Pushing 50

Reps that is--not age, since I'm pushing 61 there. Mark was all about 50 reps today: 50 squats down to touch my butt on a ball on the floor that was about 1 foot high, 50 lunges, 50 pushups, 50 dips, and 50 presses (fortunately with only 8 pound weights).

This was quite a departure from the workouts I do normally. Generally, the trainer will have picked out 3 to 4 exercises, and I do 12-15 reps of each, generally alternating upper and lower body, but sometimes incorporating both, like doing a squat while holding dumbbells, and moving to a press at the top of the squat. And then repeat 2-3 times, and then do another set of 3-4 exercises. So while I might do 45 reps of an exercise, it's usually 12-15 at a time, with other exercises in between.

When Mark first told me to do 50 squats, I thought he was joking. And following squats with lunges, and pushups with dips, meant I was doing 100 reps using the same muscles. I had to take a few short breaks, particularly with the pushups and dips, but it felt great to do that many reps. Of course, I am having trouble raising my arms to type this. Good thing it's Patriot's Day and I don't have to do much today.

I was able to hold a plank for 2 minutes and 22 seconds today, 22 seconds longer than on Friday. I'm excited to see how long I can keep improving.