Pushing it
I'm feeling great these days. I've been keeping a regular schedule with my workouts and the results have been fantastic. I'm at week six and it's time to regroup and see what I'll do next. So far, I've been sticking to an all-body workout, three days a week and I think I'll keep it that way. A couple of weeks, including this one, I've missed one of the days, but I'm not worried about it. There's no real 'making-up' those days, so I made sure the other two days were plenty challenging. What's really helped is slowly increasing the amount of weight I'm using for each exercise.
For example, today on standing barbell curls, the first set was with 65 pounds and I got through that one farily easily. On the second set, I added 5lbs and had to work harder on the last couple of reps. Now, the next time I go in, I'll start out with the 70lbs and probably add another 5lbs onto the second set to push myself.
It's time to switch some exercises so my body doesn't become too used to what I've been doing. That, and/or change the ryhthm of reps. More than likely, I'm going to change some of the exercises so I don't get bored and to give my body more challenges.
There's an incredible sense of accomplishment when I meet and surpass my goals in the gym. The best thing is I've found a routine that works for me and I've let go of some former misguided ideas about what I needed to do in order to get what I want out of my workouts. I used to think that I absolutely had to do three sets of every exercise to get anything out of the workout. Not true. The routine I have now requires two sets of moderate to heavy weights and taking thirty seconds between sets to rest, maybe slightly longer, depending on the intensity of the workout. The other aspect I've developed is patience, of which was in short supply with me when I was younger. Patience and a better understanding of how my body works has helped a lot.
I have a much better understanding of the phrase Exercise smarter, not harder
For example, today on standing barbell curls, the first set was with 65 pounds and I got through that one farily easily. On the second set, I added 5lbs and had to work harder on the last couple of reps. Now, the next time I go in, I'll start out with the 70lbs and probably add another 5lbs onto the second set to push myself.
It's time to switch some exercises so my body doesn't become too used to what I've been doing. That, and/or change the ryhthm of reps. More than likely, I'm going to change some of the exercises so I don't get bored and to give my body more challenges.
There's an incredible sense of accomplishment when I meet and surpass my goals in the gym. The best thing is I've found a routine that works for me and I've let go of some former misguided ideas about what I needed to do in order to get what I want out of my workouts. I used to think that I absolutely had to do three sets of every exercise to get anything out of the workout. Not true. The routine I have now requires two sets of moderate to heavy weights and taking thirty seconds between sets to rest, maybe slightly longer, depending on the intensity of the workout. The other aspect I've developed is patience, of which was in short supply with me when I was younger. Patience and a better understanding of how my body works has helped a lot.
I have a much better understanding of the phrase Exercise smarter, not harder