Friday, May 15, 2009

PR Friday

This was a strength day. As I think I mentioned in a previous post, the strength workouts in Phase 2 of the Infamous TRX Workout are the same as in Phase 1. That's okay, though because I'm still making progress.

Here's what I did after my bodyweight warm-up:

Deadlifts, straight sets, two light sets just to get things going (I think I used 95 lbs, did 8 or so reps each set) then:

1x6x135
2x6x155
1x3x165 (can I have a WOOT! here?)
1x12x125

No straps, no hooks, no belts, no gloves even. Just me and my muscles, getting it done!

The last two sets, BTW, were just because I felt like it. They're not part of the program as written by Alwyn. But I really felt as though I had it in me after my third set to go a little heavier, and I wanted to give it a shot. Then after that I wanted to do a back-off set because again it just seemed appropriate. I was really excited about my grip not failing during the final set, because it took me a good 45 seconds to do the 12 reps and that's a long time to be holding a barbell that weighs 10 lbs more than you do!

Okay, I'll stop blowing my own horn now. No, I won't.

Next up were barbell lunges:

2x8x85
1x6x95

Then, dumbell incline presses supersetted with dumbbell rows. Again, personal records were set. I used 40's for all sets of the presses and 45's for all sets of the rows. I had no one to hand me the weights, but even so they got in place just fine. I even got 8 reps my first set. Only 7 on sets 2 and 3, though.

I finished with dragon flags done on an incline, and incline dumbbell curls, 3 sets of 10. I used 20's for 1 1/2 sets of the curls, then went down to 15's

Then I ran a few intervals on the treadmill.

After that I had a nice chat with one of my coworkers who is a natural healer. I don't really understand what it is that she does--it's not exactly massage, although touch is involved, and it's the sort of thing that if I didn't know her and know some of the people she has helped, I would probably think was utter New Age quackery. Anyway, we were talking about overcoming our reticence to market ourselves and actually charge money for these skills we've got. I was telling her she really needed to get a website, start networking, and all that good stuff, because if she doesn't start charging enough money at least enough to get her bills paid she won't be able to provide her service to anyone because she'll be too busy working at some job she hates just so she can put food on the table.

I probably need to take my own advice, at least somewhat. I've got enough saved from my 18 years practicing law that I'm not too worried about making mortgage payments and so forth. On the other hand, there are some special skills I want to acquire so I can share them with people--a kettlebell certification is high on the list--and that means working with a good trainer, and that'll cost $$$. I've also thought about a yoga certification although money is less of an issue there because a YogaFit certification isn't that pricey and it'd be adequate for 85% of my needs.