Feelin' So Fly...

...like a G6! Pretty much danced/sang that song the whole drive home from World's tonight thanks to the pre-spin class Celcius I downed, despite it tasting like fruit-flavoured piss in a can. I stopped by the gym at 7:30 am this morning on my way to work to be sure that I got a pass for both Jen and I. Got some major flack for trying to buy a pass for someone else but luckily I was able to sweet talk my way into it! I was really put off by the whole "this is the ONLY time I'll make this MAJOR concession for you" attitude but I'll let it slide since the amazingness of the class totally made up for it.

As the day progressed, I was feeling terribly crappy with symptoms reminiscent of the beginning stages of a winter's cold and almost gave my spin pass away but luckily I stuck with it, and now that I'm pumped up with a post-spin adrenaline rush I'm thinking my sickness was more an after effect of the awful 4 hour meeting I had to sit through at work today haha. Now, I'm not an energy drink person at all but given that I wasn't feeling the workout around 5pm this evening I decided to purchase a raspberry acai green tea flavoured celcius (non carbonated!) when I got to the gym. I downed it knowing that I needed the caffeine and my heart is still beating 3 hours later! Not in a bad, "I just had three espressos in 10 minutes" kind of way but more in a "I hope I can get to sleep tonight" kind of way!

When we got to class the instructor helped us newbies get set-up with the correct seat and handle bar height, explained the three positions of spinning, turned on the music (a truly great mix, I might add!), and got us going. Now I understand why the class gets sold out every night, there's only 12 bikes! For some reason I thought there were like 30 in there. However, I'm not quite sure why there weren't more guys. To be perfectly honest, the instructor was gorgeous, and it takes a lot for me to think that about another female, and a blonde no less haha. If I were a single guy I'd be at World's every day when it opened to make sure I had pass #1! Luckily for me, she was wearing a wedding ring. I don't need the competition haha.

Having seen the sweat-drenched ladies come out of class over the past couple of weeks, I tried to pace myself in the beginning so as not to get too steamed up but unfortunately it was inevitable. At first, the room was frigid but the mirrors were covered in a dense fog and the temperature rose about 20 degrees in no time. Someone near me really started to reak half way through class so I think next time I may have to grab a bike by the door so I get some fresher air. I strategically (or so I thought) grabbed a bike in the back which faces the door so I could continue to take in a pleasant and motivating view haha!

I thought the class was overall a great mix of high-medium-low intensity, choreographed well to the music, and very motivating. I think my favourite position is 1st (standing upright) with 3rd coming in a close second place (standing bent forward). 2nd (sitting bent forward) really hurt my crotch and gave me a terrible wedgie so I must either buy some of those hideous padded biker's shorts or else sit on a folded-over towel next time!

Anyway, at the rate my energy level is at right now, I could probably write another 50 paragraphs but I'll stop short because the bachelor is on and the girls are dwindling down enough that its started to get good. All in all though, great workout tonight. It feels so good to switch up the day-to-day routine. Thankfully I can't make it to the gym tomorrow, because I can already tell that my quads are going to be mad at me tomorrow. I can't believe I am saying this but when I have to renew my annual World's membership later this week, I may have to purchase a spinning membership on top of it!

Good Saturday Mix

Excellent early Saturday morning workout today. It could have gone either way since I felt like I was coming down with a cold yesterday and ended up skipping my workout and everything else for that matter last night. Luckily I woke up refreshed and healthy! I arrived around 8am this morning which is perfect timing because only serious gym goers are there at that time and there are few creepos to bother you. My warmup today was 15 minutes on the elliptical. I knew I'd be going for a long dog-hike this afternoon so didn't want to completely tire myself out that early in the day! I contemplated doing spinning this morning but couldn't find the motivation to give it a try. Maybe tomorrow. If not, then I think tomorrow will be a run day. Sundays seem to be good for that provided I don't do anything crazy the night before!

For weights today I did shoulders. I switched back and forth between shoulders and abs which I like because my shoulders don't tire out as fast. To start, I did three sets of 8 arnold presses on the bosu ball. Then, I did 3 sets of 12 "air-incline" crunches (the ones I described the other day), followed by 3 sets of 12 shrugs on the bosu. Next, I did 4 sets of stability ball crunches (2 front and 2 side-to-side) holding a 25 lb plate to my chest for the first 2 sets and doing v-sits in between sets. The added weight gives me a better burn but it sure makes it difficult to keep my feet from sliding! Lastly, I did 3 sets of 8 pull-ups. I did them on the assisted pull-up machine today because I needed to reduce the weight a bit in order to get full 8-rep sets in. Finally, I did one last thing to round out my workout which was one set of 8 stability ball pushups, kneeling on the ball at the end. Overall, a good mix of cardio/shoulders/abs/stability I think!

