Well, today I got some of the best news of my life. As I've said before, I was being forced to drop out of the Marine OCS program I was in due to chronic shin splints that orthotics didn't fix. Today, my physical therapist gave me a call, and it turns out I had someone else's orthotics! (weren't working for them, either...). I received mine today, and providing they work I'll still be able to ship on 27 May. Obviously I'm going to be putting my main focus back on cardio over lifting (still not as fun..), but overall this is extremely good news for me. Probably doesn't affect many/any of you, but figured I'd at least explain my change in program.

Edit: I'm staying with Rippetoe's, but am going to stop bulking and just maintain. In 3 weeks I'll be stopping with the weights and move to more endurance-oriented calisthenics...e.g. as many free squats as you can do in 2 min (it gets painful), mountain climbers, bend and thrust, etc. I'd rather lift weights, personally ;)

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We can rebuild him...