Shopping!

My partner and I went and bought this tonight - it has 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12.5 & 15kg dumbbells on. I am not lifting the heavier ones yet, they are for him! We also got a compact incline bench that can easily be put away, so I should at least be able to improvise some decent workouts at home now (we have a barbell and plates, plus adjustable dumbbells but the dumbbells are such a pain to adjust when you're trying to do various exercises that require different weights), for days when I can't get to the gym.

After five weeks I'm finally starting to get the hang of doing weights, of feeling like I belong in the gym and in the lean and strong program. Yay!

First weights workout at the gym

I did it!! I actually went into the weights section of the gym and did a full work-out. Legs, back & biceps today, according to the program the PT made up for me (and tried to talk me into PT sessions, but I'm too cheap to pay for them on top of gym membership, 12WBT and the running course I've signed up for). I'll do these programs - the other one is for other muscle groups so that I can alternate - until Round 3 officially starts and I get my Lean and Strong programs from Mish.

I did leg presses, squat jumps, lat pulldowns, seated row, bicep curls, rotating curls & finished off with some leg raises and crunches - plus warm-up and cool-down on the treadmill. Go me. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow, but I will go back in and do the other muscle groups, JFDI.

Lean and Strong

To be honest, I am sh*tting myself. Me and weights, just don't mix. Running, I can do. I hadn't done it for years, but my body and my mind did remember how to do it. I have never been strong; unless you're talking about my baby-carrying muscles, which are finely honed (I can still carry my 18kg three-year-old on my back all day in a good carrier).

Last round I said i was going to do it, but chickened out because I really wanted to do that half-marathon instead.

I need to break down my comfort zone. Running is great, but I need some muscles to underpin the cardio. On that note, today I visited the gym behind my work, and I am going to cancel my current membership and join up there. It is small, and hopefully I can become comfortable in the weights area. Also classes like Powerbar and Abs Butts and Thighs run at lunchtimes.

HOWEVER, because I'm a sucker, I've also signed up for this running course. Haha! It's aimed at a 10km run i'm doing in October, I would like to beat my personal best and get below 50 minutes, but also I haven't had any running coaching since I was in high school and it will be interesting to get professional advice.

If I update this blog regularly, is anyone actually going to read it? If a tree falls in the forest ...

Day 1

Goodbye 'girly' hand-held weights (2kg?! Pfft.), hello, stealing my other half's dumbbells and barbell, hehe. Though he did request I put the dumbbells back to the 15kg that was on there before instead of my pissy 5kg. He can't run 14km, though :P

Day 1, Lean and Strong program. I did 84 push-ups today, 48 of them on my toes (not all at once, as part of supersets). I did my fitness test as well: 3.27 for my 1km, it bloody well burned though!

I think I'll be sore in the morning.