workin' it in

Things are busy, busy, busy around these parts. Work is busy, tonight I'm attending a work event and tomorrow is a BIG college football game in these parts. Not only is it Civil War (Oregon Ducks vs. Oregon State Beavers), but it is also the deciding factor in who goes to the Rose Bowl to play against Ohio State on Jan. 1. And being that my birthday is Jan. 2, I'm really hoping for a nice little early birthday present of a win tomorrow night.

In the mean time, I've been staying fierce with these workouts. No slackin' here! Even if that does mean I had to get out of my snuggly bed earlier than desired this morning.

Monday I did a nice hard five miler with the group. Then yesterday, with plans to head to Costco after work with the man, I fit in a nice four mile treadmill run and 10 min on the elliptical during lunch.

A side note on Costco: some things there are a darn good bargain. However, I'd need a huge pantry or an army of children to feed in order to justify purchases of an eight pack of beans, two large jars of pb, 10 lb bags of sugar, etc. Regardless, it was fun wandering through the aisles. We did find: tillapia for fish tacos, some jumbo boxes of cereal, contact solution, a large salad mix, and a few other goodies.

This morning I hopped out of bed, had a quick bowl of cereal (I don't know about you, but I cannot workout in the am w/out a little food in the tummy), packed my lunch and headed to the gym. With just an hour to fit in a good workout, I jumped on the bike for a warm up, then hopped on the PreCor EFX trainer for 25 min of serious interval work. My legs were definitely feeling yesterday's workout. After another five minute bike session, I hit the weight room.

For a quick weight lifting routine that packed a punch, I did:
-5 sets of bench press (45lbs, 65lbs(3), 45lbs)
-3 sets of oblique twists w/ a 10lb weight
-3 sets of single leg squats on each leg (90lbs/leg)
-3 sets of double leg squats (140 lbs)
-1 set of incline back raises

I was impressed with my use of time. I had just 20 min to spare and this was a great routine because it targeted some major muscle groups and left me fatigued. What weight/cardio workouts do you stick to when you're looking to really challenge your body?

Comments

Amber said…
This morning rather than do high reps with lower weights I did high weight with low reps. I was bicep curling 15 pounds (where I usually do 10) and doing chest press with two 25 pound dumbells (usually use 15s) I did four sets of 8 reps of all my moves this morning and by the 7th or 8th rep of the fourth set I was FATIGUED! It was great. I'm looking forward to feeling the burn tomorrow! Also, it took me less time because of doing less reps I think! Only about 20-25 minutes all together!
Nice work, Amber! I like switching it up once in a while. And my bootcamp instructor often has us do one long rep of harder weights so I figure it's got to be a good idea once in a while. Nice to know you don't HAVe to follow the 3 sets of 10-12 reps each model at all times.
I must say I am in a bit of a work out rut right now... All I do is run and I know I need to mix it up if I want to see results. My problem is that by the time I get to the gym, it's after working 10-11 hours and I am just mentally exhausted so don't even want to THINK about what to do. I guess there is a comfort factor is stepping on the treadmill and pounding out 4-5 miles...

So I think my resolution for December will be to switch things up and start finding routines that I can do a couple times a week so I am not JUST running.

Sounds like you got a great work out in!!!
Anonymous said…
Recently? Bikram! Whew, LOVE IT and that is some tough stuff - mostly just keeping your head in a zone and trying to ignore the sweat POURING off of you... ;) sounds enticing, no?

nice workouts, chick! you always make good use of your time and seem to be crazy-efficient in the gym!

Have fun at the Football game!!! I'll be cheering for ya - the Rose bowl is so much fun! (we went last year to watch PSU)

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