[Dean's World] Dave Price: Of Dumbbells, Kittens, and Knuckles

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Posted by Dave Price:
Of Dumbbells, Kittens, and Knuckles
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1200882661.shtml


   Glenn [1]tries out an interesting workout gadget, and is mostly happy
   with it. I've ordered a few representatives of the genre over the
   years, with mixed results (usually initial enthusiasm is followed by
   amnesia). Lately Iâve found just keeping a dumbbell or two by the
   computer and doing a couple sets during the day helps a lot. Just
   donât stub your toe on it!
   I was pretty serious about bodybuilding in college, less so now (and a
   lot of the stuff I used then is sadly no longer legal to sell here).
   In those days I went from a scrawny 6â3â 165 lbs all the way up to a
   fairly intimidating 215; now I try to stay around 190. Iâve
   transitioned the opposite way Glenn has, from gym to home, because it
   takes me half an hour to get out of the house and into a gym and with
   3-4 jobs it just makes more sense for me to save the 3.5 hrs/wk. I do
   miss the gym sometimes though.
   Iâve got an elliptical machine, a weight bench, a situp bench, and a
   set of barbells and dumbbells. Before work every morning I do 70 slow
   bicycle kicks (if you rotate your upper body and go slow this can be a
   great anti-[2]RSI workout because it works all the little stabilizer
   muscles in your torso; just be careful to support your neck), 2
   minutes at highest resistance on the elliptical, and 2 sets with the
   weights. All that (along with a daily morning protein shake and
   general avoidance of starches) keeps the sixpack going pretty strong.
   My workout also often includes dodging or absorbing random kitten
   attacks (they know if Iâm holding something Iâm more vulnerable),
   which adds an unsolicited element of suspense.
   Like Glenn, I also do pushups with feet elevated, for a longer range
   of motion and more intensity. These days I vary between fingertips,
   knuckles and palms. When I was a kid I always did knuckle pushups (as
   Glenn says he does) on the theory if I had to hit something it would
   be helpful to have a nice big callous there, though that's generally
   not a concern for me anymore (but is Glenn trying to tell us
   something?).

References

   1. http://instapundit.com/archives2/014303.php
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repetitive_strain_injury