Record Breaker

It's official, I finally hit the 30 minute mark in running! I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed this morning because I was overcome with an unusual amount of motivation for a Sunday haha. After taking my pup for a nice winter morning walk, I hit up World's later than usual at around 10am. It was surprisingly quiet for that time of day on a weekend. I don't want to jinx it but maybe/hopefully the resolutioners are finally giving up? Anyway, I grabbed one of my favourite front-row treadmills, put on my favourite Pandora play list, and booked it! I allowed myself to stop after 15 minutes to take a 3-minute walking break so I could gulp down about a gallon of water but then got right back to it and finished out my last 15. I think the water break could be avoided if I purchased a water bottle with a straw-like opening so I wouldn't spill all over myself when trying to run and drink at the same time but hey, major progress here! 

After my run, I stretched out my legs a bit on the mats and then embarked on a great ab routine. I decided not to do weights today because the run was a major energy buster and my muscles are a knotted-up mess right now. Luckily, I have a 90 minute massage booked this afternoon that I can't wait to get to! For abs I started with something new I was shown how to do the other day. I don't know what I'd call it other than a variation of  a crunch but basically you sit down at the lat pull-down machine and put your legs on top of the cylindrical  cushions that usually go above your knees. Then, wrap your toes under the bar in front of the cushions and crunch backwards to the sides. It's kind of like incline crunches only you have no bench for support. I am really liking this new move! I did three sets of 8 of these and then moved on to 3 sets of 8 tee pees, kneeling on the ball in between sets. Lastly, I did 6 sets of "60 second" planks, 2 front, 2 right side, and 2 left side. 

That was it for today. I'm sure I'll be back on the weights tomorrow and maybe even try to check out one of the new spinning classes World's is now offering this week. I wasn't a fan of spinning the last time I tried it but that was 5 years ago so I should give it another shot. Plus, I could use some continual change in my workout routine. Anyway, one thing at a time. So happy to finally break my record! 

Bulletproof

You know you're in trouble when you start to get sore before you even finish your workout. Got in a full 2 hour legs workout tonight and didn't even look up at the clock once until I happened to notice it was nearly 7:30 and I hadn't started on abs yet. Whoops! I had Pandora going the whole time again. Best invention ever. Of course now I have "Bulletproof" stuck in my head but I can think of worst things. 

To start, I busted through a 20 minute run where I worked up a pretty good sweat. At this rate, maybe I can psyche myself up to attempt 30 minutes this weekend.  After a quickie stretch sesh, I moved on to bosu ball dead lifts. I did a variety of variations here; one legged, two legged, weighted, no weights. I think I did 5 sets of 8 but I lost count at 4 so I really don't know! Next I moved on to the standing glute press machine where I did 3 sets of 8 presses (each leg). I've been wanting to try something new for legs lately and I've never used the Smith Machine before so I gave it a shot. I did 3 sets of 10 squats, 3 sets of 12 calf raises, and lastly 3 sets of 8 lunges.  I'm not sure the Smith is any better than the regular free weight or barbell squats/lunges I usually do but I sure did feel a burn! I actually had to break for a while during my lunges because my left hamstring was threatening to spasm so badly. I could just feel it starting to tear. So not a good feeling! I muscled through it though by taking some weight off and felt great afterward. That's when I noticed how late it had gotten and raced through 4 sets of 20 front and side stability ball crunches and 3 sets of 8 standing weighted side crunches. I'll have to make up for abs tomorrow. Judging by how bad my legs hurt right now, abs may be one of the few things I'll be able to do! 

Seeing as I was in a rush to leave before it became a 3 hour workout, I skipped out on final stretching which I know I am going to pay for tomorrow. Usually the soreness doesn't set in until the next day but I had trouble just walking upstairs when I got home. So much for being bulletproof, tomorrow is going to be a struggle! 

Music Makes All The Difference

Well, apparently it was a shoulders day the last time I wrote so so much for variety as today I did shoulders as well. I must say though, today's workout was exceptionally good as I found an incredible "pump-me-up" workout play list available on Pandora (I finally purchased an iPhone arm band this weekend) that I had going the whole time. It was called something like "pop and hip hop workout mix" and was filled with the best club songs from my Palache glory days (only some of you will get that). Basically, I was in my own little Candy Shop for an hour and a half haha. I didn't really even realize how hard I was working or how fast I was going because I was too focused on the amazing tunes! I did give myself quite a headache though so perhaps I had it blasting a little too loudly. It sure worked great to help avoid having to talk to the usual creepers though!

