“I’ll Sleep Like A Baby Tonight” Workouts

Posted: September 6, 2011 at 7:10 pm

I almost didn’t type this post. Not because I’m not in the mood to blog or anything. Come on. When does that ever happen to me? I almost didn’t type this post because my upper body is sooooo S-O-R-E. I worked it good this morning!

For a long time I feel like I just went through the motions of my strength training. I went in and did challenging workouts – kind of hard not to challenge yourself with a workout beast – but I never felt like I pushed past my comfort zone. I guess it makes sense seeing as I have focused a lot on running and training for different races, like my first 5K, my first 10K, and now my first half marathon (Savannah RNR, baby!).

The thing is, I love strength training. I get pumped up (ha!) to see my strength increase or to leave a workout with my muscles shaking.

P1140835-1
Yes, I ask random gym folk to take pictures of me…

So, I decided to do something about that this week. Instead of sticking with the two full body workouts I have been doing, I broke it up a little differently.

  • Monday = Legs / Shoulders / Abs
  • Tuesday = Back / Chest / Biceps / Triceps
  • Thursday = Full Body (my own circuit, Group Power class, or Physique 57 DVD)

With this breakdown, I can still train my legs lighter to keep them fresh for running, but have the time and energy to up the intensity of my upper body training once a week without feeling rushed to get through a full body workout. I really like splitting up my workouts like that so far this week! Here’s what they looked like:

Legs (3 x 12-15) / Shoulders (3 x 8-10) / Abs (3 x 25)

Superset 1 Superset 2 Superset 3
step – ups leg extension speed skaters
barbell upright row side raises on Bosu ball hanging knee raises

Upper Body (all 3 x 8 where the last rep or two was HARD)

Superset 1 Superset 2 Superset 3
push-ups barbell bench press triceps dips
wide grip lat pulldown dumbbell row bicep curls on balance disc

Check out how I create my strength training plans!

Splitting up the workout like this gave me the chance to take more time for rest periods and to up the weights on a lot of the moves. It felt fantastic! And I’m still feeling it now. Smile 

For some cardio action today, I decided I didn’t really feel like the elliptical so I held off until the afternoon. I actually really enjoy splitting up my cardio and strength training if I my schedule allows it because then I feel I can give more to each workout.

When Peter got home this afternoon, I headed to our basement gym to spend some quality time with Cathe – one of the all-time best DVD trainers around.

I popped in her 40/20 HIIT workout which features a 25 minute workout including a warm-up, 16 interval drills, and a cool-down. It’s short and to the point, but man will it get you winded! You do a different plyometric style drill for each round – working hard for 40 seconds before taking a 20 second rest and moving to the next exercise. I feared the tuck jumps would cause a heart attack from the pounding it did in my chest. Yowza!

Hopefully these challenging workouts will help me sleep like a baby tonight! I’m determined to not get behind on sleep again. I don’t foresee many naps in the near future, after all.

  • Do you like lifting heavier weights?
  • What is the weirdest place you have asked someone to take your picture?

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29 Comments to ““I’ll Sleep Like A Baby Tonight” Workouts”
  1. That 40/20 workout sounds great! I love a tough cardio workout 🙂

    Lately I’ve been just doing full body workouts, and I get what you mean about not pushing yourself during lifting. I think I need a good split to get my muscles a shakin even more!

  2. I need to get some of her workouts. I don’t lift heavy weights since I’m not allowed to, but I would love to go heavier! It gives me such a great high. I love feeling my muscles the next day!

  3. Both of your workouts sound great! I enjoy a tough strength training workout. I don’t really lift weights that are too heavy, but I still challenge myself. I know they say that you can’t bulk up if you lift heavy, but my muscles don’t get as defined when I lift heavier…frankly, they’re just bigger.

  4. Woah! this definetly looks tough! Great workouts 🙂

  5. Lauren says:

    I’m just starting to love lifting! The past few months I’ve learned more about it, and I’ve definitely seen differences in strength. I just started new rules of lifting today and am pretty excited for it!

