Hey everyone,
Today I decided to make a return to my heavy gym training and I did Sumo Deadlifts, Front Squats, Front-Loaded Reverse Lunges, Chin Ups, Dips and Single-Leg Hip Thrusts. When I came home I thought I would film my one arm push up attempt LOL. What this video shows, is why we aim for progression and how sometimes regression is forced on you, so best to go with it and even laugh, if you can 😀 (a little “Grr” is allowed and is only human).
Some thoughts:
- Deadlifts went better. I didn’t max out on the weight as I want to improve my lower back strength. Any heavier than 100kg and my form starts to break down, so I stopped at 90kg. My sets looked like this: Set 1 – 65kg x 15, set 2 – 70kg x 13, set 3 – 80kg x 9, set 4 – 85kg x 8, set 5 – 90kg x 6 (as seen). Last 2 reps could’ve been better. Next time I’ll know to bring my hips forward quicker, or stop at 5 reps.
- Chin Ups and Dips were the most disappointing things today. I had been up to 8 chin ups (underhand grip), and 12 dips. Today chin ups down to 6.5 and dips down to 6! But I know i will get this back up. I did 3 sets of each exercise x 6 reps.
- Decided to do front squats instead of back squats because before I think the back squat was annoying my lower back. Verdict – front squats rock! Did 3 sets: 35kg x 12, 40kg x 8, 45kg x 5. Need to get these numbers UP!
- Front-Loaded Reverse Lunges – also ROCK! Below is Alli doing an amazing job at these! This is where I got the idea/inspiration from. I did 3 sets of this too (as I want to build up my quads a little) – 40kg x 10 (each side), 45kg x 7 (each side), 50kg (hard) x 4 (each side). Was thinking next time I might add a step and do a deficit variation.
- The single-leg Hip thrusts are a staple exercise for me now. Want to do weighted double-leg, but haven’t built up the courage yet to try them – But I will (especially now I am going to meet these other ladies – need to up my game haha).
- One Arm Push Up – haha! OK, my excuse is I was just after doing 3 sets of dips in the gym, but it took me about 6 attempts to manage this concentric portion on the right! These are tough cookies! The last day I did them I was fresher, but I need to get the left side up too. It was funny trying though… At least I have a baseline and can only improve on that, right?!
Another thing is that I have a new motivation and zest for training!!! It may or may not be my competitive nature coming out (with the looming trip and all LOL), but it’s doing wonders for me and I hope the motivation spreads. Seeing what others can do, really helps boost not only motivation, but also standards. My form has become better as you can forget about building proper strength without it – hence the lesson that regression is not a bad thing, if it is what you NEED. Good form is all that really matters in keeping us lifting for longer.
In addition to the new zest, I have a new curiosity to try new (to me) lifts. So I will be trying to do more of these, both with the KB and the Barbell.
For those folks waiting on a new workout, I will have one up tomorrow 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the video today, and if I can get a secret camera next time, I will try and film more in the gym. But they are clamping down on this at the minute, boo!
Chat soon.
Marianne