I had originally planned to go to Planet today but for some reason when I got off the highway I couldn't help but turn left rather than right onto Marginal Way. I'd like to get the most out of my dual memberships but I really am just not a big fan of Planet. I suppose someone at World's is bound to really irritate me soon enough though and then I'll be more inclined to switch it up!

In keeping with what I had planned to do at Planet, I started my workout with 20 minutes on the arc trainer. Worked up quite a sweat on there and was so pumped up when I was done that I busted out 6 pull ups immediately afterward! Okay, I'll admit my pull ups aren't exactly Rocky quality but at least they are sans assistance! I followed these with 3 sets of 10 stability ball leg lifts, 4 sets of side crunches (20-16-12) on the back extension machine, another sets of 6 pull ups, 3 sets of 8 front arm raises, 3 sets of 8 lateral arms raises, and finally, one last set of 6 pull ups.

After some final stretching I was out the door and headed home in the bitter freezingness that this season has become. Tomorrow is going to be an off day but I'm thinking legs and a run for Wednesday.

Serious Shoulders

Great shoulders workout at World's today! After a frustrating work day where I nearly threw my incompetent laptop through the window on several occasions, I was ready to bust some ass, and the latte I had around 3 gave me an extra caffeinated jolt.

I started with a 20 minute warmup on the eliptical. I really got myself into a sweat from the start which I always find to be a fast stress-buster! I still hate sweating though haha. Eliptical tip: I usually try to alternate 5-10 minutes forward strides with backward strides. Keeps it from getting boring, uses your legs in a different way, and prevents me from getting dizzy when I step off.

To break into my weight sesh I started with a set of pullups. I was able to do 6 versus my usual 4, definitely a positive effect of the caffeine! These were followed with 3 sets of 8 arnold presses standing on the bosu ball, 3 sets of 8 shoulder shrugs also on the bosu, another set of pullups, 3 sets of 8 forward arm raises, and lastly, 3 sets of 8 lateral arm raises. I'm not sure how I managed to get all of that in seeing as much of my 2 hour time slot was spent chatting, or rather being chatted up haha, but somehow I managed!

Moving on to abs, I did 4 sets of 20 stability ball crunches with v-sets in between sets and finally, 4 sets of 8 leg raises (2 sets front and 2 sets side-to-side). I dunno, maybe I was itching to get out of there but I wasn't feeling too creative on the ab front today. It's still ridiculously busy at that time of day and doesn't seem to be letting up in the least. If only it were warmer out so I could attempt an outdoor run. Bring on Spring!

First Week Success

The first week of the new year has come to an end and I can happily say that despite the crowds, I had pretty good workouts all week long! I've been majorly slacking on my blog posts lately so I apologize. I promise I have not been slacking in the gym though! On Wednesday I had a great legs workout which caused me to have some serious jell-o legs over the past few days. Thursday was a shoulders day and Friday a bi's & tri's day. Today I once again did legs but I did totally different moves than on Wednesday and did some things I hadn't done in a while.

To start, I did a 10 minute run / 5 min cool down on the treadmill. I spent much of today's routine over on the machine side of the gym rather than the free weight area. I started my weight sesh with 3 sets of 12 sitting thigh adductors, then moved on to 3 sets of 12 standing calf raises, and followed these with 3 sets of 12 sitting thigh abductors. My inner and outer thighs should be nice and sore tomorrow which will be good since I won't be able to make it into the gym! Next, I moved back over to the free weight area and did 3 sets of 12 (each side) side crunches on the back extension machine. For my last legs move, I did 3 sets of 12 weighted plie squats. These are definitely my favourite kind of squats! Luckily I was wearing capris instead of my usual booty shorts so the down position wasn't too revealing haha. To finish up, I did 3 sets of "60 second" planks and a bunch of stretches on the mats.

I was probably in and out of the gym in an hour today, much less time than usual, but it still felt like a quality workout. I'm super excited right now because I finally got my ass into the 21st century yesterday and purchased an iPhone. I've been playing around with it all day and found this cool (and free!) app called My Fitness Pal where you can track all of your food & exercise intake/outtake. I don't have a weight goal in mind or anything but I just booked a winter trip down south so I think that tracking my intake will be a major aid in my "South Beach Bikini Diet" that I've decided to embark on haha. Basically all this "diet" is, is to avoid unnecessary sweets so it shouldn't be too difficult. I've made it 4 days so far without indulging :)

Another cool thing I've discovered is that you can use your iPhone as a pedometer and also as a timer. Guess I don't need that exercise watch anymore...just need to find an iPhone arm band!

