#activtrax

[cdevivo013]

Had an awesome shoulder/chest day at the gym. Activtrax scheduled me a shoulder/back day tomorrow for some insane reason, but my little terror threw a huge tantrum when I tried to pick her up from the kids room so we're not going tomorrow :(

[boyswanna-be-her]

operation casual badass continues

two days' worth of shit to catch up on:

MONDAY 5:00 jogging 

Decline DB bench press - 2x15, 1x12 with 20 lb dbs Reverse grip pushdown - (this felt super wrong??? and potentially hurtful? cables tho. i just do what the thing tells me.) 3x10 w/45 lbs 1-arm curl with twist - (yeah i had no idea wtf this was supposed to be so i just did the best i could without injuring myself, the instructional video was no help) 1x5 at 25 lbs, 1x6 at 25 lbs Hugh Pulley kickback (cables) - 2x10 with 20 lbs/side Low-pulley 1-arm curl (cables, i don't know what it wanted me to do so I just did normal curls with the cable machine designed for fucking curls, i was so mad by this point) - 2x10 at 30 lbs, 1x12 at 30 lbs/side Seated row - 2x10 w/70 (cables) Seated back extension (machine) - 1x20 w/65, 1x20 w/75  Seated lat raise (machine) - 2x10 w/30 lbs

20 crunches, 12 straight leg lift w/thrust, 20 crunches, 8 straight leg lift with thrust

20:00 interval running, 1.67 miles (which is exactly a 12-minute pace. I was GOING to make a damned 12 minute pace it if was the last thing I ever did)

TUESDAY

5:00 jogging 

Seated leg press (machine) - 1x15 at 110, 1x12 at 110, 1x12 at 120 Squats - 1x12 at 55, 2x10 at 65 Standing Leg curl (cables) 1x12 at 7.5/side, 1x10 at 10, 1x10 at 12.5 Standing leg extension (cables) 10 lbs across sets, 1x12, 1x10, 1x20/side Standing inner thigh (cables) 1x12 at 12.5, 2x10 at 15 lbs/side Stationary lunge (dbs) 1x10/side with 10 lb dbs, 2x10/side w/12.5 lb dbs

20 90-degree crunches, 10 obliques with arms extended/side, 15x "bicycle maneuver"/side, 12 obliques with arms extended/side

20:00 star climbing (51 floors)

Monday's conditioning felt fab. Like running felt great, no pain, decent cardio endurance with all things considered. Today's conditioning felt like major ass dragging.

Also the activtrax instructions don't match up exactly with the equipment it has me assigned to and some of its movements are basically made up. So I got pretty frustrated with Monday's workout. Like... I don't need 8 different goddamn ways to do a curl. I guess the good thing is I'm capable enough to do the dumbbell equivalent of most of what it wants me to do. 

The thing that annoys me the most is how completely inconsistent weights are between dumbbells, machines, and cables. Even cable machine to cable machine there are huge variations depending on how many pulleys are involved. 

I think maybe that is part of what feeds into powerlifters and other athletes getting an attitude problem about people who work out on machines. Like... if you're going to brag, it'd better damned well be about your unassisted movement. Let's not start comparing notes about our LEG PRESS pr's or something. If you want to be competitive about what you're "lifting" I think that you at least owe it to the world to do the actual lift and not do it with a machine.

By all means use the machine if that's what you wanna do. I'm behind that. Never touch a barbell if you don't want to. But don't get in someone's face about how much you lift or get an attitude when they tell you what they actually squat vs. what you leg press or machine squat or whatev.

Anyway the crowd this morning made me want to punch one million faces so I think I'm going to keep getting up early.

[boyswanna-be-her]

the Y just sent me an $8 off coupon for my membership fees because i've logged 8 workouts there and promised me $10 off if I log 10 workouts next month.

uhh what?? i like a gym that rewards me for going to the gym. thank you y.

[boyswanna-be-her]

Mon. 6/9/2014: Chest day

5:00 walk/jog on treadmill (.35 mi)

Cable Crossover - 20 lbs - 1x15, 12, 10 Incline Fly - 12.5 lb dumbbells 1x10, 15 lb dbs 2x8 Pec Fly (cable machine) - 3x5 at 35 lbs Seated Row (cable machine) - 1x10 at 60 lbs, 1x9 at 70, 1x10 at 70 Seated Back extension (machine) - 2x20 at 60 lbs, 1x15 at 70 Upright row (40 lb barbell) - 1x10, 1x15 High pulley kickback (cable machine) - 2x10 at 25 lbs Seated Triceps Extension (cable machine) 2x10 at 30 lbs

Crunch with heel push x 12; Side oblique crunch with heel push x 10/side; Reverse crunch x 12; Crunch x 12

20:00 Rowing with self-imposed intervals, 3784 meters

Figuring out where machines are is legitimately the worst thing on earth and probably harder than the actual workout. I am SO EXCITED that there are rowing machines. It's probably my favorite cardio. All of the machines felt good although I much prefer cable machines to the big bulky set-movement machines. Having a giant variety of dumbbells is amazing and beautiful.

What the fuck are crunches, why am I doing them? I don't know. ActivTrax told me to. They are terrible.

[boyswanna-be-her]

operation: casual badass

So, I joined the Y. The Y near my house is pretty fabulous and I had a good experience signing up and getting oriented. I do have a gym at home, but my motivation for joining the Y is that A. I haven't been good this year about sticking with workouts using the equipment we have at home and B. there's NOWHERE to run in my new neighborhood that is fun (plus it's 8,000,000 goddamned degrees outside).

So I went and did my orientation for the "ActivTrax" program, which is basically this computer program that designs workouts for you. I felt silly doing it because, like, I'm a Big Serious Powerlifter, I Competed In Powerlifting, Maybe You Don't Know What A Big Deal I Am, etc. I also was worried that the program was going to be weight loss-focused and that is certainly not my jam. My jam is becoming even more of a casual badass.

I got my first computer generated workout and I showed it to Jonathan. In my life, Jonathan is the arbiter of Legitness. And he felt that the workout it made me was, indeed, legit. So I felt a little less silly about it. I tried to get in on Saturday and Sunday to do my first ActivTrax workout but sadly my schedule was just fucked up and I didn't do it. So I finally went in today.

Anyway, my goal is to do 3-4 of these workouts a week and 1-2 straight powerlifting jams at home. We'll see how it goes. I just want to get back on track with muscle building. I'll go ahead and track my workouts on tumblr and I'll tag them so I can go back and see what's up. 

Just wanted to orient anybody paying attention to why my workouts are going to start looking dramatically different. 

[lifeofadaydreamer-blog]

Stay #slimandtrim it's a #Abs day... #getfitcrew #flatstomach #ymca #activtrax #workout #familyfit #fitness #fun #dancersdoitbetter

[brittykittybrit]

Why didn't I do this earlier

So I just switched gyms Monday, precision is a lot cleaner and organized! But it is also a lot more money... Especially since I want to keep activtrax! Going to the gym after work was getting hard so now I'm going in the morning and it is so wonderful! I don't know why I didn't do this earlier! I'm so motivated and pumped to stay on track! I want to actually try harder :)