Thursday 19 February 2009

The Workout Analysed - Part One

So the workouts continue. Its been an awkward week on my march to the seventies. Working late yesterday meant I couldn't get to the gym until about 7pm, which left me with only about an hour to work out, once warmups were done. I chose to focus on cardio, reasoning that it had more of a chance of getting me fitter and losing weight.
Add to that some serious temptations during the week. A big feed today for lunch at an excellent Chinese restaurant was something I couldn't knock back, especially as Dad was paying. Cricket training was pretty much normal, but being a selection night we had a sausage sizzle. But possibly for the first time ever I didn't have any.
Even so, I had a quiet weekend booze-wise so I should've been ahead of the curve there.
In the end, it balanced out exactly. I'm stable this week at 94kg. Still 15kg to go!
I had planned to give a full analysis of my workout this week, but, like just about everything with this workout I ran out of time. So here's the first half of the workout:
Warm up

5 mins cardio

Generally rowing as it's a good all-round workout – upper and lower body, By the end of it I'm normally sweating pretty decently.

Stretches

Given I'm running on an incline it's surprising that I'm not asked to do a calf stretch. I do one anyway. In fact, the number and range of stretches I need to do are generally less than previously required. Very little is done to stretch my groin for example.

Main Programme

weights – dumbbell chest press 3 x 12, 10kg each

This is pretty tough actually, and a good start. Using dumbbells rather than barbells means both arms need to be strong. And using free weights is excellent at working my supporting muscles. One thing the workout otherwise misses is strengthening my forearms, which I find really important for cricket. But they do get a workout as balancing and supporting muscles.

weights - lying down dumbbell fly 3 x 12, 7.5kg each

Again, dumbbells used here. Not so difficult, but I need to be careful I don't relax my arms too much and have the weights fall below chest level, especially as I hold my arms out for this exercise. This means there's very little rest between reps; I'm working all the time. This exercise is one of the reasons the outside of my boobs are so sore at the end of a session

cardio - rowing - 2km @ 28-32 strokes/min (8-9 mins)

I actually tend to do the rowing a little later on than this, for a couple of reasons. First, I've just done rowing to warm up. Secondly, it's an exercise that, no matter how tired you are, you can push yourself to do. Unlike running, where you're not sitting down so don't have great control over the pace of your workout. With the rowing the key for me is to make sure the machine is working OK – one of them seems to do crazy things like claim I'm rowing at the rate of a 45 second 500m, which is ridiculous (more like 1:40). Also important to use the whole body and tighten your glutes a bit.

I like the rowing machine, although this workout is different to my previous, interval-based exercise. It's more constant. I did really like challenging myself with a hard workout on the rowing machine but these machines just don't have that option. Shame.

weights - leg press 3x12 @ 40kg

A real token leg workout. It will be good for my glutes and core strength, and I'll keep it as it keeps my legs toned, but adding strength to my legs isn't a priority as they're too bulky already.

weights - leg curls 3x12 @ L3

This is not quite as token. It gives the quads a good workout and I feel it in my hamstrings also, especially when releasing. I generally find this easy and compensate by doing more reps.

cardio - bike (10 mins - 30 sec hard [130rpm@L8], 30 sec rest [100bpm@L4])

This is a cracker. Ten minutes of going up and down in intensity. Bike work makes me sweat a heap anyway. By the end of it it's very difficult to get up to 130rpm, which is good. It should be hard. My only regret is that it's not an all-over workout. But otherwise it rivals my old rowing exercise as my favourite bit of gym work.

weights - seated row – 3 x 12 on 35kg

This is quite good, if a bit uncomfortable - you sit on the hard ground for this. But the difficulty is in keeping your shoulders and back still while you work out. Seems easy at first but gradually gets harder, which of course is fantastic. But to be honest I wonder if there are better ways of working on these muscles. There are certainly better exercises in this workout.

weights - bent row 3x12 12.5kg

The first of two confusing exercises. I stand bent over with an erect back and lift weight from knees to shoulders, keeping my wrists and elbows above my shoulders at all times. It doesn't really wear me out or take too much effort, but the key of course is to keep my back straight, and not yank the weights. It's an OK workout but is something I could just as easily leave off, especially as I don't feel that it does all that much.

weights - smith machine shoulder press, 30kg, 3x12

What the f*ck is going on with this one? The Smith machine is a mix between free weights and fixed weights – you have freedom moving them up and down but none to move sideways. So it gives some support, and only some work is needed by the supporting muscles. The shoulder press is hard work though – I previously did it on the machine. And it does work my shoulders pretty well. But to be honest I haven't done this exercise all that much as it's a bit intimidating. And that is an awful attitude to have.

weights - standing row 15kg 3x12 (or 3x12 lateral raises 5kg)

This is suspiciously like the bent row except … straight rather than bent. Still the same deal with the elbows and wrists, and keeping the back straight and still. I guess this exercise does more work on the shoulders, while the bent one works the upper back a bit more. It's a good workout but I could imagine dropping this from my routine.

weights – reverse fly 3x12 on Level 3

This is really awkward. Reverse flys are the opposite of the pec-deck, which I do not do in this workout. That's strange: usually you work opposite muscle groups. What makes this awkward, other than mounting and straddling the machine, is that the handles for moving the weights are not stable, so moving them is very difficult (and not in a good way that encourages support muscles to kick in – it just moves the handle further away from my body, for no observable reason).

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