This week wasn't my best week and so far the month hasn't gotten off to a good start! Nothing crazy, but some unexpected turns in my personal and work life have squeezed me harder than normal and I uncharacteristically gave in to the pressure. And as I sit here writing this on the 13th, I'm battling a stomach bug and a sore back so I'm not the best company right now. I'm not getting my cortisol levels up about it though-shit, indeed, happens. Having a killer mentality is great, but sometimes you are human, and sometimes the accumulation of a lifetime's worth of nagging injuries and nonsense overpower you. Like a cheat meal on the weekend, just give in and make the best of it!
This week, from the 3rd to the 9th for accounting purposes, I made two trips to the gym and a handful of DDPY workouts. I'm committed to a push/pull system in the gym and that's been working well for me. One thing I've had to come to terms with is that as I'm not training for a contest or competition, I don't "have to" stick to any particular routine. My only rule is that I want to train everything at least once a week, except for legs which I'm happy with doing twice a month.
On my Push day I worked triceps, shoulders and chest and this week put an emphasis on higher reps and lower weight. I've been going kind of heavy the last couple weeks and I have NOT been recovering well. I don't know if it's aging or what, but I'm not able to recover that well so the heavier workouts are not worth the stress. Again, no competition looming in the distance, no need to overtax myself.
On the Pull day I also worked some high reps and I'm finding that lower weights have helped me really work my back and rear delts better as I can actually "feel" them a lot more. I've also further suppressed my ego and started doing shrugs on a cable contraption and not loading up a bar. In an effort to save my lower back and fend off the growing carpal tunnel problems in my left hand, I started doing less work on a bar and more on cables which are easier to grip and force me to go lower in weight. On this particular machine, the seated cable curl, I stand facing the seat, grip both handles and rep out on each arm and then on both arms. My traps are pretty big anyway and doing this the last few weeks hasn't impacted them negatively, so I'll keep it up and see how it develops.
Doing between 20-30 minutes each day on the elliptical, no Stairmaster this week as my left achilles is killing me more than normal. Some days are a crap shoot as to whether I'll be fully functional or not. What can I say, I'm an old war horse at 35.
I had a slack week on DDPY also, only logging 2 full workouts. Sometimes I feel disingenuous with it because I stretch and do calisthenics daily anyway and using the app is often an inconvenience for me. But I know it's not necessarily for people who are already active and I'm not worried about points.
I can't say that week 2 will be any better but I remain hopeful!
This week, from the 3rd to the 9th for accounting purposes, I made two trips to the gym and a handful of DDPY workouts. I'm committed to a push/pull system in the gym and that's been working well for me. One thing I've had to come to terms with is that as I'm not training for a contest or competition, I don't "have to" stick to any particular routine. My only rule is that I want to train everything at least once a week, except for legs which I'm happy with doing twice a month.
On my Push day I worked triceps, shoulders and chest and this week put an emphasis on higher reps and lower weight. I've been going kind of heavy the last couple weeks and I have NOT been recovering well. I don't know if it's aging or what, but I'm not able to recover that well so the heavier workouts are not worth the stress. Again, no competition looming in the distance, no need to overtax myself.
On the Pull day I also worked some high reps and I'm finding that lower weights have helped me really work my back and rear delts better as I can actually "feel" them a lot more. I've also further suppressed my ego and started doing shrugs on a cable contraption and not loading up a bar. In an effort to save my lower back and fend off the growing carpal tunnel problems in my left hand, I started doing less work on a bar and more on cables which are easier to grip and force me to go lower in weight. On this particular machine, the seated cable curl, I stand facing the seat, grip both handles and rep out on each arm and then on both arms. My traps are pretty big anyway and doing this the last few weeks hasn't impacted them negatively, so I'll keep it up and see how it develops.
Doing between 20-30 minutes each day on the elliptical, no Stairmaster this week as my left achilles is killing me more than normal. Some days are a crap shoot as to whether I'll be fully functional or not. What can I say, I'm an old war horse at 35.
I had a slack week on DDPY also, only logging 2 full workouts. Sometimes I feel disingenuous with it because I stretch and do calisthenics daily anyway and using the app is often an inconvenience for me. But I know it's not necessarily for people who are already active and I'm not worried about points.
I can't say that week 2 will be any better but I remain hopeful!
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