Rammin' and Jammin'

I set out for my run this morning with every intention of coming right home and cranking out a chest and back workout while I was still sweaty but returning home post-run absolutely sweaty, a shower seemed like just the ticket, especially since I knew I had some free time this afternoon to squeeze in my muscle session.  I should have known how that would go, as it always seems to turn out the same when  I do that to myself...I kept on doing "just one more thing" before my workout and before I knew it, it was 5:00 and time to feed the kiddos.  I got them in their high chairs, with their dinner on their trays and decided to seize the moment.  I knew I had a maximum of 15 minutes before they were squirming to get down so an intense workout was just what I needed.  I decided to do the following exercises in a pseudo-pyramid fashion:

• Bent over wide rows
• Bent over narrow rows
• Push-ups
• Bench press on stability ball
• Chest flyes on stability ball

The pyramid involved 10 sets of each exercise using the following number or reps, resting for 10 seconds between each set, except for between sets 9 and 10 when I rested for 30ish seconds:

• set 1: 10 reps
• set 2: 8 reps
• set 3: 6 reps
• set 4: 4 reps
• set 5: 2 reps
• set 6: 4 reps
• set 7: 6 reps
• set 8: 8 reps
• set 9: 10 reps
• set 10: as many as possible (usually ended up being about 12-15 for me)

I used 20 pound dumbbells (except for the push-ups) and felt like I had gotten a great workout by the time I was done.  Mission accomplished...just in time to clean the boys' mac n cheese remains from their fingers, faces, and of course, the floor.  Talk about a nice cool down :-) Life is good!

Pyramid Workout - FULL BODY

Today's workout was a quick, tough one.  I used a pyramid approach which works like this: 

Perform each set of exercises as a superset (back to back without rest).  Start with 10 reps of each exercise and do 1 less rep in each successive superset. I paired up the following exercises using this approach:

• Dumbbell Straight Leg Deadlifts and Dumbbell Rows
• Dumbbell Squats and Rotating Biceps Curls
• Push Ups and Squat Jumps
• Lunges (Right leg forward) and Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
• Lunges ( Left leg forward) and Overhead Shoulder Presses

I finished up the workout with 100 jumping jacks, 100 high knees, 100 butt kicks, 100 Heismans, and 100 jump ropes all done as quickly as possible with 30 seconds of rest in between each exercise.  

It was a great start to my Saturday.  Try it out and let me know what you think.  Hope you have a great weekend!