The Best Shape of My Life!

Thursday and Friday’s workouts went really well. On Thursday, I didn’t break my goal of 19,000 total pounds lifted (using the same upper body workout). But I came close to what I did at 17,845. I hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep that week, and I was extremely stressed out. So I’m sure that had a lot to do with it.

Friday’s workout was awesome! I lifted 22,960 lbs, which was a big improvement from Tuesday’s. So for my lower body and back, I’ve added weight. I felt great on Friday, and I felt great today.

I’m going to continue with this particular program for one more week, and then I’ll think about spicing things up a bit.

I also tried the Body Attack class on Thursday. My gym added BA, which is another Les Mills program. It is a very intense cardio class, with a little strength mixed in. No weight training, but moves like pushups, planks, etc. And a lot of intervals and agility drills. And of course, like Les Mills does, this is done to outstanding music! I’m thinking about pursuing a certification in Body Attack as well, which would add to my Body Pump certification that I’m hopefully going to get soon.

So overall, it was a great week! Next week starts with a 5K run tomorrow morning. Gotta get some sleep for that one! Later.

Today was the legs/back workout. It was pretty tough getting into the gym at 5:30 a.m. But I did it, and I feel great because of it. I probably didn’t do as much weight as I could have, but I was running on only 4 hours of sleep or slow, plus I taught the Bodypump class at my gym Mon night (weightlifting full body to music). So three workouts in about 24 hours time period! That’s cool. And no, I don’t do it that often.

Today’s workout went like this:

1. Total Legs: Squat, Leg Press
2. Quads: Extension
3. Hams: Curl
4. Back: Lat Pulldown, Seated Cable Row
5. Biceps: Cable Curl
6. Calves: Standing Calf Raise Machine

With all the exercises, there were 13 total sets.

Total weight lifted = 18,110. Next time I want to break 19,000.

I really enjoyed my upper body workout today. The muscles worked were the following:

Chest, Shoulders, Traps, Triceps, Abs.

I lifted a total of 17,485 lbs. Next time I’ll try to break 18,500. I modified the workout from M&F to fit the time I had (early morning before work), equipment (what I had/didn’t have and what I don’t like using), and ability. We’ll see how I feel in the morning.

Starting tomorrow, I’m getting into a new strength program. It comes from the March 2007 Muscle and Fitness magazine. It’s actually the last 12 weeks of a "beginner" program, but looks pretty tough and well-put-together. So I’m going to try it and see. I like to experiment with various programs. If they work, I come back to them periodically.

The major modification I’ll make is I’ll apply most of the HIT principles to the workout. I really enjoy HIT workouts, as they don’t take up a lot of time, and I always feel like I got a good workout. And, I’ve noticed the biggest success from them. So I’ll combine this M&F workout with HIT principles and see what I get.

Other modifications may occur as I think they need to. I’ll try to post most of what I do on my blog, in case anyone actually follows along.

I was going to do my lower body workout today, but that didn’t happen. I got two molars pulled yesterday that had been giving me problems for quite a while, and in order to have the surgery, I had to put under. Needless to say, I was OUT all day yesterday.

Today wasn’t much better. I could focus, but I just didn’t have the energy or willpower to do a workout. The meds they gave me were pretty high power. And, as weird as it might sound, I didn’t want to screw up my mouth with my heavy breathing (the surgeon warned me not to "suck" for the next few days).

Yeah, trying to down a protein shake without using a straw was an interesting endeavor, too. But I did manage that.

Oh well, there’s still next week, My body isn’t going to change overnight, so giving up one day isn’t going to set me back that much.

Good night, and God bless.

Here’s a glimpse of my workout today. I’m still well below the levels I want to be, but steadily I’m increasing. After not focusing hardcore on weights for about a year now, I’m in a sense reviving my program (and of course, making it much better than it was).

* All exercises used straight sets.
* Approximate rest time between sets was 1 minute.
* Total workout time was appr. 30 minutes.
* In parentheses, I list (reps/weight).
* FWM = Free Weight Machine (we have different brands in our gym).
* DB weight listed is for one DB only.

Warmup
A. DB Incline Bench (15/30)
B. DB Bent-over Row (15/25)

Work
1. Incline Chest Press (15/150, 12/170)
2. Lat Pulldown (12/100, 6/140)
3. Low Back Nautilus (12/125, 8/140)
4. Seated Row FWM (12/120, 5/130)
5. DB Bicep Curl (8/25, 6/25)
6. Dips-to failure (10/BW, 10/BW)

Total weight lifted: 14,190 lbs (not including warmup).

To think that I’ve been on Bodyspace for over a year now and have not been actively participating! I have realized in the past couple of days that I have really been missing out on the action. There are a lot of very well-built people on this site that are not only full of advice, but willing to help others achieve their goals. That’s awesome! And the best part is that it’s all FREE.

Okay, so this isn’t really just a Bodyspace ad, but really, I’m loving it. I’ll post more later.