Strong Like Bear

 Lately I've been trying to get stronger. My day job involves typing, and my spare time also involves typing, so there's not much in my everyday life that builds any muscle.

I bought a treadmill a year ago, and given the state of the world, that turned out to be an excellent purchase. I'm even using it at the moment while I'm writing this. But I was starting to feel like my upper body was missing out, and planks are just too boring to do every day.

Anyhow, I was dithering about whether I should get a set of weights, but they're kind of expensive and I didn't know what to get. I finally broke down and got one of those systems with elastic bands that you use to generate resistance. 

I need the workout to be over before I notice it's happening

On the positive side, the recommended workouts are short (15 minutes or less), so I've been doing them for a couple of months now. While I still can't do a real push-up, I'm getting a lot closer, and the 40-pound bag of cat sand was a lot easier to carry back the hall.

On the negative side, the documentation for the product is pretty bad. They have static pictures, but mostly they want you to go to their website where (surprise!) they try to upsell you on a monthly subscription with live classes. I don't need that. I just need to have someone explain what I'm supposed to be doing, and what I should avoid so I don't hurt myself.

Honestly, the best part about the whole thing is the trash talk I do with one of my friends who actually does work out and knows what she's doing. I haven't seen her pretty much all year, but we keep making jokes about working out just to catch up / stay ahead of the other person, and that's more than a little motivating.

Today I moved up to the "moderate" section, instead of the beginner section, so H--, I'm coming for you!

Another picture from the arboretum

Acres of plants, and I have asphalt in 50% of the frame.