. The A workout has me doing Front Squats. At first, when I began this workout, I absolutely hated those front squats. I couldn't figure out the form and it just felt awkward. Through a ton of concentration, I've managed to master the form and have been slowly increasing my weight. I am now up to 135 pounds (having begun the program at around 65 pounds) on the front squat.
In addition to the front squat, the program has me doing lunges and a killer exercise called the Bulgarian Split Squat with Overhead Press. This involves starting the exercise with one foot flat on the bench (the top of the foot is flat on the bench) and then you squat down with the other leg until the leg touching the bench is at a 90 degree angle. All the time you are holding a pair of dumbbells. You clean the dumbbells to your shoulders and then press them up. At the end, you drop them back down and rise up for another rep. You do each side independently. This one really gets my heart rate going! I feel like I've been running a marathon after I'm done. I am really working hard and it feels like crap most of the time, but when I get done with it, I feel on top of the world.
I did alot of thinking this week as I went through “The Lean Body Promise” by Lee Labrada. It didn't teach me anything I didn't already know, but it definitely helped to increase my own personal motivation. As I've looked at pictures of myself I've realized that I'm making gains. I can see the difference in my body. While I wish it was going along faster, I am very happy with the gains I'm making. My legs are toned up and the thighs have increased in side. My butt has gotten bigger and it is all muscle. I never even had a butt before. It must be all the squats and deadlifts I have been doing.
Speaking of deadlifts, a funny thing happened at the gym yesterday. I was at the squat rack and I had the bar down on the lower (flat) restraints. I was loading it up to do my snatch grip deadlifts. A guy I see at the gym quite oftten said hello and smiled. He watched as I loaded 155 pounds on the bar and then commented “I know your strong, but are you gonna curl all that weight?” He was joking and I got a really good laugh out of it. I simply moved on and did my deadlifts.
I will begin a daily chronicle of my workouts beginning tomorrow. I will most likely post the workout log and then my comments about how I've been feeling and what I'm thinking. I'm focusing hard on doing things the right way. I'm even reading a (rather boring) book about fat loss science right now. It isn't the most interesting read, but it has already given me a better understanding of fat loss and why it sometimes just doesn't work.
