In the Low Fat Days when I subscribed to both Shape and Fitness before realizing it was the same magazine, I read an item that proved useful--weight cycling. If you lift three days a week, you do light weights/high reps one day, medium weights and reps the second day and heavy weights/low reps the third so your body doesn't get used to one particular weight. I did this with some success back then so I decided to try it again. I figured that Monday was my medium day, so I did the heavy stuff on Wednesday as follows:
5 minutes warm-up on the cross trainer, level 3
All sets 5 reps
3 sets pull-ups on gravitron, 45 pounds resistance
3 set leg presses, 165 pounds
3 sets lat pulldowns, 85 pounds
3 sets shoulder pulldowns, 35 pounds
3 sets push-ups on gravitron, 45 pounds resistance
3 sets seated rows, 35 pounds
3 sets tight seated rows (hands close together), 70 pounds
3 sets tricep presses, 42.5 pounds
3 sets donkey presses, 100 pounds
And oh, did I feel it. I just about managed good form on the last sets on some of these (mainly the lat pulldowns, those totally kicked my ass) but I did manage. Tomorrow is the light day, a nice way to finish out the week.
And I HAVE to add cardio. Outside the gym I'm basically inert and I have to move if I want to get rid of this fat. When I move, I lose. I'm not going to go insane and repeat the hypoglycemia thing, but walking a couple miles every day is pretty much necessary for me since I spend so much time sitting on my ass. I have the food thing pretty well down so this is the final frontier.
Oh--and I weighed myself today for the hell of it, even though I'm retaining water because of my cycle. 223.5. Since I weighed 224 at the beginning of the month, I hope to hell I have a nice whoosh next week.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Iron diva progress
The weights, they are going up. This is what I did today:
5 minutes warm-up on the cross trainer, level 3
All sets 10 reps
2 sets pull-ups on gravitron, 25 pounds resistance (started at 10)
2 set leg presses, 150 pounds (started at 105)
2 sets lat pulldowns, 55 pounds (started at 25)
2 sets shoulder pulldowns, 20 pounds (I do these instead of bicep curls)
2 sets push-ups on gravitron, 25 pounds resistance (started at 10)
2 sets seated rows, 20 pounds (for some reason this weight still kicks my ass)
2 sets tight seated rows (hands close together), 27.5 pounds (new)
2 sets tricep presses, 30 pounds (new)
2 sets donkey presses, 80 pounds (started at 50)
My left shoulder is feeling much better--just for shits and giggles I did ten push-ups on my stairs this morning on my way up to take a shower, and for the first time in a long time didn't feel any pain in the motion. I still feel it a little bit though so I'll continue to lay off the bench presses and other stuff, but I'll try to get in some push-ups on lifting days. I think I'm going to up it to three sets next week. I can always feel it after I've lifted but I'm not sore. I don't want to be in screaming pain, but I want to feel like I'm challenging myself.
I ate my first official organic meat tonight--chicken drumsticks. I feel very virtuous.
5 minutes warm-up on the cross trainer, level 3
All sets 10 reps
2 sets pull-ups on gravitron, 25 pounds resistance (started at 10)
2 set leg presses, 150 pounds (started at 105)
2 sets lat pulldowns, 55 pounds (started at 25)
2 sets shoulder pulldowns, 20 pounds (I do these instead of bicep curls)
2 sets push-ups on gravitron, 25 pounds resistance (started at 10)
2 sets seated rows, 20 pounds (for some reason this weight still kicks my ass)
2 sets tight seated rows (hands close together), 27.5 pounds (new)
2 sets tricep presses, 30 pounds (new)
2 sets donkey presses, 80 pounds (started at 50)
My left shoulder is feeling much better--just for shits and giggles I did ten push-ups on my stairs this morning on my way up to take a shower, and for the first time in a long time didn't feel any pain in the motion. I still feel it a little bit though so I'll continue to lay off the bench presses and other stuff, but I'll try to get in some push-ups on lifting days. I think I'm going to up it to three sets next week. I can always feel it after I've lifted but I'm not sore. I don't want to be in screaming pain, but I want to feel like I'm challenging myself.
