Evening! Glad you all enjoyed my explanation of how I create my strength training plans. For the record – the one I gave in that post was just an example. I’m currently doing something a little different.

Last night at the gym I completed an upper body workout followed by Week 3, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. My upper body workout looked like this:

[If you have any questions on moves, don’t hesitate to ask!]

It felt so amazing to do my own weight workout again. I adore DVDs for cardio, but when it comes to weights I much prefer the gym. With one exception – lower body only workouts. I enjoy moves like squats, lunges, and step-ups but always hate doing one huge leg workout at the gym. Popping in a DVD motivates me to get through solely leg focused weight training. The plan I created for this upcoming 4 weeks follows an upper / lower / full body weight training split. I did my upper body workout for this week (above) yesterday. And today called for lower body. Cathe DVD to the rescue!

I chose the Legs & Glutes workout (one of my favorites!) for today and could certainly feel it working. I did a whole lot of these…

I also realized something during the workout, which I have dubbed The Sticky 2/3 Spot. Around 2/3 of the way through workouts that I’m not 100% feeling I get very distracted with thoughts like:

• When will this be over?
• No more! No more! No more!
• Do I HAVE to do this exercise/last X minutes?
• This. Stinks! (although sometimes another word slips in)
• And so on…

Something about that 2/3 mark makes me feel like the workout will never end and I instantly feel my motivation waning. Then, oddly enough, the last sets or last few minutes of cardio come up and I suddenly have energy like I could go all day. The gripes turn into wondering if I could do more or go a little longer. It’s just getting through that Sticky 2/3 Spot when it pops up in particular workouts. I bet I will have to remember this situation when I get into longer runs, huh?

Question of the evening – Do you experience the Sticky 2/3 Spot? In which workouts the most? I would say spin class and leg training days are the most common culprit for me.

Last night I challenged myself to my next full body strength training session. I’m focusing on at home weight workouts for this week and next, so I popped in another Cathe DVD. This time I went for the Supersets workout from the same DVD I used earlier in the week.

Yowza! Ouch! My biceps! My legs! I forgot about some of the moves she does in this workout, which certainly present more of a challenge than the Push Pull workout. Although it was harder than I remembered, it still felt very manageable to me. I actually enjoyed feeling my muscles that way again. And it gave me two great biceps moves I want to share with you all in the FFF Features this week. 😀

Using weights again gets me pumped up (ha!) for making some new weight training plans for in the gym. I love using DVD options for cardio, but generally much prefer doing weights in the gym. Although I have to say I will miss my little workout buddy when I go back to the gym for weights.

When I exercise at home Makenzie always wants to keep me company. We even had to buy her a special mini dumbbell so she would stop trying to lift up my 5 pounders. And she loves the resistance bands.

She is such a little mini-me. I just hope I’m not creating a monster! 😉 I always make sure to tell her we workout to get strong and to stay healthy. It’s amazing how much having a kid has changed how I discuss and approach exercise. I still view exercise as a very necessary component of my success in getting back in shape post-pregnancy, but don’t focus on it for the calorie burn. She catches on to every little nuance of things I say or do. If I said even once that I needed to workout to make my butt smaller (for example), she would undoubtedly end up saying “mommy makes her butt smaller” every time I workout for the foreseeable future. It certainly motivates me to keep a focus on health. I don’t want her viewing exercise or choosing healthy food as anything more than something we enjoy and that helps us feel good, strong, and healthy.

Question of the Evening – Has anything stuck with you from your own parents’ approach to fitness or food during your childhood?