Greetings! I'm akimbo (my nickname from my first name Kim). I finally got around to moving my butt last year and lost 20 pounds. This year has been hard to start, but I've come back around to the right mindset and have started back into fitness. I'll also be logging this stuff on my fitnessy blog at
Make It So!
I've weight trained in bits and pieces last year, and I've always kind of known I needed it. I even took a semester of weight training in high school, but I think that's because it was the least sweaty P.E. class
Obviously I wasn't working very hard!
Stats!
Age: 34
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 221
Hips: 51" Waist: 41" Bust: 44" Thigh: 28" Calf: 16" Arm: 15"
I'm working out at the local rec center that has a cardio centered room and a weight centered room. The cardio room has free weights and stretching area (and a Precor stretching machine) and of course cardio machines. The weight room has a power/safety rack, smith machine, benches, barbells, dumbbells and lots of weight machines. All this for only $14 a month! (I'd happily pay more!). Some day maybe another female will venture into the weight room. Too much testosterone, but it doesn't intimidate me. I work in I.T. and I'm used to being the only girl
On the nutrition front, I've pretty much got the eating thing down pat, I've just had to add more protein for the strength training.
My first workout with NROLFW!!!
Stage 1, Workout A
Warmup: 5 min ergometer (I should add something else too)
A: Squat: 2 sets: (Body Weight) BWx15, BWx15 (with wooden dowel)
B1: Pushup: 45 degrees, 2 sets: 8, 6
B2: Seated Row: 2 sets: 30#x15, 45#x15
C1: Step-Ups (Bench about 8" high): 2 sets: 16#x15, 16#x15
C2: Prone Jackknife: 2 sets: 6,8
Cardio: None. Could barely walk. Princess Jellylegs!
Stretching: Lots. No walking involved!
Squat: A lot harder than I thought going in. I was never getting thighs parallel to the floor in group fitness classes. 15 plain old squats with decent form made me huff and puff. I'm going to wait a while to try it with the barbell in the safety rack as I don't have enough flexibility in my arms and shoulders to hold the bar on my back. (I'll probably try dumbbell squats first). I did one set with a long wooden dowel I found in the weight room and did some extra stretching with that later. My left side is much worse due to a frozen shoulder I had a few years ago that I never quite got all the range of motion back from. More stretching needed!
Pushup: Done at about 45 degree angle on the counter. Someday I'll make it to the floor. I can do about 1/2 of one on the floor with my knees down
Its so much harder when you're over weight, that's a lot of pounds to push up! (Would I look like a complete dork if i brought my push up bars in?)
Seated Row: Yup. Not terribly exciting. Need to try next weight up next time.
Step-Ups: Not much to say here either except my legs were feeling like jelly at the end
Prone Jackknife: I'm sure I gave the boys a good show (next time I'm tucking in my shirt!). I had drug the step for the stepups over to the uncrowded end of the weight room and pulled out a squishy mat and a ball. I couldn't get my shins on the ball but I got plenty of workout with my thighs on it. I also had to use my fists (on the squishy mat) because of the
ganglion cysts in my wrists. I can't bend them to an appropriate angle to have hands flat on the mat (same with pushups). I thought it would be much more painful on my hands than it was! Yippee!
I wonder how sore I'll be tomorrow! I'm getting some dental work done tomorrow so hopefully I won't be miserable from head to toe
Cheers!