Today was the heaviest workout so far. More than simply a workout for upper or lower body, like I used to do back when I used to go to the gym. Today, they gave me exercises that I would never have thought of... to work out muscled I would never have thought of. But dang, I'm thinking about them tonight.
Today's resistance training included familiar exercises like pushups and lunges, and then exercises that seemed a little ridiculous until I tried them. Like doing a Bear Crawl on all fours with dumbbells. That'll wake you up on your lunch hour. Or try this (with a spotter): take a barbell weight and, standing upright, press it above your head 10x, then straight out from your chest 10x, then rotate it around your head clockwise 10x, then rotate it around your head counterclockwise 10x. It's called 'Minnesota Tens' and you will feel it working every muscle in your shoulders.
While I work out, the trainer always takes meticulous notes on what needs attention. I can see them watching my form, watching where I succeed and struggle with a particular exercise in order to know what I should work on next.
Today Jonathan started me with a warmup that felt rather like a full workout, followed by a pair of upper body exercises repeated twice. Next was a Circuit, which was
- squat thrusts with the barbell;
- one arm dumbbell rows;
- the Bear Crawl with dumbbells;
- torso rotations on the machine
followed by a so-called break, which was an intense 1/3 mile on the bicycle, 1/3 mile on the treadmill, and 1/3 mile on the elliptical. Then a repeat of the four exercises in the Circuit. Followed by full stretching, then Cardio of a hill program on the treadmill.
Today I also really saw the value of Fitness Together's model... not only because of the trainers' expertise but because their private studios mean that I'm working out in a fully equipped facility, that's dedicated just to my workout. I've never really been bothered by working out in public/crowded gyms, but I can see that in such settings it would be nearly impossible to give this sort of attention to a full range of muscles, jumping from barbell to machine to machine to dumbbells to other machines while keeping my heart rate up.
Tonight I'm moving slowly but it feels strangely good, the ache of something accomplished. But I definitely will stretch before I sleep and when I wake up (if I want to make it up the stairs at work).
And tomorrow I'm going to weigh myself for the first time in a week. Curious to see...
