DIY Strength Training Workout :)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Today I went to the gym to do an hour of strength training, since I had done cardio Friday (then Saturday was my day off) and I planned to do cardio tomorrow, I have been trying to get better at doing half and half. However, I often feel like it's very hard to fill up an hour of strength training when I am on my own. So, I try to always have a "to-do" list. I list out each body part & what workouts I will do for it, and bring it with me to check off as I go. Here was mine for today:

Biceps:
Bicep curls - 12.5 lb weights (generally, the right weight for you is probably the one where the first couple are not bad, but then by the 9th or 10th rep, you really start to feel it) - 3 sets of 10 reps

Lateral pull downs - 30 lbs - 2 sets of 10 reps - this is a machine at the gym where you basically sit down and pull a bar down to your chest, and can obviously be set at various weights

Push-ups - 2 sets of 10 - now, push ups are definitely something you have to work up to, I started being able to do maybe 1, lol. So you can always do modified push ups with your knees on the ground if you can't do real ones yet. I also always use the bosu to help me (if you don't know what a bosu is, the pic above should make it pretty clear), I put it underneath my chest, and make sure my chest hits it on the way down each time, and that my chest hits before my hips.

Triceps:
Tricep kick-backs - 2 sets of 10 reps (per arm - do a set of 10 on the right arm, then 10 on the left, then repeat)

Chest:
Chest fly - 40 lbs - 2 sets of 10 reps
Reverse chest fly - 30 lbs - 2 sets of 10 reps

Legs:
Squats on the squat machine (obviously, you can also just do them w/o the machine) - 3 sets of 10

Side lunges
10 reps on each leg
10 reps on each leg while holding 10 lb weight
10 reps alternating legs while holding 10 lb weight

Abs:
For abs, I did the exact ab workout I had blogged about before- see this link -

Now, I don't do things in the order of the list, and sometimes I don't even do all the reps of, say, the bicep curls at once - I may do 10 bicep curls, then 10 squats, then 10 sit-ups, you can really do it however is easiest for you - just make sure you don't leave before finishing all of them :)