My Workouts of the Week + A Rambunctious Pre-St. Patrick's Day

This was another week of doing pretty well at the gym! It's becoming a nearly habitual part of my day-to-day, and that's a habit I'm notttt mad about forming. Just need to make sure that I don't injure myself. God knows I'm prone to doing that, so... knock on wood.

Here's what I was up to at the gym this week:

3/9 (upper body)

3x: 13 seated rows, 37.5 lbs

3x: 13 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

3x: 13 bent over rows, 12.5 lbs each hand

3x: 13 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

1x: 8 overhead press on exercise ball, 10 lbs each hand *too heavy!

2x: 8 overhead press on exercise ball, 7.5 lbs each hand

3x: 13 lat pulldowns, 37.5 lbs

3x: 10 deltoid flys, 7.5 lbs each hand

3x: 8 deltoid raises, 7.5 lbs each hand

3x: alternating chest flys with a 6 lb medicine ball

13 overhead press, 5 lbs each hand

13 overhead press, 7.5 lbs each hand

8 overhead press, 10 lbs each hand

10 push-ups

3/10 (lower body)

5 mins elliptical

3x: 30 calf raises, 17.5 lbs each hand

3x: 15 leg lifts from side plank, each side

3x: 15 deadlifts, 17.5 lbs each hand

3x: 20 side lunges + plyometric push-off, each side

2:15 jumping jacks

3x: 8 single leg deadlifts, 7.5 lbs each hand (I don't know why, but these are SO HARD for me!)

3x: 15 static lunges each leg, holding 6 lb medicine ball overhead

1:10 plank

10 mins hiking* treadmill

3/11 (core)

5 mins treadmill

3x: 30 Brazilian crunches

3x: 15 crunches on exercise ball, holding 15 lbs

3x: 10 plank pike up on exercise ball

3x: 15 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 7.5 lbs

3x: 30 cobras

3x: 30 v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs

3x: 15 dynamic side planks each side

3/13 (cardio)

45 mins hiking*/jogging on treadmill - here's the min-by-min breakdown:

    0-4 varying hike

    4-5 jogging 4.4 mph

    5-9 varying hike

    9-10 jogging 4.5 mph

    11-14 varying hike

    14-15 jogging 4.6 mph

    15-19 varying hike

    19-20 jogging 4.7 mph

    20-24 varying hike

    24-25 jogging 4.9 mph

    25-29 varying hike

    29-40 jogging 5-6mph

    40-45 varying hike/cooldown

30 bodyweight squats + 20 squat pulses

3/14 (upper body)

3x: 10 chest press on exercise ball, 15 lbs each hand

3x: 10 bent over rows, 15 lbs each hand

3x: 10 deltoid flys, 7.5 lbs each hand

3x: 10 deltoid raises, 7.5 lbs each hand

3x: 10 overhead press, 7.5 lbs each hand

3x: 13 lat pulldowns, 37.5 lbs

3x: 26 alternating chest flys with 6 lb medicine ball

* When I go "hiking" on the treadmill, I adjust the intensity and/or incline every minute for the entire duration, making sure to go through the entire range of available inclines (0-15).

I'm trying to increase my arm/chest strength ("pushing" exercises like chest presses) before I increase any of the weight on my "pulling" exercises (seated or bent over rows) so that my chest muscles have a chance to catch up to my back muscles. From what I have learned, if your back muscles are much stronger than your chest then you're not building a balanced upper body. I've moved up to 15 lbs for presses now, and once that becomes easy then I'll increase to 17.5 - probably in a few weeks? And won't that be exciting??!?

Speaking of exciting, here's a sneak peek of the first video I shot with my company's YouTube channel a few weeks ago:

Watch out world, there's a whole video coming. (Update: Here it is.)

I made sure to get in a Saturday morning workout this weekend because I knew that there'd be some ridiculousness happening later that day. My friends had planned an afternoon of early St. Patrick's Day festivities!

Around 2:30 on Saturday, a group of us met up at Orleans in Somerville's Davis Square for early afternoon drinks and apps. As I promised on Friday, I did indeed enjoy some Bailey's Irish Cream mixed with iced coffee and topped with whipped cream. Obviously, my kind of drink.

From there, we decided on a whim to go bowling, so we drove/Ubered over to Lanes and Games in Cambridge, which is fo' sho' a recurring favorite place to have fun together.  Ten of us played 2 games on adjoining lanes, and more drinks and apps were had. I bowled a 101 my first game (not bad, for me) and then put in a dismal performance during the second game. I can't remember my score but it was probably less than 60? #facepalm

After bowling, some of the group splintered off, but some of us headed back to "after party" (it was only 8:45pm) at the house of my friends in Somerville. Insert drinks, darts, and dancing over the next 4 hours. It was a good night.

This morning afternoon when I got out of bed, I headed straight over to Donut Villa to fill my stomach with greasy breakfast food and the best-effing jelly donut I've ever had. How do they make them taste so good? The owner of the restaurant, John, told me with a wink that he gets them from Dunkin Donuts every morning, but I shook my head at him and told him I could taste the difference. Sidebar, they all love me at the Villa now. Score!

Anyway, I'm going to relax so hard the rest of the afternoon. You can catch me lounging in the bathtub and then watching a movie - or a few episodes of Game of Thrones. It's that kind of a recovery day, haha!

I hope you had a great weekend yourself. Any fun shenanigans or challenging workouts going on in your neck of the woods?

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