Jenny's June Workout

I like to change my workouts monthly, if not weekly, depending on my most pressing goals. I strongly advise for everyone that exercises to go to the gym with a plan. I like to ask myself the following (rhetorically, of course):
Why am I here?
What are my goals?
What am I doing here to help me reach my goals?


It's not enough to show up to the gym (or life) and expect results. You get what you give, and you'll get the results you want if you know WHY you're doing certain things


My goals for the month of June are as follows: 
- To track my calories and exercise on MyFitPal and stay within my goals for each day. I love that the site focuses on net calories, which means that I eat more on the days that I work out.
- To work out a minimum of 5 hours per week in zones 1-3. I plan to do weight training 3x/week and cardio 2-4x/week.
- To increase my lower body strength and VO2 max. Next month I'll be hiking, swimming, mountain biking and camping through the Southwest and I'll need all the help I can get. To increase my lower body strength I'll stick with my weight training program and adjust as necessary based on periodization principles and my strength levels. To increase my VO2 I'll do a lot of running, hiking and spin class.

Now, what am I doing?
Unless noted, I do a standard 3 sets x 10-15 reps.

Weights Day 1: Chest/Back/Abs

1. Bench press: I lift anywhere from 50 - 85#, depending on my weekly goal.
2. Push-up to side plank: Super challenging, and the best upper-body exercise I've found. 
3. Wide-grip pull up: ...or chin-up. Currently using 80-50# of assistance.
4. Seated cable row:  I alternate between a wide and narrow grip, usually pulling ~40#.
5. Cable pull down: Self-explanatory, right?
6. Weighted push sit-up: I hold a 10# plate when I do crunches for added resistance.
7. Side crunch: I hold a 15# dumbbell on the active side. 

Day 2: Legs and glutes

1. Bosu ball squat: I do high-rep (20), low weight (also 20, but #'s) squats because my quads have a tendency to over-develop (ie: I can't fit into my pants).
2. Side lunge & touch: I discovered this while reading about the Tough Mudder race series. Tip: start light or you might be sore for days.
3. Medicine ball walking lunge & twist: For when regular lunges just won't cut it. I'll make this more brutal by carrying the ball over my head between lunges.
4. Stiff legged dead lift: I lift anywhere between 85 - 135#.
5. Leg curl on ball: A seemingly easy hamstring/glute curl that is killer after a full workout.
6. Standing calf raise: I lift my body weight alone or + a 10# plate. Also good for balance work.
7. Seated calf raise: 10-25#, depending on my goals.
8. Standing adduction: I definitely prefer this over the seated adductor because there's only one machine at my gym and it's almost always busy.

Specialized stretches for after working out:
Tibialis anterior stretch: 10-20 reps x 3 sets
Side lying leg lift with internal rotation on upper leg: 1 x 50 reps per leg. Excellent for your gluteus medius (the outer part of your booty)

Day 3: Shoulders and arms

1. Sumo squat with front raise: This is much more fun than a standard front raise. I do a sumo squat instead of a standard squat because it helps maintain my balance.
2. Squat/hammer curl/press combo: If there's another, simplified name for this I'd LOVE to hear it. I was doing hammer curls and overhead presses separately and decided to combine the moves to burn more calories.
3. Tripod plank row: Just a one-arm row while doing a one-arm plank. Sounds easy, right?
4. Angled bicep curl with lunge: Notice the pattern? My upper body workout was painfully boring and burned so few calories that I HAD to add lower body work.
5. Concentration curl: This is my one concession to my strength training background. I've been doing pyramid sets for this one lately, going from 15-20# dumbbells.
6. Tricep dip: I aim for 30-45 dips total, depending on when I do this exercise in my rotation. 
7. Machine push down: This is another exercise that requires specific equipment and it's normally monopolized, so I do this maybe 50% of the time. Dumbbell extensions have always felt awkward to me, I'm team machine for this one exercise (although it's technically on a pulley).

Specialized stretches for after working out:
Side lying rotator cuff: 1 set x 25-50 reps
Wrist flexion & extension: 3# dumbbells x 1 set x 10-25 reps each

So that's my workout for the time being. I hope if gives you a pretty good idea of why you should set goals before you get to the gym. If you'd like assistance creating a workout plan of your own, contact me at SeeMeFit.  Strength training is my passion and I'd love to help.