“Gun Show” Workout

I made up the name of this workout because it definitely works those guns (those tiny little pistols of mine)! Since my lower half was too sore to even think about working, I stuck to my upper body. I wanted to focus on a few muscle’s and work them until failure. So, I picked my shoulders and biceps. Usually when I work my biceps I work my triceps too since they’re opposing muscle groups. But I like working my shoulders so shoulders it was!

I warmed up with a 5 minute jog on the treadmill then actually went straight into a few ab exercises (since I hate doing abs, I do them first!).

• Reverse Crunch– 3 sets of 15. These are a great lower ab exercises. I do this quite a bit mostly because I still find them challenging. You can do these on the ground or on a bench (I did bench). To make them harder (which I have yet to do), you can set a bench on an incline. Laying on your back with legs in the air, all you do is lift your hips and butt off the ground and back down (controlled). So, you feel it in your low abs.
• Weighted Crunch– 3 sets of 15 holding 10 pound weight. This is a good alternative to regular crunches. In “crunch” position, I held my arms straight out in front of me holding the weight between both hands. All I did was crunch towards the ceiling and back down to the ground.

Gun Show Workout

• Split Stance Hammer Curl to Press– 3 sets of 15 using 15lb. weights. For this exercises, you can use a bench, chair, or anything you can rest a foot on as long as it’s just higher than knee level. I placed my right foot on top of the bench and let me arms hang by my sides, holding the weights with my palms facing each other. Next, I curled the dumbbells towards my shoulders (bicep hammer curl), then pressed them overhead  (shoulder press). Having one food on the bench makes it harder to balance, therefore making the exercise harder. These got pretty tough towards the end.
• Bent-Arm Lateral Raise and External Rotation– 3 sets of 15 using 10lb. weights. Holding the weights in both hands, I started with my elbows bent at 90 degrees, so elbows at my rib cage, palms facing each other. Keeping the bend in my elbows, I raised my arms out to the sides so they were now parallel to the ground. Next, I rotated my arms up and back so my forearms were pointing towards the ceiling. From that position, I reversed the movement back to starting position. Here’s another explanation since this one can sound a little tricky!
• Bicep Curls -3 sets of 15 using 15lb. weights. These were just regular old bicep curls! Nothing fancy. They were tough though after the first two exercises!
• Dumbbell Diagonal Raise– 3 sets of 15 using 10lb. weights. Starting with a weight in my right hand, I held it across my body at my left hip. With a slight bend in my elbow, I brought my arm (and dumbbell) up and across my body until my hand was above my head with my palm facing forward. Then, I reversed the movement until back in starting position then switched sides. This can also be done with a cable machine. Here’s an example with a cable machine but I did it with free weights.
• Pike Pushup-3 sets of 8. I’ve tried these a couple times they can be pretty tough. You’re basically in a downward dog position with your feet elevated on a bench (or you can keep them on the ground to make it easier). Once in that position, you just do a pushup. It puts more emphasis on your shoulders compared to a regular pushup which primarily works the chest. Here’s a video demonstration.

That’s it! I actually had a couple more exercises written down, but my arms were too tired after just 2 circuits of these so I cut those out. I’m looking forward to getting back to weight lifting and doing more workout classes. Just a few more weeks until the race!

Happy Tuesday!