Plié Pain

Lovely start to the week today. Pouring rain all day and could not keep my eyes open despite having gotten a moderately decent sleep last night. Thank god I had my 5 o'clock gym sesh to look forward to! My second photo shoot went really well yesterday and I have my next one either Friday or Saturday this week. Unfortunately, after 3 hours of posing my legs really took a beating and I was hobbling around the gym/office all day. Luckily we did not do much for plyometrics like I had thought. Instead, I think it was those damn plie squats that did me in! I actually love plie squats but when doing them with weights and raised heels they don't take long to show you how weak your hammies really are!

World's was extremely crowded today due to the lousy weather and it being a Monday but luckily I didn't have any issues getting the equipment I wanted to use. Trying to avoid legs today I started my workout with a light elliptical warm up for 15 mins and followed up with a short back/chest/shoulders routine. First off, I did incline seated bench chest press (12-10-8 rep sets). Since this was using an approx. 45 degree angle bench, it was really a combo half-chest half-shoulders routine. Next, I did bosu ball standing barbell rows (12-10-8 rep sets) for back and lastly, bent-over bench free weight rows (3 sets of 8), also for back. 

Moving on to abs I did two simple moves today. First off I did balancing leg pull-ins on a bench (20-18-16 rep sets) and then I did incline crunches, 2 sets of 20 and then 2 sets of 14, crunching both to the front and sides. I didn't add any weight to these today as the bench was propped up on about 6 risers so it was a good burn the whole way through! That was it for my first workout of the work week. Tomorrow's session will depend on the state of my jell-o legs. If still hobbling around, I'm thinking a good bis/tris workout will be in order!  

She's Got Legs

...She knows how to use them! In case you didn't figure it out, today's workout was all about legs. I can't explain why I have ZZ Top stuck in my head though. My workouts this week have been all over the place. Yesterday was supposed to be a 5k run day but my left knee was seriously hurting after only 4/10 of a mile so I pushed myself through one mile and called it quits, spending the rest of my workout doing solely abs since I hadn't planned to do any weights at all. Since my knee is still hurting today (I have no idea why!) I decided to start today's workout with a nice light 15 minute cardio warm-up on the elliptical. I've been cutting way back (or eliminating completely) my cardio at the gym lately as its been so nice and I'd much rather be outside getting a tan while working out so it was nice to switch things up again. Plus its back to being frigid here so I can't get myself to stay outside long in this weather. Yes, anything under 70 degrees F is frigid in my book haha.

For my leg routine I did four different moves, all of which I haven't done in at least a week so I hope I'll be feeling a burn tomorrow! I started with standing calf raises, where I did 3 sets of 12 at a 75 lb resistance. I was reading an article yesterday about how much better for you free weights are than using machines which I totally agree with in most cases but for some reason free weight calf raises just don't feel the same to me so I'm sticking with the machine on that one. Next I did walking lunges with medicine ball twists. I have no idea how many I did so I'll just say a lot because I went from one end of the gym to the other and back again, twisting to the outside of my forward leg for the first half and twisting to the inside of my forward leg for the second half. I usually do these with the 10 lb medicine ball but all I could find were the 8 and 14 lb balls so I chose the 14 and boy did I feel it! You wouldn't think that small amount of weight would make much of a difference but my forearms were killing me by the end of it and I broke quite a sweat! I thought that lunges might aggravate my knee but they seemed fine so whatever is wrong with it must be triggered by running. Next I did 3 sets of 8 (each leg) standing glute press. This is another machine move but I don't know of a similar move to do without a machine and I was limited on my glute workout choices due to my super short shorts haha. Finally, I finished up with leg presses (3 sets of 8), alternating my sets with narrow legs, wide legs, and v-presses.

I figured it was fine to skip abs today since yesterday was all about abs. I did some basic leg stretching and then I was out the door. Tomorrow is Friday so I'd like to get in a good end-of-week workout. I'm thinking I may do shoulders but I guess I'll have to wait and see what my energy level is by then!

APP UPDATE:
So last I wrote I was stressing about my pre-photo shoot physique. Well, I have to say I really had nothing to worry about. The shoot went really well and was a lot of fun. Thank god I did not workout before hand though because I was holding the poses for so long to ensure that the photographer could get a picture of each movement that my body was immensely sore the next day! I saw some of the raw video and pics and they looked really good so I'm sure they'll look great after some editing! My next shoot is this coming Sunday so I'm trying to be really good with my diet and exercise routine over the next few days to prepare again. It may not make a huge (or any) difference physique-wise but it sure makes a huge difference in my mental preparedness! I'd like to get in a good solid run on Saturday but I'm thinking I should lay off the knee until after the shoot because I was told there would be A LOT of jumping for this next round of moves. This session could be interesting...

