Is pain really weakness leaving the body? And is it true that there is no gain without pain? And have I mentioned this bumper sticker bon mot?--HARD WORK MUST HAVE KILLED SOMEBODY.

This afternoon Jake and I did heavy rope intervals of 8 X 20 seconds with the 5 lb., 4 lb. and speed rope, then did the whole thing over again. We can't understand how it is that the 5 lb. rope seems to have a degree of difficulty far in excess of just one extra pound. I'm sure somebody with a physics bent could explain it, but all I know is that it sucks the wind right out of you.

As we were walking up the trail back to the house I said to Jake, "it's amazing how we only did 15 minutes of actual exercise and it's such an incredible workout." He said, "there's your infomercial." You know, like, "hey, suckers, burn a zillion calories in only 15 minutes a day." Kind of like the Thigh Master--but with actual sweat.

In the morning I did the plank jump side-to-side (8x30)--another real gasser. Then I did squats with the 35 dumbbells on the shoulders (3x10), push-ups holding the 25 lb. dumbbells with a row in the up position (3x10), sit-ups (3x until my stomach hurt), and pull-ups (3x10).