Today’s Workout

What a boring title, I know. I couldn’t think of anything catchy so “today’s workout” it is! I wanted somewhat of an easy workout today since I did such a long run yesterday, so I decided to do some abs and arms. Arms are definitely my favorite part to work out, specifically my shoulders. There’s always one body part that people prefer to work on..usually it’s not the one that needs the work. In my case, I should probably focus on hamstring and hip strength…but that’s no fun! Maybe tomorrow I’ll focus on my lower body.

I started today’s workout with a warm up of 15 burpees and 50 squats. I wanted to do more burpess (well, not really) but they were actually hurting my left knee so I stopped. After the warmup, I went straight into abs! Like I’ve mentioned before, I tend to plan for abs at the end of my workouts, but by that time, I never want to do them so I either don’t do them, or do about half.

It’s a much better technique to do them first! Here was my ab routine for today:

• Mountain Climbers– 3 sets of 15. These are more of a full body workout and always difficult. In the plank position (not on forearms, arms are straight), I brought my right knee up towards my chest, but aiming for the left side of my body so there is a bit of a twist happening. You can do them like this or just bring your knee towards your chest and back to the ground again. You’ll definitely feel your abs working after a few rounds!
• Side Plank– 3 sets of 30 seconds on each side. These were just normal side planks with one foot on top of the other. To make this easier, you can rest both feet on the ground. To make it harder, try lifting the top leg off the bottom-that’s hard!
• Plank– 3 sets of 45 seconds. Regular old plank! I haven’t done these in a while so they were feeling a bit challenging today. I used to hold them for a minute but I didn’t even want to try today.
• Russian Twist– 3 sets of 15 holding 10lb. weight. Sitting on the ground, I lifted both legs up so they were in a table top position. While holding my legs up (and holding the weight in both hands), I twisted my body from right to left, that’s 1 rep. Here’s an example of how to do these correctly. This example shows legs on the ground.

Next, I started on my upper body routine.

• Isometric Bicep Curls- 3 sets of 15 using 10lb. weights. These are a great change up when it comes to bicep exercises. For me, it’s easy to get stuck doing regular old bicep curls so I try to find ways to work the same muscles, but in slightly different, challenging ways. Here’s a link to where I’ve explained how to properly do these before. Great workout!
• Skull Crushers– 3 sets of 15 using 10lb. weights. Skull crushers are a regular in my upper body workouts. They’re usually pretty tough, but I do them a lot so I’ll have to start looking for new triceps workouts! Any suggestions?
• Shoulder Press– 3 sets of 10 using 15lb. weights. Those weights were feelin’ pretty heavy today! I’m not sure if my arms were already a little tired from running yesterday or maybe from those mountain climbers? I just did regular old shoulder presses, nothing fancy today!
• Lat Pull Down– 3 sets of 15 pulling 50 pounds. To work my lats today, I just used the lat pull down machine in the gym. They’re probably in every gym in the country considering mine is super tiny and it has one!
• Chest Press– 3 sets of 15 using 15lb. weights. Regular old chest presses. Haven’t done these in a while so they felt pretty good and challenging today.
• Reverse Fly’s– 3 sets of 8 using 10lb. weights. To do these properly, I bent over slightly, keeping my back straight. With my arms straight (holding the weights), I raised them up to the sides and back down again. Here’s an example of how to do it. This example is shown sitting down which you can definitely do!

That was my workout for today! It was good enough..nothing too intense. I was feeling a bit tired today so I wanted to keep it reasonable.

Hope you all have a great weekend!