I ate my first official organic meat tonight--chicken drumsticks. I feel very virtuous.
Monday, July 16, 2007
In which LRA remembers she can't do shit like that anymore
Crappy week. REALLY crappy. Between the low blood sugar/cardio overdose and some heinous dental work (five fillings. And a cleaning. And I'm a former dental phobic, which means I was highly on edge for three hours. And the novocaine took SIX FUCKING HOURS to wear off) I was, as my icon t-shirt says, drinking like a Roethlisberger today. Well, actually, I was drinking like a Roethlisberger the whole weekend. Plus I ate french fries (OMG TEH HORROR).
I could handle that at 21. At nearly 41, the body's like "I don't fucking think so, dumb bitch." Lifting does ease the hangover a bit. But I cooked LC like a mofo yesterday and went to the gym and am slugging water down.
And I chucked the Bacardi. Amazingly I still had some left. But it's just one more thing to add to the list.
Damn, this getting old shit sucks.
I could handle that at 21. At nearly 41, the body's like "I don't fucking think so, dumb bitch." Lifting does ease the hangover a bit. But I cooked LC like a mofo yesterday and went to the gym and am slugging water down.
And I chucked the Bacardi. Amazingly I still had some left. But it's just one more thing to add to the list.
Damn, this getting old shit sucks.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Feast and famine
On my normal intermittent fasting schedule I eat two meals a day--one at 12:30, my work-mandated lunch, and then around 6:30-7:00. When I first started, I tried to do a 24/24. I did, but I felt kind of tired and blah and decided the 18/6 would work better for me.
Today I was lazy and ran late, so I decided not to pack a lunch as a result. "Fuck it," I thought. "If I'm dying of hunger at lunchtime I'll go get a salad, no big deal." 12:30 came and went ... not hungry. A little tired, but I did hard cardio today so that contributed.
But then came two o'clock. And I hit the Wall of Low Blood Sugar Level so hard I'm surprised I didn't bounce. I had my first true experience of ketone breath--to me it tasted like blood without the salt. I felt nauseous. I had the beginnings of a headache. When I stood up, I literally swayed back and forth because I got such a head rush. The floor vending machine sells only one low-carb item--peanuts. Once I was able to regain my equilibrium, I bought a pack and downed them ... and felt better almost immediately. I made it home and had a fat and (for me) carb fest--chicken thighs (ate two, ate the skin off two more) and a steamed "garden medley" (broccoli, cauliflower and baby carrots) topped with a cup of cream seasoned with salt and pepper and thickened with xanthan gum. No doubt my body's going "Dude, what the fuck, make up your mind!"
It occurs to me, though, that that was literally the first time I'd experienced the stuff that's your body's way of yelling FEED ME SEYMOUR. I still feel a little strange, but hopefully digestion and a good night's sleep will take care of that.
And I WILL bring lunch tomorrow.
Today I was lazy and ran late, so I decided not to pack a lunch as a result. "Fuck it," I thought. "If I'm dying of hunger at lunchtime I'll go get a salad, no big deal." 12:30 came and went ... not hungry. A little tired, but I did hard cardio today so that contributed.
But then came two o'clock. And I hit the Wall of Low Blood Sugar Level so hard I'm surprised I didn't bounce. I had my first true experience of ketone breath--to me it tasted like blood without the salt. I felt nauseous. I had the beginnings of a headache. When I stood up, I literally swayed back and forth because I got such a head rush. The floor vending machine sells only one low-carb item--peanuts. Once I was able to regain my equilibrium, I bought a pack and downed them ... and felt better almost immediately. I made it home and had a fat and (for me) carb fest--chicken thighs (ate two, ate the skin off two more) and a steamed "garden medley" (broccoli, cauliflower and baby carrots) topped with a cup of cream seasoned with salt and pepper and thickened with xanthan gum. No doubt my body's going "Dude, what the fuck, make up your mind!"
