Legs and Abs

This workout today had my legs wobbling afterward! Remember what I said yesterday about hitting it hard in the gym if you had to miss a workout? Yeah, I did that and now my legs are regretting it. It wasn't necessarily one of those "sweat until you dehydrate" type of workouts, but I just upped the weight on all my exercises! This was a condensed version of the workout because I was running behind and had to cut it short.

10 minute warm-up on treadmill
     - I wanted to burn a few extra calories since I knew my workout would be short so I set the incline on 6 and set my pace at 3.5

Squats
     - 2 warm-up sets followed by 3 sets of 8-10 reps
     - These kicked my butt from the beginning. My warm-up set was the weight I used as my work set last week! I was feeling froggy so I jumped. I upped my work set to 85lbs this week and I'll probably stay at that weight for another week or two. My goal is 8 reps of 135, but that is a long way off!
     - Refer back to the last leg day blog for a refresher on the proper squat formation.

Leg lifts
     - 3 sets max reps
     - These are not the same leg lifts that I have done in past workouts. Today I laid down flat on a workout bench and had from my knees down hanging off. You can do this on the floor too. What you do is straighten your legs out with a slight bend at the knee, roll up, and point your legs up towards the sky. Make sure that your butt leaves the workout bench or floor. Then you slowly curl your body back down keeping your legs slightly bent. Then go back up into that position again with your butt off the bench or floor and your legs pointing up. Here is a picture that better describes what I mean. Just take note she keeps her butt on the floor, but I find that you get a better burn when you roll up on your back.

Leg extensions
     - 3 sets of 12-15
     - Just remember to keep your toes pointed up toward the ceiling to relieve that pressure on your knees!

Ab bench machine
     - 3 sets of 20
     - For time sake I just set the limit at 20 instead of max reps. Up the weight to make it harder.

Seated Calf-Raises
     - 3 sets of 20
     - I always do 20 on calf raises. I don't know why. It just seems like a good number to stop at. I think Cory told me 12-15, but I'm not sure (shhh!) I wasn't sure if I had told you about this machine before so here are two pictures of what calf raise machines look like:

Notes from Courtney: This workout probably took 40 minutes. I was rushed (as usual) and cut it short. When you have to cut workouts short make sure they are intense. Take shorter rests in between sets and up the amount of weight you use. Just because it is short doesn't mean it can't be productive.