Happy Fourth of July to all my American Gym Rats today! I'm taking advantage of the extra day off from work by getting some house cleaning, organizing, Goodwill drop-off, and blogging done this morning. Hurricane Arthur is supposedly headed our way and is thus leaving us with cloudy, grey skies, high-humidity, and sporadic rain showers, so it's not like I'm missing out on a beach day. Portland's fireworks have already been postponed to tomorrow night so there's not much going on festivity-wise today.
Friday is supposed to be my rest day but I decided to do my Sunday chest sesh this morning since I was up anyway, feeling well-rested, and thinking ahead that Sunday may be an all-day beach or boating day. My lifts on my new plan are all sooOOooOOOo good! In fact, my DOMS from last Saturday's leg day was so intense I was feeling it three days later! On Wednesday (back day) instead of my usual BB stiff-leg DLs I opted for one of my old favourites, the 1-legged DB balancing bosu ball DL (see One-Leg Deadlift tab for a visual). I had stopped doing these ages ago when I determined that they weren't effective for me anymore and caused to much shin pain to be worth it. However, I decided to be adventurous and use 2 20-lb DBs which was heavier than I ever used to do and holy crap I am still feeling a burn! I don't recommend these unless you have great balance but if you feel up for it they are a fantastic total-body strengthening exercise with an emphasis on the hamstrings and lower back. I made sure to give myself a good stretch and foam-roll this morning post-workout because I don't want to take on leg day tomorrow with any lingering soreness.
The other reason I think my workouts have been so great is my new playlist. I give you permission to make fun of me as I downloaded my first iTune last weekend! Call me old-fashioned but I've just always preferred an actual physical album. However, since I had a list of a bunch of random songs I wanted I thought it would be a better idea to make my own random-artist playlist for once. I have had iTunes for years now but all of the songs are either burned from my CDs or really old downloads from the days of Limewire and Kazaa. I ended up downloading about a dozen songs and then (after a stressful hour of trying to figure out how to sync my iTunes playlists with my phone) created an awesome mix of my favourite songs to lift to. I wanted to share it with you but since there are 53 songs on it I'd have to do multiple screen shots. So, here's a list of my top 10 favs in no particular order:
1. Sail - Awolnation
2. Work Bitch - Britney Spears
3. Fighter - Christina Aguilera
4. Lose Yourself - Eminen
5. Remember the Name - Fort Minor
6. Roar - Katy Perry
7. Bulletproof - La Roux
8. Hall of Fame - The Script
9. Mouth - Bush
10. Poison - Kopie Von Groove Coverage
Some are more upbeat and some are more angry but they all have a great motivation factor for me. If I were a cardio queen I'd probably have more of a happy/techno mix but the weights are where it's at! Do you listen to music while you workout? If so, what genre do you generally choose and does it change with the kind of exercise you are doing?
Have a safe, happy, and fun holiday everyone! xo
Friday is supposed to be my rest day but I decided to do my Sunday chest sesh this morning since I was up anyway, feeling well-rested, and thinking ahead that Sunday may be an all-day beach or boating day. My lifts on my new plan are all sooOOooOOOo good! In fact, my DOMS from last Saturday's leg day was so intense I was feeling it three days later! On Wednesday (back day) instead of my usual BB stiff-leg DLs I opted for one of my old favourites, the 1-legged DB balancing bosu ball DL (see One-Leg Deadlift tab for a visual). I had stopped doing these ages ago when I determined that they weren't effective for me anymore and caused to much shin pain to be worth it. However, I decided to be adventurous and use 2 20-lb DBs which was heavier than I ever used to do and holy crap I am still feeling a burn! I don't recommend these unless you have great balance but if you feel up for it they are a fantastic total-body strengthening exercise with an emphasis on the hamstrings and lower back. I made sure to give myself a good stretch and foam-roll this morning post-workout because I don't want to take on leg day tomorrow with any lingering soreness.
The other reason I think my workouts have been so great is my new playlist. I give you permission to make fun of me as I downloaded my first iTune last weekend! Call me old-fashioned but I've just always preferred an actual physical album. However, since I had a list of a bunch of random songs I wanted I thought it would be a better idea to make my own random-artist playlist for once. I have had iTunes for years now but all of the songs are either burned from my CDs or really old downloads from the days of Limewire and Kazaa. I ended up downloading about a dozen songs and then (after a stressful hour of trying to figure out how to sync my iTunes playlists with my phone) created an awesome mix of my favourite songs to lift to. I wanted to share it with you but since there are 53 songs on it I'd have to do multiple screen shots. So, here's a list of my top 10 favs in no particular order:
1. Sail - Awolnation
2. Work Bitch - Britney Spears
3. Fighter - Christina Aguilera
4. Lose Yourself - Eminen
5. Remember the Name - Fort Minor
6. Roar - Katy Perry
7. Bulletproof - La Roux
8. Hall of Fame - The Script
9. Mouth - Bush
10. Poison - Kopie Von Groove Coverage
Some are more upbeat and some are more angry but they all have a great motivation factor for me. If I were a cardio queen I'd probably have more of a happy/techno mix but the weights are where it's at! Do you listen to music while you workout? If so, what genre do you generally choose and does it change with the kind of exercise you are doing?
Have a safe, happy, and fun holiday everyone! xo
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