Upper Body Workout - Healthy, Hungry, and Happy

Today’s workout was part marathon prep and part weight training. I’m having a tough time fitting weight lifting into my schedule with all the running. The issue is, I don’t want to work out and be too sore to run the next day or too tired. But I really don’t want to neglect weight training. I did that before and developed hip and knee issues because of weakness and muscle tightness. Since I’m planning a long run tomorrow (9 miles-yikes!), I decided to do a upper body workout today, so no leg soreness tomorrow. I know it’s all very complicated. 🙂

First, I started with a couple ab exercises. I always try to do those first since I hate doing abs!!

Reverse Crunch on Bench– 3 sets of 15.
Crunch with Weight- 3 sets of 15. This is a basic crunch, except you’re holding a weight. I held a ten pound weight in my hands then crunched up. It makes it much more challenging.

Next, I did my 3 mile run which is part of the marathon schedule. For some reason this 3 miler felt like a 10 miler. It seemed to last forever!! Here were my stats today:

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 24:55 min/sec
Pace: 8:16 min/sec
Calories: 260

Now that that was out of the way, I went on to a couple arm exercises. I did each exercise below 1 time, then started the whole circuit again. I tried to move up on the weight that I used so my count is a little lower. I completed the circuit 3 times.

Isolated Scaption– 3 sets of 8 holding 8 lb. weights in each hand. These are a tough one. Here’s a video of regular scaption. The only change I made was, while one arm was lifting up and down, the other arm was held up holding the weight. That’s what makes it an isolated move. One arm is constantly moving, the other is not, but the muscles are still activated and working from holding up that weight.
Chest Fly– 3 sets of 12 using 20lb. weights. These are just the standard dumbbell chest fly’s. They were much more difficult with the 20lb weights. It was definitely work trying to control my arms as they moved down. I tried to keep the motion slow.
Skull Crushers– 3 sets of 15 holding 10lb. weights. Good ol’ skull crushers. They’re a great triceps exercise. Again, much more difficult today with the higher weight.
Bicep Curls at an Incline– 3 sets of 15 using 12lb. weights. Regular bicep curls get old pretty fast. Doing the same exercise every time also gets old for your muscles. Adding the incline and increasing the weight was great today. It felt much more challenging. I feel like its hard to think of new bicep exercises so if you’re in the same boat, try adding an incline! Here’s a video demonstration.
Back Extension on Swiss Ball– 3 sets of 15. I like these a lot because it’s not just working your back, you also feel it in your hamstrings. Here’s a great video on proper technique.
Clams– 3 sets of 15 on both legs. This is similar to hip abduction, except your legs are positioned like a ‘clam.’ Here’s an example. I threw this 1 leg exercise in because I know I have weak hips. Throughout this marathon training, I want to be sure to keep my hips and hamstrings strong as well as foam roll like crazy!!!

Today was a pretty good gym day. Tomorrow will be a tough one with the 9 miler. Hopefully the weather will be nice…the sun helps a lot!!

After my workout, I had a lunch of 3 egg whites, a little wild boar sausage, and a super healthy wheat tortilla that my brother in law brought over (he’s visiting and is great about bringing healthy food with him on trips).

These are pretty good and really healthy! Usually, the healthier ones have sort of a weird, too chewy texture, but these were good. Here are the stats:

Only 100 calories with 7 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein-pretty good! I think he finds these at Sam’s Club. I tried to look at their website but it’s under construction. So Sam’s Club, maybe Walmart? I’ll try to track them down….

I had my burrito with a BIG side of veggies.