Stronger

     Two weeks. I don't think I need to say anything more than that. I had a hankering for some kettlebell work for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I love kettlebells because they're both simple and yet wildly variable in what you can do with them. Secondly, I couldn't workout in the dungeon because there's too much shit in the way. So... kettlebells it was.

     I found this HIIT workout on Youtube. It looked pretty "doable", so I decided to give it a go. I mean, it was just 40 seconds of each movement. Any ninny can do 40 seconds. I'm fairly certain I died somewhere around the 12 minute mark, was resurrected by the grace of the All Father himself and then brutally and shamelessly punished for the next 18 excruciating minutes. Some of the exercises I could only get 20-25 seconds of, and I modified the crunches because I was on a hard floor and my tailbone was screaming (I put my hands under it to shut it up). I also opted to not do the hand-to-hand swings because of the fact that I was inside and really didn't want to drop the friggin thing on my laminate floor. 

     I would like to give a shout out to my friend Jenny because she's been very encouraging about being in a healthier place. Even when it doesn't seem like I'm listening, I am. I take it all in and let it ruminate for a bit. 

     I think this workout is a keeper. I did it all with my 35lb bell but I definitely need to keep at it to get proficient. 

Here's to getting faster, and stronger before something kills me.

Upper body - Dead South

     I took last night off because I absolutely torched my triceps on the last upper body night. It's been awful! I've hardly been able to brush my hair or put my clothes on. What an idiot lol. I didn't want to push it off any further though, so tonight was a must. My arms were feeling better, but still sore, so I avoided any direct triceps work. Here's what got done:

DB BENCH:

15lb x15

20lb x12

20lb x10

30lb x7

BENT DB ROW:

25lb x15 ea side (narrow)

25lb x12 (wide)

25lb x10 (narrow)

35lb x8 (narrow)

45lb x6 (narrow)

CHEST FLYS:

(20lb x10) 5x

REVERSE FLYS:

10lb x15

15lb x10

15lb x30

••••••••••

     That last set of reverse flys was strictly because I just wanted to be done. That being said, I'm pretty friggin proud of getting 30 reps! I'm sure I'll regret it tomorrow.

     It was a weird vibe in the dungeon tonight. Not a bad vibe, but weird. We wanted to do a good job and to give good effort, but our energy was kind of low-key. That's how I picked the song tonight. 

Lower Body - Who I Am

There was nothing I wanted to do less than tonight's training. But I did it anyway. Here's what got done:

BODY WEIGHT SQUATS:

(15) 4x

BARBELL FRONT SQUATS:

(Bar x12) 3x

65lb x10

75lb x8

SPLIT SQUATS:

(weight listed is per hand)

(10lb x15 ea leg) 3x

BARBELL RDL:

95lb x10

115lb x10

125lb x10

135lb x10

115lb x10

CALF RAISES:

(straight / out / in)

(95lb x15) 6x

BODY WEIGHT GLUTE BRIDGE:

Both legs x10

Left leg x10

Right leg x10

••••••••••

     I will readily admit that I kind of wimped out on those glute bridges. The template has hip thrusts listed, but I cannot stand those friggin things lately. I don't know what is going on, but it seems exceedingly awkward trying to get into position with the weighted bar and then trying to get the bar off of me and stand up again. That's with Frank helping me too. I have no idea how I managed to do these by myself, with nothing more than an old kitchen chair! I was going to totally skip them, but I felt guilty doing so, so I threw the glute bridges in at the end. At least I did something. Other than that, as usual, I'm glad that I forced myself to do it. 

     I wasn't sure which song I should pair with tonight's blog. There were a couple that came up tonight that were fitting. I ultimately chose this one though. I pretty much am what I am. I make no bones about my failings or my shortcomings, but I also don't try to hide the pride that I sometimes have. 

     I had originally started this blog to maybe be an inspiration to people who were in the same boat as me. I still would like to be that, but this blog is also sort of an inspiration to myself at times. It also helps to keep me accountable. I'm not trying to portray myself as anything other than a woman attempting to better herself. To quote the song "Take me as I am or don't. 'Cause I don't give a damn, no."

Upper Body - Fire

     I had to go to the 7th grade open house last night, so our training session got bumped to tonight. There was no way I was going to allow myself to just say "screw it" and wait till leg day. I'm glad I held myself accountable. Here's what got done:

INCLINED BENCH:

55lb x10, x4, x1

55lb x10, x3

60lb x3, x2  55lb x4, x1

55lb x8

60lb x6

GORILLA ROWS:

(all counts are PER SIDE)

15lb x15

15lb x12

20lb x10

20lb x8

30lb x6

STANDING DB PRESS:

(15lb x10) 5x

DB CURLS:

15lb Zottman x15

20lb Zottman x12

25lb Hammer x10

15lb Gladiator x8

15lb Standard x15

PLATE SKULL CRUSHERS

(I do these with an extension past my head. Similar to pullovers)

25lb x15

35lb x12

35lb x10

35lb x8

45lb x6

•••••••••••

Tonight's training was brought to you by the struggle bus....and stupidity. I can't forget stupidity. I knew from the get-go that my energy was at zero and I was 100% pissed that I couldn't get the weights that I got the last time I did incline. I know exactly why, though. I ate like shit today. No fruits, no veggies, very little protein. I paid the price for that indulgence in junk.

