So this post I did not have a catchy title, but I hope it doesn't hinder you reading it. So Friday was a super quick day as far as working out. And me and Paula were both glad that the weekend was coming up because we could rest. I know I definitely needed it because my back was till a little sore from when I strained it. And my legs were super sore too so I wanted to rest.
Over the weekend, I did not do too much except spend some time with the family and also work at the Y.
Week 2, we were ready for what is to come. I was actually excited because I could see some definition in my back. I honestly don't feel any different and neither does Paula when I asked her today. But we have only done one week out of the 8 weeks we are planning on doing.
Now we made some changes in week two because we wanted to make sure we do the exercises to its fullest and not hurt ourselves. We were able to go up to 20 repetitions in the hanging leg raises (which we did 15 last week) and even though it was harder, I was glad we were able to push through. Also, we weren't able to always increase the weight in some exercises. Now I am not quite sure why we decreased weight, because we were not sore. We thought that maybe it was because we had a lot of hyped-up energy the first day, so we had this strength that helped us push through a bier weight. However, I was also not wanting to re-injure my back. After the workout, we both felt great. I am not as sore as the first time; of course tomorrow morning may be a different story.
One thing I recommend when doing this workout, is to take your time with each workout. One of the fellow members at the Y noticed that I was just throwing the weight up and down and gave me some advice. One thing that I have learned in all my weight training classes is to control the weight, especially when increasing muscle. For instance, when doing a dumbbell bicep curl, you want to raise the weight up not so quickly and not slow where it is painful. You want to control the weight up and really engage (what I mean by engage is to really activate the muscle you are working) the bicep muscle. Same thing when you lower the weight. You want to control it and not just let the weight drop. That is not good for your muscle. So remember CONTROL!!!
Well that is all that I have for ya so have a wonderful evening....I hope to publish something tomorrow.
Showing posts with label biceps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biceps. Show all posts
Monday, January 14, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Day 1: Body of an Action Hero
Today was the first day of me and Paula's adventure through the fitness world of working out. After recovering from the unhealthy eating habits and battling sickness throughout the holidays, it was time for us to get our butts back into gear and start exercising and promoting health. As I stated before, we both decided to try different workouts and then blog about it as honestly as we could and relay the results. Also stated before, me and Paula are not certified or are professionals when it comes to personal training. We both know our limits and how hard we can push ourselves where we will not harm our bodies. If you are wanting to tray our workouts please consult a physician or someone such as a personal trainer beforehand.
I was not excited waking up at 5am to get ready to workout, but I knew that my day would be so much better if I got this out of the way. In my personal opinion, it is so much better to workout in the morning because once you get going you start waking up and then you don't have to dread working out later. JUST GET IT OUT OF THE WAY! Anyways, day 1 started today.
For Mondays workout, we started with a 6-minute warm-up on the treadmill/elliptical at an "aggressive" speed (as the workout referred to it). We then started with abs which is different than some workouts because they usually leave that until the end. The first exercise was grueling and we knew that this workout was gonna get the best of us. We were supposed to do 3x50 of crunches (3 sets of 50 crunches = 150 crunches total). I can honestly say that we did finish all of them but not without a struggle. the next two exercises focused on abs which we modified to workout not only the "abs in front" but also our obliques (side abs).
The next three exercises focused on our biceps with a series of bicep curls using dumbbells, barbells, and the cable machines. Since this is new for us and because we have been semi-sedentary for the holidays, we had to decrease the repetitions of each exercise in lieu of getting hurt. Now these exercises, for our biceps and triceps, required us to do three different sets. The first set were 15 repetitions of a low weight (which for us was about an 8lbs weight), the second set were 12 repetitions of a higher weight (about 10lbs), and the last set were 10 repetitions of an even higher weight (we used either a 10lbs to 12lbs). The bicep curls the first time were not so bad, however, when we used the barbells we were having a lot of difficulty. So we decided to decrease the repetitions accordingly.
