New Workout Plan

This week I’ve been at my rotation with another intern, and it’s been fun.

The best part? He is a personal trainer. And when we had some downtime the other day, he made me a workout plan.

I told him that I had been in a workout rut for a while, even though I’d recently found the motivation again with those morning workouts. We incorporated exercises that I like (running), but also made it something completely new to me: progressive.

Even though I’ve done progressive training with running (i.e. running 2 miles one week, 3 miles the next, and so on), I’ve honestly never done that with strength/weight training. I typically just stick to the weights or exercises I know until I get bored.

So here’s the plan:

Week one and two:

  • 3 days of aerobic cardio for 1 hour (70% capacity)
  • 2 days of strength circuit (full body) with only bodyweight or light 3-5 lb weights - key here is focusing on posture and form (hips forward, shoulders back, core engaged)

Week three and four:

  • 2 days cardio intervals for 45 minutes (80% capacity)
  • 3 days strength (push, pull, legs) with moderate weights - 4 sets of 8 reps

Week five (“power” week):

  • 2 days cardio intervals for 30 minutes (full/sprint capacity)
  • 3 days strength (full body) with peak weight - 4 sets of 4 reps

He made me a circuit for the first two weeks of bodyweight training, and gave me a list of workouts to include in the other weeks with strength training.

And for the cardio, if you hadn’t already guessed it, I’ll be running.

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What I’m hoping to accomplish with this is to 1) whip me into shape for summer and 2) give me something to focus on for the next month until my internship is over. Once I have the ability to breath and have a life again, I’ll be able to give exercise the attention it needs. But for now I needed a little guidance.

Does that make any sense to anyone? Eh?

 

Do you have a personal trainer?

Fit Friday: Elf4Health

Last month was a busy month for me, and my workouts were all over the place. Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s kind of the “calm before the storm” until Christmas, so hopefully I can focus a little more on my exercise.

In an effort to do that, this week I aimed for 5 workouts.

big fail

Sunday: OFF

Monday: 2 mile run and various strength exercises

Tuesday: P90X yoga.. my shoulders are still feelin’ it today!

Wednesday: OFF (so sore)

Thursday: 4.5 mile run with Andrew

Friday: Warm-up on bike, full body weight circuit

Saturday: I plan to do an easy 3 mile run with some ab exercises after

You know what I just realized? I haven’t done a fun cardio/strength circuit in a while now so I hope to get in a good one this coming week. Lunges and squats have been dearly missed.

In other news, this week I signed up for Elf For Health! Elle at NutritionElla and Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean put together this 6 week challenge with fun, healthy tasks to complete every day. You’re also assigned an Elf Buddy to support through the challenge. And best of all, there are prizes!!

Source

Unfortunately I signed up a little late so I missed the first round (which started this Monday, the 26th) so I have to wait until the 2nd round on December 9th to take part. It sounded like a fun and easy way to connect with other bloggers, I’m excited to start!

Are you an Elf4Health?

Fit Friday: When I dip you dip we dip

Wow-wow-wee-wa, my workout today kicked my boo-tay. But I felt energized and pumped up throughout the whole thing because I was rockin’ out to the infamous Jock Jams.

I actually posted something on Facebook about listening to Jock Jams while I worked out and someone was like “what’s that?”….wait, excuse me? You don’t know what Jock Jams is? Let me refresh your memory with a little compilation video…

Pretty much best-of 90′s music. My personal favorite is Tootsee Roll.

Anyway, before I talk about today’s workout I’ll recap what my week looked like.

Sunday: Weight circuit in the gym. 2 sets of 15 reps at normal weights and 1 set of 5 at a tough weight. I’m trying to build my strength up so I like doing these circuits at least once a week.

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 2.5 mile run on the treadmill

Wednesday: 4 mile run outside, super sweaty

Thursday: same 4 miles but this time with a boyfriend and a dog, on a walk

Friday: Completed this circuit, twice through

I used weights for the squats, lunges, and russian twists. That last set of wall sits and planks was so killer! All of my muscles were burning, but I loved this workout, it got me sweatin’.

For Saturday’s workout, I plan on hitting the pavement again for another run. I’m going to take FULL advantage of the fact that the humidity has dissipated a bit, although it’s suppose to get hot again next week.

What’s your favorite Jock Jams song??