  6. I’ve been working on lifting heavier weights — although I do prefer moderate weight + moderate reps. I don’t know why, that seems to make more of a difference, but there are so many factors so I’m not sure which method really works better for me.

    I like how you broke it up, I seem to run “better” when my legs aren’t super sore, so I try to not do really heavy leg lifting close to my long run days.

  7. Emily says:

    Awesome workouts Tina!! Lately I have been doing my strength in Group Power because it keeps me well-rounded and not favoring certain body parts. I still try to do one other day of strength on my own just to make sure I am getting the things that power misses. I really love the low weight high rep format of power but when I am on my own I try to up the weight and do smaller sets.

  8. I love lifting super heavy weights – and supersets are my favorite. Of course you need to rest your muscles, but I CANNOT just sit there between sets without losing my mind. Perfect solution.

    Keep up the work on the weights, hot mama :).

  9. Erica says:

    Loveeee a workout that you can really feel the results of! I taught attack tonight for the first time and feel ready to pass out! Ahhh so exciting that youre doing a half!!

  10. I love strength training workouts! And the heavier the weights I can lift, the better I feel 😉 Tonight at Body Pump, I was putting the poor guy next to me to shame – lol!!

    And I don’t recall a weird place I asked someone to take my picture but when my sister and I were in London, a lady stopped us and asked me to take her picture… rather a picture of her and her bicycle posed together for a picture?!?! And I got yelled at when I cut out half of one of the wheels… who knew they were vacationing together 😀

  11. I’ve never seen this DVD before. Just looked on Amazon and it’s $26! Is it worth $26, Tina?

    • Tina says:

      I got it as a set with other Cathe workouts because I seriously cannot get enough of her. I would say if you have a step at home and would use an at home workout relatively often or want a quick but intense option, then YES YES YES. She will kick your butt!

  12. Christine says:

    Do you really ask random people at the gym to take your picture?

    • Tina says:

      Well, not so much random. I ask friends or trainers that I have spoken with regularly who aren’t busy at the time. Usually,Peter does my photos when we do shots for my exercise posts, but when I need a quick shot I will ask someone else I somewhat know from the gym. Normally I don’t bother with it, but I needed a picture of me working out wearing the Champion gear as part of their program…so you do what you gotta do. LOL

  13. Heather says:

    I’m all about heavy weights!

    I LOVE that you asked someone random to take your picture. I’m way too shy to ask anyone to take my pic 🙂 Good for you!

  14. I so want to try that HiiT workout because I’ve heard such great things about it.

    I’m totally about doing lower weights with more reps because I tend to bulk up really fast and the lower weights make me look much more toned than buff.

  15. I was wondering who took your picture…then I scrolled down to the caption and started cracking up. I was trying to take a picture while on the eliptical yesterday. They all turned out so blurry!

    I love pushing myself with weights. I am going to try out your supersets. I’ve been doing a lot of body pump lately which I love, but I feel like some muscle groups get way more attention than others since you always do everything in the same order.

  16. Wow. I’m tired just thinking about it.

  17. Khushboo says:

    I love that feeling of my muscles burning after a good session…and you’re so right about the sleeping a bit…an intense workout makes me pass out like a baby…solid sleep :)!

  18. I’m almost scared of lifting heavier weights because I don’t want to look bulky! At the same time I do enjoy the feeling of getting stronger so I know I have to get over myself :D.

  19. Cynthia says:

    I just wanted to tell you that this post actually motivated me to work out last night. I was dragging my feet and I just didn’t feel like it so I told myself it wouldn’t hurt to skip a day. Then I read this post about your intense workout. I figured if you have energy to workout with two kids, then surely I could find some to spare. And 45 very sweaty minutes later, I felt so much better. So thanks for the inspiration!

    • Tina says:

      That is awesome Cynthia! I hope you had a good one. And you all motivate me basically every single day. So thanks for that! 🙂

  20. Vicki says:

    You are just too cute! I love nights when I pretty much just PASS out! Love your blog, BTW!

  21. The HIIT DVD looks great. Short and Tough. Gotta try it.

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