Today was another upper body day. This time, I wanted to do an ab exercise that didn't require so much arm work, so I chose the anti-rotation hold. That was plenty challenging! I didn't alway hold my arms straight out. Maybe I should decrease the weight so i can.
I worked out again barefoot. It's fun and since I'm at home, it's no problem! It feels weird at first, but then it feels natural. I made good use of my dumbbell handles today. I love being able to make small steps in my dumbells. 1.25# is the smallest step, which is much better than my regular dumbbells.
I'm enjoying the Female Body Breakthrough warm-up. I used to skip warming up, but I have this down to 10-11 minutes. I know it's good to do. Today, during the rests, I also foam rolled my back.
I burned around 650 calories, which is good considering I ate some of the Black Forest Cake I made for hubby's birthday. It was sooo worth it, though!
Hypertrophy I A6 (4 sets of 10 reps, 60 secs rest)
Warm-up - FBB (10:15)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 3x10 @27.5# each hand, 1x10 @28.75# each hand
Cable seated row - 3x10 @80#, 1x10 @82.5#
Dumbbell shoulder press - 1x10 @20# each hand, 3x10 @22.5# each hand
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 4x10 @85#
Barbell close-grip bench press - 4x10 @60# (did not alternate with high pulls)
High pull - 4x10@ 60#
Anti-rotation hold - 3x20# with rope held out, but not straight out (should lower weights?) 30 secs right, rest 15 secs, 30 secs left (subbed for Swiss-ball crunch)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Slinging some steel and running some intervals!
Yes, it's after midnight and I just got done with my workout. I'm off tomorrow, so I don't have to get up crazy early.
Yesterday, I worked from home and took a 20 minute break in the morning to get a quick run in. I decided I wanted to do intervals like this: 3 minutes run at least 10min/mile, walk 1 minute, repeat for four times total. The first three running sections were under 10 min/mile: 9:38, 9:12, and 9:58. The fourth was 10:27. Still not bad. It was sunny, humid, and getting warmer. Not my favorite weather! I had actually set the alarm to get up early and run, but that didn't happen. I think my heart rate monitor was slipping because it doesn't make sense during my running portions. It was only 1.7 miles, but still a good workout. Maybe I'll add a fifth running section next time.
Tonight, I got downstairs for Hypertrophy I B5. This is a 3 sets of 15 reps workout. 15 rep sets are really not my favorite. I have a hard time with them mentally. Doubt creeps in. Surely, I can't complete so many reps! I do, though. I find that counting the reps back from 15 to 1 helps me. Also, sometimes I take a quick breather every 5 reps. 5 reps are sane, 15 are somehow simply too many.
The straight sets of squats and deadlifts are so hard on these with only 30 seconds rest allotted, it turns into craziness. I cannot rest only 30 seconds on deadlifts. It takes me longer than that just to psych myself up to the lift! When doing 15 rep deadlift sets, I usually have to stop and reset my form and my grip a couple times. That is annoying. I feel like I'm cheating between that and the psyching up at the start. Oh well. I'm still making improvements. The deadlifts did feel great. I could tell by the end of the 45 (!) reps that my back was doing plenty of isolation work. No soreness (although I wouldn't rule out DOMS) so all is good. I could just tell my lower back muscles were hard and doing their work!
The squats went well, too. I can feel a stretch in my quads and a little in the inside of my thighs. 60# seems low, but I have to keep in perspective that the 60# was for 15 reps. Ugh!
My feet kept wanting to cramp up during the Bulgarian Split Squats. I was able to reposition them so it went away, but it was still annoying. I find that holding my chest high for BSS and step ups helps with my form and getting a good depth.
I subbed the Swiss ball planks again for the reverse crunches. They were still crazy hard, but doable. I'm sure it helped that it wasn't an arm day. By the end, my body wasn't even shaking anymore, it was quivering. I'm not sure what that means. I do know that these are much harder than any variation I've attempted before.
HT1 B5
Warm up - from FBB, 9:54
Squat - 3x15 @60#
Deadlift with shrug - 3x15 @140#
Bulgarian split squat - 3x15 @5# each hand (yes, I got out the neoprene coated dumbbells... last time I used body weight for this set/rep scheme, so it's an improvement... plus, they are yellow, not pink!)
