Rant and Tip for July 13, 2011

It is another day and a day filled with squats for me. I also start PT on my bicep tendonitis. This should prove to be interesting. They are going to do STIMS and ultrasound therapy. Hopefully all will be well in a couple of weeks.

I am experiencing a case of DOMS today in my calves. A friend of mine asked me to help her stay motivated to work her lower body. Legs and glutes people, get your minds out of the gutter. Anyway to see if she was serious and ready I had her work her calves yesterday. We started on the bottom step and did a calf raise. Then we went up one step and did 2 calves raises, 3rd step we did 3 calf raises. Well you get the point and we did this for the entire flight. She tried to cheat and bend at her knees. I didn’t notice at first because we were doing them simultaneously. I chided her for cheating and got her back on track. She thought she was being funny. Knowing her personality I know she will do them right, she was just having a little fun. There were 11 steps and by step 11 she was feeling it and so was I a little. This is where my case of DOMS has come from. On your leg day you should give these a try.

I changed things around and worked my back yesterday and today I will be squatting and I hope to go for 350 deep enough to count as a good lift. Warming is will be very important for me. You have to listen to your body and pay attention to what it needs to warm up. My legs seem to take a long time to warm up. Where as my upper body warms up quickly. My warm up will consist of several reps with just the bar and then increment up from there, being sure not to exhaust the muscle but warming it up substantially. This way I can avoid and injury and come out with a big lift at the end.

Have a great workout!

Tip:

Many injuries happen when we do not warm up and stretch before an activity. If you jump right in with a heavy weight you are stressing the muscles when they are cold and you could pull and tear a muscle. These injuries can take a long time to heal and when this happens it can throw your motivation out the window. Be sure to warm up properly today.