week 1 of 12 ~ reinventing me

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so i started the new year off with a bang. well, more of a sweat and a lot of huffing and puffing.

thanks to the help of one of the guys at work (my health, fitness, and diet guru when i haven’t pissed him off with a late call), i now have a new source to find workouts to do at the gym. there are countless websites out there and you just have to find what works best for you. he showed me a site geared for bodybuilders but the workouts are more what i am used to when i was a competitive rower in college. i found a workout that wont kill my already destroyed left shoulder, but is still pretty intense in the routine. i’m just keeping to a slightly lower weight/rep ratio. my goal is to tone up and strengthen up, not to bulk up.

my workout is split into an ‘a’ day (upper body) and a ‘b’ day (lower body). monday is an ‘a’ day, tuesday is cardio and abs only, wednesday is a ‘b’ day, thursday is cardio and abs only, and friday is an ‘a’ day. i chose to keep saturday and sunday as days of rest since the gym is more crowded on those days and i just don’t like being in there then. it tweaks my irrational anxiety a bit too much for my taste (the feeling like everyone is staring). my cardio days i do longer pieces on the elliptical or split the time with the bike, and do several different ab exercises instead of just few sets of crunches. before each lifting set i do about 20min w/moderate resistance on the elliptical and 4 sets of crunches (each week i add 10 more to each set). i learned the hard way this week that i do a very light cardio routine, like walking on the treadmill just enough to get the heart rate up, or i do my cardio workout on the elliptical or bike after my lifting when it’s a lower body workout day. i did my ‘b’ day last tuesday (i had to work a double on wednesday) with my cardio routine first, and i am still suffering from very stiff and achy quads, and today is friday. let’s just say i was struggling to finish the workout and i was still only ‘testing’ out how much weight i was using for each exercise.

i know what you’re thinking. doing this every week isn’t very balanced. well, the ‘a’ and ‘b’ days flop. if this week was an ‘a/b/a’ week, then next week is a ‘b/a/b’ week. monday i’ll do lower body, wednesday will be upper body, and friday will be lower body. then the next week it will switch again. are you following the pattern now?

march 21st is the 12 week mark where i will reevaluate my progress and probably switch up the routine with a new workout. i have a chart for every day i lift where i can keep track of the weights im using, the reps im doing, and anything else i happen to do that day at the gym. i even downloaded printouts for the exercises and several pages of ab exercises. i probably went a bit overboard with everything, but here’s to reinventing me!

this is all a part of the process of improving my non-existent self-esteem and just trying to be healthier and happier in general. not being happy with myself overflows into everything else i do and shows in my lack of confidence as well. i have to like myself before anyone else can. probably part of my problem with dating too. so this year i made a resolution that i actually plan to keep. im not overweight, im in decent shape, i’ve always had a very athletic build, but there is serious room for improvement in the toning up department. i can eat better and shed some of the love handles (my weight tends to sit in my thighs, butt, and hips/waist) i have gained from having a desk job. i want to be able to rock the bikini next summer and soak in some of the attention. not to mention it just feels good to feel like how your clothes fit and you like the skin you’re in. cause right now i don’t. even though i know what i see is not what everyone else sees of me.

1 week down. 11 to go.

for other diet and exercise ideas i also use women’s health. i read their website regularly and subscribe to their magazine.

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Filed under change, health & fitness, the gym