Great job on your workout! Listen to big Jim. Whenever I just keep pushing for PRs and don’t plan a cycle and deload, I end up lifting less and less weight each week. Especially on the bench.
I just started yoga a couple of months ago. It has made a big difference in my life. I feel great. I was having major low back problems. I would wake up in pain and took awhile to warm the body up. Now I feel great. No pain, less DOMs and better recovery time. Some yoga classes are awful. You just have to find the right instructor.
Hey Claire! Yeah Big Jim is a smarty! =D I am pretty good about taking de-loads (about every 5-6 weeks or whenever my strength stagnates for 2 weeks in a row… whichever comes first =D) but the main problem is that I ALWAYS want my lifts increasing and sometimes let me form go to crap just to use a heavier weight <---- NOT SMART! =D
I am so pumped about Yoga. Apparently this woman is an AMAZING instructor… I am definitely going to have to hang in the back until I have a few more classes under my belt. =D
I am glad to hear that you are giving yoga rave reviews!
I will let everyone know how it goes! Right now I am off to do a DE Lower Day!
So I went to my first yoga class tonight. (OK… that’s a lie… it is my 2nd, but my first was 5 years ago, so it doesn’t count!)
It was fantastic! I LOVED it! It was difficult but doable and I didn’t have trouble with many of the poses… I am sure I could have done them better/more gracefully/deeper/etc, but I still felt like I did a pretty good job. The room was warm (but not HOT like Bikram) and I was definitely sweating.
One thing that I think is holding me back a bit is my wrist strength. My wrists used to bother me in gymnastics all the time… so hopefully after several weeks of yoga they will strengthen enough and not bother me anymore.
I typically either take Sunday OFF or make it a light cardio day… but I think yoga will be my new Sunday workout. =D
cool Molly! I was thinking of doing yoga or pilates on my ‘off day,’ as well. I did it through both pg’s and I love the feeling of just being calm afterward.
Yeah it was awesome. I was a little sore after class last night (some tendons and muscles got STRETCHED that hadn’t been stretched in a while.) but I feel fine this morning. Looking forward to next week’s class!
So I have had to switch up my schedule of ME Upper and Lower, DE lower and RE Upper because I don’t always have a spot on my ME days… coupled with random things coming up at random times… it’s a little frustrating… but I always have at LEAST 5 days between the same workouts (i.e. my ME Lower days are ALWAYS at least 5 days apart)
I almost NEVER train more than 2 days in a row, and I never do ME Upper and ME Lower on back-to-back days… SO, all in all I feel like this wacky schedule is OK for me. That being said, I had a good workout tonight! =D
RE Upper
Decline Pushup (Feet on large Medicine Ball… only one foot at a time… other foot held in the air with WHOLE body contracted. Would switch feet halfway through… this was TOUGH!)
20 reps/19 reps/16 reps (+1 rep on 2nd set… other sets the same as last week)
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
12 reps/12 reps/10 reps @ 110 lbs (+2 reps/+2 reps/same reps)
***supersetted with ***
Scarecrows
3 sets of 12 @ 50 lbs
Cable Lateral Raise
3 sets of 12 @ 7.5 lbs (weird machine)
***supersetted with ***
1 Arm Arnold Press
12 reps/11 reps/11 reps @ 22.5 lbs (+2.5 lbs same reps/-1 reps/-1 reps)
So Tuesday was an OFF day from lifting… I did a quick circuit and some random exercises… I was planning on doing shoulder rehab and glute activation and foam rolling… but I ran out of time… so I will do that another day!
