In the beginning, there was an idea.

tonight while i was at the gym i was going over in my mind what it was that i was hoping to get out of coming and working out. i wondered if i really had a purpose or if going to the gym was just something i was doing to kill time. i realized that both answers were correct, but it just depended on the day. sometimes i'll go with the intent to make myself stronger, other times i'll go with the intent to burn an million calories on the elliptical machine, and still other times i just go because i have a few hours to kill and i don't want to wast the time sitting in front of the tv. (actually, come to think of it, if i did actually go and workout every time i sat down to watch tv i'd most likely be a lot skinnier) but my point i'm trying to make is simply this, i've never had any real direction as to where i'm going with my workouts. i remember back before my mission i was always training for football. and then after football season was over i would work out because i was doing my senior project on body building and my body was my physical project. after high school i lifted regularly till i left on my mission the following september mostly because i was in the habit of it and i had plenty of time to kill. i didn't lift much on my mission and since i got back over four years ago i've just never seriously gotten back into it.

i've enjoy the time that i spend at the gym and i like seeing the results i've been getting over the past couple months, but i've decided i need some direction for my workouts. a "why," if you will, to the reason i work out. i thought about it for a while and these two goals keep coming to my mind: 1) bench press 400lbs and 2) complete a triathlon. let me explain a little about each why i chose these two goals.

first, the bench press: this has always been one of my favorite lifts. i'm built really well for this lift given my thick chest and shorter, thick arms. "back in the day" i could really throw up a lot of weight on the bench. the day before i left on my mission i surprised my self by maxing out at 380lbs. (twenty short of what i want to do now.) i was ecstatic to say the least. but since then, over six years ago, the most i have gotten is 305lbs. so i've got some work to do to get back up to where i was and then to get to where i'd like to be. i don't know if this is a mini mid-life crisis or what, but i'd like to get back to where i was in my "prime" and then pass it up. MY BEST YEARS ARE STILL AHEAD OF ME, GOSH DARN IT!! ;)

secondly the triathlon: honestly, i'm not sure where this one came from. i was thinking of wanting to run a marathon but then i realized how amazingly long they are. (i think that last person to try and run a marathon ran like 250 some odd miles and never saw the end of it, i don't think i'm crazy enough to try one of those.) but i knew i wanted to do some type of endurance challenge. and that's where the triathlon comes into the picture. i think this goal will be more challenging than my bench press goal because endurance doesn't come as natural for me and i'm far from being in shape enough to begin seriously training for one. so this one will take a while and a LOT of work.

my time table to complete these goals is one year. it doesn't have to be exactly from today's date, but i'm thinking some time next fall. as time gets closer i'll find out which triathlon i'm going to do. as far as the bench press goes i'm hoping to be able to be putting up that much weight by about then too.

one important note that i want to put on here is that i'm not setting a set weight that i would like to be at or a certain amount of weight that i'd like to lose. i hope that weight loss will be a pleasant side effect of all this, but as long as i can reach my goals by next fall then i will consider myself a success even if i'm still considered to be "over weight."

and now this is where the blog comes into play. i'm hoping that there will be some people out there who find this blog and then with some frequency follow it. i'm going to hold myself accountable to all those who read and comment on this blog, so the more people who let me know you're reading this the more pressure i'll have to keep working at it and not slack off. don't let me give up. don't let me quit. not this time. i'm throwing this out to all you with the hope that you'll back me up on this. keep me going. i'll be posting regularly about my workouts, my results and any other thoughts that i have on this adventure. and who knows, maybe a picture or two will show up along the way as well. (ladies, try not to drool. it's not good for your keyboard.)

so with these newly set goals firmly planted in my sites let the fun begin!