As I compose this writeup, my arms are aching and groaning in protest ;) I'm glad it's a good sore! This is day 17 of my 30 day workout challenge, and that guy in my bathroom mirror must be doing the same challenge 'cuz he's starting to look pretty good ;) Here's what I've been up to in the gym the past few days...
Sunday:
A lower body day, for me, means an emphasis on squats, and that's exactly what I did. 125 lbs, 10 reps, 5 sets... that really felt good! At the end I was sweating like I'd just finished a run.
Next I did leg presses, 85 lbs X 15 reps X 2 sets, and then 100 lbs X 15 reps X 2 sets.
After my legs were all pressed, I strayed from the lower body and did a handful of rows. That's because, as I mentioned in the last writeup, I've been looking into expanding my routine to hit more muscles. I did 30 lbs X 10 reps and then 70 lbs X 10 reps. The 30 lbs felt more like 0 lbs, but it's always best to start a new machine with very low weight so you can get a feel for how it works.
After rows I finished with crunches, holding plates. 35 lbs, 34 reps, 3 sets. And then side legs, 29 per leg.
Monday:
I felt the beckoning call of the treadmill, so I threw on my running shorts and ran my legs off. Unfortunately, at somewhere around 49 minutes into the run, the machine decided I was finished and halted, simultaneously erasing the vital stats (distance, time, etc.) I started it right back up, but now I don't know exactly how long or how far I ran. I do know I ran close to 55 minutes, plus another 5 minutes of cooldown, and after starting at 3.5mph, I gradually accelerated up to 7mph. The last ten minutes of the run, after restarting the machine, I covered 1.12 miles.
Tuesday:
An upper body day and the day when I would really put the rows from Sunday into practice.
Bench: All sets were at 115 lbs. I did 10 reps, 10 reps, 9 reps, 7 reps. The attentive reader will no doubt point out this is actually worse than I did on my previous upper body attack. What this tells me is I've probably hit a plateau. I talked about the plateau in my latest article (which you should check out since it's based on this fitness challenge), Progressive Training. To push past the plateau, I'm gonna depart from regular bench for awhile, replacing it with some variation like wide-grip bench and/or narrow-grip bench.
Pull ups: Last time, I was happily able to push out two pull ups, even if the second one was mediocre. This time, I only did one, and even that was tough. I might be dealing with a plateau here as well, though that's a little embarrassing to admit when we're talking about just one rep. Maybe next time I'll try doing negative pull ups, where you just focus on the descent part.
Rows: Time to hit my rear deltoids! I did 70 lbs, 15 reps, 3 sets with a machine.
Dumbbell bench: 40 lbs per hand, 15 reps, 2 sets. I feel that I'm making good progress here. I use 15 reps as a kind of checkpoint and use that to determine when to up the weight, so next time I'll move to 45 lbs per hand and only 10 reps. Then I'll gradually up the reps to 15 again. I'll consider it excellent progress if I make it to 50 lbs/hand during the 30 days. Dumbbell bench is a little frustrating because the dumbbells only go up in increments of 5 lbs. Since you actually lift two of the things, that means the total weight goes up in increments of 10, which may not sound like much but when you get into weightlifting you'll realize it's a big move up.
Crunches with plates: 35 lbs, 36 reps, 3 sets.
I think the workers at Jesse Owens South are starting to recognize me. They're quite friendly. I'm also starting to notice and recognize other "regulars", I wonder whether any of them are with me in the every-day school of thought. These effects would probably have shown up a lot sooner if I actually went at a fixed time every day. Basically I go whenever the heck I feel like it. One of the benefits of being your own coach and boss :)
NEXT: Days 18-20
Sunday:
A lower body day, for me, means an emphasis on squats, and that's exactly what I did. 125 lbs, 10 reps, 5 sets... that really felt good! At the end I was sweating like I'd just finished a run.
Next I did leg presses, 85 lbs X 15 reps X 2 sets, and then 100 lbs X 15 reps X 2 sets.
After my legs were all pressed, I strayed from the lower body and did a handful of rows. That's because, as I mentioned in the last writeup, I've been looking into expanding my routine to hit more muscles. I did 30 lbs X 10 reps and then 70 lbs X 10 reps. The 30 lbs felt more like 0 lbs, but it's always best to start a new machine with very low weight so you can get a feel for how it works.
After rows I finished with crunches, holding plates. 35 lbs, 34 reps, 3 sets. And then side legs, 29 per leg.
Monday:
I felt the beckoning call of the treadmill, so I threw on my running shorts and ran my legs off. Unfortunately, at somewhere around 49 minutes into the run, the machine decided I was finished and halted, simultaneously erasing the vital stats (distance, time, etc.) I started it right back up, but now I don't know exactly how long or how far I ran. I do know I ran close to 55 minutes, plus another 5 minutes of cooldown, and after starting at 3.5mph, I gradually accelerated up to 7mph. The last ten minutes of the run, after restarting the machine, I covered 1.12 miles.
Tuesday:
An upper body day and the day when I would really put the rows from Sunday into practice.
Bench: All sets were at 115 lbs. I did 10 reps, 10 reps, 9 reps, 7 reps. The attentive reader will no doubt point out this is actually worse than I did on my previous upper body attack. What this tells me is I've probably hit a plateau. I talked about the plateau in my latest article (which you should check out since it's based on this fitness challenge), Progressive Training. To push past the plateau, I'm gonna depart from regular bench for awhile, replacing it with some variation like wide-grip bench and/or narrow-grip bench.
Pull ups: Last time, I was happily able to push out two pull ups, even if the second one was mediocre. This time, I only did one, and even that was tough. I might be dealing with a plateau here as well, though that's a little embarrassing to admit when we're talking about just one rep. Maybe next time I'll try doing negative pull ups, where you just focus on the descent part.
Rows: Time to hit my rear deltoids! I did 70 lbs, 15 reps, 3 sets with a machine.
Dumbbell bench: 40 lbs per hand, 15 reps, 2 sets. I feel that I'm making good progress here. I use 15 reps as a kind of checkpoint and use that to determine when to up the weight, so next time I'll move to 45 lbs per hand and only 10 reps. Then I'll gradually up the reps to 15 again. I'll consider it excellent progress if I make it to 50 lbs/hand during the 30 days. Dumbbell bench is a little frustrating because the dumbbells only go up in increments of 5 lbs. Since you actually lift two of the things, that means the total weight goes up in increments of 10, which may not sound like much but when you get into weightlifting you'll realize it's a big move up.
Crunches with plates: 35 lbs, 36 reps, 3 sets.
I think the workers at Jesse Owens South are starting to recognize me. They're quite friendly. I'm also starting to notice and recognize other "regulars", I wonder whether any of them are with me in the every-day school of thought. These effects would probably have shown up a lot sooner if I actually went at a fixed time every day. Basically I go whenever the heck I feel like it. One of the benefits of being your own coach and boss :)
NEXT: Days 18-20
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1 comments:
Hi Glowing Face Man, I've been reading your blog for a while now but this is my first time commenting. I'm a fellow Japanese student and autodidact as well.
I'm by no means a fitness expert but I've been working out regularly for about a year now. One thing I'd recommend for working your abs is to ditch sit-ups/crunches. They're bad for your back and don't provide great results. There are many low-impact ab workouts that are superior to crunches.
I actually tried this new 10 exercise routine a few hours ago. It really kicked my ass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDEhekunkj4&feature=related
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