Tuesday I did:
Circuit:
5 pushups
3 Pullups
5 Front Squat w/ OH Press with 45 lb bar
REPEAT 4x
I only rested about 10-15 seconds when I felt like I needed it… so needless to say this circuit was over QUICKLY and kicked my butt… I ended up having to do assisted pullups at the end…
Then I did some decline pushups, X-band walks, side steps w/ mini band, Swiss Ball Pushups, Neutral Grip Pullups, GHR’s…
I was done with everything in less than 25 minutes. =D
[quote]mmgalb727 wrote:
So Tuesday was an OFF day from lifting… I did a quick circuit and some random exercises… I was planning on doing shoulder rehab and glute activation and foam rolling… but I ran out of time… so I will do that another day!
Tuesday I did:
Circuit:
5 pushups
3 Pullups
5 Front Squat w/ OH Press with 45 lb bar
REPEAT 4x
I only rested about 10-15 seconds when I felt like I needed it… so needless to say this circuit was over QUICKLY and kicked my butt… I ended up having to do assisted pullups at the end…
Then I did some decline pushups, X-band walks, side steps w/ mini band, Swiss Ball Pushups, Neutral Grip Pullups, GHR’s…
I was done with everything in less than 25 minutes. =D
Wednesday is Max Effort Lower Body =D YAY! [/quote]
I like your quick little circuits Do you do them to help burn fat or are they more for an active recovery?
Hey Claire! I do them for both actually… but this one was focused more on fat burning. I wanted to do TABATA, but I am training ME Lower Body today and since I normally use BW squats, Thrusters, or DB Swings for my TABATA I thought that anything that would leave my lower body sore would be a bad idea =D
My circuits focused on active recovery would likely be shorter and a little less intense…
Thanks so much NVH! I am really glad you are liking the journal! It definitely keeps me accountable and pushes me hard in the gym!
Umm… about the yoga class… the only description that my gym gives of the class is:
Yoga
Level: intermediate (which, by the way, I DID NOT know before I took it last week! EEK! I am glad that I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself!)
But the woman who teaches it DOES make the class feel very ‘athletic’ if that makes sense. We will several of the poses for a while, but we often will move quite quickly from one pose to the next… Let’s just say I was SWEATING in that class! So we move around a LOT and the class seems to be very movement focused and LESS breathing focused, I think… But I <3 it! =D
Tonight was Max Effort Lower Body. I felt like I had good energy going into it… but I was disappointed with my squat session =(
Wednesday 11/19/08
ME Lower Body
Parallel Box Squat
4 @ 195 lbs
then Backed it down to 190 lbs and got 2 sets of 5 (up 10 lbs and down 2 reps on the first set… up 5 lbs and down 1 rep each on the last two sets…)
***Think it’s time to switch ME movements… think I am going to DL for a couple of weeks! =D
Reverse Lunges
3 sets of 10 @ 30 lb DBs (60 lbs total) (+10 lbs total, -2 reps each set)
DB Romanian DL
3 sets of 10 @ 70 lbs DBs (140 lbs total) (+10 lbs total, SAME Reps!) <---- YAY!
Then I Did TABATA thrusters again! Same as last week…
10 lb DB’s
20 sec on 10 sec OFF, 8x
(got between 12 and 17 thrusters each 20 sec)
*** a girlfriend of mine did it with me this time and so did two other guys from my gym… but the guys didn’t use any weight! haha… AND everyone about passed out when it was over! But I am happy b/c my girlfriend is going to start doing TABATA more often and cut back on her long-duration high intensity cardio! I think this will help her with her weight loss! YAY!
[quote]mmgalb727 wrote:
Thanks so much NVH! I am really glad you are liking the journal! It definitely keeps me accountable and pushes me hard in the gym!
Umm… about the yoga class… the only description that my gym gives of the class is:
Yoga
Level: intermediate (which, by the way, I DID NOT know before I took it last week! EEK! I am glad that I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself!)
But the woman who teaches it DOES make the class feel very ‘athletic’ if that makes sense. We will several of the poses for a while, but we often will move quite quickly from one pose to the next… Let’s just say I was SWEATING in that class! So we move around a LOT and the class seems to be very movement focused and LESS breathing focused, I think… But I <3 it! =D[/quote]
With your gymnastics background I wouldn’t worry about the intermediate - you’re more than capable! Sounds like power yoga/ashtanga yoga which is very similar to what I took (when we had an instructor I loved). It’ll definitely make you work and I really dug the asanas (series of movements that flow from one to the next like Sun Salutations). I much prefer that to a more meditative form.
