Workout Wednesday

Let's focus on the back today. This is probably the biggest area I struggle with as far as what to do for it. I like to work my back and shoulders together on the same days. Usually when I go to the gym I do 3 days a week of strength training, back and shoulders one day, legs one day and biceps, triceps and chest another day. I am thinking about changing it to 4 days and doing one day chest and abs. We will see how that works. These are just my days in the gym of strength training. I do cardio there sometimes, not that much I am thinking about adding some more of that to my routine, and of course I do lots of other things at home.  Anyways I have gotten side tracked again. Back to the back :) (See what I did there). My go to exercises for the back are dickersons, lat pulldowns and seated cable rows. I do other things as well, but those 3 are in my routine every week.

Let me explain those three to you.

Dickersons (straight arm pulldown)
You are standing on this one, I like to use the short straight bar. Attach your bar to the cable machine at about shoulder height. Grab the bar walk backwards a little bit, and pull down with your back not your arms.

 

 

 

Lat pulldowns

You are seated in this exercise. Sit down on the pulldown machine with a wide bar attached to the top pulley. Grab the bar with the palms facing forward. You can do a wide, medium or shorter grip depending on what you want to work on exactly. Pull the bar down in front of you, not behind your head, until it touches your chest. Once again you should be using your back to pull it down. Slowly raise the bar back while staying seated.

 

 

 

 

 

Seated cable rows

You are also obviously sitting in this one at a low pulley row machine with a V-bar. Sit on the machine with your feet on the platform and grab the v-bar (your palms will be facing each other). Your knees should be slightly bent. Your back should be slightly arched with your chest sticking out. Keeping the torso stationary pull the bar back towards you (once again using your back to pull) also try to keep your elbows close to your body.

 

 

 

 

What are some of your go to back exercises?





Strength Sunday

Todays strength post is not about a specific workout, but rather where you gather your strength from. I think this is very important not only in your fitness/health life, but in your everyday life. We all have those days where we just feel as if we cannot do anything. In those times we need to look inside and see where we get our strength from. What is it that keeps us going?

Everyone has something different that drives them and gives them strength. I have several things. First for me I gain my strength from my faith in God. I know that I am able to do even the things that I find the most difficult through my faith. This makes the impossible seem possible. Things may not always work out exactly how I want and when I want, but they will always work out. When I feel as if I can't go on I turn to God, and then I get my strength to keep going.

I also gain strength from my family. I want to be a good role model for my children, as I have said many times. They need to see that I always have the strength to get up and do it again. I do not want to make promises and then break them. I do not want to disappoint my family. I want to be their inspiration, and help give them strength. I know I can get up and do it because they are all rooting for me to. With my family by my side I know I can achieve anything.

 

 

 

I also gain strength from myself. I think inner strength is beautiful. You should always believe you can do it, and somehow you will. I have struggled with this for a long time. I am doing this for me. I am getting healthier for me. I have the strength inside me to keep going. Nobody can ever take that away from me. When I feel down I just look inside, and tell myself yes I can do it!

 

 



So there are a lot of things that give me strength. Some things that I did not mention, but these are my main three. What gives you strength? How do you keep going when you want to just give up?

Get MOTIVATED!!

I know we have all been there it is late at night, and we think tomorrow I am going to start, I am going to get up and workout. Then we wake up and the motivation is completely gone. What happened in those 8 or so hours that we slept? Why is it gone now? How do you get yourself remotivated and stop saying tomorrow I will do it? Obviously just get up and do it is the first thing that comes to mind. Stop saying tomorrow and do it now. I know from experience, and I still have days where I do not feel motivated, that it is not that simple.

