The Speculist

Down another two pounds this week to 263. That's a total loss of 34 pounds since the beginning of the year!

I ran into some rotator cuff issues lifting weights and doing other exercises last year, so I've been working on figuring out strength training without the heavy loads. That's a bit of a challenge. One thing that I found that's working is half push-ups. Instead of going into a full push-up pose, I start from my knees. It seems ridiculously easy at first, but it becomes a bit of a challenge after the first few hundred. I also do seated abdominal crunches, hanging my legs off the side of a chair or the edge of the bed while leaning back and then sitting straight up. That one I do with two 10-pound dumbells. It takes while to make it seem like anything, but eventually it does kick in.

I like working with dumbells and -- I think I've mentioned this before -- hammers. In fact, I have a whole routine based on swinging a 10-pound sledge hammer. That's one I have to be careful with, lest the rotator cuff problems re-emerge. One of these weeks I'll write about my entire hammer workout.