This afternoon was another workout with Bernard. My knee was fine throughout the whole thing, but it’s still slightly uncomfortable on the stairs. In any event, today was a chest and abdominal workout day. And it was one of the toughest workouts yet (I felt particularly weak!)
Exercise Group 1: three sets each of the following:
- Inclined chest press (free weights): I did 65 lbs., 12 reps in each set, I think
- Bicep curls (free weights): I managed (barely) to do 15 lbs in each arm. 12 reps of these in each set also
- Jumping jacks (30/40/50)
Exercise Group 2: three sets each of the following:
- Pectoral fly (12/12/10) at 45 lbs each
- Abdominal crunches (20/20/25)
- Oblique twists. I stood feet apart, holding a 10 lbs weight like a steering wheel in front of me. Then I’d twist to the right without moving my hips; back to center, and then to the left. And repeat. These were some of the hardest exercises I had to do. (12/12/12). After these were done, I felt completely drained.
Exercise Group 3: three sets each of the following:
- Regular chest press (free weights). This is where things started getting difficult. I had no strength in my arm. At first, I couldn’t even lift the bar. But with the weight reduced to 55 lbs, I was able to start and with Bernard’s help, I managed. Barely.
- Arm dips. This was also hard, and my arm strength was draining fast. I put my hand back on the bench, and Bernard held my feet off the group, and I’d do dips. I managed about 6 per set because my arms were so weak. But I tried my best.
- Jump rope (30/30/40)
Exercise Group 4: three sets each of the following:
- Ab blaster 2000. This machine was entirely for abs and it was tough. I think I did 20/20/18. Weights were set at 20 lbs, I think.
- Jump rope (30/30/40)
After all of that, I went ahead and did a 30 minute cardio workout on the eliptical and the whole thing felt good. I think next week I’m going to start doing 40 minute cardio workouts.
My next session with Bernard is a week from today (he’s out the early part of next week). In the meantime, I need to keep up the cardio, and try and squeeze in two or three additional workouts before my next session with Barnard.
As many of you know, I am a terrible observer. (Actually, that is factually incorrect. The truth is, I am a lazy observer. If I don’t make a real effort, there’s almost nothing I won’t notice. This is try for myself, as well as anything else. With all of this working out, I’d be the last person to recognize if there were any changes in my body. So, I am taking the somewhat humiliating step of posting a baseline picture of how my body looks now, so that I can compare it with pictures in the coming months. As I go along, I’ll post other pictures, side-by-side with the older ones so that readers can see the difference as well.
I weigh 147 lbs here.
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