I've never considered physical activity to be just a means of "staying in shape." It's always been a natural part of everyday life. Like eating, sleeping... or reading the Wall Street Journal.

Bodybuilding

I started getting interested in bodybuilding after I passed my Ph.D. qualifiers at Princeton. Weight training proved to be an excellent form of stress relief. It forced me to take a break three or four days a week, and it helped to stave off my natural inclination to be as skinny as a rail. Like all "newbies," I responded pretty well at first. I gained a fair amount of strength and put on a little size (about 15 lbs.). I even won my weight class (152-162lbs) in an intramural bench press competition one year (keep in mind, we're talking about Princeton here...;-)

In those days, I was training on a one-on, one-off (essentially MWF) total body workout. At the time, I hadn't yet discovered that I had calf muscles. I was barely aware that I had legs!

Once I finished grad school, I started to get a decent amount of sleep for the first time in years. I increased the number of sets per bodypart, and found it necessary to split my workout over several days. Eventually, I settled on a M-F plan:

• Monday: Chest & triceps
• Tuesday: Legs & biceps
• Wednesday: Back & shoulders
• Thursday: Chest & arms
• Friday: Legs, back, & shoulders

The M-F plan probably didn't give me enough rest, so I switched to working each bodypart once per week on a 3-on 1-off split.

After a long history of injuries, lost trainging partners, and switching gyms, I'm now working out in the mornings with my wife Lisa and our friend Mark. We're getting in 3 or 4 days a week. We're presently working on a 3-day split: push, pull, and legs. Stay tuned for details.

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Waterskiing

Check out the waterskiing page for a description of my barefooting picture above.

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Scuba

I do most of my diving in the Monterey Bay Area. Brrrrr! Check out my links to dive-related sites on my Scuba page.

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Snow Skiing

During the ski season, I try to get to the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges downhill and a bit of cross country skiing. Check out my Snow Skiing page for more details.

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Cycling & Blading

California offers year-round opportunities for cycling and inline skating (okay, in the Bay Area, December and January aren't really that great).

It's been awhile since I've done much cycling. Because, I didn't have a car in grad school, I rode my bike constantly. Now, life seems to get in the way a lot. Still, during the summer of 1998, my dad and I entered a mini-triathalon (1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike ride, 5K run) and the cycling was still the easiest part by far. So, I must have maintained some small remnant of my conditioning.

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