Step-up - 3x15 @5# each hand
Swiss ball plank - 3x (30/15/30) (each set was 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off, 30 seconds on)
Yesterday, I worked from home and took a 20 minute break in the morning to get a quick run in. I decided I wanted to do intervals like this: 3 minutes run at least 10min/mile, walk 1 minute, repeat for four times total. The first three running sections were under 10 min/mile: 9:38, 9:12, and 9:58. The fourth was 10:27. Still not bad. It was sunny, humid, and getting warmer. Not my favorite weather! I had actually set the alarm to get up early and run, but that didn't happen. I think my heart rate monitor was slipping because it doesn't make sense during my running portions. It was only 1.7 miles, but still a good workout. Maybe I'll add a fifth running section next time.
Tonight, I got downstairs for Hypertrophy I B5. This is a 3 sets of 15 reps workout. 15 rep sets are really not my favorite. I have a hard time with them mentally. Doubt creeps in. Surely, I can't complete so many reps! I do, though. I find that counting the reps back from 15 to 1 helps me. Also, sometimes I take a quick breather every 5 reps. 5 reps are sane, 15 are somehow simply too many.
The straight sets of squats and deadlifts are so hard on these with only 30 seconds rest allotted, it turns into craziness. I cannot rest only 30 seconds on deadlifts. It takes me longer than that just to psych myself up to the lift! When doing 15 rep deadlift sets, I usually have to stop and reset my form and my grip a couple times. That is annoying. I feel like I'm cheating between that and the psyching up at the start. Oh well. I'm still making improvements. The deadlifts did feel great. I could tell by the end of the 45 (!) reps that my back was doing plenty of isolation work. No soreness (although I wouldn't rule out DOMS) so all is good. I could just tell my lower back muscles were hard and doing their work!
The squats went well, too. I can feel a stretch in my quads and a little in the inside of my thighs. 60# seems low, but I have to keep in perspective that the 60# was for 15 reps. Ugh!
My feet kept wanting to cramp up during the Bulgarian Split Squats. I was able to reposition them so it went away, but it was still annoying. I find that holding my chest high for BSS and step ups helps with my form and getting a good depth.
I subbed the Swiss ball planks again for the reverse crunches. They were still crazy hard, but doable. I'm sure it helped that it wasn't an arm day. By the end, my body wasn't even shaking anymore, it was quivering. I'm not sure what that means. I do know that these are much harder than any variation I've attempted before.
HT1 B5
Warm up - from FBB, 9:54
Squat - 3x15 @60#
Deadlift with shrug - 3x15 @140#
Bulgarian split squat - 3x15 @5# each hand (yes, I got out the neoprene coated dumbbells... last time I used body weight for this set/rep scheme, so it's an improvement... plus, they are yellow, not pink!)
Step-up - 3x15 @5# each hand
Swiss ball plank - 3x (30/15/30) (each set was 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off, 30 seconds on)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
New Swiss ball challenge!
Today's lifting session went back to high reps. It is 3 sets of 15 with only 30 seconds of rest. I couldn't keep the rests between *** sets because of setup time, but otherwise I pretty much did. I decided not to alternate the barbell close-grip bench presses with the high pulls, because that requires maneuvering the barbell out of the cage and back again. I definitely wouldn't have hit the rests if I did that. Since I wasn't alternating, I took 1-1/2 minute rests and foam rolled in that time.
Instead of the Swiss ball crunch, I subbed planks with arms on the Swiss ball. Wow. Just WOW. Sure, my arms were worn out by then and my ball needs more air, but this were crazy hard. Instead of the 60 seconds I was shooting for, I did 30s+30s with a 10-15 second pause. Next time, I think I'll try them on a leg day and find something less arm-intense for arm day.
Hypertrophy I A5
Warm up - from FBB (about 10 minutes, but I hit the wrong button on my Forerunner and didn't record this part)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 3x15 @27.5# each hand
Cable seated row - 3x15 @75#
Dumbell shoulder press - 1x13 @20#, 2x15 @15# each hand
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 1x(7 @77.5# + 8@75#), 1x(10 @75# + 5 @72.5#), 1x15 @72.5#
Barbell close-grip bench press - 3x15 @55#
High pull - 3x15 @55#
Plank with arms on Swiss ball - 3x 30s+30s
Instead of the Swiss ball crunch, I subbed planks with arms on the Swiss ball. Wow. Just WOW. Sure, my arms were worn out by then and my ball needs more air, but this were crazy hard. Instead of the 60 seconds I was shooting for, I did 30s+30s with a 10-15 second pause. Next time, I think I'll try them on a leg day and find something less arm-intense for arm day.
