The countdown has begun... Rob Christian (my pastor), Bob Copp, and myself are climbing Half Dome in Yosemite in 6 days. What is Half Dome? Here, look at one of the most famous pictures in the world, taken by Ansel Adams.





A bit of background: back when I started my weight loss and becoming healthy, I was trying to find a goal to achieve. Sure, a certain amount of weight by a certain date was a good goal, but I wanted something concrete.

Then on the Tivo Community Forum, a woman posted about this same hike. It was at just the right time, so that became my goal.

Half Dome isn't for the faint at heart. It's 8 miles one way (16 miles round trip). It's uphill the whole way up, and if you know anything about hiking, you know that means your knees will be feeling it the whole way down. The last portion of the hike is up a 45% grade that you literally pull yourself up cables to reach the top of. You spend a good 12 hours up there, and much of the hike is exposed to the sun. You need plenty of water, which means plenty of weight.

I made camping reservations back in January for the Upper Pines campground, across the street from the Happy Isles trailhead. We're all extremely excited about going up.

This is why I've been working out every day, making sure I have squats & lunges in every workout I do. When I started I didn't have much upper body strength, which I'll need for the ascent up the cables. I feel pretty confident now that while it's going to be difficult, I can make it.

So again: 6 days left!

Today's workout wasn't too bad. They ordered pizza at work today, I had none. I won't have pizza again probably for a few months. They just love pizza here at work but unfortunately it doesn't help the weight loss plan much. Anyway, here you go:

Warmup, 30 seconds of each in a circuit, 3 sets
* Jumping jack
* Split jack
* Prisoner squat
* Alternating lunge
* Mountain climber

Workout, alternating sets between exercises 1 & 2, then 3 & 4
* Elevated heels high bar squat, 115lbs, 5 sets of 10
* Cardio ball weighted back extension, 20lbs, 5 sets of 10
* Wide-grip barbell curl, 50lbs on bar (not sure how much bar weighs), 3 sets of 10
* Incline dumbbell triceps extension, 1 set of 10, 1 set of 8 @ 25lbs ea

That's it, back to the grindstone...

Warmup, 3 sets of 5 w/45lb bar
* Overhead squat
* Squat
* Good morning
* Lunge
* Romanian deadlift
* Bent-over row

Workout, alternate sets
* Bench press, 105lbs, 4 sets of 5
* Single-arm dumbbell row, 50lb dumbbell, 4 sets of 6
* External rotation, 20lb dumbbell, 4 sets of 5
* Swiss ball crunch, 4 sets of 5

I was just commenting to another guy in the workout room about how gains in workouts happen so quickly. A few weeks ago I couldn't do a rotation with 20lb dumbbells, I had to use 10's. The same week I was only bench pressing 85lbs. I'm also doing chin-ups now when I couldn't do any. It's not like 3 chin-ups are going to break any records except for the fact that it breaks my record.

My record, back in the 8th Grade, when I was never able to win any Presidential Physical Fitness awards, simply because I couldn't do enough chin-ups. At 37 years old, you would think I wouldn't care anymore, but I do. So now I can do more chin-ups than my 13-year-old self could. I wonder what he would think.

I did my first Saturday cardio day in quite a while today. As per instructions, of course, it was 6 30-second sprints at full speed, with a 2-minute rest between. Two things worked against me, though: the heat and my breathing, still not quite up to snuff. I'm on Robitussin full time at this point. All I have to say is I better be back to normal by next weekend.