Don Draper, an indecently lucky man.

I'm a huge fan of the AMC series Mad Men. I especially love Joan (Christina Hendricks), whose incredible body, beautiful face and fantastic style are a constant source of delight and zero-calorie visual candy.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today.

I'm about halfway into the third season, and I've only now realized that Don Draper is one kinky motherfucker.

Fucking a woman wearing a variety of wigs? YEAH.
Near-public fucking? YEAH.
Jew fucking? YEAH.
Fuck an underaged girl? YEAH.
Watching two kids fuck? YEAH.
Meet your wife in a public place in Rome and pick her up in front of two Roman dudes, then arrange to meet her in your shared hotel room? DOUBLE YEAH.

Well done, Don Draper, you total pig of a man.

Well done.

August stats.

Waist: 31.5" (-1")
Hips: 43" (-.25")
Chest: 31.75" (-1.75")
Thigh: 28.25" (first time measure)
Arm: 13.75" (first time measure)

BF%: 32.6%

In the past month, I've lost a total of 3 inches off my body.

I was a little worried, since the scale had barely budged, but these measurements have satisfied me that I'm heading in the right direction. The scale is my least favorite of metrics, but unfortunately, it's the only one that's practical to perform on a weekly basis.

At least I'm not stepping on the scale every day as I did my junior year of college. That led to some seriously unhealthy methods of losing weight and an overall obsession with the scale.

August Exercise Goals.

900 minutes of exercise total.
Perform New Rules of Lifting for Women program phase 1, 3x weekly.
Cardio 3x weekly. Raise minutes from 30 minutes of intervals with 5 minute cooldown to 35 minutes of intervals with 5 minute cooldown.

A late success.

I've spent the past two weeks on four-time weekly bouts with the elliptical trainer, hill intervals, level three, thirty minutes plus five-minute cooldown.

At first, it sucked hard.

Now, it sucks a lot less hard, so I moved it up to level four. Cardio sucks at a manageable level again.

Perhaps even a level that can be maintained while I stretch it out to 45 minutes plus 5 minute cooldown, my end-of-October goal.

FEELING MANRY

Ladies and gents of the Internet void, I am pleased to announce that I had, as of the 25th, surpassed my July fitness goal of 600 minutes.

It's the 27th now. I'm at 731 minutes and I've taken the day off cardio to rest up after two physically grueling nights of contract DJ work and prepare for lifting tomorrow.

It's been a good month for cardio. I began the month with 20-minute sessions of Olympic speed walking which winded me and sucked, and I'm ending the month with 35-minute elliptical training interval sessions that wind me and suck a lot less. But, the more I read, the more I'm sure I need to incorporate free weight lifting into my routine. I'm waiting on a copy of The New Rules of Lifting for Women at the Battleground Barnes & Noble; fingers crossed it's in by Monday of next week.

Yesterday, I learned to squat. Tomorrow I'm going to try bench pressing and deadlifts.

I am a MAN.