Taking the Lunge

I did my first workout of my new training program today. The first thing I learned is that when I'm working with a trainer 3 days a week, we really focus on specific muscle groups each session, as opposed to the whole body workout I'm used to with once a week training.

After warming up, here are the two things I did:

160 lunges. That is a lot of lunges. I am anticipating problems sitting down and standing up tomorrow. My quads, hamstrings, and glutes were burning by the time we were done. Here's a picture of me doing a lunge while Brandon makes sure I have no form breaks.

I can't do lunges without the pole yet because of the stiffness and soreness in my left ankle and foot, but I can reassure you, it didn't make it easier.

I also did 71 presses, alternating between 10, 12, and 15 pound dumb bells. That's a weird number, isn't it. My triceps already are sore, and I didn't even know I used my triceps to do presses. Here's a lovely picture of me exhibiting classic signs of muscle failure.

I love feeling sore after a hard workout, so tomorrow will be a good day.

I also did an assessment of my overall fitness. It's the 7th assessment I've done since I started working out at Fitness Together in 2007, and my last one was in April, right before I broke my arm. It's really interesting to see what sitting around for 6 months has done to my fitness level. I read once that you lose the effects of training in 1 month, so I thought after 6, I'd be completely out of shape. My overall fitness level is 63 (I have no idea what the top of the scale is). That's down from 71 in April, but is still above average, and higher that my fitness level in 2007 and the beginning of 2009, despite being at my highest weight!

The most surprising result is that my resting heart rate is 62, which is well below the average rate, and the lowest I've tested. I'm attributing that to the excellent job I did resting in my chair for 6 months Here I am, with the boot on my leg and splint on my arm, working away on my resting heart rate. Look at that--I'm wearing my same workout clothes!