A couple of weeks ago, I said that I would be changing my Off Day to Friday because of the early sunset on Friday and I wouldn't be able to workout after work or in the morning because of my new class schedule. In the past, my tennis partner and I had Friday mornings off so I would get a workout in on Friday Mornings. But not this year. But, luckily, this Friday, my class was being taught by the other teacher so I had the morning free to do my workout in the morning. Plus, I woke up a lot earlier than expected so I had time to do my primary routine and Abs. This is the first time I started a workout before 8am. I was like, "Wa... WHAT???!!!" PLUS, I have a church event on Saturday night I need to attend. This is the main reason for needing to workout today. I know I won't have time to do a full workout tomorrow night. Plus Plus, I have the class next week so definitely no morning workout for the next two weeks.
I made a huge change in today's routine. I was looking at my notes from the last time I did this routine a couple weeks ago on the 8th of Oct. and I noticed that there were a lot of "Lt" notations meaning "Limit". That means I was unable to complete the set without a break. And also, I know that if I was unable to complete the set, the weights were too heavy and that my form was suffering, and that the target muscles were not being used as efficiently because I was using surrounding muscles to support and basically lift the weight. So, I decided to go down in the weights by 1.25-2.5kgs a set (but more on sets where I went up to 22-25kgs.) and work on form and focus on activating my chest muscles. First of all, I was able to complete every set, but just barely. I didn't take any "weights down" breaks, but I did take a few "hold the weights" breaks. For example, on the first Super Set, the Drop set heavy weight, on the 6th rep, I held the weights above my body for an extra breath before finishing out the last two reps. So I was able to keep the tension in my body by keeping the weights up, as opposed to totally releasing the tension by putting them down. Second, I was able to focus a lot more on flexing my chest to get the best pump and burn I could. Still, on the heave end, I would lose a little focus and employ more support/tertiary muscles get the weight up. I need to learn more control. I may need to go down a little more, at least on the heavy end so I can learn that control. The Force Set took me to the edge. The last two sets, Man, I was feeling it bad. I tried to focus on form and focus. I think I did okay, but I'm sure I missed the beat some. On the Progressive Set, I definitely need the "Hold" breaks a lot more. Here than any other move in the routine. Just to let a little pain off, but not the tension. No shaking it out till the set if completed. And on the Combo Set, no failure, but very close. I was happy to shore up my form and focus today. It was really tough to make that decision to go down in weight. I was thinking I was losing strength, I may be, but I think this will help me stay stronger longer. The Multi Set was good. I was able to finish the Decline Push Ups in each set, and the other two moves as well. I added the extra move with the bands, "Band Upper Cuts" again. Just a minor change in the band configuration as noted below. My right pec almost cramped!! So I backed off a bit so it wouldn't. And I tried to get the left pec to that same level or feel. Another good thing about the lower weights is that I didn't need as much extra time to mess with the plates and dumbbells. I was able to just quickly add a plate or remove a plate between certain sets and that saved a lot of time. Great routine work. I'm very happy with my performance.
Moved quickly to Abs, and did the same thing as I did yesterday to save time. Shorten the breaks and stretch breaks and took the time down a few minutes. I was considering going ahead and doing the splits, but decided against it. I'll do that on Saturday night.
In the end, I torched a good 773kcals this morning. AND I got a sweet BURN!!! Felt good to end my week with a good workout! Happy Weekend!!!
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