This afternoon I was finishing up doing errands when my husband got home from running a few errands of his own. I had the tail of my Forester open with the 50 lb bag of sunflower seed bird food still sitting there while I hauled in groceries. He gallantly marched the bag into the house and set it down by the dog food, looked at me, then looked at the bag. "How did you get the bird seed into the car?" "I put it in," I replied. He looked at me again, then said, "Damn, I guess working out is paying off! I should've let you get the seed out of the car." I had to suppress a smile.
I had my son in tow this morning because my husband had a business conference call even though he's technically on vacation. Which meant I had to plan an abbreviated workout. I like the combination Chest/Back workouts but that takes too long. Last night I was reviewing a bevy of workouts when one caught my eye in the Women's Training section for Chest. It's simple, which I like, but it's hard and requires a spotter or partner, which I don't have. So I tried to incorporate the gist of it into today's workout, without killing myself. You basically start with your heaviest lift for 4 reps, then drop weight and go for 8 reps. Repeat for 12 reps. Then 16 reps. End with 20 reps. The routine starts with Inclined Presses, then Flat, then Decline and ends with a few sets on the Pec Dec which I don't do. Flat Bench is the only exercise I have a good idea where I stand with this new equipment which is harder for me because I have to reach much further overhead to unrack the bar.
Since I've been getting sets of 8 at 115 lbs, I started with 120 lbs today after a quick warm up with just the bar. It was hard but I managed to make all my sets. Then I moved to the Inclined Bench which I'm not that familiar with. It's too big and too high but I figured WTH. I can't do the program here because I don't know how much I can lift. This was basically a progression to see how far I can get. Because I feel awkward and unbalanced doing this movement, my increments were smaller, in a "Better Safe Than Sorry" mode. I'm pretty burnt by the time I get to Decline Presses but at least I'm familiar with the feel. I'm done after five sets, but not quite ready to quit yet. I know I should do DB Flyes but I'd rather do DB Raises instead, so that's what I do. I've got a big ugly scratch on my shoulder from Friday than runs about 4 inches in length and a good 1/4" wide. I have absolutely No Idea when it happened, except that it was probably during my rounds with the Nexersys. At least it doesn't hurt.
I'm also toying with the idea of cutting my cardio down to 20 minutes from 35, but all the programs I've reviewed add another 20 minutes at the back end of the workout, and that's not something I want to do. I've already cut my stretching down to alternate days. But maybe I'll just cut cardio to 20 minutes on days I decide to lift heavy. The gym scale reads 113.4 lbs and I'm not surprised anymore. Tomorrow I'm psyched to do Back, upping my RGBB Row, and probably adding the One-Arm DB Rows back into the mix. When I punched my goals into a website calculator, it projected a weight of 125 lbs. I'd also need to drop my BF to 16% to achieve the look I want. Dropping 4% seems daunting only because I don't have a clear course of action. Yet.
Monday Workout:
35 min cardio Hill #5 = 3.84 miles
Bench Press: 12 @ 45 lbs / 4 @ 120 lbs / 8 @ 115 lbs / 12 @ 105 lbs / 10, 3, 3 @ 95 lbs / 20 @ 75 lbs
The 5th set really took my breath away and I had to pause at rep 10, and rack the bar at rep 13 before finishing.
Inclined BB Press: 12 @ 45 lbs / 12 @ 55 lbs / 12 @ 65 lbs / 8 @ 75 lbs / 8 @ 85 lbs / 6 @ 95 lbs
Decline BB Press: 12 @ 45 lbs / 12 @ 75 lbs / 10 @ 95 lbs / 12 @ 85 lbs / 20 @ 65 lbs
DB Lateral Raises: 12 @ 20 lbs / 3 x 12 @ 25 lbs
Cage Stretch with BW calf raises & heel dips
Flat Bench Twisting Sit Ups: 125
Lower Ab Knee-In Kick-Outs: 100
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