Workout Wednesday 1

I'm going to try to do a "Workout Wednesday" post every week.  This week's will focus on yesterday's workout, since I haven't actually done today's yet.

I always work out in the morning when I'm not working.  If I am working, then I do something right after I get out of work.  I'm not big into getting up really early to work out, though I will when I have to... and I always feel great when I do (but reminding my mostly asleep self of that isn't usually enough to get me out of bed).

For the time being, I don't have a job.  My husband has recently starting his clinical rotations for medical school and we are moving every 6 weeks-3 months.   I am building my BeachBody coaching business online, but otherwise haven't figured out what to do for work yet.  Which means I get to spend my (not so early) mornings working out. :-)

SO, yesterday was chest and triceps day.  Followed by cardio.  I've been getting more and more into weight lifting recently.  In the past, I'd spend 10-20 minutes doing a few go-to exercises in a circuit,  such as bicep curls, upright rows, and overhead triceps extensions.  I didn't really like weight lifting and figured that was better than nothing.  Which it was.  Then I'd go through phases where I'd sort of try to "actually" lift, but I'd be inconsistent about it and do it after cardio when I was pretty tired.  Didn't work out for me.  Now I weight lift 4-5 times a week, rotating between chest/triceps, back/biceps, and shoulders.  I still haven't gotten behind the leg day thing, but maybe sometime.  For now, I work them with cardio intervals.  Since I started focusing more on weight lifting, I've definitely noticed more tone and have significantly been able to increase the amount of weight I'm lifting.  Love seeing improvement!


Breakdown of Yesterday's Chest and Triceps Workout:

Benchpress: 

1 warm-up set of just the bar (45 pounds): 12 reps

2 sets of 95 pounds: 8-10 reps each (I was going for twelve, but that didn't happen)

1 set of 85 pounds: 12 reps

Dumbbell Incline Press:

3 sets of 60 pounds (30 pound dumbbells)

Triceps Cable Extension (Standing, Both Arms):

3 sets of 35 pounds: 12 reps

Triceps Cable Extension (Standing, Single Arm, Half Diagonally Across Body, Half Straight Back):

2 set of 10 pounds: 10-12 reps

2 sets of 5 pounds: 16-20 reps

Seating Chest Fly Machine:

3 sets of 70 pounds: 12 reps


After that, I did my cardio.  I love using this elliptical:

It is my absolute favorite.  I do intervals on it for the first 25 minutes.  The rest of the hour is spent at a mostly consistent resistance, but I do monitor my heart rate to make sure it stays in the cardio range.