Happy Friday! This week went really fast for me, between busy work days, Mavs winning, Bruins winning, ya know, just greatness in general. I leave for Denver next Friday for a mini summer vacation and couldn't possibly be more excited. I miss home so much, and I only get a chance to go back a couple times a year, so I am thrilled it is coming up soon! Yesterday was absolutely beautiful here in Boston, high 80's and sunny with low humidity. One of my good friends from college took the MCAT yesterday so we celebrated with a drink on the patio of one of my favorite places in Cambridge. Nothing like enjoying a nice cold beer outside on a warm summery evening. Can't help but smile!
I woke up this morning knowing that the next couple of days would bring clouds and rain, but luckily the morning was clear. I did a nice 6 mile loop along the Charles River, it was a beautiful warm morning [although windy] and it is always great to get outside and breath in the fresh air during a morning run. I have been doing 4 mile runs pretty easily lately so I thought I would challenge myself a bit. My body felt great through 6 miles! 13.1 miles on October 9th is my longer term goal. My first couple of half marathons were paced around 8:40 miles so my goal for the Denver Rock & Roll Half Marathon is something closer to 8:00 miles. Time to do work.
I wanted to take this opportunity to touch on some lifting basics. A friend forwarded a lifting program that him and his buddy have been following for the past several weeks. As I went through it, I saw some aspects of the program that I really liked, and some that I would do differently. While everyone has differing opinions on the optimal lifting program, I thought I would share some of my thoughts that came up as I was looking through the program.
1. Full body vs. upper/lower body focus. My general rule is if you lift at least 3 days a week, you should focus on either upper OR lower body each day. I lift 3 to 4 times a week, and do 2 days upper body, 2 days lower body. The more you exhaust any given muscle group, the more it tears down and rebuilds which leads to better muscle growth and development. If you only touch on each muscle group for one lift during your routine, the process of tearing and regenerating is much less intense. If you can only get to the gym to lift 1 or 2 times a week, you are stuck with total body lifts so you can get it all in.
2. Stay away from machines [generally]. Whenever you have the options to use free weights, meaning barbells, dumbells, kettlebells etc... USE THEM. Free weights engage loads of muscle groups that machines do not. Particularly, you engage core muscles and gain balance by choosing to use free weights over a stationary machine. I only use two machines at the gym: the cable machines, and the leg press. Cable machines are arguably more of a free weight exercise than a standard machine. Leg press allows you to load on weight and exhaust your glutes/quads without putting too much pressure on your knees, but if I had to choose between free weight squats and leg press, it would be no question. I only use leg press as an accompanying exercise to free weight squats. Machines are simply the lazier option and engage fewer muscle groups, stay away if you have a free weight equivalent as an option.
3. Variety is your best friend. Doing the same set of exercises week after week does little to challenge your body. You are doing yourself no favor by repeating the same routine for weeks on end. Even if you vary up the weight and repetitions, changing the exercise will do wonders for you body. For example, if you want to integrate lunges into your Wednesday lower body lift, you can switch between forward lunges, reverse lunges, side lunges, split squat lunges, etc... Try to vary your lift up as much as possible to optimally challenge your muscle groups. If you are putting the time in, don't you want the most out of your effort? Changing up your routine is one of the best ways to see results.
4. Rest time. I have always been a believer in short rest. It challenges you cardiovascularly and optimizes your time usage. You can get a great sweat going with lifting [no cardio required] if you take short rest between sets. Even better, if you do circuits or supersets, your 'rest' is an accompanying exercise. If you are maxing out on squats, bench or something similar, you will want a couple of minutes between sets [I actually superset and do pushups, core or something similar in between maxing sets to minimize rest]. However, any other lifting routine can utilize short rest to increase cardiovascular fitness and challenge your muscles even further. Short rest = harder. Again, if you are putting the effort into going to the gym, you want optimal results. Short rest it is, my friend!
There are so many basics when it comes to lifting routines, but these four points came into my head as I was critically analyzing the lifting routine sent along by my friend. Thought I would share in hope that it might help! Have a fabulous Friday!
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