THE OTHER WORKOUT

ARMS & BACK

Don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone who has been to school for personal training or fitness instruction but there are general rules that I have always observed and how I group my exercises is part of 'what I know'.

First, whatever muscle group you are working, the largest group is worked or exercised first. That is why I do the bench press first when working the chest. Same goes for why I do squats/leg press first when I work the legs.

I use the same philosophy for my arms and back. Whatever is the primary target of any muscle group, you work that first. My thinking is that you get the most 'blood' or stimulation of the area you are targeting. Then the other exercises for that group or area is used for 'shaping' or developing the secondary muscles in the area.

That is why whatever variation of the curl you are using, that is the 'lead' exercise. Standing, sitting, or barbell, including the curl machines that are in many gyms come first. I am using the alternate single arm seated curls and I break them down the same way I do the bench press, 12 reps at the lightest, with sets of 2@10, 8, 6 reps with the weight increase at 5lbs increments. I start with 35 lbs and I finish at 50 lbs.

From that I do 3 (12) of incline curls using 25 lbs. From there I hit the cable rows moving 60lbs and every exercise from here on is done in sets of 3(12). Finishing that, I do single arms rows @ 35lbs.

The lateral pull down is next @ 120 lbs. and then I do the Hammer machine pull down, putting 80lbs on each arm. I like the Hammer machines because they are ergonmically better for you and because they allow for the individual muscle(s) to support the weight. They don't 'cheat' like many of the other machines, Life Fit and Natuilus to name a couple.

I wanted to do some barbell shrugs but there was a line over where I do those so I didn't get to hit those today. What I did do were add two exercises for my legs, the leg abduction and adduction machines that I will do after my toe (calf) raises. And yes, I did a chest and leg workout prior to this!

WHY I WONDER...

I haven't weighed myself in a COUPLE of months of Sundays! I may have it written down either in a journal entry or on some piece of paper somewhere, but I do know that I haven't weighed myself since. Other than for a hot second when I was a teen and figured if I was at 170lbs at 14, I wasn't going to grow up to be a champion at 147lbs, I never was pressed about my weight. Working out placed a priority on being able to perform and long as I was able to do that, I was fine.

What I learned by adopting that attitude is that some people tended to get smaller before they actually lost weight. Because muscle takes up less space than fat, when you start toning up and creating muscle, your clothes will fit better before you show a loss on the scale. At least one that resembles anything dramatic.

Second, if your aerobic exercise doesn't reach or exceeds your threshold for 45 minutes a day 3 times a week, it is going to throw another crimp in your weight loss hopes. Muscle burns fat and all better at rest, but getting that aerobic threshold up is where you will help you metabolism out the most.

Finally, as the order that you do your exercises matter, same thing with when you do your aerobic specific and muscle building work. Do aerobics first and you burn calories. Lift weights and then run, you will shape your body.

Next, weights and reps!!