I definitely got back into the grind today, and I am feeling good! I didn't stress over my weight gain today, and I actually felt pretty thin this morning. The scale still had a higher number, but my measurements haven't changed, except for my hips. This leads me to believe that the weight I gained isn't necessarily all fat, because if it was my waist measurements would definitely be larger. I think my hips were about an inch bigger due to the double leg days I've been doing. Squats are definitely doing their job! Gains in all the right places! I didn't feel deprived of food at all today. I ate when I was hungry and had about 5 meals in total.
New workouts started this week as well, and the active rests and sprints have been replaced by super intense circuits. Circuits are groups of exercises done in succession without resting in between. You rest for 2-5 minutes after the circuit is complete before doing the circuit all the way through again. I'm talking 150 reps per circuit, done 4 times. I am not kidding when I say I felt like I was going to either puke or pass out through most of the workout. My heart rate got to 173, which for me is extremely high, because my heart rate recovers fairly quickly. It didn't go much lower than 140 throughout the entire workout, so I was definitely well within the fat loss zone! If you want a kick ass leg workout, try this out for size:
Circuit (3-4 rounds--I did 4.):
- Barbell Squats: 30 reps
- Leg Press: 30 reps
- Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift: 30 reps
- Barbell Lunges: 30 reps
- Calf Press on the Leg Press Machine: 30 reps
The only thing I had to adjust was the Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift. During the first circuit at about rep 27 of deadlifts, my lower back started seizing up and my right hip got all tingly, so rather than pushing it, I dropped the deadlift reps down to 15 for the rest of the circuits. I didn't have any problem after that, and I don't think it took much away from the intensity. I also could have kept it at 30 reps and lowered the weight on the barbell for the same effect. In about 45 minutes, I completed 4 rounds of the circuit and burned 396 calories. Once the throw up feeling went away, I felt pretty good. I am interested to see how the rest of the circuits will go this week. I definitely like the intensity of them, and they seem to go by pretty fast. The only trouble with circuits is in a busy gym, sometimes someone jumps on one of your machines when you're doing another part of the circuit.
Hope everyone had a successful start to their week. I am just hoping mine goes by quickly, because I am super looking forward to Saturday already! But first I have to get through 4 more workouts, an overnight, and two other work shifts!
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