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!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
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
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
Monday, January 2, 2012
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!
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!
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