 

 

I think the first thing to get yourself motivated, or remotivated is to look at your goals. Yes look at your big goals and what you want to achieve in the big picture, but I think it is more important to look at the smaller goals. If you look at too many goals at one time you may get yourself overwhelmed and just get up, I know it has happened to me a lot. I like to list my goals out, and pick a small one and focus on that one until I achieve it. Run a 10 min mile, fit in a certain size, get xx oz of water in everyday, get xx min of activity in everyday, etc...Focusing on that one goal. Write that goal down, and look at it everyday. Write it where you will see it, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in your car etc...Once you reach that goal check it off, and move onto the next goal. Focus on just htat goal do not worry about the other ones on your list. You will get very excited and motivated about being able to check goals off your list.

 

 

Find inspiration. Look for what inspires you, reading peoples blogs, starting your own blog, read books, find a goal outfit, research your goals, talk to others about it whatever inspires you. When you feel inspired you are more likely to want to achieve your goal. If you let other people know what your goals are you also will feel more motivated to want to achieve it because you want to be able to say yes I achieved it!

 

Talk about your goals daily. Trust me I know that people will get sick of hearing about them, but it helps keep you motivated to always have them on your mind. I am not saying you should be obsessed with them, but make them important in your life.

 

Find the time of the day that you have the most energy. Start working out at that time. I actually like to do it the opposite way. I know the times that I am the least energetic I try to workout then. Those are the times that I want to just sit there, and do nothing. I find that is the time that I need to get up the most. Find what works for you. Try to always work out at the same time everyday in the beginning. That way you know, "oh it is 12 o'clock time to workout". Schedule it. That way you will be more likely to follow it.

 

I think the one of the most important things is to find something you like. If you do not like strength training you are not going to be motivated to go do it, same thing if you do not like running you will not be motivated to go do it. Find what kinds of activities you like, and stick to those. You can slowly add other activities in when your motivation goes up. Trust me when you start reaching your goals you will want to start doing more and more.

 

Find a buddy. You guys can help keep yourself accountable. It is so much easier to get up and go if you know that someone else is going to be depending on you as well. It also feels great to achieve your goals together. You can talk about your goals with one another to keep yourselves inspired and motivated.

 

Stop making excuses. This is probably one of the hardest things to overcome. We always have excuses for not doing something. I'm too old, I don't have the time, I don't have the equipment, I don't have the money etc...Absolutely none of these excuses are valid reasons to not get in some physical exercise. I have seen men and women in their 80's lifting weights at the gym, get in a quick workout on your lunch break, before work, after work, as soon as you wake up, in the evening instead of watching tv, turn on some music and dance around the house, you do not have to have money or equipment to workout. Running is free, use some cans as weights, look on you tube for different exercise routines. So stop making the excuses. Take responsibility and get up and do it. If it is important to you then you will find a way to do it.

 

Some other things that can help keep motivation up are changing up your routine. If you do the same thing all the time then you probably will not be too excited to go do it again. Change it up. Also music is very motivational for me. Find a playlist that works for you. I do not get that motivated by the music they play at the gym so I listen to my own music.

 

So as soon as you finish reading this get up and do something active. If you feel unmotivated again come back and read this again and get up and move.  

 

 

 

What are some tips that you have to keep yourself motivated?

 

 



Strength Sunday

Want to get a good workout for your triceps? Try some skull crushers. Trust me you will feel it the next day. They will help you achieve that coveted horseshoe muscle.                  
"There's never been an exercise with a cooler name than the skull crusher. This movement is also known as the "lying triceps extension," but why call it that when you can bellow like a Viking and proclaim that it's your right to crush skulls? You should probably perform them just for that reason alone, but by coincidence they are one of the best exercises for building massive triceps" (bodybuilding.com)

A skull crusher, tricep extension, is a very easy strength training workout. Basically lie flat on a bench and use either a barbell or dumbbells. Bring your feet up on the bench with your knees bent. Hold the weight above your head and bring it down towards the tip of your head keeping your elbows bent the whole time. Easy right? Go do some, and the word easy probably won't come to mind.


Go crush some skulls and build those horseshoes.


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/crush-it-heavy-skull-crushers-for-titanic-triceps.html