Hypertrophy I A5
Warm up - from FBB (about 10 minutes, but I hit the wrong button on my Forerunner and didn't record this part)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 3x15 @27.5# each hand
Cable seated row - 3x15 @75#
Dumbell shoulder press - 1x13 @20#, 2x15 @15# each hand
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 1x(7 @77.5# + 8@75#), 1x(10 @75# + 5 @72.5#), 1x15 @72.5#
Barbell close-grip bench press - 3x15 @55#
High pull - 3x15 @55#
Plank with arms on Swiss ball - 3x 30s+30s
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Another workout today!
This time it was lifting. Lifting is nicer in the evening, running is nicer in the morning. Hmmm....
Well, it was a good lift. I had just spent 2 hours in front of the computer doing some financial stuff, so my eyes were buggy and I needed a change of pace. Lifting was a good answer!
Today was a 5x5 routine. Tough and heavy! I really got some good gains in, though. I'm deadlifting well over my weight now. Woo hoo!
Again, I put so much into the squats and deadlifts, that I can't load up the BSS and step-ups all that much. Last time the 5x5 came around, I tried to, but had to stop at 3 sets.
I was wearing shorts, so I made liberal use of the Eco-Ball on my legs so I didn't tear them up too badly during the deadlifts. I still hurt the skin a tad (like a mild rug burn) but not too bad. I really should wear pants for these. With this kind of weight, I realize I can't even attempt to hold the bar out a bit. Also, I wish I would have not used the Lynx grips on the last set. During the last rep, the one in the right hand shifted a bit because I was having issues with keeping a hold on the Lynx grip.
Hypertrophy I B4
Warm-up - from Female Body Breakthrough (10:29), 3x45# squat
Squat - 1x5 @75#, 3x5 @80#, 1x5 @85#
Deadlift shrug - 1x5 @150#, 3x5 @155@, 1x5 @160#
Bulgarian split squat - 5x5 @15# each hand
Step-ups - 5x5 @10# each hand
Swiss ball rollout - 3x10 (subbed for reverse crunch, stretched arms out farther than last time)
Well, it was a good lift. I had just spent 2 hours in front of the computer doing some financial stuff, so my eyes were buggy and I needed a change of pace. Lifting was a good answer!
Today was a 5x5 routine. Tough and heavy! I really got some good gains in, though. I'm deadlifting well over my weight now. Woo hoo!
Again, I put so much into the squats and deadlifts, that I can't load up the BSS and step-ups all that much. Last time the 5x5 came around, I tried to, but had to stop at 3 sets.
I was wearing shorts, so I made liberal use of the Eco-Ball on my legs so I didn't tear them up too badly during the deadlifts. I still hurt the skin a tad (like a mild rug burn) but not too bad. I really should wear pants for these. With this kind of weight, I realize I can't even attempt to hold the bar out a bit. Also, I wish I would have not used the Lynx grips on the last set. During the last rep, the one in the right hand shifted a bit because I was having issues with keeping a hold on the Lynx grip.
Hypertrophy I B4
Warm-up - from Female Body Breakthrough (10:29), 3x45# squat
Squat - 1x5 @75#, 3x5 @80#, 1x5 @85#
Deadlift shrug - 1x5 @150#, 3x5 @155@, 1x5 @160#
Bulgarian split squat - 5x5 @15# each hand
Step-ups - 5x5 @10# each hand
Swiss ball rollout - 3x10 (subbed for reverse crunch, stretched arms out farther than last time)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A foggy run
Well, I managed to talk myself into running this morning. I've been in a funk lately and haven't worked out much. As a result, I've been tired and sluggish. Also, I've been eating much less than optimally, which doesn't help.
