This week consisted of many personal records. Similar to last week, I found that I was stronger than I thought and could lift more weight than I had anticipated. I can see a huge difference in my strength and I think progressive overload is working for me. Progressive overload is when you add a little more weight to your workouts each week. I have been trying to increase my weight by 5 or 10 pounds every workout. For example, on Monday of this week I did lat pull downs of 65 pounds. On Sunday, I increased the weight by 5 pounds and was able to do 70 pounds. When I increase weight, I try to do less repetitions to not overwork my muscles. I know that at the new weight I am able to do I will eventually be able to do more repetitions, but for now I am focusing on lifting the maximum amount of weight I can, even if that means not being able to do as many repetitions.
This week I went on a hike up Old Baldy Mountain. I am not used to doing cardio and I have been trying to add cardio exercises into my workouts. Usually I am so burnt out by the end of my workouts that I skip cardio, but I know it is good for my health and my fitness progress. I am trying to add a little cardio at the end of my workouts even if it is only for five minutes. On Sunday I rowed for 1000m using a rowing machine. I wish I was able to do more, but I will do my best to continue to add cardio into my workouts in the upcoming weeks and hopefully see some more progress.
Monday
- Lat pull down (65lb) 4 sets of 10
- Cable row (90lb) 4 sets of 8
- Assisted pull ups (30lb decrease) 5 sets of 5
- Straight arm bent over pull down (77.5lb) 4 sets of 8
- Cable bicep curls (37.5lb) 4 sets of 10
- Half-kneeling cable vertical row (57.5lb) 4 sets of 10
- Hammer curls and bicep curls super set (12lb) 3 sets of 10
Tuesday
- Rest day
Wednesday
- Hip Thrust (135lb) 4 sets of 8
- RDL’s (85lb) 4 sets of 10
- Bulgarian split squats (20lb x 2) 4 sets of 8
- Leg press (237lb) 4 sets of 10
- Single leg press (130lb) 4 sets of 10
- Leg curl (50lb) 4 sets of 8
Thursday
- Dumbbell bench press (35lb x 2) 4 sets of 8
- Bench press – 105lb for 2 reps, 95lb for 4, 95lb for 2 sets of 5
- Tricep extension (60lb) 4 sets of 10
- Face pulls (60lb) 4 sets of 10
- Machine fly (84lb) 3 sets of 10
- Skull crushers (35lb) 3 sets of 10
- Shoulder press (25lb x 2) 3 sets of 8
- Tricep dips (25lb decrease) 3 sets of 10
- Barbell upright row (43lb) 3 sets of 10
- Barbell over head press until failure (35lb)
Friday
- Rest day
Saturday
- Hike up Old Baldy Mountain
Sunday
- Lat pull down (70lb) 4 sets of 8
- Straight arm bent over pull down (77.5lb) 4 sets of 8
- Cable bicep curls (30lb) 3 sets of 10
- Bent over barbell rows (75lb) 4 sets of 8
- Assisted Pull ups (25lb decrease) 5 sets of 5
- Assisted Chin ups (17.5lb decrease) 5 sets of 5
- Half-kneeling cable vertical row (65lb) 4 sets of 8
- Hammer curls (15lb x 2) 3 sets of 10
- 1000m row
brianmajic
February 26, 2022 — 4:54 pm
Hi Liv,
I am very happy to see that you are exploring progressive overload and that it is working for you. It is a very useful tactic. As I have been playing hockey throughout the year, I have been focussing less on building muscle and more on maintaining, and now that hockey is beginning to phase out, progressive overload is working wonders once again for me. There is definitely a conflict in that you must sacrifice reps in order to increase the weight, however, soon enough you will be able to reach the same reps at the lower weight.
I hope that you are able to continue to include cardio in your workouts. I think that you will find that you will notice better results, specifically muscle growth, if you include cardio at the end of your workouts. While you could include it at the start, doing cardio before a workout tends to put more emphasis on cardiovascular endurance than it does on muscle growth.
I am looking forward to seeing more progress!