Panic Attack

I had the most intense, exhausting, absolutely amazing workout at World's tonight. At noon today I got a call from the app creator asking if I could move my shoot up to this coming Saturday because the original model he booked had an emergency come up and had to reschedule. Well, inside I was having a panic attack at the thought of not having the two weeks that I thought I still had to get in tip-top shape, however I'm not one to disappoint. Especially when its someone who's paying me to do something I would do for free any day. So, I agreed and as I hung up the phone my mind began racing with thoughts like "How the hell and I going to pull off my best shape ever in three days? I sure hope they plan to use Photoshop! I really shouldn't have indulged in so much cake at Easter dinner this weekend...or drank all that wine last night! Is it too late to start using steroids?" haha. Well, I guess all I can really do in three days is eat as clean as possible and workout to my max (and then some!) so that's what I plan to do. Day #1 was no exception!

Started today's workout with a run....and busted out my second 5k non-stop run in just under 32 minutes! I wanted to quit so bad after 2 miles and then again at 2.5 but I someone mustered up the power to finish. I just kept telling myself "If you don't do it, its going to sound really lame when you have to admit it in your blog entry tonight!" haha. I was soaked to the core and completely bright red head-to-toe when I finished but I was on a roll so it felt great. After my run I embarked on a mini legs sesh and then abs.

For legs today I started with 3 sets of 8 standing glute press. I figure that like most women my most problematic area is the bum/thigh area so I better focus on that this week just in case they aren't planning on doing any photo touch-ups! Next, I got a bosu ball and did a series of balancing leg stretches, followed up with three sets of balancing one-leg weighted dead lifts. My left knee felt like it was going numb half way through but its fine now so I figure that was just a sign that I was really hitting my max today!

For abs I started with three sets of 12 stability ball weighted leg lifts and then finished up with three sets of hanging leg lifts (12-10-8). I could barely finish my last set I was so exhausted. After that I booked it out of there in need of a serious shower and fuel! I'm thinking tomorrow will be an amped-up bis/tris/abs session and is probably going to require pounding a Celcius beforehand so I can go up a weight set in all my moves. Bring it on, Saturday!

Beer Run

I swear I have my best runs when I'm hungover. After a long night of bowling and beer drinking, all I wanted to do today was sweat out all the toxins I undoubtedly had filled myself with. After an early morning Easter breakfast and short dog hike/swim along the Presumpscot River Trail, I went to World's which happened to be amazingly empty. Not really sure how my body would respond to a run, I decided to take it one mile at a time.  However, somehow I got into a routine with my favourite workout songs playing and a good 6.0 mph steady pace and I did the whole 5k for the first time ever, without stopping, and coming in at 32 minutes. Record breaker!!! I felt sooo good when I was done. I wasn't even as red in the face or as overheated as I usually am. It must have been just the perfect temperature in there today due to the lack of sweaty bodies. Perhaps all that beer also helped to carb-load last night in preparation haha. It's been at least a week since I had a really solid long run so I'm a bit surprised I was able to pull it off. I'm kind of on cloud 9 night now. I think I'll wait a couple of days to give my shins and knees a rest and then attempt it again. Race season here I come!

I decided to skip weights today and ended my workout with some abs and stretching.  For abs I did 4 sets of 20 incline crunches (2 sets forward and 2 sets side to side) and 3 sets of stability ball pushups, kneeling/balancing on the ball in between sets. I have another Easter dinner to go to tonight so I hope all that running burned enough calories to counteract the massive slice of homemade Red Velvet cake I plan on having!

Side note: I have my first fitness shoot for the iPhone app I mentioned before on the 22nd of April. The next two weeks are going to be filled with extremely hard workouts where I really push myself to my max. Don't want to be photographed with a beer gut!

Nobody's Fool

Well, its the first day of April and I needed to get the new month off to a good start after a rocky March. My arms and back were still recovering from a couple days of solid bis/tris/shoulders workouts so I decided to lay off the weights and make today a run day. World's was nice and empty this morning, a stark contrast to yesterday morning's overcrowded-ness. Donning my favourite new neon Nike Pro gear, I hopped on a treadmill and decided to bust out a 5k. Well, my body wasn't really in the mood for it after battling a little cold this weekend so I have to admit that I did walk a good 1/2 - 3/4 miles of it here and there but I finished so I guess that's what counts! My usual favourite hard rock workout Pandora channel was irritating me because they seem to only have like 10 songs they play over and over again so I had to switch back to the rap/hip hop workout mix halfway through to keep me motivated. Nothing a little early morning Ke$ha couldn't fix though!

After my run I did a lot of standing stretches on the bosu ball and then did 3 sets of 12 cable rope crunches and  3 sets of 20 bench leg pull-ins for abs. The cable crunches are when you sit on the bench where you would normally do lat pull-downs but instead face away from the center of the machine. Attach a rope to the pulleys, set your weight, grab the rope above your head, and crunch down toward the ground. The leg pull-ins are simply leg pull-ins while balancing your behind on a flat bench and holding your arms to your chest.

That was it for today's gym sesh. After lunch I took my puppy for a good hour long walk and now my legs are seriously stiff. Where's my at-home masseuse when I need him?! haha I think it's time for a little afternoon snooze before a dinner out. Here's hoping I can survive the night without any April Fool's jokes coming my way...