Routines

I redesign my workout routine every two months. I do this because the first trainer I worked with said that the body gets bored and the muscles cease getting as much value out of moves that you repeat for a long time. In fact, he said one should redesign a workout every four to six weeks, but I've settled on every two months for ease of tracking and because I go about three times a week. I keep a list of actions in my routines so I can recycle them.


My routines always include something for legs and back, because of the car wreck, and for biceps and/or triceps because I want to be able to carry heavy stuff. The routine always includes time on the elliptical trainer for aerobics and crunches to help support my lower back. About a week ago I watched a woman doing lunges across the gym and I thought I could work that into my next routine.


I changed my routine on Sunday and mixed in the lunges, sixty wide and low steps back and forth across the aerobics room. They are much, much harder than they look, and I wasn't even carrying weights (trying to relieve some of the gripping I have to do because my hands often hurt in the morning). On Sunday my hamstrings, especially in the left leg, started to seize up, but I managed to get all the way through without them totally cramping.


I anticipated being sore Monday, but I wasn't. Zirpu said that often the stiffness doesn't settle in until the second day, so I then I thought I would be sore on Tuesday. I was a little sore in places where the muscles cross over joints, but it wasn't too bad. Of course yesterday I went back to the gym and did lunges again, along with the rest of my routine. I think my muscles would get stiff if I didn't work on my feet and always move around.


When I first started working out at that gym there was a guy who often wore a t-shirt that said "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Zirpu says this is a Marines slogan. I continue to be inspired by it even though I haven't seen that guy or his t-shirt in over two years. I don't mind being sore because in a way that's how I know something is happening. Well, that and lifting apple boxes.