Friday, April 9, 2010

Weight training and stuff like that

The first week of April activity is well underway. Weight training is the winner and I've got two workouts taken care of already. First thing first. I'm a planner through and through so I don't dare dive into my goals without first having an idea of the path I intend to follow. I've gotten into the habit of creating a monthly exercise calendar so I can be sure to get enough exercise in as well as the proper amount of rest for my muscles in between my workouts. So, without further distraction. Here is my revised exercise calendar.


You'll see on the calendar that I took care of a lower body weight training workout and an upper body workout already this week. It's true. That's what I did. Correction: That's what we did. We meaning Accountabilibuddy and I. Yes, I'm her trainer this month.

Here are the exercises we did. The weights referenced are what I did. Accountabilibuddy took it a little easier than that though. Especially for her first time in the weight room.

Lower Body Exercises


Upper Body Exercises


I've had this schedule of alternating upper and lower body weight training every other day for quite a while now. Of course, there have been plenty of weeks when I didn't follow it as planned for whatever reasons but for the most part, it works well for me. This schedule tends to give me just enough time for my damaged muscles to recover and rest before I engage them again and it allows me to focus my workouts so I don't feel scatter-brained in the gym.

I know that on lower body weight days, I'll be working quads, hammies, inner and outer thighs, calves, butt, and abs. I never find myself standing in the middle of the gym spinning around in circles wondering which direction I should go because I have a plan. Some days I do choose to spend more time on the machines and less in the weight room or vise versa but that's about the extent to my wondering around the gym. And even that has a purpose. Depending on the day, the time of day, and the time of year the weight room can be over filled with the idiot muscle heads who insist on grunting when they do 40lb barbell curls.

What's the deal with that by the way? I mean, I can do 30lb barbell curls with normal SILENT breathing, why does a rhoided out freak need to grunt out loud then drop the weights and pace back and forth in front of them like he's trying to psych out his opponent? Why? Why? WHY? I'll tell you why. There is absolutely no good reason for it. NONE! The reason they do it is because they're partially retarded. I'm sure of it. Perhaps instead of choosing to grunt while lifting, they should focus more on controlling their breath so they can get more oxygen to their tiny little deprived brains. Just a thought.

The first couple workouts went well I think. Well, I got good workouts from them. I burned a ton of calories and felt really good about working all the major muscles. And, I was/am really proud of Accountabilibuddy for hanging in there too. She was not in the mood to do much of anything this week. There may have even been a bit of whining. Just a bit. Nothing I can't handle. But, I'm very happy to say that she sucked it up and did the damn thing.

Toward the end of the lower body workout, we ended up over on the mats to do abs. Right next to the mats are a couple cardio machines. There were a couple women on the stationary bikes there while Accountabilibuddy was trying to get out of having to do any more abs than she wanted. While I was pushing her to do more, the onlookers seemed to get a little entertainment value from it. While they were up there on their little pedestals, peddling their feet oh so gently so as not to break a sweat, WE were down on the mat kicking our abs into high gear.

So you think that's entertaining do you, Unexercisers? I must say that I had the thought run through my head of confronting these unexercisers and challenging them to drop and show us how it's done if they enjoyed watching so much. I didn't though. I just looked up at them and chuckled. I behaved myself. That doesn't mean I'll be holding it together if/when it happens again though. I just love poking people. How very sociopathic of me I know. I just can't help it. When I see buttons, I instinctively want to push them.




Then we did upper body weights. Oh it was good. Accountabilibuddy actually hurt her knee again. She's got a meniscus problem. Little bugger. So I made sure to do all activities that would not put any pressure or strain on her knee. You know what that means? Bench press time! Ya baby! I love doing bench presses. We did bench presses and dumbbell flyes for chest work. I wanted to make her do pushups but that couldn't happen this week. Perhaps after her knee is healed. There's just something about doing upper body weight training that makes me feel powerful. You'd think I would get that feeling doing any kind of weight training but I don't.

What kind of exercise makes you feel powerful?

I have so much more to say about this and more but I think I should cut it off here for now.

Sneak peak on future topics
Other entertaining gym goers
Annoying gym habits
Not all cardio is created equal
Fear in the weight room
Motivation
Muscle soreness and recovery
Which exercises work and which ones suck
La la la, I can't hear you with my ear buds in and music cranked to 11


What other topics are you interested in knowing about my weight training adventures?