Not the first day of the rest of my life, but a good work out

I worked out today with my trainer Mike Clegg.  I’m not sure if you call this semi-weekly, or semi-monthly, but we get together every other Tuesday.  Mike is definitely a positive in my attempt to change years, OK, decades of bad decisions.  He is able to push me, and get me to do things I am telling myself I cannot do.

 

I work out at the Wellness Center at the Fremont YMCA.  It is only four blocks away from my home, so I shouldn’t have any excuses about not being able to get there.  I am good at manufacturing them though.  The Wellness Center is a superb facility, with approximately 40 pieces of cardio equipment, two different sets of machines for circuit training, and a free weight area.

 

Today’s work out was typical of my sessions with Mike. I started out with 10 minutes cardio on the treadmill, and then started my lifting routine.  On a bench I do three sets of dumbbell curls and presses, followed by three sets of barbell presses.  I go back to the dumbbells for three sets with each arm of what I call “starting a lawn mower,” that strengthens my back, followed by the dreaded shoulder lifts.  Straight in front of me, to the side, then straight overhead, I do three sets of ten of each routine, staying with the dumbbells.  After that is bicep curls, again with the dumbbell.

 

The next part of the routine is on one of the weight machines, and works my triceps.  After that we work my legs, using three of the circuit training machines.  One works the inner thigh, one the outer thigh, and one is a leg press machine.

 

Next is my favorite exercise, the lunges.  Actually my version of the lunge looks nothing like you might see from younger athletes in far better shape than me and my arthritic knees.  But the knees do bend.  I end the weight session on an ab machine.

 

After the weights I go back to cardio, and today I ended the work out with 32 minutes on the treadmill, or a total of 42 minutes of cardio for the day.

 

Sweaty-yes.  A little tired-yes.  A little sore-yes.  But pleased I worked out.  Mike says my goal is to work out 10 times between today and when we meet again.  And this time, I intend to reach that goal.

~ by Ron Meyer on June 25, 2008.