23 to failure baby!

Weigh-in day:

I ate a BIG breakfast and headed off to Gold's to get weighed, measured and photographed, planning to start my diet on Sunday.

Day 1
Saturday January 8, 2011
8:30-10:15 pm

Weights (45 min):

1) Dumbbell One Arm Shoulder Press 3 sets x 8 reps per arm x 14 lbs
2) Dumbbell Front Raise 3 sets x 8 reps per arm x 10 lbs
Superset with
3) Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3 sets x 8 reps per arm x 10 lbs
(lateral is tougher for me than front – wonder why)
4) Toe Pushups 3 sets x 10 reps
Superset with
5) Bicycles 3 sets x 20 reps

6) Bridges 3 sets x 20 reps
Superset with
7) Planks 3 x 60 seconds

8) Weighted Static Lunges 40 lbs (20s in each hand) 3 sets x 20 reps per leg
(last 2 sets were alternating leg WAY more enjoyable then 20 each leg on 1st set – I much prefer walking weighted lunges, but they’re not practical at home)
Superset with
9) Side Planks x 45 seconds x 2 per side
10) As shoulders were supposed to be the primary focus I wrapped up strength with toe pushups to failure - 23 - YEAH BABY!!! Honestly I've never taken pushups to failure before and I love it, your muscle just dies and won't function. It's awesome =) I've been enthused with the notion of push-ups to failure since reading an article in F&M Hers awhile back that followed Nicole Wilkins Lee (a top figure competitor) through a workout. She went to failure (after an elaborate weight routine heavy on supersets) at 7 push-ups. Someone suggested she drop to her knees to keep going, her response? "No way. Those are girl push-ups. I don't do girl push-ups." Right on Nicole, that's my kind of attitude, no girl push-ups for me anymore either. Of course, stepping back I know that taking 23 to get to failure when Nicole died out at 7 after her workout means that I need to work harder and longer on weights before my push-ups in the future. So while I'm proud of my 23 to failure the lower the number to get there at the close of weights means the better I've trained my muscles. Duly noted! =)

5 minute “fill a water bottle for cardio break”

Cardio (45 min):

45 minutes on elliptical (20 min “Hill Climb” and 25 min “Steady Climb” programmed workouts)

(I read Ch. 3 of my Econ book while doing cardio – got to multitask the hell out of my Charlie sleeping time to make this all work you know ;)

Afterthoughts:

10 minutes stretching
30 grams of protein otherwise known as Gaspari MyoFusion protein powder mixed with Silk vanilla soy milk. Yum! ;)

The true beauty of this workout is that I did it all AT HOME after C was in bed for the night. Which means, I CAN do this! =)

and I love it, but you already knew that!