Walking funny is a Good Thing

May is the busiest month of the year for me.  Work is absolutely crazy from the minute I arrive until the minute I leave.  The garden beakons, the laundry calls and the dust & doghair might begin to accumulate as I struggle to keep up with a growing list of things that need to be done.  Luckily it is almost June and the pace will slow very soon.  I endeavor to continue choreographing two new Zumba routines every week and now and then I even find the time to give myself the luxury of a pedicure.  However the blog has definitely suffered this past month.  When given the choice of writing/reading about fitness or DOING fitness obviously I have chosen the latter and hope you have as well!

So a customer commented as he noticed me struggling a tiny bit climbing up our little set of about 6 steps into the office today.  Monday I did a very short but intense leg workout & as is customary for me, two days later I am "enjoying" the affects.  (I'll be honest.  I really do enjoy a small amount of pain & frankly am disappointed if no muscle tension is felt after an honest attempt to challenge myself.)  So I thought I'd take a few minutes and share what you can accomplish in only 20 minutes.  Change the weights to your fitness level, but these basic moves will not disappoint!

I set my barbell with 62 lbs.  Without a rack or assistance, I do higher reps and lower weights as this is a challenging weight for me to press overhead safely.  Safety is key - Work your way up to a number that challenges you while still maintaining good form.

Barbell Front Squat - set of 25  (This position is harder for my arms to hold the weight, so I do it first before they might tire. Wonderful version for more focus on the quadriceps.)
Barbell Full Squat - set of 25 (awesome for shaping that booty!)
Barbell Wide Stance Squat - set of 25 (I use a plie stance and it really hits the inner thighs.)

Then I grabbed a set of dumbbells and did walking lunges around my basement.  A trip around the room is 25 lunges.
Set 1- carrying 15 lb. weights (I started light to focus on form.)
Set 2 - carrying 20 lb. weights  (Harder but still not overly difficult.)
Set 3 - carrying 25 lb. weights (Upped the weight again to try and find my true limit.)

I finished with Standing Calf Raises using the same 62 lb. barbell and did 50.

That is ALL I did & my booty has been screaming for the past two days!  Today I focused on chest, triceps and back.  Perhaps I'll share that workout routine in a couple days.  ....You know if any customers comment that I'm too sore to lift a 2 gallon plant....

Pushing your Limits

For quite some time our home gym has had two barbells.  One is Mike's & I don't touch it because it contains a large number of plates.  Yeah, I workout but I'm too lazy to remove a lot of excess plates.  (insert humor here) Instead I use a curl bar for everything that I do.  The other day it was set to 65 lbs. for some wide stanch squats I had been performing.  I was really proud that I'd worked my way up to this weight  after performing:
Set 1 - 30lb / 25 reps
Set 2 - 40 lb / 25 reps
Set 3 - 50 lb. / 25 reps
Set 4 - 60 lb. / 25 reps
Set 5 - 65 lbs. / 25 reps
This was kind of a test after reading several blogs I follow about doing higher intensity.  I was trying to findout what my real limit really was & I must say I did feel this work in my inner thighs the next day.  I'm cautious, as at home we don't have a squat rack & I have to safely press this weight overhead into proper position.  So anyways, I picked this same barbell up again the next day to do some deadlifts at the beginning of my workout.  It seemed heavier than usual & the second set I was unable to do my usual set of 25.  The third set was also limited to only 15.  Then Mike strolled downstairs & informed me that he'd added TWENTY POUNDS to the bar!  Apparently I have NOT really been challenging myself.  I just increased my deadlift by 20 lb. & my muscles felt almost no difference after three sets the next day.  There was a "twing" of fatigue but nothing serious.

So I made a little trip to Dick's Sporting Goods & purchased the 300 lb. Olympic set.

Now we have 3 barbells & unlimited weightplate potential.  Lookout, the Fishers are getting serious.