Saturday, February 28, 2009

Yoda and the Squat Rack

Today I had planned to sleep in (all the way to 7:00 am!) but was woken up at about 6:00 by my cat jumping on me. Since I usually get up at 5:00, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just got up.

By 6:15 I was leaving for the gym to do a hodgepodge of workouts from a recent issue of Oxygen magazine. I've been trying to work on my shoulders a little more.

Superset #1
DB shoulder press (20lbs) 3x8
BB upright row (45lbs) 3x12

Superset #2
Lateral raise (10lbs) 3x10
Rear delt raise (10lbs) 3x10

Giant set #3 (Ab circuit)
Lifting side plank 3x15 ea side
V-sit 3x10
Single leg lift 3x15 ea leg
Toe touch (holding 10lb DB) 3x15

When I was done, I remembered that I had wanted to work on squats. I had planned to start at 75 lbs and do 3 sets, ending at 105 lbs. For whatever reason, I decided to start at 100lbs. I did 6 reps, and then decided to go for 110 lbs (6 reps), then 125 lbs (6 reps). After that, I normally would have stopped, but I suddenly had the urge to see if I could squat more than my bodyweight. I thought about it a minute, and that famous Yoda quote popped into to my head: Do or Do Not, There is No Try. So I went for it --- and had no trouble with 6 reps at 135 lbs. So I loaded up 140 lbs and squatted 6 reps there too. Definitely a Personal Best. Don't know why I didn't think I could squat that much - I've been holding out on myself!

After squats, I decided to walk on the treadmill for just a couple minutes. After 3 minutes, I got the crazy idea to practice my endurance and see how long I could run at 5 mph. The last time I tried this was on August 2, 2008, and on that day I made it to 19:30 before I had a really bad stitch in my side and had to stop. Today I went for 22:00! And the best part is, I could have gone longer, but I really had to pee! :)

Two personal bests today that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't decided to "Just do it". So get out there today and GO FOR IT!!

5 comments:

Jessica said...

Hey girl!
Just catching up on your blog (I know, I know I have been bad) and just wanted to say I love your week 8 update goals. The HARDEST part for me was he mental gain of allowing yourself to gain muscle and not be freaked out if you gain a little. Since you are in fat loss mode I know you don't really think about it the same way but MAN that brought back memories! :)

I am very impressed with your calorie cycling skills.

And awesome job on your squats and your treadmill endurance run! And for me right now, peeing always stops me from continuing! Hee hee.

Jess

Mark said...

Squatting the plates! You are ready to do Crossfit like those other crazies on youtube.

Nice!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great workout session, Abby! You must have been a bit sore the next day after squatting and then running for so long...

Nice work!!!

Abby said...

Thanks everyone! Fred, I am a little sore today, but surprisingly not near as bad as I thought I would be!

Anonymous said...

Forgot to mention that I love the title of this post!

When I saw it I immediately imagined poor old Yoda struggling to squat a fully loaded bar...made me smile!

Thanks!