Don’t worry about making a “fool” of yourself. As my instructor used to say - it’s yoga PRACTICE not perfect.
I MUST give the DB thrusters thing you do a try although I think I’ll start off like the guys without weights! :^P I’ll try it this Saturday…
Hey NVH! Try the DB Thrusters! They will kick your booty in the BEST way!
Well I ended up taking yesterday OFF… just some light walking. I am a little tight and sore in the lower body… but it should be mostly gone by tomorrow! I am REALLY looking forward to ME Upper Body tonight AND DE Lower Body tomorrow! YAY! =D
Well tonight was ME Upper Body… since my 3 board presses have stagnated a bit… I thought I would try incline barbell bench press instead. I haven’t done it in FOREVER and tend to be weak on it… =P
Incline Barbell Bench Press (Paused on the chest)
5 reps/6 reps @ 105 lbs, then 5 reps @ 110 lbs. The last rep of the last set was ROUGH! I swear it took me 10 seconds to get the weight up but I was determined! I didn’t give up!
BB Bent Over Row
3 sets of 8 reps @ 105 lbs (dropped weight by 10 lbs… I think my form suffered a bit last week so I dropped the weight and focused on SQUEEZING my back)
***supersetted with ***
Bent Over Rear Lateral Raises
3 sets of 12 @ 12.5 lbs DBs (did different exercise last week… so can’t compare)
1 Arm Lateral Raises
15 reps @ 15 lb DB, then 2 sets of 10 @ 20 b DB (first set same as last week. Last two sets, +5 lbs, - 5 reps)
EZ Bar Curls
2 sets of 10 @ 50 lbs (not sure how much the EZ Bar weighs. We have several diff ones at my gym. Either way, + 5 lbs and -2 reps from last week)
AB Circuit:
V-ups
Sprinter Abs
Decline situps
3 sets of 10 reps each with 1 min rest between sets (1 more set than last week, 1 min less rest between sets than last week)
Decline Situps
4 sets of 15 reps @ 10 lbs (same weight, reps… but held the DB in left arm OH for 8 reps, then right arm OH for 7 reps… forced me to stabilize better since one side was weighted and the other side not weighted)
Decline Pushup (Feet on Swiss Ball… only one foot at a time… other foot held in the air with WHOLE body contracted. Would switch feet halfway through… this was TOUGH!)
21 reps/19 reps/18 reps (+1 reps/same reps/+2 reps)
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
12 reps/12 reps/12 reps @ 110 lbs (same weight, same reps/same reps/+2 reps)
***supersetted with ***
Scarecrows
3 sets of 12 @ 60 lbs (+ 10 lbs, same reps)
Cable Lateral Raise
3 sets of 12 @ 35 lbs (+5 lbs, same reps)
***supersetted with ***
1 Arm Arnold Press
3 sets of 12 reps @ 22.5 lbs (same weight, same reps/+1 rep/+1 rep)
Tuesday 11/25/08
Shoulder Rehab and Glute Activation Day
Yesterday was technically an OFF day, but I like to do shoulder rehab and glute activation stuff 1x a week, and I had been neglecting it since my contest prep…
Over/Unders 3 sets of 10 each direction
Cable External Rotations (parallel to the floor) super-setted with X-band walks
Cable External Rotations (perpendicular to the floor) super-setted with side steps and squats with mini-band
YTLI raises with 2.5 lb plates facing an incline bench super-setted with Glute bridges and 1 legged glute bridges on Medicine ball
GHR Back extensions with 2-3 sec glute squeeze at the top
Do you do them to help burn fat or are they more for an active recovery?