Alright let’s do a tally.
Where is my body sore today?
Hamstrings, shoulders, shoulder blades, lats, obliques, upper back, quads, neck, triceps….
Okay that’s about it. Not too shabby right?? Haha. At least I will get a legit rest day in today since we’ll be sitting in the car for 6 hours. I brought my compression socks. Do you know if they make full body compression suits??? Because that would be ideal.
No?
Darn.
In other random news I saw this beauty by my work yesterday:
My fellow Instagramer said they must have had really long lunch break.
Haha!
You know you’re in Pasco County when even machinery is overgrown. Hey, at least they cut the grass around it. That’s nice.
Daily Workout
Since I knew I probably would not get in a workout the day of our trip, I made sure to do another strength session Wednesday night. Tuesday’s workout focused on push exercises so Wednesday’s workout focused on pull exercises. Tina had us doing the 3/1/1 tempo again which was a little confusing at first.
The first number of a tempo workout always refers to the eccentric contraction of a particular lift. Eccentric contraction is when the muscle elongates while under tension due to an opposing force being greater than the force generated by the muscle.
That is a just a fancy way of saying that eccentric contraction is the opposite of muscle contraction. It is actually muscle elongation. Brain warp.
Applying this to a pull muscle group tempo workout is a little confusing. For example, during a lat pulldown you pull down for 1 count, hold for 1 count, and bring your arms up for 3 counts. It’s backwards! When you bring your arms up, you release the tension on your lats and elongate the muscle…. meaning it is an eccentric contraction! And the eccentric contraction is the first number in the tempo. So 3 counts!
Get it?
Once I had my head wrapped around that I really enjoyed the workout. Doing the 3/1/1 tempo has forced me to drop the weight on several lifts because there is no longer any momentum assisting the lift. For reverse flys I had to drop to 5 pounds since I could barely hold that weight up for 1 count and lower for 3 counts. Tough stuff. I always try check my ego at the door! There is no shame in lifting baby weights if you are progressively getting stronger.
Ok time to grab some green juice and snacks at the health food store. Long car trip preparation at its finest!
I’ll see ya’ll in North Carolina!
Kirsten Captures 