Background

I figure that since I've turned on the 'public' setting for this blog, I ought to provide a little background about my training program, which commenced on January 29, 2010, and how it came to be.

An off-the-cuff comment from F this past winter ('you could stand to lose 10 pounds of fat') got me thinking. I was, like I said, offended - I'm accustomed to being met with envy, and not criticism re: my physique. I engaged him about it the following day, and he stuck to his guns about it. We met, and he took me through some general education about nutrition, fitness, and goals:

Nutrition
-Eat more protein. I'm virtually a vegetarian - meat is expensive, labor-intensive, and, I thought, really caloric-dense. I learned that calorie-dense is okay, so long as it's also energy efficient. To this end, I purchased whey protein powder supplements, and started FreshDirecting frozen chicken bulk packs to replace my nightly noodles.

-Eat less starch. This is hard, because I love bread, bagels, donuts, noodles, rice, cake. The best I can recommend on this front is discipline.

-Drink less. I'd been meaning to, anyway, so, done.

Exercise
-Resistance training. F taught me how some power-lifting basics, and put me on a schedule of low-bar squats, bench-pressing, deadlifting, rows, overhead presses, and abdominal work. I like cardio, which I'm permitted to do still (but in moderation). This program resembles a personalized rendition of Mark Rippetoe's painstakingly didactic Starting Strength. I confess that I can't really get through it despite F's egging on, but it's a really, really, really specific treatise / instructional manual on the wonders and mechanics of a few basic lifts.

I think the most salient and lasting piece of advice F gave me on this front was something about the body evolving in order to catch up to what's being demanded of it. Move more weight, and it will get stronger.

It's been fun, because progress comes very quickly for beginners. My current PRs (is there anything more crass than fitness-related acronyms?) look like this, for 3 sets of 5 reps:

Low-bar squat: 110 lbs
Bench press: 70 lbs
Overhead dumbbell press (I can't smoothly handle the bar): 50 lbs
Deadlift: 155 lbs
Pembley Rows: 25 lbs

Per this, I'm only slightly better than 'untrained', which feels a little unsatisfying for the last 7 weeks, but I guess that means I was something pathetically weak prior.

I've got some other, lighter squats, the very ubiquitous Romanian Deadlift, and some more mobility work framing the thrice-weekly regiment (which includes selectively from the above).