It occurs to me, though, that that was literally the first time I'd experienced the stuff that's your body's way of yelling FEED ME SEYMOUR. I still feel a little strange, but hopefully digestion and a good night's sleep will take care of that.
And I WILL bring lunch tomorrow.
Monday, July 9, 2007
If I'm Tagged, where are the supermodels?
Christine at the mighty Lift Like A Girl has apparently already figured out that I spend my life on the internet and tagged me for a meme. Ah, fuck it, why not?
Here are the rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people (I'd choose all the same people Christine did, so that's kind of worthless) to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
1. I spoke my first words at six months, was speaking in complete sentences at nine months, said the ABCs at eighteen months and could read my mother's nursing school textbooks when I was three. However I didn't roll over until I was four months, didn't crawl until I was almost a year and didn't walk until I was almost two. Some doctors thought I had cerebral palsy. My mother's eldest sister told her that it was okay, I could always attend college in my wheelchair. Needless to say that didn't go over well with Mom.
2. I am mostly right-handed, but I eat and play pool left-handed.
3. Mr. LRA and I were engaged seventeen days after we met and married seven months later because I wanted a wedding with the big white poofy dress and six months gave us time to plan. We'll celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary next month and still make people around us nauseous with various lovey-dovey stuff.
4. Speaking of dresses ... my wedding was seriously the last time I wore one. I don't even own one. I also rarely wear makeup and don't even have pierced ears. I'm pretty sure that in my past life I was a really macho gay guy.
5. I have never broken a bone in my life despite such mishaps as falling out of a four-story window, being in a car accident where I was catapulted through a windshield, and falling down the side of a mountain so hard I left blood on a trail of rocks about a hundred yards long. Milk does indeed do a body good.
6. Although I currently reside in the capital of the Confederacy, I was born and lived in central New Jersey most of my life. This tends to freak people out because they think that everyone from New Jersey talks like people on "The Sopranos" and I really have no discernible accent. Except for the words "mall," "walk" and "asshole." Must be the l's.
7. I am practically impossible to offend and will laugh at the sickest stuff you can come up with. An example--right after 9/11 one of the many sick bastards I know sent me a picture of some guy falling out of one of the World Trade Center towers. The caption on the picture was OH SHIT I FORGOT MY LAPTOP! I laughed so hard I cried. Fortunately I have equally sick friends who also thought it was hilarious, so when I go to hell I'll be traveling with a large group.
8. I hate shorts and refuse to wear them no matter how hot it is. It has nothing to do with my legs, I just don't like them. I wear sweats or yoga pants to the gym or out and about.
I'm sure you all found that deeply fascinating.
Here are the rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people (I'd choose all the same people Christine did, so that's kind of worthless) to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
1. I spoke my first words at six months, was speaking in complete sentences at nine months, said the ABCs at eighteen months and could read my mother's nursing school textbooks when I was three. However I didn't roll over until I was four months, didn't crawl until I was almost a year and didn't walk until I was almost two. Some doctors thought I had cerebral palsy. My mother's eldest sister told her that it was okay, I could always attend college in my wheelchair. Needless to say that didn't go over well with Mom.
2. I am mostly right-handed, but I eat and play pool left-handed.
3. Mr. LRA and I were engaged seventeen days after we met and married seven months later because I wanted a wedding with the big white poofy dress and six months gave us time to plan. We'll celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary next month and still make people around us nauseous with various lovey-dovey stuff.
4. Speaking of dresses ... my wedding was seriously the last time I wore one. I don't even own one. I also rarely wear makeup and don't even have pierced ears. I'm pretty sure that in my past life I was a really macho gay guy.
5. I have never broken a bone in my life despite such mishaps as falling out of a four-story window, being in a car accident where I was catapulted through a windshield, and falling down the side of a mountain so hard I left blood on a trail of rocks about a hundred yards long. Milk does indeed do a body good.
