Personal Fitness

  Last night I got 8 hours of sleep. Breakfast:  - Coffee -Protein oats with peanut butter, banana, blueberries, and granola I got to the gym at 9:45 and did a 15 minute warmup before leg day.  Exercises done today: -Squats -Pause squats -Calf raises -RDL’s Today was an awesome leg day. My depth could have been better but I hit a PR, a higher volume, and was recovering well between sets. At the end of the workout I had burned 264 active calories and 358 total calories. Then I stretched for twenty minutes before lunch. Lunch: -Salad with chicken, croutons, chickpeas, carrots, and tomatoes -Peas -Fruit Afternoon snack: -Protein bar Dinner: -Applebee’s shrimp bowl       Today’s hours: 2  Total project hours: 58

  Day 13: Last night I slept for 8 hours. When I woke up, I stretched and used the theragun for 20 minutes and then did a 20 minute yoga video. Breakfast: - Coffee -Protein oats with peanut butter, banana, blueberries, and granola I got to the gym at 9:45 and did a 30 minute warmup before my 80 minute bench day. Exercises done today: -Bench press -DB tricep extensions -Incline DB press Unfortunately, my lift today wasn’t the best. I wasn’t able to put up my usual weight so I had to tweak my workout to go with more reps at a lower weight. I wasn’t psyched about this but not every day can be a good day so I had to roll with it. I only consumed about 2,200 calories yesterday which could have been a contributing factor. At the end of the workout I burned 243 active calories and 336 total calories. I then stretched and rolled out for another 30 minutes. Lunch: -Turkey and cheese sandwich -Corn -Salad with carrots, black beans, chickpeas, and croutons -Fruit I definitely do not want to...

 This week was a stellar week of lifts. I can definitely feel myself getting stronger. I was able to up either my weight or my reps for every one of the 4 days and hit a few PR's.  My volume rocketed up as well, which was awesome to see. I've been hitting my calorie goal every day and really prioritizing rest and recovery. These are paying off, and based on the results I'm seeing from prioritizing these, I will definitely make sure to continue paying close attention to them in all of my future workouts.  As I've mentioned before, one of my common personal issues is that I'm not good at taking rest days. Senior project has shown me how essential these are, and really reinforced the idea that rest days will actually help you build muscle, not cause you to lose it. I took 3 days off for the first time in over a year and my workouts in the week that followed were unreal and I saw serious progress. Last week, there were several days where I just did not want to lift what...

  Day 12: Last night I slept for a solid 8.5 hours. Breakfast: - Coffee -Protein oats with peanut butter, banana, blueberries, and granola Then I tried another 15 minute yoga video since I was pretty sore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7xsYgTeM2Q   This didn’t target my legs as much as I was hoping so I spent 15 minutes after stretching my legs. Then I headed to school, where I was faced with a little obstacle. Since the school locks up the weight room like Fort Knox, I was unable to get into the gym when I arrived, which threw a wrench in my workout plan. I stretched and rolled out for 30 minutes and then I had to start on the turf strip with a couple of exercises that weren’t even supposed to be included in my workout today. Once I was able to get into the gym however, I had a good lift.  Exercises done today: -Goblet pause squats -Walking lunges -Deadlift -Hamstring curls -Single leg press Part of the reason I was so frustrated by not being able to get in is that si...

  Day 11: Today I woke up from a good 7 hour sleep feeling like I got hit by a truck. My whole body was aching and I could tell right away that my body needed a day off. I really dislike taking rest days because I feel lazy and unproductive but I know they are a crucial part of being an athlete. I chugged a ton of water, stretched for half an hour and then used the theragun for half an hour. Breakfast: - Coffee -Protein oats with peanut butter, banana, blueberries, and granola After breakfast I decided to do yoga. Usually I hate yoga and find it really boring but I found a 30 minute video for people that lift so I tried it and it actually made me feel a lot better. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN-FPh7r1yg   Obviously yoga isn’t a super high intensity exercise, so at the end of the 30 minutes I had burned 73 active calories and 110 total calories.  Snack: -2 dates -Rice cake with peanut butter and banana I usually find myself insanely hungry on rest d...

  Day 10: Today I woke up at 7, did 15 minutes of stretching, and had the usual breakfast. Breakfast: -Coffee - Protein oats with peanut butter, banana, blueberries, and granola                My morning was different than usual. I spent the morning helping Lauren with her senior project by being a model for a photoshoot she was doing. We spent several hours doing this and then I went to lunch. Lunch: -Peas -Fruit -Turkey and cheese sandwich -White chocolate chip cookie I headed to the gym and spent 30 minutes warming up. I wasn’t sure how my workout would go today, since I have been doing morning workouts every day so far. However, my workout was awesome once again. Today was press day, and I lifted for an hour and 45 minutes. Exercises done today: -Press -DB bench press -Smith machine overhead press -Waiter Walk                At the end of the workout, I had burned 309 active calories and...

  Day 9: Today I woke up at 6:30 again, getting 8.5 hours of sleep. I was definitely feeling yesterday’s workout, as my chest, arms, and shoulders were pretty tight so I spent 20 minutes stretching my upper body. I decided to do some meal prep for the week and make brownies, which took about 45 minutes I made a relatively healthy version that are pretty high calorie (peanut butter banana). Obviously I had to have one for breakfast dessert. Breakfast: Coffee Protein oats with peanut butter, banana, blueberries, and granola Brownie                                                             I got to school at 9:15 and spent half an hour warming up for my squat day. Exercises done today: -Squats -RDL’s -Calf raises Midworkout fuel: -Swedish fish At the end of the workout, I had burned 265 active calories a...