Days 11-23

Alright. Back to updating. Missed four days when I got my wisdom teeth out, then started back up again on the fifth day, and have been working out ever since. I've modified my routine a bit, so that I'm balancing my workouts a little differently:

Mondays - Still a triceps day, but now also a chest/shoulders/abs workout.
Tuesdays - Back, legs, and abs workout. (Abs are an every-workout thing from now until I get them to look the way I want!)
Wednesdays - Still a forearms and shoulders workout, but adding chest and abs.
Thursdays are a rest day.
Fridays - Still biceps, but also back, legs and abs workout.
Saturdays - Just the chest, shoulders, and abs workout.
Sundays are a rest day.

Rest days, by the way, aren't real rest days, because I still insist on doing pushups and some ab work.

I really need to start stretching more. I stretch a bit, but I haven't done a great job of keeping any flexibility I had when I was in karate six or seven days a week. Which wasn't much, except what it's in my muscle memory anyway -- weird that I can still (un-stretched) kick at or above my head height, but can't touch my toes without some effort. So, I need to add a new flexibility goal. I'll get back to that.

I was up to 175.4 lbs before my surgery, which is the most I've ever weighed. Still 4.6 lbs UNDER my weight goal, but at least I was getting close. I dropped all the way back down to 167 lbs during my recovery, since I couldn't eat solid food. I'm now hovering right below 170, which is at least a start, but I'm sad for the lost progress. I'm trying to avoid packing the weight on quickly by eating more, because I am still trying to gain definition around my stomach, and don't want to keep covering it up just because I want to weigh more. It's shallow of me, but I'd rather weigh 160 and have a six pack than 180 and not. So the weight is going to have to come slowly, and through building more muscle.

My overall lifting ability is up a bit. Feeling way more comfortable with my biceps, and I've just started targeting my brachialis muscles (the outsides of the biceps) to try and get better definition in my arms. It's building a tiny bit, but I think I'm going to try upping my weight and reps to try and fast-track that a bit. My triceps and shoulders are looking good, and though I'm clearly still working on my chest and abs, my number of reps are still going up, which is good. My lower back is still bothering me, but a little less now that I'm including lower back exercise into my workouts. My legs are usually in good shape, and I'm trying to challenge myself to see how much weight I can deal with on the leg press. Right now I've stopped at 230, but I think I'll spend next week trying to get that number up.

Alright. That's enough for the day. Let's see if I can get back to updating this every day or so!