6. Although I currently reside in the capital of the Confederacy, I was born and lived in central New Jersey most of my life. This tends to freak people out because they think that everyone from New Jersey talks like people on "The Sopranos" and I really have no discernible accent. Except for the words "mall," "walk" and "asshole." Must be the l's.
7. I am practically impossible to offend and will laugh at the sickest stuff you can come up with. An example--right after 9/11 one of the many sick bastards I know sent me a picture of some guy falling out of one of the World Trade Center towers. The caption on the picture was OH SHIT I FORGOT MY LAPTOP! I laughed so hard I cried. Fortunately I have equally sick friends who also thought it was hilarious, so when I go to hell I'll be traveling with a large group.
8. I hate shorts and refuse to wear them no matter how hot it is. It has nothing to do with my legs, I just don't like them. I wear sweats or yoga pants to the gym or out and about.
I'm sure you all found that deeply fascinating.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Sweets for the sweet
After we went out for our usual Saturday night date dinner last night (if you ever see anything on the menu called "bacon cheeseburger salad" GET IT, it's a low-carber's dream), Mr. LRA and I hit the supermarket for a couple of things. He decided he wanted a "treat" so I stood patiently in the freezer section, watching as he dithered between various desserts ranging from a Pepperidge Farm coconut cake to Haagen-Dazs.
Mr. LRA has been very supportive of my lifestyle change, to the point of giving up his own favorites just so they wouldn't be in the house and therefore exist as possible temptation. After some thought, however, it seemed that it was very unfair for me to restrict him just because I'm the fat ass in the family. He's naturally hyper so he's extremely active anyway. He has made some switches--instead of the quarts of sherbet and five or six ice cream sandwiches he used to down while watching Fast Money on CNBC he now snacks on Splenda-sweetened yogurt and jello--and he dropped about sixty pounds between losing the ice cream and stepping up his gym activity. If I didn't love him so much I would hate his guts for that, heh heh.
But watching him rummage through the freezer case last night didn't stir envy or resentment. I'm fortunate that I've never had much of a sweet tooth; if I binged on something it was usually Fritos or pizza. Last night for dinner he had mass quantities of pasta. Now I truly love pasta, so you would think that I would be staring and drooling and cursing myself. But ... no. I was perfectly happy with my salad. While he was trying to decide on pie I thought about the blueberries and raspberries in my freezer. I could throw the frozen berries with a little cream and stevia into my baby Cuisinart and make soft serve, or I could thaw them and mix them with some Greek yogurt and stevia. Cake? I could make three-minute chocolate cake out of almond flour, or maybe cinnamon cake.
In the end he decided on a piece of Dutch apple pie. I got involved with a computer project when we got home and forgot about dessert all together. I seem to do that a lot these days.
Tomorrow I get to lift. Joy and huzzah.
Mr. LRA has been very supportive of my lifestyle change, to the point of giving up his own favorites just so they wouldn't be in the house and therefore exist as possible temptation. After some thought, however, it seemed that it was very unfair for me to restrict him just because I'm the fat ass in the family. He's naturally hyper so he's extremely active anyway. He has made some switches--instead of the quarts of sherbet and five or six ice cream sandwiches he used to down while watching Fast Money on CNBC he now snacks on Splenda-sweetened yogurt and jello--and he dropped about sixty pounds between losing the ice cream and stepping up his gym activity. If I didn't love him so much I would hate his guts for that, heh heh.
But watching him rummage through the freezer case last night didn't stir envy or resentment. I'm fortunate that I've never had much of a sweet tooth; if I binged on something it was usually Fritos or pizza. Last night for dinner he had mass quantities of pasta. Now I truly love pasta, so you would think that I would be staring and drooling and cursing myself. But ... no. I was perfectly happy with my salad. While he was trying to decide on pie I thought about the blueberries and raspberries in my freezer. I could throw the frozen berries with a little cream and stevia into my baby Cuisinart and make soft serve, or I could thaw them and mix them with some Greek yogurt and stevia. Cake? I could make three-minute chocolate cake out of almond flour, or maybe cinnamon cake.
