Wednesday: A Typical Workout

I've gotten back to the gym this week and I am really enjoying my workouts.  My "training schedule", ideally, is to get a workout in 4 weekdays each week, plus one on either Saturday or Sunday.  For me, "workout" means either a run, walk/run interval training, or doing an iPersonalTrainer program at the gym.  It isn't always how it works out with the schedule, but that's the goal.

I'm doing pretty well this week - I got my Monday night run in with the HEAT WAVE group - about 45 minute walk/run and got in about 3 miles.  Tuesday AND Wednesday I got to the gym - basically a miracle the way things have been working the past few weeks!!  Tomorrow (Thursday) I take Coty to the last meeting of the TNAM group.  I'll get my finisher's certificate and shirt, and do one more run.  Though with temperatures predicted to top 103 degrees, I expect it will be a short walk and not a 4.37-mile run.

I thought this might be an opportune time to give a rundown on what a "typical" workout looks like for me when I hit the gym.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I use an app on my iPhone called iPersonalTrainer.  There are several options for setting up your workouts, but I like to use the Circuit Training program.  With this option, the app selects a set of 5 muscle groups and designs 2 exercises for each muscle group.  You do 1 exercise for each group, repeat that set twice, then do the other 5 exercises and repeat that set twice.  In the end, you do a total of 10 exercises, three times each.

[Side note:  I recently discovered I could rearrange the order of the exercises to make it so the order makes more sense logistically - in other words, if there are three exercises using the cables, do those together rather than cables, mats, bench, cables bench, etc.  (This way I'm not running all over the gym wasting time getting from one exercise to the next all over the place - big improvement!)]

I've been wanting to do some speed work when I'm at the gym, where I can workout on the treadmill and really lock in my speed, see what it feels like to "comfortably" run at one speed or another.  So to warm up yesterday, I started out with a 5-minute walk and then did some interval training:  2 minutes running followed by 1 minute of walking (strictly enforced!) and to make it a speed workout I amped up the speed for each running interval.  I started a 5.0 mph, then 5.2, 5.4 etc... and ended with two intervals at 6.0.  I'd like to make this a weekly part of my routine - it was fun and I really felt like I was pushing.

Wednesday's workout focused on Triceps, Quads, Calves and Core. (three sets each)

• Leg Press: 45 lbs, 10 reps 
• Calf Raise on Leg Press:  45 lbs, 15 reps
• Cable Lawnmowers:  10 lbs, 10 reps
• Cable Triceps Extension:  20 lbs, 20 reps
• Bowing Crunch:  10 reps
• Step Up:  10 reps each side (stepping up on the weight bench.  I'm too short (or the bench is too tall) and have to bring a 3-inch aerobic-step over to give me a boost.  Otherwise, it hurts my hip something fierce, and my form and control goes all to shit.)
• Rope Cable Row:  30 lbs, 10 reps
• Wall Jumps (exactly what it sounds like):  30 seconds
• Single Dumbbell Kickback (bent over the weight bench, working your triceps by extending backward with gravity and the dumbbell as resistance):  5 lbs, 10 reps
• Reverse Crunch:  10 reps - this was something I've never tried before and the first set was hard. I suspect I was using poor form.  Once I figured out how to do it, I really liked it. Here's a video demonstration (obviously not me).

 

And the best part of every workout:  my gym's tanning booth!  Every workout earns me a tanning session.  You know I'm really rules-oriented, and the rule is, I don't get to tan unless I've done a workout.  I imagine I could allow tanning after a road run, but I'm afraid that would lead to tanning "when I'm planning" a run, so that's a non-starter.  We'll  have none of that.

So that's what a "typical" gym workout looks like for me. Thank goodness you don't have to see what I look like all sweaty and puffy and red in the face when I'm done!