Long overdue update; details about JIM routine

It's high time I stopped neglecting this blog and did some posting. And what better day to start than the last day of the second month during which I've posted nothing? Yes, that was a facetious remark.

Part of the reason I haven't posted is that not a whole lot is happening. I mean that in a good sense. In the context of a fitness blog, the good sense has the meaning that our fitness routine hasn't changed much: we still work out 6 days most weeks, four on the stationary bikes (it's winter where we live) and two days of strength training.

If I could report anything new, it would be in the way of offering further details about our new, JIM (it's an acronym) strength-training routine. The acronym is in honor of the relative who helped me formulate the routine, by the way.

The routine uses some of the same exercises we've been engaging in to date and, like our other strength-training routines, is focused on the upper body. The way it differs is mainly in its simplicity: we're doing only five exercises (we'll add a sixth later), most of which are body-weight exercises. And we do five sets of each. The whole routine takes about a half hour.

The six exercises, in the order in which we execute them, are: 1. inverted rows; 2. bent-over rows; 3. push-ups; 4. dips; 5. overhead press. Sometime soon we'll add: 6. pull-ups. The first two sets are warm-ups, where we do less repetitions or use light weight. The last three sets are to be done with more weight and at maximum repetitions.

So far it's gone well. I like the variation it's introduced. We've also varied our--what I'll call "mid-section" exercises. Instead of doing what are typically called abdominal exercises, we're now doing what might be better labeled "core exercises." I'll post more detail about them later.

There, at long last, is the update I've needed for some time now to post here.