The Joy of...Exercising?

This summer I promised myself I would get back in athletic shape and change my body image a little. So I settled on Strength Training. But as you know, the hardest thing to maintain is motivation when you exercise because you may start off well for the first week or so, but then you may quit because you aren't seeing the results you covet so quickly. Any good professional trainer will tell you that you won't see noticeable results til about the 6th week--give or take a week or two. But the emphasis during weight training is on working your muscles to the point where you cannot continue with the exercise. In other words, maxing out and exhausting the muscles. This forces them to grow and adapt to the resistance (weight) and grow stronger to be able to support that weight easier. And since my job requires me to be out a lot, I devised a simple, short, and sweet regimen that I can do at home with my own dumbbells. So if all goes well, I will see the results I am looking for before I arrive back on campus (in 8 weeks)...

I started Sunday, July 2nd

Group 1: Every other Day - Upper Body Exercises
Stretching for 5 minutes
1 set of 8 Tricep Curls (Upper Arms)
1 set of 8 Dumbbell Flyes (Chest)
1 set of 8 Bicep Curls (Upper Arms)
1 set of 8 Wrist Curls (Forearms/Lower Arms)
Takes about 20 minutes.

Group 2: Every other Day that is NOT for Group 1 - Mainly Lower Body Exercises
Stretching for 5 minutes
1 set of 50 Plie Squats (Thighs and Lower legs)
1 set of 50 Ab Rollers (Abdominals)
1 set of 50 Pushups (Chest and Arms)
1 set of 50 Inclined Calf Raises (Lower legs)
Takes about 15-20 mintues.

The first two weeks are for getting my body used to the exercises and adapting to them. I don't want to spend three weeks in this phase because growth and development of the muscles is slower when it is just one set. After those two weeks, my body will be quite comfortable with the weights and be stronger. Therefore I will hopefully be able to move into my second phase which will be tacking on another set for each exercise. So instead of doing 1 set of 8 Bicep Curls, I will be doing 2 sets of 8 (16 in all). I am hoping I will be strong enough to get to that point in two weeks, but it may be unrealistic. How my body grows and develops this week and next dictates if I will be spending an extra third week in the first phase. If I faithfully adhere to the regimen, I should do just fine. Ha, excited how it turns out in 8 weeks!

Updates coming soon...