Weight training demo

Michelle and I got a free private lesson from her boyfriend on strength training. When Brian heard how we did our strengthening exercises last week, he was amused/appalled and decided a tutorial was in order. Here's what I learned:

• Quality over quantity. Last week, we went around to each machine, did 8 reps, and then moved onto the next one. Today, we did 3 sets of 10 reps with free weights and at a few machines that worked our upper arms and backs. We'll go back on Thursday to work on our lower bodies.

• Rest between sets. It's better to work at your upper limit of weights and allow yourself to rest between sets.
  

• Less talk, more work. Apparently engaging in conversation when you're lifting weights means that you're not working hard enough.

• Girls are different than boys. Michelle and I can't do pull ups. We already knew that, but it was an educational experience for Brian. ("But.... but.... just pull yourself up with your arms.") We then discovered that the machine was weight assisted and gives you a little "push" if you need it. Someday soon hopefully I'll be able to do pull ups on my own.

• Remember to breathe. Sounds dumb, but this is something I'm terrible at in yoga as well. It's easy to forget to breathe when you're focusing on contracting muscles.
  

It was fun to get advice from someone with more experience, and Brian put a lot of thought into putting together a good workout for us. As we were leaving, we got into a debate about which muscle groups we should be concentrating on. He thought we wouldn't want to work on our legs since those get exercised with running. I thought that we wanted to build our leg muscles to improve our running. Unless I'm proven wrong, I'm sticking with my approach.

Half Marathon Training: Week 2
Week of 1/25/10 red=incomplete; green=completed

stretch & strengthen

3 m run

2 m run or cross

3 m run + strength

rest

30 min cross

4 m run