Monday, December 7, 2015

Hitting the Weights

Most of my readers know I've lost a substantial amount of weight since 2010 when I first entered Ironman Louisville.  Unfortunately, it also came with a substantial loss in strength and my tone isn't great.  Over the past couple winters, I've been promising to do some strength training.  Well, it eventually got lost it seems.  Whether it was preparing for the Dopey Challenge last January or doing an early season Ironman, I never quite got around to it.

The second problem was being completely out of my element when it comes to weights.  Where do I start? What exercises should I do? How often? Can I use machines or would I need free weights?  Like just about everything in 2015, I began by searching online for some tips or routines to try.  But it was all too involved.  I wanted simplicity. I wanted something I could easily track.  But nothing seemed to meet that criteria.

As luck would have it, an Ironfriend from England was also trying to find the same thing and remembered a strength program from a book we both owned, "Be Iron Fit."  Lo and behold, there was a list of strength exercises which also matched up nearly perfectly with the machines at my local gym.  Perfect!

I've been doing the follow exercises twice a week for about a month.  Takes me about 10-15 minutes so doesn't take too much time and it fits nicely into my normal routine.

Leg Press
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Chest Press
Lat Pulldown
Bicep Curl
Tricep Curl

Given how quick it goes, I may try to keep it part of normal schedule once tri season rolls around again.