Gym Stats for July

Just thought I'd pop up some of my gym stats, so in a couple of months I can see how far I am progressing (if at all). I've only really got into fitness and the gym in the last year or so, and I have been surprised at how much I actually enjoy it. I hated PE and Games at school: being a fat kid I was always picked last for team games, my prowess at jumping, skipping and throwing was mediocre, my hand-eye coordination was OK, but I could never get to where the ball was going to be, and my cross country running was more of a gentle amble. I tried hard, and didn't do the normal fat-kid thing of faking notes to get out of it (at least, not that often, anyway). So my natural inclination towards sports has been: enjoy watching them, but there is no way I'd do them.

Anyway, last year, I decided I wanted to change my ways: having lost a bit more weight through dieting, I had reached a plateau where I was no longer losing anything. So I decided that doing cardio was the answer. I started out with running at lunchtimes: I couldn't make it more than 600 metres without being out of breath. I persevered, and the more that I did, the further I could go, and the improving results urged me to keep on going. I've now run a 10K run, and have done several 5k runs, with the intention of improving my time for the 5K to below 25 minutes.

Also in that time, I've slowly got into doing weights as well...slowly building up the levels that I can do in order to be more toned. Enough of that shit, though. Bring on the stats:

• 5k run: official (time keeping done by radio control chip thing): 29.54
• 5k run: unofficial time (not in race): 27:48
• Bench press: dumbbells: 16k in each hand
• Bench incline: barbell: 32.5k
• Shoulder press: 30k
• Chest incline (machine): 45k
• Chest press (machine): 45k
• Bicep curls: 12k
• Triceps raise (above head): 16k
• Low row: 55k
• Pectoral: 35k

I also do other weights as well, but these are the ones I'll judge my improvements by - otherwise we could be here all day.