It’s not like I’m obligated to post here, and my new wireless keyboard seems hellbent on making this process much more difficult than it would ever need to be. And to think I’d bought it for the convenience! I guess that’s what I get for buying Lexma brand products. The key presses require indomitable strength to function properly, the backspace key (which is half the size of conventional backspace keys) doubly so.

Had I mentioned that I’m going to be a father? I’m sure it’s come up at some point, but I suppose it bears repeating. She’s six months along now, six months which seem to have passed by without my noticing. It seems as if mere weeks had passed since she came into the kitchen (I know, I know, ‘what was she doing out of it?’) and told me the great news. I feel the baby kick all the time and it warms my heart. The ultrasound chick told us we were having a girl and we eventually decided to name her Annabelle.

Kaitlin came up with the name first, apparently, and I’d since dismissed it in favor of my first choice, Abigail. She’d vetoed that decision, however, and one day while I was brushing my teeth I decided that Annabelle would be an awesome name. I had, of course, since forgotten that Kaitlin had come up with the name in the first place. As far as I was concerned, the idea was mine.

I guess most of the reason for my utter lack of blog posts is my utter lack of doing anything awesome. I got my wife pregnant, sure, and that’s a fairly big deal, especially since it took something like nine months for me to get there. Outside of my biological drive to father a dozen children, though, things have been pretty quiet.

The workout routine I’d started with had started to lose its appeal. I’d put on a good 20 pounds and gained a fair bit of strength, but it was less and less fun as time went on. I’ve since changed my routine to something that is a great deal more punishing. Check it.

Chest/arms:

Bench press, 3x12, 10, 8, increasing weight each set.

Seated overhead press, 3x8

Lateral raises, 3x8

Barbell curls, 3x10

Skullcrushers, 3x8

I’m thinking of adding incline bench press to work more of my upper chest, since the bench can only hit it so much.

Back/legs:

Squats, 3x10, 8, 6, increasing weight each set.

Deadlifts, 3x10 (probably my favorite exercise)

Bent over rows, 3x8

Wide-grip pullups, pronated, 3x10

Weighted calf raises, 3xfailure

I added the calf raises in to even out the legs and I can really feel the burn. It’s fun to push myself past the threshold of pain on those exercises. It really feels like I’m getting something out of it.

Gaining weight is difficult. I don’t know how some people manage to do it, but I can’t just eat all day. I mean, I could if the food was garbage like most people eat, and if I drank soda all the goddamn time, but I can’t roll like that. I’ve stocked up on clean foods, I drink a ton of milk, and I’m getting a lot of protein every day. It’s just hard to remind myself to eat what is basically a full meal every three hours in order to gain weight.

Pretty much everybody will tell you that any given workout routine is 80% diet. If I’m not gaining weight, I’m not gaining muscle and I’m basically just working out for no reason. I weigh about 173 pounds right now, up from 155 in September. I’m hoping to hit 190 in a few months, then I’ll start eating at a caloric deficit and doing cardio to cut out the body fat while I keep eating a ton of protein to maintain my muscle mass. With less body fat, the muscle I’ve gained will show a lot easier. Then I’ll bulk again, and within a year or so I should be reaching my long term goals.