In the end he decided on a piece of Dutch apple pie. I got involved with a computer project when we got home and forgot about dessert all together. I seem to do that a lot these days.
Tomorrow I get to lift. Joy and huzzah.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
The truth hurts
In the low-carb forum I post on, someone linked this most kick-ass op-ed piece in which the writer is brutally honest about the physical and mental obesity in America. Any article entitled "Fat Bastards" will automatically get the LRA Seal of Approval anyway. He even touches on one of my pet peeves, the fat fuckers on Rascals who almost run me over in Costco because they're too busy cramming themselves with pizza and Pepsi to watch where they're going:
Lots of those obese people deal with it by purchasing electric carts to haul themselves around in. You’d think when you’d gotten too damn fat to walk, that fact might be a wake-up call, a message from God or just an indication that something is a little out of whack in the old lifestyle department, but the message lots of Americans take from the confabulation of flab is that it’s time to motorize the motion.
While most respondents commented favorably, there were these responses too, both copy/pasted from the post:
This article makes me sick. I suppose this idoit thinks this type of article is going to shape up America. Makes me wanna go out and run laps, lemme tell you.....
Swine, huh?? Totally unnecessary.
In fact, these were the only two negatives. Unsurprisingly--at least to me--both posters feature the Evil Sparkly Signature (whoever invented the technology for this abomination should be taken out and shot for crimes against humanity). If you look in their journals it's fucking social hour, full of smiley emoticons and endless talk about kids--oh, and once in a while they'll talk about low-carb. Hello, middle America, welcome to Completely Missing The Point.
Listen, I'm all for optimism and encouragement, and fortunately there's a few people I've met on the forum who are serious about this and are intelligent and funny to boot. When I go wandering, however, all I see are the sparkling signatures and those fucking Ticker Factory things--another inventor who needs to go up against the wall--and bad spelling and the emoticons. Okay, the one that waves is kind of cute, but I digress. I didn't join the forum to make friends--I joined to have a way of tracking my progress. The people that I've met there are just bonuses.
/rant, kthx
I need to start challenging myself more with workouts, so I'm upping the weights and lowering the reps on Monday. I got to the gym five days this week but have to stick around today to await a repairman. Depending on the weather I may do another three-miler tomorrow. I'm also surfing the red wave, which explains why I would have sold body parts for pizza and ice cream yesterday (ate neither, thank you very much). Stupid girl hormones.
Lots of those obese people deal with it by purchasing electric carts to haul themselves around in. You’d think when you’d gotten too damn fat to walk, that fact might be a wake-up call, a message from God or just an indication that something is a little out of whack in the old lifestyle department, but the message lots of Americans take from the confabulation of flab is that it’s time to motorize the motion.
While most respondents commented favorably, there were these responses too, both copy/pasted from the post:
This article makes me sick. I suppose this idoit thinks this type of article is going to shape up America. Makes me wanna go out and run laps, lemme tell you.....
Swine, huh?? Totally unnecessary.
In fact, these were the only two negatives. Unsurprisingly--at least to me--both posters feature the Evil Sparkly Signature (whoever invented the technology for this abomination should be taken out and shot for crimes against humanity). If you look in their journals it's fucking social hour, full of smiley emoticons and endless talk about kids--oh, and once in a while they'll talk about low-carb. Hello, middle America, welcome to Completely Missing The Point.
Listen, I'm all for optimism and encouragement, and fortunately there's a few people I've met on the forum who are serious about this and are intelligent and funny to boot. When I go wandering, however, all I see are the sparkling signatures and those fucking Ticker Factory things--another inventor who needs to go up against the wall--and bad spelling and the emoticons. Okay, the one that waves is kind of cute, but I digress. I didn't join the forum to make friends--I joined to have a way of tracking my progress. The people that I've met there are just bonuses.