Resolutioner Arrival

Crazy busy at World's today, as expected. For the most part it wasn't a problem as I was able to get my desired front row treadmill and most of the equipment I wanted to use without waiting. I started today's workout with a run and actually made it 20 minutes which felt really good! Tomorrow I'll do the eliptical and then depending on how I feel maybe shoot for 25 on Thursday.

After my run, I moved over to the weight area where I did chest & back. I wasn't feeling too creative so I opted for longer sets and less of a variety of moves. To start I did 4 sets of 10 barbell rows while standing on the bosu ball. Then, I moved on to chest and did 4 sets of 10 incline bench chest flies. Lastly, I did 4 sets of 10 sitting rows on the cables. For abs I started with 4 sets of 20 crunches on the stability ball (2 sets forward and 2 sets side-to-side) and then 6 "60 second" planks (front, right side, left side, repeat).

To finish out my gym session today I ventured over to the stretching mats where I became quite annoyed with the lack of mat space. It was nearly 7pm and the crowd was not clearing out in the slightest. It'll probably continue to be a nightmare for the rest of the month at least. I suppose I could go later in the evening to avoid the after-work crowd but in these frigid temperatures (the wind chill is like -20 F tonight!) once I'm home, I'm not going out again haha

Slow Start To The Resolution Season

I couldn't help but judge in the judgement free zone today. In my defense, I really didn't have a lot going for me from the start. First, I forgot to take something for my end-of-workday headache and thought I could run it out which trust me, does not work. Then, on my way into the gym some passers-by were chowing on some pizza and I realized that I had forgotten to avoid Planet Fitness on the first Monday of the month, yet again. To my surprise, however, there were far fewer New Year's Resolutioners in attendance than I had expected. There wasn't even a line-up for the cardio machines like there was pre-Christmas and the stretching mat area, typically a sea of people during the 5-6pm hour was pretty empty. What really aggravated my headache however was the worst display of poor form I may have ever witnessed from the guys upstairs in the weight room. Now, I understand that a few of these characters were definite weight lifting novices but most of them were faces I'd seen many times before, swinging their weights and making a horrendous fool of themselves. Then there was the guy on the hamstring curl machine sitting there reading a magazine for, no joke, a good 10 minutes straight. Not to mention the two guys performing the worst squats (we're talking knees a good foot in front of feet!) I'd ever seen while wearing beach sandals and pajama pants. For the novices out there, if you really don't know what you're doing, please ask someone who looks like they do or else think about buying a training session just to get some basic form down. If not for your gym reputation then at least for injury avoidance! To the guys who consistently embarrass not only themselves but also those like me who don't want to admit to going to a gym which such an abundance of dumbasses, please please please take your "moves" elsewhere and stop taking up floor space from the rest of us serious gym goers.

Now, onto my workout regimen for the day. I started with a 15 minute run/walk warm-up. After making so much progress over the past couple of months I ended up cramping up really quickly today. Not sure what could have caused it so hopefully its not a sign of more weak runs to come this week. Maybe I'll have better luck a World's where its not so dark and pizza-smelling! Given that Planet doesn't have a lot of the equipment for most of the things I've been doing lately, I chose to do bi's and tri's today since it's mostly a free-weight workout. Here's the rundown of my routine, including abs:

1. 3 sets of 8 regular bicep curls standing on the bosu ball (one set on both feet, one set balancing on the right foot and then the last set on the left)
2. 3 sets of 8 tricep kickbacks (each arm)
3. 3 sets of 8 hammer curls on the bosu (same leg balancing combo as above)
4. 3 sets of 8 tricep bench dips with feet on a stability ball
5. 4 sets of 8 leg lifts on the standing leg lift machine (2 sets front lifts, 2 sets side-to-side)
6. 3 sets 8 stability ball leg lifts

Afterward, I stretched out on the mats and then called it quits. Unlikely that I'll hit up Planet again for the rest of the week although given the crowds at World's lately (a result of former Planet Fitness "brookies" joining World's after Planet eliminated a lot of equipment) I'm afraid of what tomorrow might bring. It's possible that the Resolutioners had today off from work, thus hitting up the gyms at odd hours, and tomorrow's 5:00 rush will be a nightmare. I'll hope for the best though. Anyway, Happy 2012 to all the Gym Rats out there! Here's to our fittest year yet!