Holiday Goodies

Nothing better than starting your week off right with a good solid gym sesh! Being a holiday, I knew the office would be sufferingly quiet so I took the day off to enjoy a three day weekend. I'll tell you, I am a MUCH happier person when I don't have to work 5 days in a row! I allowed myself to sleep in til 7 this morning and then after a hearty breakfast of eggs and pumpkin bread followed by a doggie walk, I headed to the gymmer. The past few days of workouts have been light on the cardio since I just about crippled myself during last Thursday's legs seshion. No, I didn't injure myself or anything but I was trying out this new leg workout I copied out of Muscle & Fitness Hers and let me tell you...hit some muscles I don't think have ever been used! Today was the first day I could walk like a normal person so I decided to start today's workout with a run. I had planned to only do 1 mile but right at the 1-mile mark, Ciara's Goodies came on my Pandora and I knew I just had to push it through to 1.5 (the next goal in my slow increase toward pre-Summer running distance). I saw Ciara in concert several years back and the girl had abs of steal so it wasn't just the lyrics that kept me motivated. What a rush when you find a song that helps you push through to the next level! 

After my run and a good amount of stretching I ventured out to the weight area to do back & chest. It was nice and empty in there today; I guess more people were working than I would have expected. After Thursday's legs session I could only do upper body stuff so Saturday was bi's & tri's, yesterday was shoulders and so back & chest was the logical option for today. I'm thinking I'll hit up another legs session tomorrow but switch it up a bit from last time. Here's the rundown of today's routine which took about an hour:

3x10 bent-over rows (each arm)

3x10 chest press on a stability ball

3x10 sitting cable rows

3x10 incline shoulder/chest press (this one sort of hits both areas at the same time)

Abs:

3x12 side crunches (each leg) on the back extension machine

3x10 stability ball leg lifts

I ended today's session with some more stretching on my key sore areas like quads, glutes, back, & shoulders...you can never stretch too much in my opinion! I could have used some foam rolling but I didn't bother because I decided to treat myself to a 60 minute massage over at Soma Wellness in South Portland. After all, you should treat yourself on the holidays :) What a nice and relaxing way to start out the week! I could really use a 3-hour long deep tissue massage but gotta stay on budget haha. 

In case you are interested in crippling yourself (in a good way) this week, here's the routine that I did last Thursday:

Walking weighted dumbbell lunge with kickbacks (4x20)

Narrow stance barbell squat (3x15 1x20 1x25)

Weighted genie press (3x18-20)

Stiff-legged cable deadlift (4x15)

Hip bridge on dynadisc (4x20)

One legged prone hamstring machine curl (2x12 2x18)

No cardio or abs. Takes about 90 mins to complete....maybe less if you cut out the chatter :)

Well, its time to soak in a nice hot Epsom Salt bath so I'm out! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day everyone!