In the gym & cartoon trends

I had a great workout today! Hopefully it will be a continuous phenomenon. I'm currently stuck in a rut-- my body does not show that I lift weights in my spare time (well, with my clothes on it does) and I need to change things around. So, without having to resort to "bodybuilding nutrition", I decided to give my routine a change.

I consulted my book The New High Intensity Training by Ellington Darden (great book by the way) to see what they suggested. So here's the routine I did (with some changes to suit my needs):
13 minutes of stair climbing set to rolling hills. This was my warm up. A bit too much as I had it on level 9 (it can go as high as 20 I think) and I always hit the wall at the 6 minute mark. But I kept trying to beat it and reach my 13-minute goal. I had to decrease the level every so often until I reached down to 4 at the end because I was clearly overdoing it. My fitness level is pretty crap which is what I'm trying to improve.

Then onto the weights:
El Darden suggested I start with shoulders first (I was on the section devoted to shoulders). This brought back memories of when I first lifted weights in high school. I always started with shoulders.

Note: the weights listed are per side of a barbell if a barbell and the weight of the bar is not included. I write it like this because I can't do quick math in my head

Lateral Raises to failure (20lbs 12 reps)
Lateral Raises (15lbs 8 reps)
Barbell Military Press (15lbs 8 reps)
Barbell Military Press (12lbs 7 reps)
then I skipped the leg stuff as my legs were still hurting with DOMS from the previous week's workouts and soccer practice. And besides, I already did the stairclimber.

Pullovers (the machine) (120lbs 12 reps)
Lat Pulldowns (105lbs 12 reps)
Barbell Shoulder Shrugs (20lbs 10 reps)
Barbell Shoulder Shrugs (15lbs 15 reps)

By this time, I was amazed at the results I was feeling. I felt pumped all over my upper back, my chest, my abs and especially, of course, my shoulders and my traps and neck. This is something rare that I feel in the gym. Usually, the pumped feeling comes after or it's just a small amount. Clearly, I haven't been lifting to my potential.

I haven't worked on my chest aside from pushups yesterday morning so I did a bit of Darden's chest workout:
Bench Press Breakdown 60lbs 8 reps
Bench Press Breakdown 35lbs 8 reps
Bench Press Breakdown 45lbs 3 reps

I was completely wiped out by the time I started doing these bench presses. And as you can see, I didn't really do a breakdown. Clearly, my chest had already been worked by doing the exercises above (and possibly the pushups from yesterday). But that didn't stop me. It was probably the endorphins but I soldiered on and did:

Negative dips. These were hard to do after all that. I managed to do 8 without injuring myself and was going to do another but I figured it's best I keep things low. High Intensity Training uses the principle of not overworking your muscles. It's best to keep sets and reps low (and weights high)-- with perfect form.

Next on Darden's list was negative pushups. Forget it. My chest had been worked enough. Time for me to rest and get stronger to do an extra rep next time (Tuesday).

But that didn't prevent me from following the H.I.T. rules. I need to seriously work on building my forearms. I look like a reverse Popeye: big arms and no forearms. I forgot my notes at home but I did:
EZ Barbell Curls (10lbs 12 reps) Ok, every boy likes to have big biceps.

EZ Barbell Curls (12lbs 8 reps)
EZ Barbell Curls (15lbs 8 reps)
I was going to break rules even more by doing 2 more sets with light weight but my arms have had it.

Hammer Curls (20lbs 6 reps)
Hammer Curls (20lbs 6 reps)
Reverse Barbell Curls (just the 35lbs bar to failure).
Barbell Wrist Curls (just the 35lbs bar to failure)
Reverse Barbell Curls (just the 35lbs bar to failure).
Barbell Wrist Curls (just the 35lbs bar to failure)

Then I wanted to do some chinups. If you want to really build muscle, you do bodyweight exercises such as this. Difficult but well worth the time. However, someone was using the gravitron so I decided to give my triceps one more blast until it was free.

I used a lighter weight because my arms were clearly spent. I forgot to write down how much weight I used but it was lighter than usual. Maybe 25lbs or 30lbs. I did 2 sets of slow reps to really give my triceps a pounding. The gravitron was free but I decided to call it a day. Even i was working to failure, I was also borderline overdoing it. And that actually breaks muscle down.

This also happens because I'm impatient to build the body that I want. So even though I know better, I start to act like Superman and think I shed all that fat in one day.

The good thing is, I had fun and feel great. If only my stomach didn't get in the way :/

Now onto design: Have you noticed that most design forums, blogs, etc. usually list 1950's and 1960's type cartoons? Made today. It bothers me a bit because it's not really being original. It's being able to copy a style and make art out of it. There's nothing wrong with that of course and if that's where the work is, then why not? :) I also have a bit of a problem with te other trand: really, really, really w-e-i-r-d character design. These are the monsters from your nightmares. I guess it's just not my taste but I can't help myself in thinking "If that can get published and PR'd about, then certainly I can too!" :) Nothing like following an example!

Anyway, I do appreciate the different styles out there by so many different types of people. It's just some things make you go hmmmm...... (I really hate to use that cliche from the 90s but I can't help it).

Mother Goose Update: All is good and well. Though I did notice one of the yellow caution tapes had drifted over to the nest as the goose was sitting right on top of it! It's was pretty funny to see. I'll try to take a photo of this goose this week.