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Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Power of 10

This morning it was back to the regular gymnasium for me. I had to finish up my last weight lifting workout for this week and then I figured I would so some low-impact cardio. I have to say that I have just been so tired this week (as in my muscles are all just tired) and I figured that a day of taking it easy would be good for me.

The weight lifting workout was another day of Super Sets. I did a quick 5 minute walking warm-up on the treadmill in order to warm-up and also read about what was in store for me workout wise today. As soon as I saw that crunches were first, I knew I was in for trouble.

This was today's workout:

A) Reverse Crunches: 1 set of 5 reps
B) Crunches: 1 set of 10 reps
*****
A) Dumbbell Pullovers: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 25 lbs
B) Lat Pulldown: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 70 lbs
*****
A) Dumbbell Pullovers: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 25 lbs
B) Lat Pulldown (Underhand): 3 sets of 10 reps @ 50 lbs
*****
A) Dumbbell Curls: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm)
B) Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 30 lbs

The crunches were impossible. And I really mean that. I could barely do the ones that I did. I really did a number last Satuday on my abs. It apparently was much worse than I originally thought. I knew that it took me several days to be able to laugh without wincing in pain, but I wasn't prepared for the fact that I still wouldn't be able to do crunches. I definitely wanted to do them, but it just wasn't happening.

I took that as a sign that maybe my body just needed a bit of an easier day with the weights. I didn't really make a conscious decision to do sets of 10 reps, it mostly just worked out that way, and there were a couple of times where I was struggling to get 10 reps done, but it just seemed like I couldn't lose the pattern by the end of the workout.

The underhand lat pulldowns were done on the cable machine, which I mostly hate. A guy came while I was doing my last Super Set with the first lat pulldowns and I talked him into letting me finish up, but I didn't think he'd be so keen on me doing three more sets too. So, instead I set up the cable machine. The lat pulldowns weren't the easiest thing to do on that machine because I had to squat while doing the exercise, so it made my legs tired too. But, I got them done. It wasn't quite at the weight I had been lifting before, but I think that mostly was a function of the equipment I was using.

After the weight lifting, I headed over to the elliptical for some easy cardio. I was definitely sweating by the end of it. I used one of the machines that gives me a better mileage result. I don't know if that's cheating or not, but I noticed that a lot of the elliptical machines in our gym have stationary handles. I used to really like those machines, but I've recently changed ways and now think that the ones with handles are better, which is what I used this morning.

Weight Lifting
Time: 27:11
Calories: 164
Maximum HR: 152
Average HR: 116

Elliptical
Time: 30:24
Distance: 2.60 miles
Pace: 11:41/mile
Calories: 287
Maximum HR: 161
Average HR: 144

2 comments:

  1. You sure are keeping up the momentum! Good work. I like your photos in some of these posts. Having the visuals of the clothing and the bars is nice to enhance the text! It might be fun to get some pics of the gyms too? Hope you are having a good weekend. Mother Nature is giving Michiganders a good workout raking, raking, blowing, bagging, dragging, etc. a zillion trillion leaves!

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  2. I love/hate that feeling when my abs are so sore I can barely sit up without pain. That is one area that NROLW lacks, though. The core work just isn't as intense as I've done in the past (up to this point).

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