Lifting Heavy Things

Last night was my first night staying after work to use the gym for some circuit training.  The idea is to lift moderately heavy weights without any rest in order to keep the heart rate up.  Supposedly, this is the way to lean muscle not bulky muscle.  Although, for women, it requires a hell of a lot of supplements to get to the bulky stage.

The first thing I did was run a mile on the treadmill.  Thankfully, one mile was a breeze.  Sometimes a mile on the treadmill feels like five on the street.  The gym has a cool barbell rack system that allows you to use free weights without fear of crushing yourself.  It's basically got a built in a safety net.  

Anywho, I started out on the lighter side of things because I haven't lifted weights in a long time.  I did squats, bicep curls, one-legged cable kick backs, bench press, kettleball one-legged dead lift, and butterfly.  I did 10-12 reps per exercise and did 3 sets of two exercises at a time, alternating upper and lower body exercise.  So I did squats, biceps curls, squats, bicep curls, squats, and bicep curls.  That way may my body was never at rest.

I think it went really well.  I really liked doing the leg exercises, which surprised me.  I've always gravitated towards upper body exercises whenever I lifted weights.  I see the value in strengthening my legs now so I'm going to try to be as consistent as possible.  

And the bonus to all of this... one pound of muscle burns 50 calories each day.  Swapping out some fat for muscle means a higher metabolism.  And that means I can't eat more.  Yah!  It's all about eating more.  My love for food is my biggest motivation.  HA!