Happy Friday everyone!
It was my first workout with Karissa this year. I hadn't seen her since before the New Year's holiday, so I was both looking forward to and dreading this workout. I knew it was going to be tough - I had no idea - but I knew that I needed to get back into my routine.
My legs have been really tight from my running so I got to the gym early today to make sure that I could warm up properly and get all stretched out. I used the elliptical for 10 minutes then I stretched for another 15 to make sure my legs could handle it. I thought that today we would work on legs as we hadn't done that in a while. My guess was correct. We did legs. We also did some chest work, some back work, some tricep work, some bicep work, and finally some core work.
We started out on the TRX Machine again today. The first superset was made up of 3 exercises. We started with my favourite - suspended lunges! I did 12 per side then moved onto a mat to do a hellish push-up exercise as the second part of the superset. This time I had to hold at the top for 3 seconds, then hold at the bottom for 3 seconds. I had to do 10 pushups this way. The final exercise was TRX rows but only 10 reps for this wonderful slice of life. Then a short break. As Karissa thought my push-ups looked a little too easy, she decided to make them tougher by making me hold it for 5 seconds instead of 3. It sounds easy, but it isn't. The part that gave out was the shoulder blades from holding myself at the bottom of the push-up.
After those 3 reps, we moved onto the leg press machine. Normally I don't mind the leg press as I have quite strong legs. This wasn't one of those times. It seems that Karissa learned a new exercise from her trainer and decided to try it on me. This time we did a couple of warm up sets of 10 reps to find a good weight. We started with 4 plates, then moved to 6 plates, and finally 8 plates. So I had already done 3 sets of leg press. Then the hell began. The twist this time was to do 10 sets of 10 reps with a 30 second break in between. I had to have 1 plate removed after 7 sets as I just couldn't push the weight anymore. In case you are wondering, 8 plates plus the machine is 382 pounds. 7 plates is 337 pounds. So in total, for leg press, if you include my warm up, I pressed a whopping 45,610 pounds in a very short time. My legs hated me after that one.
From there we moved to another superset of which there were only 2 exercises. This time I had to do triceps dips on the bench - 15 reps. This time though, unlike the last time I did this exercise, i didn't get to use bent legs as a mechanical advantage. This time is was legs straight out in front of me so they couldn't help at all. Right after those, I moved to do 21s for the biceps. It has been a while since I have done these, so I'll explain them here. I don't even know what the barbell weighed that we used, but you start like any other barbell bicep curl. Starting at the bottom, curl the bar until the arms are parallel to the floor, then lower. Repeat 7 times. Then curl the bar all the way to the top and lower it until the arms are parallel to the floor. Repeat 7 times. Finally do 7 complete bicep curls. Those last 7 are going to hurt - no question. We repeated that tiny superset twice.
The final superset of the day also only had 2 exercises. I didn't mind these ones for some reason. Maybe because my core is getting stronger, so it seemed easier than I would have expected. The first exercise was a plank with a new piece. This time while in the plank, I had to lower both knees to the floor, then back up - all while holding the plank. Repeat 10 times. The second exercise was what we called a quarter Superman. On my stomach, arms spread out to the sides, lift one leg off the floor then lower it. Repeat 10 times per leg. You know you are doing this exercise right when you feel the back doing the work and not the butt. We did this superset 3 times.
After that, I was done. Day over. Off to the rest of my evening. My legs already feel that press exercise, so tomorrow is going to be interesting. I am so glad I stretched out before hand as I wouldn't have been able to walk at all after that.
Next week, I am changing my routine slightly. I am going to take an ab workout class on Monday so that means no running. I am moving that to Thursday then working with Karissa again on Friday. So, my week is, gym, curl, curl, gym, gym weekend. Not bad.
Oh, and for those of you keeping track, I have lost another pound and am down to 208. Getting really close to my goal, which means I should soon start thinking about my next goal.
See you next week.
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