February 27th, 2013

Workin’ it.

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Yesterday someone asked me to do a detailed post on what my workout routine is, so here it is! I want to preface this by saying that I am no way a personal trainer or any kind of fitness expert – this is what I do at the gym, and what works for me, but I’m not recommending anyone else do the same.

I go to the gym about 3 times a week, on average, and workout for an hour and a half to two hours in total. Sometimes I’ll do my cardio first, and then strength training, and sometimes I’ll do the opposite.

  • Stretches, to get my muscles nice and limber and ready for action (approximately 5 minutes)
  • 50 second or 1 minute wall sit before my run
  • 45 minutes on the treadmill – a combination of power walking, running, and sprinting in intervals. I’m still building up my endurance, so a lot of it is spent power walking. A good workout mix is essential for this!
  • 50 second or 1 minute wall sit after my run – the last ten seconds are pure agony
  • 15-20 minutes on the elliptical machine – I like to watch something on Netflix while I do this, it makes the time go by faster!
  • a few quick leg stretches afterwards – it just feels great, really, and I want to keep my muscles from getting stiff.

The next part of my workout takes anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. I don’t really have a formula to this, I just listen to my body and stop when I need to.

  • push-ups (I can still only do 10 – and barely even that – at a time) But sometimes I’ll do another exercise to rest my arms and then do another 10.
  • bicep curls using dumbells
  • bench presses using dumbells
  • chin-ups and pull-ups on the machine with the horizontal bar on a chain that you pull down (no idea what the actual name is!)
  • sit-ups on the floor (50-100 the regular way), and then about 20 with my legs off the ground at 90 degrees. That one burns!
  • 2 other ab exercises, but I don’t know what they’re called! But one works your obliques and the other your lower abdominals.
  • 30 second plank, and side planks (for as long as I can, which isn’t very long yet!)
  • squats (I do a few repetitions of 10 or 20)
  • lunges, side lunges, and reverse lunges with dumbells in hand (reps of 20)
  • 40 calf raises (it starts out feeling so easy, but the last couple hurt like fire!)
  • sumo squats with dumbells in hand (a few reps of 20)
  • leg raises (both with straight and bent knee)

And that’s it! I don’t plan on adding anything new to my routine anytime soon, since I’m still working on improving at these. I have found the VSX videos on youtube immensely helpful, so check those out if you want! :)

Let me know if you end up trying some of these exercises! x

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