I am so ripped right now...

I started putting back in a weight routine about twice a week when I was out of action in October. I needed something aside from pool running to consume all of the pent-up energy I had. In addition to being a good supplement to my running, it also forces me to get into the gym, where it's harder for me to blow off the important "little things" like getting in a good stretch with a rope and staying on top of core work.

Here's my general weight-lifting routine, which is partially taken from what I used to do back in college. I usually super-set: I'll do one upper body set and immediately following with a lower-body set or a set of core work for an active rest period:

• 1 x push-ups to max with feet elevated
• 2 x pull-ups to max
• 2 x 15-20 lunges (alternating legs) with weight plate or medicene ball
• 2 x 20 incline dumbell press
• 2 x 20 hamstring curls
• 2 x 20 "Arnold Press" (sort of a twisting military press with dumbells) on stability ball
• 1:00 heel walks
• 2 x 20 dumbell curls
• 2 x 20 dumbell rows on stability ball
• 3:00 mirror runs with 2- or 3-pound weights (pumping your arms fast, like you're kicking at the end of a race)
• Then I usually finish with a good stretching session and core routine that includes some planks/bridges and supermans

That said, I love going to the gym. In college, I loved seeing frat-dogs waltz in, usually in pairs, often wearing matching wife beaters and/or gold chains and/or baseball caps turned askew and/or "old school" New Balances: walking, talking stereotypes. There aren't a lot of these type of bros in the gym where I go now, which is in a neighborhood where the people as a whole seem pretty friendly, happy and down-to-earth. Not that I miss vain assholes who love to monopolize the bench press, but it was always guaranteed comic relief.