Day 3 - Arms, Shoulders, and Abs

Today was great! I haven't had a good, hard, weight-lifting workout since H.S. This is true! Sure, I've lifted weights and such, but nothing like this.

Because our Wednesdays are so hectic, I decided to sneak home during the lunch hour and squeeze in part 1 of 2 workouts (I will do the 14-min. Ab routine after work). The shoulder/biceps/triceps workout was intense, but it felt great to be working the much needed upper body muscles.

I have two numbers that are key: 10 and 16. 10lbs for 16 reps. I don't want to bulk up. I don't like the beefcake physique. I just want good, toned, lean arms and chest. So for all of the routines, I pumped my little 10lbs barbells for 16+ reps. And it felt great, it really did.

I'm glad I'm happy with this program. It's not really a burden yet. It helps that Kathy is on board with this and has given me the freedom to spend an hour a day doing this. That was a big hesitation for me, initially. But now I'm rolling...half way through my first week of exercising. Yeah!

Also, I'm down to 186lbs. That's pretty cool. Last night I had a late snack, a fruit Popsicle, but it was only 80 calories, so I didn't feel to bad about it.

My meal for today:
Breakfast: Coffee, black.
Mid-morning snack: handful of cinn. bears, handful of almonds
Lunch: subway turkey sub, loaded with veggies, a bit of oil, lots of vinegar, and swiss cheese (I can't imagine skipping the cheese!!!)
Afternoon snack: sugar free gum
Dinner: Corned beef and cabbage (yum, one of my fav. meals!!) I will go light with the butter on the potatoes, and make sure as much fat is trimmed off of the meat as possible.

** UPDATE **

So I did the ABS X program for the first time last night. YIKES! That was I-N-T-E-N-S-E! We did 350 reps, all centered around the mid section. Very, very tough. But I plowed thru it. Sometimes I took a break for the #16-20 reps. I think the "Crunchy Frogs" were the worst! I know I have a pretty good core, because of the amount of ice skating that I do. But unfortunately it's all hidden by about 2" of fat! I'll keep plugging away, sticking to the program and watching what I eat.

Last night I had two snacks: 3 graham crackers with lite icing; and another strawberry frozen popsicle (80 cals).

This morning I weighed in at a solid 86lbs. Woo hoo! I pretty excited about all of this, plus I think I'm entering the better half of the workout week (legs/back, yoga, and kempo).

Keep on keepin' on!