Exercise update, Week 11

As targeted, I managed to make time for more gym sessions this week but unfortunately, I was too tired to push for some of the sessions and had 'filler' sessions, where I tried to avoid the muscle groups which were aching and to recover for the next session.

This is how this week looked.

• Monday: 30 minutes gym
• Tuesday: 35 minutes gym
• Wednesday: 25 minutes gym
• Thursday: 40 minutes gym
• Friday: 6.85km run
• Saturday: Rest day
• Sunday: 35 minutes gym

As last Sunday's workout was very heavy, I was aching badly during Monday's workout, especially my lower back from the deadlifts. I decided to target two muscle groups which were still relatively fresh - the biceps and chest. I did 3 sets of bench presses, another 3 sets of incline bench presses, and then walked the rack for the bicep curls before ending with drop sets to failure.

On Monday night, my wife complained about my calves so Tuesday was my first ever 'legs day'. It was not fun at all and I now know why people skip doing the legs. I did 3 sets each of front squats, quad extensions, hamstring curls (which I absolutely hated), before finishing with weighted calf raises. On hindsight, I maybe should have started with calves so that I could push hardest on the body part I wanted to primarily target but upon researching on it, I might incorporate some other exercises to work the calves like Insanity and/or skipping rope.

Wednesday was another 'filler' day as I tried to move past the trauma of legs day, and I targeted the trapeziuz, deltoids and triceps with lateral raises, tricep dumbbell curls, tricep push downs and shoulder presses. As the gym was rather crowded, I just rushed through 3 sets of each and left.

On Thursday, I was ready to push again and I went through the entire compound day routine again. I went heavy on the deadlifts again and I was glad that the gym was empty at that point because there was lots of unseemly grunting during those sets.

I managed to use my RunKeeper app again on Friday evening. It was very hot and I didn't push hard although at the back of my mind, I wanted to beat my first run, which was 6.68km in 37 minutes. This time I managed 6.85km in 36 minutes, and so was relatively pleased because I took a route with plenty of hills, and it the heat and humidity were energy sapping. I'm going to try to keep my future runs to 5km and start looking at hitting a third fitness goal of making it under 25 minutes.

Then on Sunday, I had another 'filler' day. I had been travelling for Saturday and Sunday to Malacca and back for a good friend's wedding, and I stayed up on Saturday night until very late, meaning I only had 3 hours sleep. I decided to go ahead with my workout because my 'trainer' friend was free to stop by and I really wanted to work on my form for squats, deadlifts and pull ups, which I knew were lacking.

He noticed my grip issues and switched me a mixed grip for the deadlift - one hand in an overhand grip and the other in an underhand grip. This helps me to maintain my grip throughout the set, and he also noticed I didn't stick my chest out enough. He then guided me on how to do back squats so I could start adding more weight to the bar. And finally, we finished with 3 sets of pull ups to the max reps I could handle which was only 5. Although, I'm writing this post only a few hours after the workout, I can already feel very, very sore in the trapezius area from the deadlifts using proper form - previously, I had only felt the ache in my lower back.

The next week, I'm just going to target getting the minimum 3 workouts in because of my schedule which is going to be packed. I've also just realised that I wanted to start some specific training from April 1 onwards but now I need to be able to train for the half marathon at the end of June, and for the Viper Challenge in August. I'm probably going to have to maintain a hybrid approach to my training, with endurance, plyometrics and strength training built in.

Categories: Health