/rant, kthx
I need to start challenging myself more with workouts, so I'm upping the weights and lowering the reps on Monday. I got to the gym five days this week but have to stick around today to await a repairman. Depending on the weather I may do another three-miler tomorrow. I'm also surfing the red wave, which explains why I would have sold body parts for pizza and ice cream yesterday (ate neither, thank you very much). Stupid girl hormones.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
One little victory
ETA 7/4/07: I weighed myself first thing this morning (I'd planned to anyway) and I've actually lost TEN pounds since last month, coming in at 224. I drink at least four liters of water a day and had consumed at least two liters since lunch so I guess I was still carrying it around. I weighed myself four times in twenty minutes just to make sure the scale wasn't fucked up and scared my cats with my squee of joy. LRA
The scale at my gym has been broken, so I decided to stop being a cheap bitch and buy one. I hadn't weighed since June 3 and I was curious. Would the period-induced Bacardi/Sheetz/Ben & Jerry Debauch have lasting effects? How about not going to the gym or really doing any sort of physical activity for 18 days in a row? Would three some-odd weeks of "clean" eating make a difference?
The answers are apparently no, no, and yes. I lost five pounds.
So since I've gotten serious about this whole thing (late May), I've lost eleven pounds. I will pause here to throw myself congratulatory horns.
\m/
I took a three-mile walk Sunday as my cardio--it was too gorgeous a day to be cooped inside the gym--lifted Monday and made an attempt at interval cardio today. I was kind of a pussy, though--I did about five or six sprints but I had the arc trainer hill interval program on level one. Level two next time. Feel free to marvel at my daring. I can lift tomorrow too, off Thursday, lift Friday, cardio Saturday, off Sunday (my normal off day as to not to fuck with future football), then get back on schedule.
Eleven pounds may not be a lot when you start out with a hundred to lose, but it's eleven pounds that I haven't lost for years. And I'm eating fat on steaks and chicken skin and butter in my eggs and olive oil on my salads and didn't work out regularly and STILL lost it. The intermittent fasting schedule is working well too. I love lifting and am seeing small gains in strength even in this short time. My left arm is still an issue, not as much as earlier but enough to keep reminding myself not to overdo it.
Now let's combine clean eating and working out regularly and see what happens.
go me!
The scale at my gym has been broken, so I decided to stop being a cheap bitch and buy one. I hadn't weighed since June 3 and I was curious. Would the period-induced Bacardi/Sheetz/Ben & Jerry Debauch have lasting effects? How about not going to the gym or really doing any sort of physical activity for 18 days in a row? Would three some-odd weeks of "clean" eating make a difference?
The answers are apparently no, no, and yes. I lost five pounds.
So since I've gotten serious about this whole thing (late May), I've lost eleven pounds. I will pause here to throw myself congratulatory horns.
\m/
I took a three-mile walk Sunday as my cardio--it was too gorgeous a day to be cooped inside the gym--lifted Monday and made an attempt at interval cardio today. I was kind of a pussy, though--I did about five or six sprints but I had the arc trainer hill interval program on level one. Level two next time. Feel free to marvel at my daring. I can lift tomorrow too, off Thursday, lift Friday, cardio Saturday, off Sunday (my normal off day as to not to fuck with future football), then get back on schedule.
Eleven pounds may not be a lot when you start out with a hundred to lose, but it's eleven pounds that I haven't lost for years. And I'm eating fat on steaks and chicken skin and butter in my eggs and olive oil on my salads and didn't work out regularly and STILL lost it. The intermittent fasting schedule is working well too. I love lifting and am seeing small gains in strength even in this short time. My left arm is still an issue, not as much as earlier but enough to keep reminding myself not to overdo it.
