Blargh

I swear, I'm terrible at updating these. However, rest assured that my inability to update these on a regular basis reflects any upon my habits with my workout plan. Here's how it all went down for this week so far.

We're on week 5 for running. 9/21 split. Its harder than i thought it would be, but the good news is i've not felt any knee pain. I'm jogging around my apartment complex now instead of the treadmill, as it allows me the flexibility to run with my IPoD more with podcasts to enjoy.

As for strength, here's how Monday went.

• Bench: 145 -- 8 reps
• Shoulders: 95 -- 10 reps (level up! FINALLY!!!!)
• Biceps: 60 -- 5 reps (new high)
• Triceps: 40 -- 8 reps (new high)
• Rows: 105 -- 10 reps (level up!)
• Pullups: 105resist -- 10 reps (level up!)

Doing another strength workout tonight after work.

Today
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• Bench, 145lbs, 8 reps
• Shoudlers 95lbs, 7 reps
• Biceps, 55, 10 reps
• Triceps, 35, 10 reps
• Standing rows, 105, 6 reps
• Pullups, 120r, 10 reps

Finally decided to remove the leg press. I wasn't getting anything out of it without risking knee problems. I get enough work out lower body through biking, anyway!

Hmm, where was I a month ago?

• Bench, 115lbs
• Shoulder Press, 95lbs
• Bicep Curls, 40lbs
• tricep extension, 30lbs
• Standing Rows, 50lbs
• Pullups: 3

I have really improved in bench! 30 lbs in a month. Shoulder press has stagnated, i don't know how to improve it. Maybe the curve is a little higher. Moderate improvements elsewhere. :)

Some Gains, Some Strains

Running: 3/3, did all three days at 6 minutes of 30 minutes running just fine.

Strength: Lifted today.

• Bench: 145 -- 8 reps (new high)
• Leg: 405 -- (see note below)
• Shoulders: 95 -- 7 reps (same...again)
• Biceps: 55 -- 7 reps (+2)
• Triceps: 35 -- 7 reps (same)
• Rows: 90 -- 10 reps (level up!)
• Pullups: 120resist -- 7 reps

For legs? We're getting to a point where the weight is getting high enough that it could create an unnecessary level of pressure on my knees. I did not remove the safety levels, but merely lifted and held the weight, slowly lowering it from that position. I also biked today, so I think I didn't gip myself too much on the lower body, regardless.

Week 4 starts today! Its a conservative week. Tuesday(3/27), then back up to Thursday(6/24) and Sunday(6/24).

Cut Short!

GRAGh! I wanted to do the whole thing but no time. :( No Back Rows or Pullups today.

• Bench: 135--10reps (level up!)
• LegPress: 315--10reps (level up!)
• Shoulders: 95--7reps(same)
• Biceps: 55--5reps(4 lower)
• Tricpes: 35--7reps(1 lower)

I started out REALLY well. I didn't expect to fly through bench so quickly, all of a sudden. I was stuck 4 workouts in a row at 115. Then BOOM 115 BOOM 125 BOOM 135. Leg press is following the same pattern, but that is to be expected from an ex-track runner. Shoulders...gagh. I'm wondering if I need more time to recover between bench and shoulders. Three minutes is about the time in between. Since I'm doing leg press, would a six minute difference make a...*sigh* difference?

I contribute my weaker performance in biceps and triceps to my sense of urgency with time this morning. I was trying to get to work on time and was cutting it pretty close ( i got to work RIGHT on time actually). I've GOT to allot more time to strength training.

Yikes, I Keep Forgetting to Update

Last time I lifted was Friday. Lets check the results:

• Bench: 135 @ 9 reps (new high)
• Legs: 225 @ 10 reps (level up!)
• Shoulders: 95 @ 7 reps (+1, new high)
• Biceps: 55 @ 9 reps (new high)
• Triceps: 35 @ 8 reps (+4, new high)
• Rows: 90 @ 6 reps (new high)
• Pullups: 6

So how did i go down on my pullup reps? Well, I found out (finally) how the pullup machine worked. It was rather simple, really. The weights don't make it harder for you; on the contrary, you're requesting that much support. So when I set it to the lowest weight possible, it became that much harder to perform this exercise. However, this means I can finally gauge this inversely compared to my other workouts and start from a level of assistance that I can slowly build from, shooting back towards the lowest level of assistance.

Running week 2 went good. Today we started week 3. 5 minutes warm up walk, 6 minutes light run (and i mean light), and the rest of the 30 minutes was walk. No knee pain. Good times!

Progress so far

Hello again. :)

Walked Sunday for 30 minutes and concluded my first week of training. It was good to get that started. So lets see what we got in store for us this week:

Monday: Strength
Tuesday: Run 3 / Walk 27
Wednesday: Strength
Thursday: Run 3 / Walk 27
Friday: Strength
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Run 3 / Walk 27

So how did we do on Monday?
1) Bench: 125lbs 10 reps (level up!)
Wow! I was only on this level for a week!

2) Leg Press: 135lbs 10 reps (level up!)
I decided this was more suiting for me, since squat didn't seem to treat my joints too well.

3) Shoulder press: 95lbs 6 reps
I seem to be stuck here. Perhaps I'm not waiting long enough after leg press (and consequently after bench, of course) to recover. A spotter would definitely help me cap my potential, because the problem with the shoulder press is that its not exactly the safest thing. Luckily, I finally FOUND one! My old friend Carl from last year. What a coincidence, as he comes here every day at the same time I do! Hopefully I'll see him tomorrow and we can make some progress on 95.

4) Biceps 50lbs 10 reps (level up!)
Wow, another surprise.

5) Triceps 35 lbs 5 reps
The difficulty curve for triceps seems to be pretty steep.

6) Rows 75 lbs 10 reps (level up!)
I think I'm finally reaching the level of resistance. I've been flying through these levels like nothing.

7) Pull ups 9 reps (+1!)
:)

And for TODAY...I stretched lightly before my 3/27. Decided to go 5 minutes walk as a warm up, 3 minutes run afterwords, with the rest of the time left for walking. I was actually kind of nervous when the 5 minute mark drew closer. I had not jogged on a treadmill in about 8 months or so, since the knee pain returned. So at 5 minutes, we went at a 10 minute mile pace. There was some very very light pain in my knees, but oddly enough, it went away after about 40 seconds. Finished the 3 minutes without a problem.

30 Minute Walk: the next step

Bumping up the walking time by 5 minutes didn't seem like a very big deal on paper. But dang, it feels like an eternity longer just to get off that treadmill.