Today marks the end of my first week of my resistance & cardio program. I've now got the blueprint of what April – June will look like, though expect changes for next week, as I want to lay the foundation for the cardio influx come July. And I really want more skills work in martial arts and more ab sets/sessions

This workout's playlist, alternative from 1994, hit the right groove for me:

• Better Man – Pearl Jam
• Basket Case – Green Day
• Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots
• Loser – Beck
• Come Out and Play – The Offspring
• Vasoline – Stone Temple Pilots
• Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
• About A Girl – Nirvana
• Mr. Jones – Counting Crows
• Shine – Collective Soul
• Cannonball – The Breeders
• Fell On Black Days – Soundgarden
• Big Empty – Stone Temple Pilots
• Self Esteem – The Offspring
• Far Behind – Candlebox
• Zombie – The Cranberries
• Return To Innocence – Enigma
• Fall Down – Toad The Wet Sprocket
• Spoonman – Soundgarden
• Sabotage – Beastie Boys
• Yellow Ledbetter – Pearl Jam
• When I Come Around – Green Day
• Fade Into You – Mazzy Star
• Selling The Drama – Live
• Stay – Lisa Loeb
• Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town – Pearl Jam

This morning was an Arms workout. I'm further away from the Jumanji footprint, but the spirit remains:

• 5-min bike warmup
• Dumbell Curl (run amt up and back down): 2 sets of 20,15,10,15, 20 reps
• Standing EZ Bar Curls: 8×10
• DB Concentration Curl: 5×12
• Hammer Curls: 3×12
• Reverse Grip cable pushdown (run amt up and back down): 2 sets x 25,20,15,12,20 reps
• EZ Bar Skullcrushers to Close Grip Press: 4 sets x 12-20 reps
• Dumbbell Kickback: 3×12
• 30-min treadmill to 6AM

In conjunction with my missing to beat my alarm clock to 4AM today (I try to wake up on my own 10 min before) and a long resistance program, I didn't have time for a Dumbbell Triceps Extension: 3×15 and couldn't attached the last segment of bike cardio. I tried to compensate mid-workout by adding quick 45-second bike sessions between routines that had a rest gap, though honestly I prefer workouts where one arm rests while the other trains so as to minimize downtime.

So there you have it, my first week of training. While I have the next two days set to rest, I do have some side projects (like organize my workshop) and I may just comeback for a little cardio.

In preparation for today, I ran across my doppelgänger-brother whose parents are John Krasinski from The Office and David Harbour from Stranger Things:.

Thus, it is a Shoulders day for me. And I can't lie: for taking up a small amount of real estate next to my head, my entire body is worn out. I adopted a large segment of the Jumanji workout and denoted with an * the alternative exercises I chose:

• Pop in alternative music from 1995
• 5-min bike warmup
• Dumbbell Lying Rear Delt Raise*: 5×15
• Seated Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise*: 4×12
• Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises: 3 sets of run the rack up and back down again with each set 25-20-15-12-20 reps. For those of you who are counting at home, that's NINETY-TWO reps a set. And yes, I went over and picked up my air dumbbell that was next to my air guitar for the first 25 and final 20.
• Dumbbell Front Raises: 4 sets x 10+10 reps | palms up + palms facing
• Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Presses: 4×20
• 30-min on the treadmill
• 25-min on the bike to push past 6am

One of the larger challenges of this workout was maintaining good form.

Though it did tear me down, I'm feeling pretty swoll right now. That post workout high of accomplishment is hard to beat. It amuses me that it wasn't too long ago I was staying up to 3:53 AM to catch a Tokyo sunset—now, I'm waking up at that time.

I feel like I'm drawing closer to the creation of a workout schema (that will be tweaked endlessly). When I do, I'll be adding it as a new tab to this site.

I am destroying my soymilk breakfast this morning. In these 4am mornings, I get up and grab my iPhone; set up the gym; work out; hit the shower; give some love to my beard; and THEN rehydrate and fuel. It's likely a schedule I won't maintain come the summer, but for now, I only get one side of my shirt wet.

It's a Legs & Abs day for me. I went off the beaten track from the Jumanji workout by only including a couple of exercises from that routine. A few things motivated me: 1) it seems most leg exercises just require machines; 2) I've had a Bill atop my shoulders for years now and I'm guessing I've got a pair of powerful wheels—plenty of torque; 3) finally, I just didn't want to rob Peter to pay Paul against my cardio program. Again, I'm managing motivation. It's for the same reason why I don't record my cardio times (I like breaking records) and why I haven't installed a HIIT (in due time). Yes, I'll fire through those in the beginning, but a couple weeks later, dread builds. I'm by far more interested in maintaining the program, not breaking personal bests. Overall, the only record I want to beat is on that scale, and that's still over 4 weeks away.

Jumanji has ab training as a pre-workout a few times a week, but I thought I'd make it official. So, in creating my regimen, I gave it a shot:

• Cue the 1998 alternative from Chicago's Q101
• 5-min bike warmup
• Chon-Ji: 10 reps
• Sidekick: 4×20
• Single-leg Leg Extensions: 3×20
• Barbell Glute Bridges (hold last rep 10 secs): 4×12
• Russian Twist: 4×20...and no...I nearly dumped over the brewery trying. I'll put this one back into the tool chest for later.
• Situps: 4×20...turned into 20-20-12-3...I just didn't have it in me to avoid muscle failure.
• Leg Lifts: 4×20...turned it just 3 which conjured up out of the sweaty mist a 19-year-old Taekwondo AND Karate Bill who belted me in the gut. It's not that I didn't try, I just suddenly lost the capacity for it.
• 30-min on the treadmill
• 20-min bike to cycle through 6am

In this exploratory, first week, I'm gauging my range and likes. It will likely take a few weeks to get it hammered out. And as these things go, as soon as I figure it out and reach a rhythm with it, I'll switch to something else. But that's all part of the chase, no?