New Rules Of Lifting For Women – Stage 4 Workout A Day 3

Today I headed to the gym around lunch time – it was my first time going in the middle of the week day and it was  surprisingly busy. The Special One was working from home and Baby Girl was asleep so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to get my training session in early.

The big exercise for today was the front squat/push press. I really don’t like this exercise. It looks easy when I watch it on you tube but when I do it, I feel awkward and weak. My last workout was 2 sets (8 reps/set) x 20kg and 1 set of 25kg with no warmup. (No scolding please!) So I’m pretty pleased that today I pulled off a warmup set of 5 reps x 20kg followed by 3 sets (8 reps) of 25kg. That last set was more like 6 plus 2…lol! I think I looked like a contender for Barney the Dinosaur auditions! I swear my face turned purple. Haha!

When I started the program I did step ups on the bench usually used for classes. Now I’m using the bench from the big boys area. Oh my do step ups hurt now. I’m short – 1.63m (5’3?) – so I’ve a lot higher to climb…(cue the violins)

I pushed myself harder on each exercise today. Ummm except for planks. I seem to wipe out at 60s these days and I’ve done sets of 90s before but this stage is killing me with planks. I’ve only got one more of these A workouts to do so I’m hoping to finish with 120s. Wish me luck.

With the dumbbell one-point row I got a new PR of 14kg. It’s sounds like such a little BUT those 14kg dumbbells are mean! Static lunge rear foot elevated, again a PR of 14kg. Yay me! Push ups I did sets of 8 as per this stage. Feels easy-ish considering there were workouts when I had to do 15. Finally there were woodchops. I increased the weight again – used a 9kg dumbbell. I used an 8kg medicine ball last time but did day 1 with 9kg but then had a long break. The cable machine is always so busy so I tend to use a medicine ball or a dumbbell for these.

And there you have it. Today’s workout. No one stopping me today to ask for advice because I look like I know what I’m doing 😉 According to my heart rate monitor I burnt 362 calories. Of course I know that this isn’t accurate but I like setting the numbers add up.

Now I just need to work on my selfies! Lol.

First attempt – miserable fail! But can you see how purple I am?

Slightly better – the lighting in the changing rooms is pretty good. I was VERY RED!

Thanks for reading x