Ow, dammit

While climbing onto the weight machine last night to do lat pulldowns, I managed to bang my knee on the leg press. Naturally, the bruise is RIGHT where my armored pants press into my leg while on the motorcycle. Sigh. It really is a miracle that my hobbies haven't killed me yet.

I bench pressed 80 lbs last night, though, which is a personal best. Perhapy wimpy to the big burly men in the audience, but that's 2/3 my body weight. :)

Yesterday's workout:

Chest: Bench Press
Set 1: 5 @ 60 lbs
Set 2: 3 @ 70 lbs
Set 3: 3 @ 70 lbs
Set 4: 1 @ 80 lbs
Set 5: 1 @ 80 lbs

Shoulders: Shoulder Press
Set 1: 5 @ 15 lbs
Set 2: 3 @ 17 lbs
Set 3: 3 @ 17 lbs
Set 4: 1 @ 22 lbs
Set 5: 1 @ 22 lbs

Lats: Front Pulldown (machine)
Set 1: 5 @ 99 lbs
Set 2: 3 @ 118 lbs
Set 3: 3 @ 118 lbs

Triceps: Tricep Extensions
Set 1: 5 @ 12 lbs
Set 2: 3 @ 15 lbs
Set 3: 3 @ 15 lbs

Tonight is max strength lower body -- I've been squatting 80 lbs, so I'm going to see if I can get to 90.

Comments

[wookiee]

I usually work out the opposite way: start with weight I can get 10-12 reps with, then another set with about 10% less weight that I can also get 10-12 reps with, etc.

[carolyn]

This is part of a mostrously complicated routine that I read about in a magazine on last airplane I was on, actually. [*]

The gist is that during this "phase" of the 12 week workout, I do "max strength" routines like the one above twice a week and then "classic exercises" twice a week. So, it mixes up heavy weights/low reps with lighter weights/lotza reps.

I like doing the kinda upside-down pyramid sets (increase weight/lower reps as the set progresses) because the first few sets act as warm-ups. These are all straight sets, meaning I do all 5 sets of one exercise at once -- well, OK, with ~90sec rests in between -- before moving onto the next exercise.

[*] I have terrible workout ADD and bore of routines very easily

[Stephanie]

I'm not keen on that training pattern. That was the one I had to use for the college weight lifting class I took, about four years ago. I know this because those stupid max lifts were what screwed up the left side of my back. In retrospect, probably not the brightest idea for a middle aged woman to take a weightlifting class run for the football team. But please tell me you have a spotter when you're doing a maxlift...

[carolyn]

It's not really a max lift, per se -- I take a weight that I feel I should be able to do "reps + 1" on and then just do "reps" with it. For example, I could most likely squat 100lbs now, but I use 90lbs as my max weight for these routines.

I should probably either post all of my workout, or none of it, huh, to avoid confusion. :)

I don't have a spotter, as I work out at home, but I have the proper equipment, and I don't squat or bench to failure with a barbell.