I need a PLAN.

I have been all over the place in my strength training lately. There are several reasons for this...

1. I am trying to be kind to my knee and my groin.

2. I feel like I need to progress but I don't know how.

3. I am lacking real performance goals 
and am focusing on aesthetic goals.

4. I still worry about how many calories I am burning.

ARGH!!! Let's break it down...

"I am trying to be kind to my knee and my groin."

This is a valid problem. I don't want to injure or re-injure anything that has recently been giving me issues. My groin has been great, (teehee!!!) but I'm still not loading up on the weights while doing lunges because I want to be cautious. As for my knee, nothing in my weight training program has really hurt it. I am just not increasing weights at the moment because I don't want to push things until I hear back about my MRI...

"I feel like I need to progress but I don't know how."

I feel stuck. I want a big strong body builder to tell me what to do. Or, I could just set goals and and do it on my own. Yes! I need to get out my pen and clip board and take it to the gym with me.

"I am lacking real performance goals and am focusing on aesthetic goals."

Confession: A major goal of mine is for my arms to look "awesome". How does one define/measure that in the gym? I do not know. Of course hard work and lifting heavy weights will have the side effect of making my arms look awesome, or at least,  better than they look at the moment. But is that a healthy goal??? I DO want to be stronger, I truly do, but I also want to LOOK GOOD. I'd be lying if I said I didn't.

"I still worry about how many calories I'm burning."

This leads to less rest. Which leads to less muscle recovery. Which leads to sub par performance at the gym. Why do I feel the need to hop on the arc trainer after a strenuous leg day? BECAUSE I MUST BURN CALORIES, DAMNIT. BECAUSE I WANT TO EAT ICE CREAM, DAMNIT. These are not good reasons to get on the arc trainer. I KNOW that.

Motivation!!!

As you know, I've been studying for my ACE Personal Trainer Certification. I'm currently plowing through the chapter on strength training programming and design. Reading this chapter has motivated me GREATLY and I am now reassessing the purpose of my gym time. This week, I am hashing out goals, and developing a plan for myself. 

This is what I know so far...

I am going to be training for muscular strength. This means, lower reps, higher weights, and more rest time between sets. Oh, and also more rest time between sessions. 72 hours, to be exact.

Monday & Thursday = Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

Tuesday & Friday = Back, Biceps, and Legs (still taking it easy on the legs!)

That leaves Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays for running and/or HIIT.

My goal is to stick with this schedule. If I overeat Monday night and am DYING to go for a calorie blasting run Tuesday morning, I am NOT ALLOWED TO. I will make myself stick to my schedule. (Don't worry, I'll let you know if I slide.)

As for my goals in the gym, I came up with some performance goals, rather than aesthetic goals.

Goal #1: Perform 3 unassisted pull ups.

(I can currently do 1)

Goal #2: Do 100 push ups in a row.

(I can currently do 37)

Goal #3: Bench Press 100lbs (using the Smith Machine. I have to. I don't have a spotter!!)

(I can currently do 75lbs... this includes the bar.)

These are clearly long term goals. These are not things that I'm going to be able to do next month. But I plan on hashing out smaller goals in between so I have a time frame to try to reach what I ultimately want to do.

I work well with a plan. I need a PLAN!

Let's see if this works!!!



What are your current goals in the gym???