After work I headed to my trainer’s studio for a special V-Day workout. I don’t normally have a session with Leslie on Thursdays. But I had missed a few sessions recently, plus I figured what better way to put the non-holiday behind me than to work out and to work out with a friend?
I had a date with a plate tonight.
Leslie was feeling extra-nice, so she surprised me with a Valentine’s Day gift! Upper-body day, chest & back, no core work!
YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS……………..
The only thing that could have made it better would have been some bicep curls. Fuck yeah.
Why core-free? Leslie follows my blog, she knows I did a monster core workout last night, haha. Rewarded for my hard work!
Upper Body Day:
warm-up on elliptical – 5 min
Machine Chest Press: 90 x 15, x 12, 100 x 10, x 10
breaking in the new machine! and the new shorts!
Cable Flyes: 40 x 12, 50 x 12, x 12
Flat Bench Dumbbell Press: 140 x 10, x 10, x 10
Pushups from knees: 19, 18
Widegrip Pulldowns: 90 x 15, 100 x 12, x 10, x 10
I look tired!
Closegrip Seated Row: 210 x 12, x 15, x 15
full stack
Straight Arm Pulldowns w Rope: 60 x 10, 70 x 10, x 10
And just like that, a full hour had passed!
Some of the weights were light, but I hadn’t done them in a while, so I tried to go slow and work on my form and squeeze the muscles in my mind and squeeze with the grip. A lot of it was inside my head.
You would be surprised how much goes on in your head when you lift weight. I think weightlifting gets a bad rep as a pasttime for dummies, but noone in my life has ever called me a dummy, and I can tell you now that when you lift hard and you focus hard and you keep your form tight, it is just as much an exercise for your mind. The mind is easily more important than the body if you want to attain your physical peak. When you lift, you have to visualize the mind-muscle connection and feel the contraction, and you have to visualize what the end product is going to look like.
So it was sort of a mental refocusing day with the weights. Especially with Leslie there, I wanted to work on my form so I could get her feedback.
Not that it didn’t get hard with chest near the end. I needed Leslie’s help to finish the end of the second flat press set, and the majority of the third set, hahaha. But a spot can do that, help you squeeze out more reps when you are close to failing.
As for the pushups, yeah they were from my knees… screw you! hahaha. I had already squeezed out 10 working sets, and this was just to finish me off. Of course, right when I am failing out of pushups FROM MY KNEES, that’s when women of the gym walk by… sigh. Not that Leslie doesn’t count, but Leslie has been underwhelmed by my pushups a LONG time ago, that ship has already sailed.
So yeah, I spent my valentines day working out. What about you?
The mind/body thing is so true. That focus is practically in the same headspace as meditation (when you can get to it). And it’s really good.
I was also interested in the stuff you said about recruitment: had a conversation with a climbing buddy about why it is that women seem typically less able to do “dynos” – jumping from one set of hand/foot holds to a handhold that’s out of reach – and his theory was that if you do weightlifting you’re better trained to bunch up your energy and release it in one spring. Thoughts on that? (I’d love to be able to do dynos and really, really can’t.)
Hi! I don’t want to type too much, I can go into more detail by email, but the short answer is YES, most definitely.
Intermediate lifters can specialize their goals, they can go for muscle size, for pure strength, for endurance, for explosive power. But building up the base is even more important.
I think resistance training with weights can complement climbing. My general, nonspecific advice is to embark on beginner’s training, 3 or 4 times a week doing weights, for probably around 2 years. Build up a level of comfort with the movements, the theories, and your own self-awareness before you start to specialize in explosive power.
These things: rock climbing, weight training, bodyweight training, yoga, spin, running, they are all just tools in your toolbelt. The physical human body thrives on consistency complemented by variety, so don’t just dabble, do it for a while, then do new stuff, and you will start to make unexpected connections. You never know what will spark in your mind that will help your climbing just from a well-rounded base of experience with weight training.
I know people that mix weights into their yoga, weights into their running, yoga into their dance, and it all fits quite well.