What I've Learned So Far

Bearing this photo in mind, you’ll note that I didn’t call it The Impressive Physique Project.

• What it is: a shirtless photo of myself, every day.
• The point: social reinforcement for my efforts to get myself into killer condition.
• The context: I’m going to turn 40 twenty-two months from now, I’ve never had a six-pack in my life, . . . and I want to achieve the latter before I achieve the former.

Please, no digs in the comments. But if you’re interested to track my progress, you can see the Flickr stream for these photos by clicking here.

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Related posts:

• It Begins Here, Again.
• Exposed.

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Probably not for me . . .

[This is one of those things that you write once so you can refer people to it over and over. If you're not interested in my academic history or future, feel free to pass this one by -- especially because it's quite long.]

You’ll have guessed the punchline of this story from its title: it’s likely that I’ll never finish the Ph.D. in United States history that I started in 2004 at the University of Texas. This post explains why. (And don’t worry — it’s a story with a happy ending.) Read the rest of this entry »

Me, yesterday:

My verdict on my physique & overall fitness: meh.

To give myself credit:

• I’m 38 and, at 5’10″, I’ve kept my weight between 155 and 168 since I filled out as a junior in high school — with the exception of the second half of last year, when I intentionally went 10 pounds above the top end of that range by lifting weights and eating so as to put on more muscle. (You can see the results of that program, such as they were, via this link.)
• I just started a new job with a steep learning curve and a longer commute from home, so my time is more constrained than it was.
• The kids are out of school and out of camp, which again affects the time I have available for working out.
• I’ve been working out a little bit anyway.

To avoid giving excuses:

• So what?

The fact is, I haven’t been making the time to get in the shape I want to be in, whether that means lifting weights, walking in the cool of the morning, prepping healthy lunches in advance, or what have you.

So I’m publicizing my quest to do something better. The point isn’t to complain about where I am — because where I am is okay — but to make myself accountable for achieving something more-than-okay. For those of you who are interested in helping out with this, I’m asking you to help keep me accountable — and to help encourage my progress — via this blog.

I look to many sources of inspiration, but one I came back across this week is Dave Tate, who has been documenting his own progress in reshaping his body on the site for his company, EliteFTS. My outcomes will be very different from Dave’s, since (a) he’s a champion powerlifter, (b) fitness is his livelihood, (c) our physical frames are very different, (d) I’m never going to use nutritional supplements to the degree that he does, and, most importantly (e) my goals are different from his.

What are my goals? That will be the topic of my next fitness post, so stay tuned . . . 

Just kicking the tires on a new computer setup as I ponder a long stream of topics to discuss here.

Expect more, soon.

Meantime, how’s by you?