On track

Yesterday, I was wondering if I should go to the gym. My back was still a teensy bit sore from my little mishap a few days ago. But I figured working it would be a good thing, to prevent stiffness.
I was worried about how much weight I should use on my deadlifts. I thought maybe I should go down a bit, since I don't want to injure myself further. So on my first set I only used 115lbs and that felt pretty good so for the next 5 sets I went up to where I should be, which is 135lbs. I'm still wondering if my form is ok at that weight. Sometimes I wonder. I keep my back flat and my focus on a spot on the wall in front of me, but still, sometimes I just don't know.

I want to lift heavy, I know it's what I need to be doing, I just wonder sometimes if I'm going too heavy for my capabilities. Form should always be first and foremost. While it's fun to see the weight go up as you get stronger, I need to constantly remind myself that lifting more weight isn't going to do a thing for me if my form isn't perfect.

But as I walked away from the smith machine, a man walked past me and said "lookin' good!" so I hope that meant my form was ok. He was a gray haired man, in the gym, busting it out like a 20 year old. That's what I hope for myself at that age! (except for the man part...hehe)

Anyway, my routine for the past month or so has been alternating between two different full body workouts. It's M,W,F workouts  A/B/A - then the next week, M,W,F workouts B/A/B. You get the idea. Abs twice a week, and a cardio session on Saturday. Although I've been adding to the workouts.

It just didn't seem like enough. There are only 4 main exercises, and even though I go through 6 sets of each, it still feels like I have more in me. So I've been adding.

Workout A will consist of:
1)deadlifts supersetted with bench press (6 sets)
2)one arm snatches supersetted with walking db lunges (5 sets)
*here's where I add*
curtsy lunges with 25lb weight plates supersetted with side band walking
lying ham curl (heavy weight - low reps) supersetted with step ups or the glute/ham raises

By now, I feel like I've worked! I'm dripping with sweat.
Then I end with 8-10 minutes of incline sprints....oh mama!

I might have abs this day, I might not.

Workout B will consist of:
1)BB clean & press supersetted with pull ups (6 sets) - this is a tough set!
2)BB back squat supersetted with renegade db rows (6 sets)

Then it's two arm swings with a 30lb kettlebell 2x25

And I will add to this too, usually I will always try to add the curtsy lunges and band walking (for my out thighs) or the lying ham curl and glue/ham raise (for my hamstrings), or the step ups and the wide stance leg press (for my glutes).

Now there are days where I might just be too wiped to add anything and if I do add, I will for sure be too wiped to get in the incline sprints. And that is one thing I don't like to skip. Every M,W,F at the end of the workout, I do incline sprints for 8-10 minutes. And on Saturdays, I go for 25 minutes. It's a killer.

These workouts may not seem all that tough looking at them on paper, but believe me, it takes everything I've got. For every move I am putting forth max effort and lifting the heaviest weight I can. That is taxing. And I'm really careful about not making these workouts overly long because I don't want to exhaust my nervous and endocrine system. You are doing yourself no favors by working out longer than an hour. This could literally have been my problem all along!

So technically Tuesdays and Thursdays are rest days but I've been going to get 30 minutes of cardio and some "extra" shoulder work. Just basic stuff that I'm hoping will bring them out more. I really hope that isn't considered overtraining.

I know that right now, for my specific goal, I have to be careful with the amount of cardio I do. Since my goal is to become more muscular, running is not the best choice for me since it has a reducing effect on the entire body, including muscle size. However, I do run sometimes. Actually, I mix it up. I got from rowing, to elliptical, to treadmill. Mostly because with the history of knee problems in my family, the fluid motion of the elliptical and the rower are easier than the constant impact running has on my joints. Mostly the only running I do is sprinting intervals. My longer duration cardio will come from the elliptical or the rower.

I guess that's pretty much it. I will change up my workouts to a more plyo-based, fast paced, fat torching routine once April rolls around. I want to give myself another full month for muscle building before I start to get rid of any excess fat. Because I can see what's evolving. Everything seems to be on track. I'm gaining weight (yet still fitting into my clothes) which is a pretty good indicator that it's muscle I'm gaining. In fact, when I went to see my Dr. for a re-check, I weighed quite a bit more :) And this was only a span of 6 weeks! So I'm kind of excited to see how my body will change when I'm in "lean out" mode.