18 July 2012

Week 1: Legs

Three days of morning workouts in a row, got to be a personal record. And for all the extra time it has allotted me in the afternoons, I am beginning to see a pattern of some drawbacks that also come with this change. For one, as I mentioned before, I have from the time I throw my lunch and work clothes together, through the drive to the gym (about 10 minutes), to scarf down any sort of sustenance to keep me fueled for the workout. Today I got half a cinnamon raisin bagel down before I pulled up, and I felt pretty nauseous throughout. I don't want to blame too much of my fatigue on lack of energy, but it is what it is.

The second downside is that I don't have time to head back home and blend up my revered svunt shake, as I drive straight to work and do a parking-lot deck change before heading in (I'm pretty sure nobody has seen me yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a new rumor about the poor guy at work who lives out of his car). So, this obviously impacts my protein and caloric intake. Convince me otherwise, but I find it difficult to come home nearly 10 hours later and ingest the post-workout shake and expect anywhere near the same results as if I had taken it within 30 minutes of the workout. This issue I hope to find a workaround to (bring a refrigerated pre-blended shake with me in the morning comes to mind), but if you guys have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

So, as stated, this workout was a little bit uncomfortable, and as the two-day window for maximum DOMS soreness kicked in from deadlifts, I was a bit of a wreck. Main issues were immobility, soreness, fatigue, and nausea, but I think most of these will diminish as the weeks continue. As I pick up running, I'm going to spend some of my down time stretching and trying to add to my hip and knee flexibility.

This is the basic, yet effective, breakdown for leg day:

WEIGHT x REPS x SETS

Barbell squat:

  • 135 x 10 x 2
  • 225 x 12 x 1
  • 245 x 12 x 2
Leg curl:
  • 135 x 12 x 3
Ab machine:
  • 135 x 75
Final thoughts: I may take the hypertrophic aspect of leg day and do one better; setting the reps to anywhere in the 15 to 20 range. Weight is a secondary priority to form, and I want to really get used to a deep, legitimate technique.

5 comments:

  1. Maybe you should only do your cardio days in the morning. Minimal energy is required to get through a 3-5 mile run, so a half a bagel (or nothing, really) is enough to get you through. Save the major weight lifting for after work when you have enough energy and can have your shake afterwards, too.

    And take a shower. Gross.

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    1. StacyB,
      Interesting suggestion, and it would work, but I think running early in the morning would definitely warrant a shower afterwards, and I just don't think I can get up early enough to take care of that before work. Showers are for the weak.

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  2. Make the shake the night before, keep it in a lunch box with an ice pack. I did this though my first 2 years of school. You can also put a sandwich and a yogurt in there for 1 extra meal throughout the day in addition to what you are eating now. As far as not eating well before your workout, that kinda sucks. Can we get a timeline of all this stuff. What time are you waking up?

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    Replies
    1. Great question, and another benefit I've found to buying in bulk at BJ's is that it regulates my meals to become more consistent. Here is how my diet has been the last week:

      8:45-9:30am: drink water bottle of whole milk (with chocolate syrup added)
      9:00am: 3 hard boiled eggs
      9:30am: either 1 bagel or 1 large muffin
      11:00am: Oikos fruit on the bottom greek yogurt
      12:30pm: either firehouse sub/ reheated chicken kabob/ pollo tropichop
      2:00pm: handful of honey roasted peanuts
      4:00pm: tupperware of cut strawberries and blueberries
      7:00pm: either shepherd's pie/ chicken kabobs
      9:00pm: either chocolate muffin/ brownie sundae

      Now that I will prepare a post-workout shake, I'll be well over 3500 cal a meal. I'm using myFitnessPal as an app, which gives you a bunch of macro info such as calories, %fat/carb/protein in diet, and options to track weight. I have a lot more calories from fat than I'd care to, but the protein shake will offset that a bit.

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  3. I saw from the previous post its like 730 which is pretty early. Could you wake up at like 630, eat and get there at 730 or is that too ridiculous?

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