During the run, I was feeling really grateful for the ability to run. I am so glad I have my asthma and allergies mostly under control so that I can run. Also, I was grateful that I found C25K and c25k.com, which started my new fitness obsession. At least it's a good obsession! I am sad to see that the c25k.com forums have been down for a long time. I wonder if they may never be revived. Whether they are or not, a lot of people have been affected positively by Knoddie's forums.
I woke up to a cool 64F day, but it was foggy, so very humid. I ran a slow (12:05min/mile) pace for the first mile then tried fartlek for the second. The fartlek even included walking some. The pace graph is interesting. I averaged 12:10min/mile for the second mile, so walking didn't really slow me down.
I hadn't ever really done a fartlek session before. It was interesting. I've always done structured intervals. I think I'll keep that in my bag-o-tricks.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
An evening workout
I normally get up early to work out, but today I decided to try an evening workout. The workout itself went fine. My bench presses felt great. I'm finally getting a good feeling for those, especially with the barbell. The barbell used to feel so awkward compared to dumbbells. I don't like the alternating bench press and high pulls, though. Maybe I'll not alternate those sets next time.
It's a bit weird eating so late in the day, after the workout. We'll see if that has an effect on my sleep.
These 5x5 days are neat. I have a chance to try out higher weights. This Hypertrophy I method of switching up the reps/sets each time is interesting. I definitely find myself thinking of a strategy to pick the right weights.
Hypertrophy I A5
5x5 with 90 sec rests
1:28 including warm up
Warm up - from FBB, 10:12 (yes! almost to my desired 10 minutes!!)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 1x5@30#ea, 2x5@31.25#ea, 2x5@32.5#ea
Cable seated row - 3x5@95#, 2x5@97.5#
Dumbbell shoulder press - 1x5@25#ea, 1x5@26.25#ea, 1x5@27.5#ea, 2x5@28.75#ea
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 1x5@95#, 4x5@97.5#
Barbell close-grip bench press - 1x5@60#, 1x5@65#, 1x5@70, 2x5@75# (felt great!)
High pull - 1x5@60#, 1x5@65#, 1x5@70, 2x5@75# (not fun alternating these with the BP, since I have to maneuver the bar in and out of the cage with the bench in the middle)
Plank with tight cheeks - 2x90s, 1x60s (subbed for Swiss-ball crunch, probably should have done a different variation since I did these yesterday)
It's a bit weird eating so late in the day, after the workout. We'll see if that has an effect on my sleep.
These 5x5 days are neat. I have a chance to try out higher weights. This Hypertrophy I method of switching up the reps/sets each time is interesting. I definitely find myself thinking of a strategy to pick the right weights.
Hypertrophy I A5
5x5 with 90 sec rests
1:28 including warm up
Warm up - from FBB, 10:12 (yes! almost to my desired 10 minutes!!)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 1x5@30#ea, 2x5@31.25#ea, 2x5@32.5#ea
Cable seated row - 3x5@95#, 2x5@97.5#
Dumbbell shoulder press - 1x5@25#ea, 1x5@26.25#ea, 1x5@27.5#ea, 2x5@28.75#ea
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 1x5@95#, 4x5@97.5#
Barbell close-grip bench press - 1x5@60#, 1x5@65#, 1x5@70, 2x5@75# (felt great!)
High pull - 1x5@60#, 1x5@65#, 1x5@70, 2x5@75# (not fun alternating these with the BP, since I have to maneuver the bar in and out of the cage with the bench in the middle)
Plank with tight cheeks - 2x90s, 1x60s (subbed for Swiss-ball crunch, probably should have done a different variation since I did these yesterday)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A new fan!
Lasko 3300 - $25 at Wal-Mart
Last night, I got a fan for the basement. Boy, that makes it so much more bearable. It's not that it's warm down there, but when I sweat, it just doesn't leave my skin. The breeze makes all the difference. It didn't lift the weights for me, though. I did that. I can tell. I'm wiped, or at least my lower body is! Squats and deadlifts in the same workout is a killer! I can tell my back did a lot of bracing. After using a good weight (for me) on squats and deads, there wasn't all that much left for BSS or step-ups. I did planks instead of reverse crunches, making sure to squeeze my glutes.
I've been able to do a chin-up three times now. Last night I tried and got about an inch from a full one. This is so exciting! I've been working on it for over a year now, so I'm so glad to be where I am. I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I can do a pull-up or multiple chin-ups. Woo hoo!