Now let's combine clean eating and working out regularly and see what happens.
go me!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
I'm still a puny girl
This is what I'm currently doing three times a week:
5 minutes warm-up on the cross trainer, level 3
All sets 15 reps
2 sets pull-ups on gravitron, 10 pounds resistance
2 set leg presses, 105 pounds
2 sets lat pulldowns, 25 pounds
2 sets push-ups on gravitron, 10 pounds resistance
2 sets seated rows, 20 pounds
2 sets bench presses, 30 pounds
2 sets bicep curls, 10 pounds
2 sets donkey presses, 50 pounds
Friday was the first day I did two sets; before I'd only done one. My hamstrings and triceps are still kind of pissed at me about it, but they'll just have to deal. I've been having issues with my left bicep for a couple of months due to some bad posture habits at work--it's improved but is not healed. I feel it if I raise my arm above my head then lower it in a clockwise motion--the hours between one and three suck. It didn't help that Friday's bench presses seemed to aggravate it thanks to my wide handhold on the barbell. I can do curls and other stuff with no problem, though. I'll try a closer handhold tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't, then bench presses are off the agenda for a little.
My plan is to do the two sets for maybe a week or so, then go up to three for a week or so, then increase my weights and go back to the single set, etc. I still do cardio mainly because I spend the majority of my time sitting on my ass and need to move, but I hardly do any on lifting days. When I was doing the low-fat thing I was doing straight cardio for an hour three days a week then working on weight machines with twenty minutes of cardio before and after the other three days. I like cardio and try to mix it up (although I avoid the Demon Treadmill, I hate that fucking thing), but I also like concentrating on the weights on lifting days. I know that so many seem to say that cardio really doesn't do shit as far as losing weight but it has been my experience that it does do shit for me. I did kind of do HIIT with it (trying to get my mileage to a certain point usually) so I need to start implementing that again. What I have to remember is not to overdo it as I am so prone to do.
Sunday is normally my off day, but since my gym's hours are going to be fucked up this week due to Fourth of July I'm going today since I won't be able to do the 4:15 thing on Thursday. Then I'll come home and start cooking stuff for the week. And maybe post again.
5 minutes warm-up on the cross trainer, level 3
All sets 15 reps
2 sets pull-ups on gravitron, 10 pounds resistance
2 set leg presses, 105 pounds
2 sets lat pulldowns, 25 pounds
2 sets push-ups on gravitron, 10 pounds resistance
2 sets seated rows, 20 pounds
2 sets bench presses, 30 pounds
2 sets bicep curls, 10 pounds
2 sets donkey presses, 50 pounds
Friday was the first day I did two sets; before I'd only done one. My hamstrings and triceps are still kind of pissed at me about it, but they'll just have to deal. I've been having issues with my left bicep for a couple of months due to some bad posture habits at work--it's improved but is not healed. I feel it if I raise my arm above my head then lower it in a clockwise motion--the hours between one and three suck. It didn't help that Friday's bench presses seemed to aggravate it thanks to my wide handhold on the barbell. I can do curls and other stuff with no problem, though. I'll try a closer handhold tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't, then bench presses are off the agenda for a little.
My plan is to do the two sets for maybe a week or so, then go up to three for a week or so, then increase my weights and go back to the single set, etc. I still do cardio mainly because I spend the majority of my time sitting on my ass and need to move, but I hardly do any on lifting days. When I was doing the low-fat thing I was doing straight cardio for an hour three days a week then working on weight machines with twenty minutes of cardio before and after the other three days. I like cardio and try to mix it up (although I avoid the Demon Treadmill, I hate that fucking thing), but I also like concentrating on the weights on lifting days. I know that so many seem to say that cardio really doesn't do shit as far as losing weight but it has been my experience that it does do shit for me. I did kind of do HIIT with it (trying to get my mileage to a certain point usually) so I need to start implementing that again. What I have to remember is not to overdo it as I am so prone to do.
Sunday is normally my off day, but since my gym's hours are going to be fucked up this week due to Fourth of July I'm going today since I won't be able to do the 4:15 thing on Thursday. Then I'll come home and start cooking stuff for the week. And maybe post again.
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