decline bench. (The latter allows you to lift more, as you can bring more and larger muscles into play.) My broken bone naturally interfered with my lifting. Four months after the break, I'm only able to do 150 in a flat dumbbell press.

I did better on the wetsuit front. Admittedly, though, I didn't run into any sharks. I'm not sure I'd as fared so well had the Man in the Grey Suit grinned at me. Happily for not only my continence but my limbs, my local break isn't very sharky.

6 comments:

dgm said...

this year, i think you should resolve not to pee while you are doing flatbench presses. it's not as easy as it sounds.

Tom W. Bell said...

Which is harder than it sounds? The peeing or the not peeing? I'd say "peeing" so far as my own workouts go. I'm definately of the "gird up thy loins and lift like a man" school. But I suppose that, ahem, differently-loined persons might figure, "Eh. I'm already sweating . . . ."

At all events, I'm sticking to doing deep knee bends while peeing. It gets pretty boring, otherwise. No nore jumping jacks, though.

Will Wilkinson said...

Say, Tom. I bet I can barely flat bench 150 in my present awful condition! But I bet I can get to 200 before you do! Gird up thy loins man! If you wanna put money on it, to help drive you relentlessly toward your manful goal in a spirit testosteronorific competition, I am no stranger to losing money in vain weightlifting challenges.

Tom W. Bell said...

Thanks, Will, for your kind offer to goad me towards improvement. However, as the blogosphere's leading authority on happiness-via-status (love those recent posts!), you of all people might appreciate that I've pretty much opted out of competing with other people athletically. It takes the fun out of exercise, I find.

That is not my only critique of interpersonal athletic competition, mind you. As a philosophically-minded fellow, you might also appreciate some of the other ones. To wit, and in brief: Athletic competition treats too seriously an essentially frivolous activity; as different people have different physical capabilities, athletic competition provides too rough a measure of virtue; and interpersonal athletic competition encourages a culture of passive observation of others' exercise.

If, as you hint, you have a habit of losing money in weightlifting bets, you may have yet another, idiosyncratic, reason to eschew interpersonal athletic competition. I think they have 12-step programs for that sort of thing, you know.

Will Wilkinson said...

Tom, Does this mean I win!?

Tom W. Bell said...

My post doesn't mean you win the athletic contest, Will. I means that I win the bullshitting contest!