Part 2: The Workouts.
My body is hurting as I'm writing this, I had a leg day with Johnny last night and ouch. I started by hitting some PR's on my squats and was fighting through finishing the rest of the workout. My body felt like jello. It was one of those days my meals didn't totally line up, and I was extra hungry which made me feel sluggish by workout time. Those days will happen. But then you wake up the next morning and as you get out of bed the soreness sets in and it weirdly feel like a sense of accomplishment.
Like yeah, I did do work last night and my body hates me and thanks me for it!
So soreness, I'll take. I'm currently in a hypertrophy phase of my training which means I'm going for high volume workouts (sets x reps x weight). I focus on 5-7 exercises, 2-3 sets each, and 12-15 repetitions. I have five workouts a week including: legs, glutes (favorite), arms - pull, arms - push (least favorite), and plyometrics (beginning to love it, probably because its become my Friday lunch without with coworker and friend Julie). Each workout starts with a 5-10 minute jog to get my heart rate and body temperature up and ends with some serious foam rolling. I do one workout a week with Johnny, usually a legs or glutes day because I feel safer lifting those heavier weights with someone stronger than me making sure I won't hurt myself while still pushing me. He uses an app/website called Trainerize, which allows him to give me my workouts and then I can just login and track them as I go. It's awesome.
As much as I enjoy the workouts he gives me, I still like changing it up.One of my new years resolutions was to practice yoga weekly, which hasn't exactly happened but I have gone some! It then reminds me how tight my body is, so I love going into those classes ready to stretch and move my body at a slower pace and focus on how it moves. I also used to be an avid runner (Boston winters now make that impossible for me) but I intend to run more than a mile once this snow begins to melt.
It's amazing seeing my body change already, and realizing that all the hard work and sacrifices I've already made to stay on track are actually working. Today my body feels tired, but that's just so that tomorrow it will be even stronger than before. It's all part of the journey.
My Workout Goals:
- Be able to do a pull-up, unassisted
- Practice yoga weekly
- Get a six (or four) pack
- Stretch/foam roll daily
- Learn to listen to my body, push myself when I feel strong and rest when my body needs the recovery
It's a journey, I'm just learning as I go.
"Great changes may not happen right away, but with effort even the difficult may become easy."