**If you look on the website that shows our workout (in the first blog below) it says to do cable bicep curls. We changed that exercise to work a differs part of our arms so to get the full workout of the arms. I am not quite sure what the exercise is called but once I find out I will definitely put it in the blog next time.**
The last three exercises pertained to our triceps (back of the arms) doing triceps extensions, cable pull downs, and tricep kickbacks. These exercises were not as bad because we used lighter weights since we both knew are triceps were not as strong. The kickbacks was the only workout that we decreased repetitions at the highest weight to prevent injury.
This entire workout last for about an hour and five minutes. So if you are wanting to try today's workout, you will need a good solid hour to get the right amount of rest in between sets so your muscles can recover. When I asked Paula how she liked the workout, she said that she liked it a lot because we have done workouts (such as Insanity) that is just purely cardio, but this one really focuses on the weights and getting more muscle. Now we are supposed to do cardio later today as the workout (by Michael Torchia) stated that results are most effective if cardio was done 6 to 9 hours after the weight training. We will see how that goes!
Please definitely leave comments, questions, or concerns. I would love to hear feedback and if there is anything I need to add or leave out.
Oh and I forgot. As far as food, I ate a Meal Bar made by South Beach that is 12g protein 9g of fiber and about 180 calories. It was a small bar but it filled me up. And I also drank a bottle water throughout the workout and finished it afterwards. So far so good on the Healy food stuff, but we will see how long that lasts haha.
Well enjoy!
I was not excited waking up at 5am to get ready to workout, but I knew that my day would be so much better if I got this out of the way. In my personal opinion, it is so much better to workout in the morning because once you get going you start waking up and then you don't have to dread working out later. JUST GET IT OUT OF THE WAY! Anyways, day 1 started today.
For Mondays workout, we started with a 6-minute warm-up on the treadmill/elliptical at an "aggressive" speed (as the workout referred to it). We then started with abs which is different than some workouts because they usually leave that until the end. The first exercise was grueling and we knew that this workout was gonna get the best of us. We were supposed to do 3x50 of crunches (3 sets of 50 crunches = 150 crunches total). I can honestly say that we did finish all of them but not without a struggle. the next two exercises focused on abs which we modified to workout not only the "abs in front" but also our obliques (side abs).
The next three exercises focused on our biceps with a series of bicep curls using dumbbells, barbells, and the cable machines. Since this is new for us and because we have been semi-sedentary for the holidays, we had to decrease the repetitions of each exercise in lieu of getting hurt. Now these exercises, for our biceps and triceps, required us to do three different sets. The first set were 15 repetitions of a low weight (which for us was about an 8lbs weight), the second set were 12 repetitions of a higher weight (about 10lbs), and the last set were 10 repetitions of an even higher weight (we used either a 10lbs to 12lbs). The bicep curls the first time were not so bad, however, when we used the barbells we were having a lot of difficulty. So we decided to decrease the repetitions accordingly.
**If you look on the website that shows our workout (in the first blog below) it says to do cable bicep curls. We changed that exercise to work a differs part of our arms so to get the full workout of the arms. I am not quite sure what the exercise is called but once I find out I will definitely put it in the blog next time.**
The last three exercises pertained to our triceps (back of the arms) doing triceps extensions, cable pull downs, and tricep kickbacks. These exercises were not as bad because we used lighter weights since we both knew are triceps were not as strong. The kickbacks was the only workout that we decreased repetitions at the highest weight to prevent injury.
This entire workout last for about an hour and five minutes. So if you are wanting to try today's workout, you will need a good solid hour to get the right amount of rest in between sets so your muscles can recover. When I asked Paula how she liked the workout, she said that she liked it a lot because we have done workouts (such as Insanity) that is just purely cardio, but this one really focuses on the weights and getting more muscle. Now we are supposed to do cardio later today as the workout (by Michael Torchia) stated that results are most effective if cardio was done 6 to 9 hours after the weight training. We will see how that goes!
Please definitely leave comments, questions, or concerns. I would love to hear feedback and if there is anything I need to add or leave out.
Oh and I forgot. As far as food, I ate a Meal Bar made by South Beach that is 12g protein 9g of fiber and about 180 calories. It was a small bar but it filled me up. And I also drank a bottle water throughout the workout and finished it afterwards. So far so good on the Healy food stuff, but we will see how long that lasts haha.
Well enjoy!
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