Monday, May 16, 2011

Triceps to Failure Baby! AKA The Stuff That Makes Me Tick =)





Today was a good day. I decided last night that it was time to start writing down what I eat again. Until you are keeping a log you can make yourself believe that you’re behaving when you really aren’t. After about three days I should be back in the groove of it. I went Tupperware crazy tonight too and I have a bunch of mini meals made up for the next few days.

Oddly, what managed to cause my great day today was my kinda misguided attempt to wean myself off of coffee (to less not none) this morning. I’ve become a 3-cupper (12 oz. mugs) and I’d like to get back to only 1. So I did that, left the house with none on the go and only 1 cup ingested. My friends Karen and Hannah noted my glazey hazey look when I came to class and apparently my friend Erica saw me in the hall and tried to get my attention and I never had a clue she’d been near. Umm yeah, I apparently “run” on coffee more than I realized. I’d gone to class in workout clothes with the intention of hitting The Rec immediately after class. I headed over, but wondering how I was going to get going and get in a meaningful workout I decided to buy this random zero cal energy drink called Redline that was in the vending machine. It did not taste good at all, ewww! Coffee is where the yum is at ;) The Redline did, however, pack 316 mg of caffeine amongst other things.

So the jitters from the first half of my workout were caffeine derived, but the latter half? Muscle quivers! Pure depletion, lactic acid baby, love it! =)

I went in intending to hit shoulders / biceps / triceps. I hit shoulders and biceps with a dumbbell barbell combo circuit and then moved onto triceps. Triceps are my favorite muscle and it has been REALLY bugging me that I have not been maintaining them well since Emerald. I wound up doing 4 separate circuits, that’s triple my usual triceps training. The first of the circuits was the most intense. It was:

DB Single Arm OH Triceps Extensions x 10 lbs x 8-10 reps ea arm
DB Triceps Kickbacks x 15 lbs x 10-12 reps ea arm
DB Standing Triceps Extensions x 20 lbs TO FAILURE
Body Weight Bench Dips TO FAILURE

All of the above repeated for 5 total sets.



And then moving on to 3 more triceps circuits of 3-6 sets each (click pic to enlarge for full details if that kind of thing interests you :)
I literally had to drag myself out of the weight room

Once I get in the zone I just want to keep going and going and have to make myself stop. I did and headed up for 30 min on the Stepmill followed up by 3 sets of 4 abs exercises and some brief stretching for a total of 2.5 hours at The Rec. Yay!
I then went and sat in the lounge area to clear 2 chapters of reading in my cost acct book. All in all staying in The Rec makes me far more productive both at clearing studying and working out. That’s going to be my new rule, avoid going home and avoid computer labs. Put me in front of a computer and I will just dink around convince myself distraction is justified and not accomplish much. The Rec is the land for me :)

So what’s up with all the circuits? I’ve long been into supersets and drop sets, but never really did much circuit stuff. Since my last post I’ve gained 210 lbs and it’s been really wonderful. That would be my sweet funny amazing boyfriend Rich who I dare say may actually be a bigger gym rat than me. He has the arms, chest, and lats to prove it too :) One of the days we worked out together I managed to out one rep max him! Hip adductors: I could do 180 lbs and he only made 170 lbs, but anything upper body he outlifts me by like 5x! His big thing is taking over as many weight benches as he can muster and setting up a bunch of free weight stations that he then runs through expediently as a circuit. Smart, huh? :) So I’m copycatting to a degree. He includes machines too and tends to hit multiple muscle groups in a single circuit. I prefer straight free weights and maybe some cable station stuff and hitting a single muscle group on my circuits, like today’s triceps. I do have to say the gym is an awesome date venue. Think I’m strange? Probably :) but doing something you totally love with your sweetheart who loves it as much as you do along with sweaty endorphin rushes for all involved is beyond fun in my book :)

Today’s counts:

1,783 cals Ingested (33% Protein 45% Carbs 22% Fat)
(1,448) BMR
(1,072) Training Burn
(737) Net Loss =)