Greg's Running Blog» ‘Strength Exercise’ tags – Greg’s Running Blog

Sneakers To Sandals; My First Injury

Greg — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:00:58 +0000

As I have written in my previous post I’ve been having problems with pain in my left foot due to compensating for pain in my knee. The pain has gotten so bad in my foot that I haven’t done any cardio for the past two days. Instead I’m sporting a sandal at work just to make it easier on my foot. Last night the pain was just as bad as the day before. This morning the pain was even worse. But tonight I think I am finally feeling improvement and I hope it will heal up soon and I’ll be back to running in no time. It’s a true bummer that I have managed to injure myself this bad this early but as long as I recover in a week I’ll be OK. I think if my foot does not hurt tomorrow night I’ll hop on the elliptical or go for a bike ride. But I have decided that I will do absolutely no running until next Monday at least. I want this sucker to heal up good before I stress it.

I had a pretty good upper body workout Tuesday at the gym. I figured if I can’t work out my wheels at least keep the top in shape. It’s only been two days and I’m already missing the running. Grr, I’m so stupid! Note to self: next time something hurts a little, take care of it then don’t let other body parts getting hurt too.

Strength Exercise

Greg — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:00:15 +0000

Since my running took up my entire lunch I have to start doing weights after work. I did my two exercises with relative ease and I rushed home for the weekend.

Incline Press

3×10 @ 100lbs

Decline Press

3×10 @ 100lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:47 +0000

Today I went out for lunch so I didn’t have time to do the weights then. Then I had to leave work early to meet someone at the house so I had to do it real quick right before I left the place but I got it in nevertheless. I have also played with the weights a bit.

Lat Pull

1×10 @ 130 lbs
2×10 @ 120 lbs

Seated Low Row

3×10 @ 130 lbs

Chest Supported Row – Outer Grips

2×10 @ 90 lbs
1×10 @ 100 lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:09 +0000

Today was chest day. I usually do my strength training over lunch but today I spent most of my time at lunch with cardio so I had to do it after work. My weights were solid I did feel a bit weak but the weights got lifted as planned. I even upped the weight on the last set of my fly and I probably should have upped it earlier.

Bench Press

3×10 @ 100 lbs

Butterfly

2×10 @ 80 lbs
1×10 @ 90 lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:59 +0000

Today was back day. I did my three sets of three exercises and called it a day. It was an OK day in terms of weights and I felt fine. Not a whole lot to report on today’s exercise.

Lat Pull

3×10 @ 120 lbs

Seated Low Row

3×10 @ 130 lbs

Chest Supported Row – Inner Grips

3×10 @ 90 lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:01 +0000

Today was my first back day in a long-long time. But it went great. I really had a good time, I concentrated on having plenty of rest between sets, time permitting, and my lifts were good. I did 120 lbs on the lat pulldown which felt just right and I did my usual 130 lbs on the seated row which also felt good. I forgot about the chest supported row but I’ll just do that one on Thursday. All in all I was pretty pleased with today’s workout.

Lat Pull

3×10 @ 120 lbs

Seated Low Row

3×10 @ 130 lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:00:51 +0000

I haven’t been to the gym in almost a week. Since I use the facility at work I only go on workdays. And since I’ve been home with the family for the past week I haven’t seen the gym in a while. But today I did go. I took my father-in-law to the sporting goods store to browse and shop and while he was there I went to the gym and worked out. I did both chest and back on the same day as I knew I wouldn’t hit them otherwise. I have received a comment on one of my posts that was asking about why my bench press numbers are so low. It made me think and wonder about my workout and I have attempted to bench press at 130 lbs instead of my usual 100 lbs. The first set of 10 went fine. Then on the second set I managed to get 3 in the air. I have asked my co-worker if he thinks my chest lifts are lacking and if they do why. He wasw surprised that I have even attempted to do two sets within such a short amount of time. He said he rests 8-10 minutes between sets and I probably have rested 30-45 seconds, if that. He was not surprised at all that my lifts were so weak on consecutive sets. And since I have been setting my weights based on weights I can manage for 3 sets I have been setting them lower.

I just don’t have 8-10 minutes to rest between sets when you’re trying to crank out cardio and strength training over lunch. But I certainly have more than 30 seconds. So I have clocked myself and rested 2 minutes between sets. I could manage 3 sets of 10 at 130 lbs which is more than ever for bench presses. I have also upped my lat pull and my fly weights and the rest made all the difference. So the lesson I have leared today was to give enough rest between sets otherwise you’re just wasting your time. Since my primary goal right now is muscle retention not gain I think I’ll be fine with the 2 minute rests. But once I’m down to my target weight and want to put a bit of muscle on my frame I will have to increase my rest periods if I want to be able to build more muscle.

Bench Press

3×10 @ 130 lbs

Butterfly

3×10 @ 80 lbs

Lat Pull

3×10 @ 110 lbs

Seated Low Row

3×10 @ 130 lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:00:28 +0000

I’m not even sure if I should put it here, but I guess I did do some strength training. Since I’m off from work I don’t have access to the machines that I usually use. It was supposed to be a chest day today so I did some push-ups. I have tried to do push-ups a month or so ago and I could do 12 in a row. Today I have managed 3×25. That’s quite a change. I don’t think it’s me getting stronger, it’s more about me getting lighter and easier to push. I have also checked and it’s about 70% of your body weight that you have to push up using your hands when you do a proper push-up. While it wasn’t much it was more than nothing so I’m logging it here.

Push-ups

3×25 at BW

Strength Exercise

Greg — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:34 +0000

Today’s chest exercise went well. It was pretty easy and simple but I think I have noticed that my arms weren’t level when I did butterflies before. So today I have concentrated on fixing that. My bench press went OK, I have used a wider grip and I could feel my shoulders working harder.

Bench Press

3×10 @ 100 lbs

Butterfly

3×10 @ 70 lbs

Strength Exercise

Greg — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:35 +0000

I haven’t lifted since last Thursday as I was sick on Friday and didn’t go to work. Since this is a short week I really have to make every session count at work. I had to run Christmas errands at lunch so I ended up doing strength training after work. I felt pretty weak and tired but the lifting went great. I felt pretty good once I started my exercises. I have upped the weight on my lat pulldown and it was the right thing to do as it felt just right. I have left everything else the same and I think I got a decent workout today.

Lat Pull

3×10 @ 110 lbs

Seated Low Row

3×10 @ 130 lbs

Chest Supported Row –Outer Grips

3×10 @ 80 lbs