Sick and Sore

Monday night wasn't so great.  I thought I was having allergies which turned out to be a nasty cold.  No fun.  Plus the only thing I want to eat when I have a cold is chocolate.

I worked Tuesday so no exercise there except going up and down stairs.  Tuesday night was worse than Monday night.  Thank goodness for Sudafed, Benadryl and Motrin.

Wednesday I had high hopes that I would do some exercise so I woke up, medicated and put on exercise clothes.  I didn't do an actual work-out but I did ride my bike over to the little mall down the street.  At least it got the blood flowing and kept me from feeling like a lump.  Round trip it was about 20 minutes.

Today.  Much better.  Still, woke up, medicated and put on exercise clothes but this time I went to the gym.  Here's how it went:

25 minutes walking on treadmill with heart rate around 75%.

Then:

15 decline push-ups using exercise ball
15 dumbbell squats, different variation each set (see below)
20 dumbbell lunges (see below)

Repeat above for a total of 3 sets.

I like to switch up how I do squats.  Today I changed each set.  So for the first set I used 2 12 pound dumbbells holding each in between my forefinger and middle finger.  Keep arms straight with weights perpendicular to floor.  Squat going as low as you can.  I think this is similar to a Sumo Dead lift.

For the second set, hold the dumbbells in each hand with palms facing towards you (reverse grip).  Squat with weights between legs and then swing the weights up to shoulder height as you stand up.  It's like a squat and Front Raise combined.

For the third set, Hold them the same way as the second set and start the motion the same but instead of stopping at shoulder, swing the dumbbells over your head.  This one really works your abs.

You can do all of these with kettle bells if you prefer.

For the lunges, combine a traditional lunge, alternating legs, with a modified hammer curl.  Hold dumbbells using hammer grip.  Start with arms flexed, dumbbells at chest.  As you lunge forward, extend dumbbells forward,  on each side of knee.  Step back and repeat with other leg.

Here's what I like about this little circuit: it attacks a lot of muscles in a small number of exercises.  You are doing upper and lower body plus core in these few movements.  Plus because these exercises use large muscles (quads, glutes), you can actually get your heart rate up into the aerobic, almost anaerobic zone.  And the rumor is that this kind of training burns more calories throughout the day.  One of the books I have refers to this as "combination exercises" or total body.   Call it whatever you want.    Exercising groups of muscles together just makes physiologic sense.  Plus with this style of training you are always working your core - balance is a requirement of these exercises.  And we all know that core is the trendy thing these days!

Here's how I know this works: I'm sore.  I can feel my muscles and you know what, it feels really really good.  And my cold is starting to go away.  Can't wait to try something else tomorrow!

Be well.  Oh, and stretch, of course.