Drop It Like It's Hot

Today I had to skip my normal Sunday routine of Terrier swim practice because we were going with Drew's sister for lunch at Per Se. If there ever was a reason to skip swim practice, this seems like the best reason yet! It didn't mean that I skipped working out all together, though. Instead, I headed to the gymnasium with Drew this morning in order to start on Week 7 of my weight lifting book.

This week starts Drop Sets - where you do one set of weight lifting at a high weight, drop to a lower weight (about 30% less) for a second set, and finish up with an even lighter weight (30% less again) for the final set. Oh, and there is no rest in between sets.

This was today's workout:

Leg Extensions: 1 set of 15 reps @ 65 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 50 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 35 lbs
Leg Curls (Double Leg): 1 set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 45 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 30 lbs
Calf Raises: 1 set of 15 reps @ 125 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 100 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 75 lbs
Leg Press: 1 set of 12 reps @ 125 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 100 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 75 lbs
Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Legs and abs. Oof. The legs weren't so bad. The book had different goal reps for each exercise, so I really concentrated on meeting the goal reps, which I was able to do every time. It wasn't easy, but I did it. I'm pretty sure that 125 is my highest weight to date on the leg presses/calf raises, so that was exciting! I also suffered through the crunches, which was painful. I did rest for 5 seconds in between each set of crunches. I thought that was fair as it'd be similar to adjusting the weight on any of the other machines. This weight lifting is really fast compared to a lot of the other ones where you can rest for 1-2 minutes between sets. I couldn't believe how quickly I was done and I even had to wait for about 2 minutes for a guy to be done with the leg press machine.

After I was done with the weight lifting, I headed over to the computer spin bikes. I tried out a new program today, the endurance program. Mainly, that meant a lot of seated spinning instead of more in and out of the saddle. I think that I liked this program a little bit better because even though it might have been a little bit more boring than the ones where you get out of the saddle a lot, it was more true to the type of biking I'm trying to practice. I really tried to keep my cadence up above 80, even at the higher resistances, which I guess I was successful at because when I got off, it said that my average cadence was 81. When I had about 10 minutes left of my bike ride, Drew came over to find out that the second computer spin bike is broken. They're ordering a part and expect it to be fixed by Friday, but he was really hoping that I could show him the ropes on how to use it.

I finished up my bike ride and headed over to do lots and lots of stretching. Being at yoga yesterday reminded me how important it is to stretch after working out. I also did a lot of foam rolling. My shins are feeling so much better now that I've been foam rolling them. They don't hurt when you touch them anymore, which seems like a really good sign. I must say that foam rolling my shins is also one heck of an ab workout and by the time I finished, I was shaking from the effort of doing it. I also decided to foam roll my IT band for the first time. I see a guy doing it all the time at the gym, so I thought I'd jump on the band wagon. It was definitely painful, but that's probably a reason to keep doing it.

All in all, a very successful workout. Not enough to burn off the 2000+ calories that this lunch will be, but a good start!

Weight Lifting
Time: 19:33
Calories: 124
Maximum HR: 150
Average HR: 119

Spin Bike
Time: 47:00
Distance: 16.9 miles
Pace: 21.52 MPH
Calories: 501
Maximum HR: 169
Average HR: 155