Get into the habit of exercise

I have gotten into the habit of walking to the grocery store whenever possible, and I’m going to be walking or biking to and from work for the next 4 months at least. With this exercise built into my schedule, I think the habit will come naturally. However, I’ll keep my ‘lose fat, gain muscle’ goal to report on any strength training I do.

...my exercise plan is totally up for grabs again.

It’s really ok, as I was started to get very bored with the machines anyway. Also, I have been reading up on whether extended cardio is actually the most effective way to build fitness (again, Mark Sisson’s blog influence coming into play).

My new M.O. is to just try to do something physical every day. I’d like my new routine to develop organically, and to be as ‘un-routine’ as possible so that I don’t get bored. Eventually I would like to try something like CrossFit, but right now I don’t have the resources to take classes (and I do think that in order to push myself that much, I’d need outside motivation).

I’ve got the push-ups plan going, of course, so that’s something at least.

Took a few days off, due to sore shoulder and general ickiness. It felt really good to get back into the gym today.

30 min. elliptical, and shorter full body strength routine. I did:

2×15 squats (sweet. I am definitely getting better at these. They felt awesome.)
2×15 calf raises (10 lb. dumbbell)
2×25 back extensions
2×25 crunches
2×15 shoulder press (20 lb. barbell)
1×15, 1×10 bench (30 lb. barbell)

Yeah, I’m dumb. I really shouldn’t have done those upper body exercises, I don’t think. Actually, I’m not really sure – my shoulder actually felt BETTER while I was doing them, and though it’s still sore afterward, it doesn’t feel appreciably worse than it did before I did the exercises. Soooooo. I’ll give it a day or so and see how it feels; I need to get my neck adjusted anyhow.

If it DOES get worse, well, I will just have to step up the lower body program, modify the upper body so I can still keep working my right shoulder/arm somewhat, maybe come up with some isolation exercises that don’t involve the shoulder, and come up with some sort of rehabilitation program that I can do once it’s fully rested.

Sigh. Bollux.

30 min. elliptical. It’s HOT out today, and it was pretty sweltering in the un-air conditioned gym.

It’s a good thing I like to sweat!

Full body strength training tomorrow. I’m excited that I’m able to do these more-frequent and more-rigorous strength workouts with next to none of the muscle soreness I had when starting out. My body seems to be stepping up to the plate and adapting. Helps that I’ve been eating fairly well lately, I’m sure.

Another full body workout. I did the following:

20 min. brisk walk/high incline (for warm-up)
2×12 mixed grip pull-ups (90 lbs. assist)
2×15 shoulder press (20 lb. barbell)
2×15 bench press (30 lb. barbell)
2×15 compound row (50 lbs.)
2×15 unweighted squats
2×15 calf raises (15 lb. dumbbell)
2×25 crunches (2nd rung)
2×25 back extensions
2×20 side bends
2×20 captain’s chair

I’m super-psyched because I met my goal today! The goal was to finish all the sets I planned to do. This time I was able to – last time I couldn’t quite do 2×15 of a few exercises.

Trying to figure out how to best challenge myself further. Squats were…not EASY exactly, but they were quite manageable. Yay! I’m improving. I think what I’d like to do is work up to 2×25 unweighted squats before adding the 20 lb. barbell. So…next time, I will try for 2×18 squat sets.

Pull-ups – again, not EASY at the end of the second set, but doable. I don’t think it’s time to add weight yet…I need to work up to 2×15 first. Next time I’ll do 1×15, 1×12.

Finally: I think I need something different crunch-wise. Maybe I just need to reduce the incline but sit up further.

Sidenote: I brought a banana with me to the gym and ate it right after my workout. It helped considerably – no blood sugar crash, and I felt great walking home. I’ll be doing that from now on.

30 min. elliptical. I really need to challenge myself and use other machines for cardio again…I think I’m getting too good at the elliptical!

Cardio AND full-body workout. Hard work today. I did:

25 min. run/walk. Mostly walk ‘cause my knee felt wonky, but I increased the incline pretty far and kept things above 3.5 mph, so it was still a pretty decent workout.

Then strength training.

2×12 mixed grip pullups (90 lbs. assist)
1×15, 1×12 shoulder press (20 lbs.)
1×15, 1×12 bench press (30 lbs.)
2×15 compound row (45 lbs.)
2×15 unweighted squats
2×15 calf raises (10 lbs.)
2×25 crunches (2nd rung)
2×25 back extensions
2×20 side bends
2×15 captains chairs

I need to make sure to bring a snack to the gym if I’m going to do workouts like this, or be more careful about what I eat the night and morning before. Had a definite blood sugar crash afterward, which I wasn’t expecting. Mild nausea, lightheadedness, etc. I’m not diabetic (that I know of), just sensitive to low blood glucose, and this workout definitely burned quite a bit of energy.

Having refueled and caffeinated myself, though, I feel great. And proud of myself.

Strength routine extraordinaire! I did the following:

15 min. elliptical (warm-up)
2×12 pull-ups, mixed grip (90 lbs. assist)
2×12 shoulder press (20 lb. barbell)
2×12 bench press (30 lb. barbell)
2×15 seated row (45 lb.)
2×15 unweighted squats
2×15 calf raises (10 lb. dumbbell)
2×25 back extensions
2×25 crunches (2nd rung)
2×20 side bends
2×15 captain’s chairs

Oh, and 1×5 deadlifts with the 20 lb. barbell. All I have to say about that is….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!....Ha…ha. (whew) Deadlifts are hard. But I had fun doing them, so I plan to make them a permanent component of my routine.

I’m seriously considering doing this whole body thing instead of a split routine. My recovery time is shorter than when I started, and I think I could handle doing this every other day.

I think I am challenging myself just enough at this point. My connective tissue is handling it fine, but my muscles are definitely challenged. It was kind of difficult to pull on my jeans after my shower – not because they are tight, but because my upper body was tired! Sort of a fun feeling, in a weird masochistic way.

30 min. elliptical. Not much to say, except that I’m gonna try to combine my lb and ub workouts tomorrow in order to make up for lost time.

Ub workout. Here it is:

15 min. elliptical
2×10 mixed grip pull-ups (90 lbs. assist)
2×15 bench presses (20 lb. barbell)
2×10 shoulder presses (20 lb. barbell)
2×15 compound row (45 lbs.)

My arms are tired but not wrecked. Excellent!