My motivation

Got my sweat on this morning - ran 45 minutes. Rest day for weights. 13 straight days of exercise!

My neck is really sore today, I need a rub.

I feel sort of drained. Hope I'm not getting sick. It's probably just my neck making my whole being feel crappy. I'll get over it.

Anyway, the point of my post is motivation. Do everything and anything in your power to motivate yourself. Here is what I look at while I'm running:



This is on the wall directly in front of my treadmill. These are big motivators for me.

And this is my workout calendar. I write everything on this thing. Type of exercise, reps, sets, load, amount of time, low/high carb day, anything that I was having trouble with or doing great with:



And this is my workout room. Nothing fancy, horrible 90's colors, but I'm happy to have it. It's my best friend. It invites me, it challenges me, it supports me, it kicks my butt. I love this room!




I think I need some artwork on the walls, it's a little bare!

Holy hiatus!

I've really been slacking with the posting! The last 4 workouts, actually! My, my...I need to be punished for this. Something along the lines of being sprayed with mud and forced to stand in soaking wet shoes for hours. Oh wait, I did that yesterday!

HAHA...

OK, OK, so it wasn't forced upon me, but it did happen. Our community just happens to be fighting a flood right now so I was helping with the sandbagging efforts yesterday. Of course that didn't stand in the way of my posting, I just thought I would throw that out there.

I still need to post my last four workouts.

I will also mention that I did NOT do my weight training sessions scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. I won't tell you why I didn't since it will just sound like excuses, and it would be true that my reasons ARE excuses. I feel a tad guilty about it because I have done extremely well being consistent with it up until this point. And I sort of don't feel guilty....because I've been consistent up until this point. Make sense?

Excuses: so I was intending on working out Monday evening since my day was busier than usual, but it just so happened that I was exhausted by evening and it didn't get done. I was going to workout yesterday, before sushi with my sister, but then my sister called and cancelled (again), so I was a little bummed and just didn't feel like it. Plus, I knew I was sandbagging later in the day and wanted to save my energy.

Now, today I'm a tad sore (but not terrible). And as I tell my mom, I'm no stranger to being sore (because I lift weights), so it won't affect me really. The worst is my wrist, which I have wrapped up right now. I had gotten my hand bent way back a few too many times yesterday. It hurts to twist and there is a funny popping noise. I'm hoping it's nothing serious. But I'll baby it for a day just to be sure.

Let's get on with it...

Lower body #1 - Monday March 8th
bb squat 3 x 12 @ 60lbs
stiff dead 3 x 12 @ 60lbs
leg ext. 3 x 12 @ 60lbs
standing calf 3 x 12 @ 60lbs
lying ball raise 3 x 12
ball crunch 3 x 10

Upper body #1- Tuesday March 9th
bench press 3 x 12 @ 50lbs
bent over row 3 x 12 @ 44lbs - 22lbs each arm
db shoulder press 3 x 10 @ 30lbs
skull crushers 3 x 10 @ 20lbs
bb bicep curl 3 x 10 @ 30lbs

Lower body #2 - Thursday March 11th
deadlift 3 x 12 @ 80lbs
ham curl 3 x 10 @ 42.5lbs
lunges 3 x 10 @ 60lbs - each leg
seated calf 3 x 12 @ 60lbs - each leg
db shrugs 3 x 12 @ 40lbs
decline crunch 3 x 12

Upper body #2 - Friday March 12th
dips 3 x 10
bb pullovers 3 x 12 @ 20lbs (and here is where I first messed up my left wrist)
lat raise 3 x 10 @ 24lbs
tricep ext. 3 x 10 @ 20lbs
conentration curls 3 x 12 @ 15lbs - each arm

And so that was last week. I was scheduled to take Saturday and Sunday off, which was a nice break (and perfect timing), then I had to screw up my rhythm this week. Oh well, stuff happens. Moving on...

I'm going to try and get back into it today. NO, I'm not going to TRY, I WILL!

Arms Day

Remember, all of these exercises are performed in 3 sets of 8-12 reps. If I can get higher than 12 reps, I need to increase the weight. If I can't make 8, I decrease the weight. I think I found a pretty good range for me right away. It helps to keep a log of the exercises that I do, reps, poundage, etc. That way, when I need a point of reference, I can just look back to previous days and find what I need!

Bench Press: 50lbs x 10, 10, 10
Bent Over row: 40lbs x 13, 45lbs x 10, 10 (see, I needed to increase there because I was able to get 13 reps)
DB Shoulder Press: 30lbs x 11, 8, 7
Skull Crushers: 20lbs x 8, 7, 5 (my arms were just shaking at this point)
Barbell Curl: 30lbs x 8, 8, 5

And afterward, my biceps felt just HUGE and tight from all the blood. It's such a crazy awesome feeling. Seriously, they felt like twice their normal size. Like, if I flexed they would just pop open! LOL

*And once again, I should note I got this routine from the bodybuilding.com website.