When asked in my community health class what I wanted to accomplish during the quarter, I replied, “I want to get buff.” Partially this was just part of my “Graham thinks he’s funny” plot, but there was some truth to it, too. I wanted to say that at least once in my life, I looked good . Sickeningly vain? Yes. But the fact that I sometimes forget to look in the mirror in the morning makes me think I’m not all that obsessed.

Anyway, I’ve seen excellent results, and it’s all thanks to my protein powder . I’ve been seriously lifting since February, 3-4 times a week (save finals and sick weeks), and I’ve put on 10 pounds–almost all of it muscle. It’s all about rewards and punishments: I avoid sweets as much as I can, and therefore my terrible sweet tooth can’t wait to lift so that I can come back and have my protein shake (the key is blending it with yogurt, soy milk, ice, and frozen berries).

I’m happy to say that my whole class is getting into the weight lifting gig–it’s not only great to build strength and tone, but the more muscle you have, the more quickly your body burns fat.

Knowledge of anatomy has definitely made lifting more interesting as well. I continually seem to agitate one of my teres muscles around my shoulder, although I still can’t figure out which. And I’m ever a cadaver in an anatomy lab, I’m convinced the students dissecting me will find a little part of my accessory nerve (helps shrug and lift your shoulders) on my left side that’s gotten lost and ended up innervating my buccinator muscle in my face. Every time I work out my shoulders, the left part of my face sneers upward. It’s pretty funny to watch.

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