Ho Ho Ho! Happy Healthmas!
Christmas is just around the corner. One of the greatest gifts I have given myself this year is the gift of a healthier me. I can’t believe how far I’ve come since I started last April. From 121 kilos, I’ve worked hard to shed extra weight and now I’m 94 kilos. Now that’s a good cause for celebration! Better watch out for my Christmas diet lest I go back to having a body like Santa.
This week, I had a hard time scheduling my day job and work outs but everything fit together perfectly. I moved my Monday workout to Tuesday and then resumed Thursday, then Friday. Next week, we’re going back to regular programming (Merry Christmas!).
Tuesday
Warm-up: 10 min. Stationary Bike
Cardio (3 sets of):
30 Sprint
20 Plyo Box
30 Single Battle Rope
30 Double Battle Rope
15 Slam Ball
Workout Target Areas: Chest & Triceps
Chest:
12 Incline Barbell Press (3 sets)
12 Lying Bench Press (3 sets)
12 Decline Dumbbell Bench Press (3 sets)
12 Dumbbell Pullover (3 sets)
Triceps:
12 Triceps Pressdown (3 sets)
12 Cable Overhead Triceps Extension (3 sets)
12 Dumbbell Tricep Extension (3 sets)
*All repetitions increment in weight per set
Core (3 sets of) :
30 Ab Crunches
30 Advanced Leg Raises
Finisher: 3 – min Plank
Cooldown: Walk Home
Notes:
- I forgot to bring my Garmin watch on this day so I wasn’t able to measure my workout.
- I learned about Time Under Tension today. It’s the time where your muscles are under tension when doing repetitions. If you rest for too long in between you set your muscles will reset to the way it was.
- Time Under Tension is important in building muscle. When our muscles are under tension the fibers break down which is one of the goals of body building because it causes new fibers to form during healing.
- Knowing about this made me realize how important it is to continuously do the reps per set to have better gains.
- I took the core workout home so I can catch up with my morning meeting.
- At home, instead of doing the plank 3 minute straight, I did it in 1 minute intervals with 30 seconds rest in between.
Thursday
Warm-up: 10 min. Stationary Bike
Cardio (3 sets of):
30 Battle Jacks
10 Duck Walk
15 Hip Bends
Workout Target Areas: Back & Biceps
Back:
12 Deadlifts (3 sets) * I only did 6 reps on the last set
12 Barbell Row (3 sets)
12 Seated Row (3 sets)
12 Wide-Grip Lat Pull-Down (3 sets)
12 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull-Down (3 sets)
12 T Bar Row (3 sets)
Biceps:
12 Cable Curl (3 sets)
12 Hammer Curl (3 sets)
*All repetitions increment in weight per set
Core:
2 min Plank
Notes:
- I have never in my entire life did a duck walk until this day. I’m listing it down along with burpees as one of my most disliked cardio workouts ever!
- I asked my coach how to do a stretching for my back. We did a back extension stretch where you push your upper body from the floor and holding the position. It relieved my muscles that’s threatening to spasm.
- I learned a new routine on the T Bar Row. It was challenging because your core also gets engaged along with your back. It’s a good workout to do to hit those areas.
- We only did two biceps routine since we did a lot of cardio in the beginning.
- The 2 minute plank at the end was CRAZY! I’ve completed a 2 minute plank before but this time I was so tired that I kept breaking the plank. It was funny when coach was encouraging me to finish. A great way to end the workout.
Friday
Warm-up: 10 min. Stationary Bike
Workout Target Areas: Legs & Shoulders
Legs:
12 Dead Squats (3 sets)
12 Leg Press (3 sets)
12 Romanian Deadlift (3 sets)
12 Leg Extension (3 sets)
12 Calf Raises (3 sets)
Shoulders:
12 Shoulder Bar Raise (3 sets)
12 Lateral Raise (3 sets)
12 Shoulder Plate Raise (3 sets)
12 Face Pull (3 sets)
12 Upright Row (3 sets)
12 Dumbbell Shrugs (3 sets)
*All repetitions increment in weight per set
Core:
100 Leg Raises
Notes:
- I’m not used to having workouts on two consecutive days so my energy is a bit low. Still, I think today went great.
- My squat form is improving. I just need to go lower and not be afraid of going down. I guess I’m still wary since I almost had a mishap last week doing squats.
- I’m surprised that I’m now really trying to push myself to finish a set continuously since coach told me about Time Under Tension.
- I’m proud that I’m gaining more strength than ever. Good job self!
If you really want it, work hard for it. There were moments this week where I didn’t want to go the gym but I didn’t want to cheat on myself. I needed to show up for myself because I feel like I owe myself a healthy body for a change. Push!
And now the challenge of a healthy Christmas begins haha! Let’s see how next week goes.
Kalvin Five 