I'm getting really close to my goal of the warm-up being 10 minutes. I can handle 11:30, like today. The 20 minutes that I started out with was excessive. If I could memorize the order of the moves, I might make it. All together, today's workout took 1:12.
Hypertrophy I B3
Warm up - from Female Body Breakthrough (11:30)
Squat - 4x10 @75# (feeling really good)
Deadlift shrug - 4x10 @145# (pauses during last two sets)
Bulgarian split squat - 4x10 @10# each hand
Step-up - 4x10 @BW (concentrated on form and not using non-working leg to help)
Plank with squeezed buttocks - 3x90s (glad the floor was there to catch me after that last one!)
Friday, July 2, 2010
Every now and then...
... I can get in a workout! Like this morning.
First off, some news from last night. I decided to sign up for the Des Moines Half Marathon in October! I enjoyed the 20k so much and this is, for all intents and purposes, the same effort. I will have to train again (and actually start running again). But that should be fun. I want to do a couple 5ks before then, too.
Now, on to this morning's workout. I got to my basement (yeah!) for Hypertrophy 1A3. It is the upperbody half of the workout. Today, I was musing about the differences between single-sided exercises and barbell exercises. Both have their benefits. Single-sided is really tough. You learn balance and you learn the truth about imbalances, since one side often is weaker. However, with barbell exercises, you also learn truths about sides. If you are benching and one side is weaker, the bar doesn't go up straight. It looks bad and you might bang the safeties if you have them set up. Not that I would know that! Ahem...
Out of time, so here is the workout for today. It was much easier to hold 60 second rests. I even got in a bit of foam rolling during that time. I like the 10 reps a lot better than 15, too. With warmup and a little foam rolling at the end it took 1:13.
Hypertrophy 1A3
Warm up - Female Body Breakthrough warm up (11:41)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 3x10 @25# each hand, 1x10 @27.5# each hand
Cable seated row - 3x10 @75#, 1x10 @77.5#
Dumbbell shoulder press - 4x10 @20# each hand
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 4x10 @85# (last two sets had a pause in the middle... I was getting dizzy, even though I was on my knees!)
Barbell close-grip bench press - 3x10 @55#, 1x10 @60#
High pull - 3x10 @55#, 1x10 @60# (still don't like alternating these with the bb bench press, since it is so awkward to get the bar out of the cage so often)
Swiss-ball rollout - 3x15 (subbed for Swiss-ball crunch)
First off, some news from last night. I decided to sign up for the Des Moines Half Marathon in October! I enjoyed the 20k so much and this is, for all intents and purposes, the same effort. I will have to train again (and actually start running again). But that should be fun. I want to do a couple 5ks before then, too.
Now, on to this morning's workout. I got to my basement (yeah!) for Hypertrophy 1A3. It is the upperbody half of the workout. Today, I was musing about the differences between single-sided exercises and barbell exercises. Both have their benefits. Single-sided is really tough. You learn balance and you learn the truth about imbalances, since one side often is weaker. However, with barbell exercises, you also learn truths about sides. If you are benching and one side is weaker, the bar doesn't go up straight. It looks bad and you might bang the safeties if you have them set up. Not that I would know that! Ahem...
Out of time, so here is the workout for today. It was much easier to hold 60 second rests. I even got in a bit of foam rolling during that time. I like the 10 reps a lot better than 15, too. With warmup and a little foam rolling at the end it took 1:13.
Hypertrophy 1A3
Warm up - Female Body Breakthrough warm up (11:41)
Dumbbell incline bench press - 3x10 @25# each hand, 1x10 @27.5# each hand
Cable seated row - 3x10 @75#, 1x10 @77.5#
Dumbbell shoulder press - 4x10 @20# each hand
Wide-grip lat pulldown - 4x10 @85# (last two sets had a pause in the middle... I was getting dizzy, even though I was on my knees!)
Barbell close-grip bench press - 3x10 @55#, 1x10 @60#
High pull - 3x10 @55#, 1x10 @60# (still don't like alternating these with the bb bench press, since it is so awkward to get the bar out of the cage so often)
Swiss-ball rollout - 3x15 (subbed for Swiss-ball crunch)
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