Tip #6

Come to the Gym with a Plan in Hand

I am a huge advocate with coming to the gym with a “plan in hand”. Now for some of you, you already do this and for others of you, you don’t like having all the extra papers lying around or don’t like bringing your electronics to the gym with you BUT I am telling you, as tedious as it might seem, it is always better to come to the gym with exercises you already have planned out vs coming to the gym and having to pace around or stay on the treadmill until you decide what to do next. 

My course of action is written the night before or the morning of the workout as soon as I wake up, because typically I already have an idea of what muscle groups needs to be worked on or have a program I am following and so having it written down will allow me to stay accountable and also allow me to keep track of everything. I have two whole notebooks full of workouts and tons of random sheets of papers with all my workouts since day one of keeping track of my workouts – I am able to look back on everything I have done (but I also have another purpose intended for why I do this).

 

Sometimes in order to get results you have to do trial and error and keeping up with your workouts will be helpful to you in doing so. I even have to track my eating habits come Monday, so I have an app for that and I am debating on having a notebook for it but that might be a little redundant (but helpful if I lose my phone, etc) anyways, the point is, when you come to the gym prepared it lessens the time having to think about what to do and puts more emphasis on the actual workout time, it might help take away some anxiety, it allows you to remain accountable, it will increase your likelihood of sticking with a program, tracks your plateaus, allows you to make new goals for yourself, and in the long run might serve as an reward for all the hard work you put in! 

 

Do you track your workouts? how do you track them – paper or electronically?

 

Fitness WonderWoman

Shay-lon

Week Five|Day Two Dec. 5th Workout

Not going to lie, I was nervous about today’s workout being a leg day because after missing two days at the gym, I knew I had lost some upper body strength and I was really hoping I didn’t lose any lower body/core strength, thankful, everything went as planned! 

 

Workout:

Superset:

 
  • Barbell back squat: 3 x 8, 140 lb
  • Standing calf raise: 3 x 8, 120 lb

Superset:

  • Barbell romanian deadlift: 3 x 8, 190 lb (2 sets without the belt & 1 set with the belt)
  • DB lunge: 3  x 8, 50 lb

Superset:

  • Barbell curl: 3 x 8, 55 lb
  • Lying triceps extension: 3 x 8, 30 lb
 
  • Hanging leg raises: 3 x 20

Cardio: (3 times)

  • Body bar squat: 20 seconds/30 seconds/45 seconds, 3 lb
  • Kettlebell swings: 20 seconds/30 seconds/45 seconds, 10 kg

Overall the only hard part of the workout was the bicep curls at 55 this week. Last week it was easier. My deadlifts I did without a belt to see if I could pull this weight with no belt and actually did a good job but utilized the belt by the 3 set because of how fatigued I was and didn’t want to mess up the lower back. 

 

Fitness WonderWoman,

Shay-lon 

Today’s workout! Week 5 Arrived

The start of week five today and I will admit that I noticed a decrease in strength during some of my lifts – which would be expected when I miss two days worth of workouts and haven’t been eating the best foods for recovery either. Even my sprints were slow, but I did happen to lose 3 pounds. Hoping that tomorrow’s leg day isn’t as much of a struggle as today was. 

 

Workout:

 
  • Incline barbell bench press: 3 x 8, 75 lb
  • DB bench press: 3 x 8, 80 lb
  • Wide grip pull up: 3 x 8
  • Bentover barbell row: 3 x 8, 75 lb
  • Seated DB shoulder press: 3 x 8, 60 lb
  • DB side lateral raise: 3 x 8, 40 lb
  • sit ups: 3 x 20

Cardio:

  1. sprints: 30 seconds
  2. sprints 45 seconds
  3. sprints: 1 minute 

I did this 2 times for 100 m 

 
 

Week Four|Day Three Wednesday Nov 29th

Instead of my usual CrossFit workout, I had to change it up because I was PMSing (usually I don’t workout at all during this time) but wasn’t feeling too bad this time round and decided to find a workout to cater to it that I could do at low intensity. This workout I created was good, I had no extra pain during or afterwards and still put in a decent amount of effort. This probably won’t always work, but thankfully it did this time.

 

Workout:

Superset:

 
  • Lat pulldown (wide grip): 4 x 10-12, 60 lb
  • Lat pulldown (narrow/underhand grip): 4 x 10-12, 60 lb

Superset:

  • Goblet squat: 4 x 10-12, 25 lb
  • Plie squats: 4 x 10-12, 25 lb

Superset:

  • Push ups: 3 x 10-15
  • planks: 3 x 10 seconds

Superset:

  • Body bar overhead squats: 4 x 10-12, 18 lb
  • Curtsy lunges: 4 x 10-12

Week Four|Day Two

Workout:

Superset:

  • Barbell back squat: 3 x 8, 140 lb
  • DB lunge: 3 x 8, 50 lb

Superset:

  • Barbell romanian deadlift: 3 x 8, 190 lb
  • Standing calf raise: 3 x 8, 120 lb

Superset:

  • Barbell curl: 3 x 8, 55 lb
  • lyring triceps extension: 3 x 8, 30 lb
 
  • handing leg raises: 3 x 20

Cardio:

  1. Bodybar squats: 20 seconds
  2. kettlebell swings: 20 seconds
  3. bodybar squats: 30 seconds
  4. kettlebell swings: 30 seconds
  5. bodybar squats: 45 seconds
  6. kettlebell swings: 45 seconds

I used a 18 lb bodybar and used a 10 kg kettlebell. Did this whole cardio workout 3 times.