     I was so disgusted after those inclines that I very nearly gave up. It's a fault of mine that I let my anger get in the way of progress. I get disappointed, angry, disgusted and then I walk. I usually come back to it at some point and finish, but by that time. all my momentum is gone. Not tonight. I sat for a minute on the bench with my anger and then I pushed it aside and moved on. I finished up fairly well, I think.

     Sometimes fires burn bright and rage with wild flames. Sometimes fire smolder and burn slow. Both fires will get the job done. 

Barbell Lower Body - Younger

     I thought that I would format my posts a little differently going forward. Music plays a huge role in my training. There have been times when I had no desire to train but a certain song pushed me to try. Other times, the music matched my mood and increased my intensity and drive. Sometimes it's a particular song, sometimes an album. With that in mind, I'm putting a meaningful song in the title of each post. Maybe it will help to give a little insight into my world. I'll also link to the video in the blog. OK, moving on.

     I used the same basic template as the other lower body day that I found on Mean Muscles. You can find that workout here. I switched it up by changing the type of squats and also by changing up the accessory squats. Here's what got done:

BODYWEIGHT SQUATS:

(x15) 4x

BOX SQUATS:

(65lb x12) 3x

75lb x10

95lb x8

BARBELL RDL:

(95lb x10) 2x

(105lb x10) 2x

125lb x10

SKATER SQUATS:

(x5 ea leg) 5x

CALF RAISES:

*I was supposed to do them raised, but I had nothing I could safely do them on. I was going to use plates, however, I train barefoot, and the plates hurt lol. I simply didn't feel like going upstairs to get my shoes. So, to switch it up, I changed my foot position on each set. 

95lb Straight Toes x10

95lb Toes in x10

95lb Toes out x10

95lb Toes in x10

95lb Toes out x10

Here's some info on changing toe position for calf raises. Improve your calf raises.

••••••••••

     So that was it. I think we did pretty good tonight. The skater squats weren't picture perfect, but I'm surprised I was even able to do them! The next time we do them, I'll increase the quantity. 

     I'm getting older, my body has more aches and pains and some days I just don't have the oomph that I used to. Even with all of that, I think I'm still doing well, and I know that I'm still actually healthier now than I was when I was 20. Here's to being younger, but I'm also raising a horn to being aged like wine. 

Barbell Upper Body - Can't Kill Us

Still sore from the last upper body day but I wasn't missing today. We used the same basic workout from Mean Muscles as our template, just switched up the actual movements. Here's what got done:

BENCH PRESS:

55lb x15

60lb x12

65lb x10

85lb x8

95lb x6

SEAL ROWS:

15lb x15

15lb x12

25lb x10

30lb x8 (10 second hold after the last)

50lb x6 (10 second hold after the last)

*The last set was not as high as they should have been, but I was happy I was at least able to move the 50's lol

SEATED DB OVERHEAD PRESS:

(15lb x10) 4x

DB CURLS:

15lb Reverse x10

15lb Hammer x10

15lb Reverse x10

15lb Standard x10

LYING DB TRI EXTENSION:

(15lb x10) 2x

My right arm kept giving out on me. I don't think it was the triceps, I think it was actually my elbow. So I switched to DB kickbacks.

DB KICKBACKS:

(15lb x10) 2x

••••••••••

It was really weird that my arm was giving out on me because that's my dominant arm. I would have expected that from the left, but not the right. I tried doing the seated presses with the 25lb db's, but there was no way I was getting those safely over my head. So, while I'm disappointed that I had to stick with the 15lb's, I'm happy that I still got it done. I also noticed that last upper body day we did too many reps, which explains why I'm still sore!

I'm glad we hit it tonight and I hope that we can carry this momentum through the upcoming week. 

Barbell Lower Body

Well, we stayed on track and did lower body tonight. I have to say that I don't think I've worked this hard in months. I feel like I'm stressing my body in ways that I haven't been and that feels good to me. There was a minor "injury" tonight to my left knee, but nothing that stopped me totally. I just ended up doing 4 sets of hip thrusters instead of 5. Then continued to finish the entire session. You can find the workout with instructions here. Here's what got done:

BODY WEIGHT SQUATS:

4 sets of 15

BACK SQUATS:

(65lb x12) 3x

75lb x10

85lb x8

ALTERNATING FORWARD LUNGE:

(The workout on the website called for walking lunges, but I don't have room for that.)

3 sets of 15

BARBELL RDL:

(85lb x10) 5x

BARBELL HIP THRUST:

(Bar x12) 4x*

The plan was to do 5 sets, however, on the 4th set I twisted my knee. I went to sit down on the bench and somehow managed to turn without moving my foot and tweaked my knee. It hurt for a few minutes and felt extremely weird, as though something "slid" around the side of my knee cap. I opted to not do any more and I moved on to the last exercise. (The pain is gone and there's no swelling or anything, thankfully).

BARBELL STANDING CALF RAISES:

I know I was supposed to do these raised, however, I did not. I did them on the floor, but without touching my heels to the ground. Next time I'll try elevated.

Bar x15

65lb x15

75lb x15

(85lb x15) 3x

••••••••••

I'm very proud of our efforts tonight. It was sucky, to say the least. If you've read any of my blogs up to this point, you know that squat day has always made me nervous. No matter how in shape I've been, how strong or how capable, squats always scare the hell out of me. Maybe it's because I know that you absolutely cannot cheat a squat day. You're either going to give it your all, or you're just not. I gave it my all tonight and I feel great about that. I know I'm going to be hurting but It's good to feel this way. So if you see me walking funny, mind ya business.